Mid Brain muses
Sometimes it feels like there’s just too many choices in the world of modern cosmetics. Apparently this isn’t as recent a phenomena as one might think. We found this 1950s hair net ad in the The Beauty Brains library of old magazines. Read the fine print and you’ll see that selecting a hair net isn’t as simple as it seems.
Nylon hair net nonsense
So you want to buy a hair net? 
No problem. Just let me ask you a few questions first. What’s your bobbed size?… Would you prefer small mesh?… What about style, French?… Color black, I presume?… How do you like your elastic, visible or invisible? Apparently, selecting a hair net in the 1950s required you to make more choices than ordering a coffee at Starbucks today. And I’m not sure it’s gotten much better in the last 50 years.
What do YOU think? Has choosing the right beauty care product become a baffling process? Leave a comment and share your thoughts with the rest of the Beauty Brains community.
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{ 10 comments… read them below or add one }
What are hairnets actually good for, more than keeping hair from falling into food when you’re cooking? Do they have some other magic use I’ve never heard of?
Emmi: My daughter needs to wear hairnets in her ballet class to keep her hair in a tidy bun (required hairstyle for ballet).
I pretty much limit myself to drugstore cosmetics with an occasional foray into slightly, stress slightly, “upper scale” products.So by self-limiting, I fix this issue for myself, but as you know there are studies that show that if you have no choice, you are unhappier, and if you have multiple multiple choices, you are unhappier and in fact somewhat paralyzed from making the choice. Humans are such complex creatures, aren’t we?
I’ve been plotting a Beauty Brains question in my head for weeks now about choosing the right OTC retinol product.
Yes! It is quite difficult to decide who to believe, how to sort quantity vs. quality, figure out whether or not an ingredient works, let alone, is it actually there?
Do ROC products really contain more retinol than any other on the market? Or is it Philosophy? Does Neutrogena have any at all? How do I verify it independently? Or can I?
Should I disqualify companies using ridiculous claims (Avene’s miracle water, for example) or do I accept that ridiculous claims are par for the course and use Burt’s Bees serum because it doesn’t contain floor wax –implying everything else does.
Sometimes I just want to go my grandmother’s route and use olive oil for everything, but now I don’t even know if that works anymore!
Personally I like a lot of choice but that’s because I like to be geeky and research my products before I buy them to make a totally informed choice
Also, my Nan used to use hairnets to keep her rollers in place overnight.
i quite enjoy selecting new products. of course i burn, like 4 days ago i got this lovely body moisturizer… or so i thought. it’s not lovely. it’s not moisturizing enough for my dry skin. so now i need to buy a new one. also, it’s a strugle when you have a problem with your skin and anything won’t do. but otherwise i love playing around. but i’m 22, so i guess frustration is yet to come.
A while ago, I got frustrated trying to figure out what I needed for what. Like what if my skin is aging AND sensitive…. do I buy the stuff for aging or sensitive skin? Too much bother. So I started looking at labels and experimenting to get down to basics. Turns out “basics” for me is Shea Butter (whipped is best) with some Argan Oil and glycerin – removes makeup, moisturizes, etc., all in one. Then I also use Kinerase with SPF 30. All cosmetics contain the same basic ingredients for the most part, and those basics are available to us to mix and use as we please. Life is too short to have to keep examining each “new” product and compare it to others. For myself, I have reached the “poop out” factor – I’m pooped out on the amount of time and energy it takes to figure it all out.
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I’m getting to the point where I’ve made a choice and stick with it. The only change is to simplify and stop buying some stuff altogether. I never remember to use body moisturiser so it is about time I stopped stockpiling the stuff.
“What are hairnets actually good for, more than keeping hair from falling into food when you’re cooking?”
Funny I should run across this.
I actually blogged about vintage hairnets a week or so ago when I bought on from the 30’s. I asked around and this was the answer:
“Yes, they were made of human hair to blend in with your own, and this was in the days before hairspray, so they were to keep the hair in place. They were made for waved and smooth hairstyles that could easily become mussed or frizzy….
The pic on the cover is showing the relative size of the hair net to your head. They are elasticized around the edge but they can be pulled taut to that size, depending on whether you are using it to cover your entire hairstyle, or just part of it. This one says its ‘bobbed’ size, so there are larger sizes for long hairstyles, like Veronica Lake. I remember watching a movie with Barbara Stanwyck and she had a long turned under pageboy, and at one point she moved her head and you could just glimpse the hair net used to keep that long smooth under turned hair in place. ”
He also reminded me that hairspray was not commercially available until 1956. The net is very, very fine, lightweight and blond. I can see how it would be almost invisible over your hair.
So there you go, they are still a good option for those of us who wear vintage hairstyles and do not want to use hairspray which can make those soft styles of the 20’s, 30’s and 40’s look stiff.