Part one dealt with employment, homes and general shopping here. Part two covered sport and leisure plus transport and is available here
Part three dealt with childhood and religion and is available here
Post by Charlotte ...
Looking Swish
Hair and cosmetics:
The hairdresser's in the town in the thirties was Maison George in the High Street. One of the hairdresser's trained there Miss Edith Neighbour ended up trading on her own account as a private hairdresser, offering the trendy permanent wave. You could write to or telephone her for an appointment. In 1935 a whole head permanent wave by Edith would set you back 15 shillings.
A 1930s permanent wave. Picture by Louis Calvete. Creative Commons Licence.CC BY-SA 3.0.
Maison George were agents for Ineco hair dye and "lady's beauty aids".
There were at least five other hairdressers in Marlow apart from Maison George during the 1930s. Maison George gained a serious competitor in 1936 when Milady (as in "my lady") opened at 72 West Street. This was a beauty parlour which also offered high class hairdressing for women and children. It's opening "special offer" was a full head permanent wave for 15 shillings, the same price as Edith Neighbour above charged as her standard price for a full wave so Edith was good value, especially as she would come to your own home to wave your hair.
Perfumes and early cosmetics could be bought from Marlow chemists, though by no means all women routinely wore any makeup let alone a full face look. It was considered especially likely for "country" girls to go make up free. In the 1930s Marlow was still considered to be a country town. Cheap make up was not so easily available as it is today so cost constraints also played a role in determining how many cosmetics if any a woman could wear. The most commonly worn cosmetic product in the 1930s was face powder, usually in a pale shade. Eyebrows were severely plucked into a high arched shape and often darkened. Over plucking meant that a reasonable number of women lost their eyebrows and instead had to draw them on. Lip colour was available in various shades but red won out. Mascara was still applied by brush from a palette. Hollywood glamour looks encouraged fashionable women to exaggerate their lashes as much as possible.
