Soviet "beauty salons", which were generally called simply hairdressing salons, are strongly associated with the rows of dryers, under which Soviet women of fashion leaf through magazines, waiting for the permanent to act on the hair. Another image is a hairdresser in a white coat making a tall babette. Hairdressers were not only a place to clean up, but also a hub for dating and gossip.
Here it was possible to arrange on the head "explosion at a pasta factory" with a perm, whip a babette or curl curls "like Orlova's." You could even get a manicure or pedicure, if you're lucky, or just freshen up with cologne. All the beauty lived for a couple of days, after which the visitor of the salon had to queue up again for the next portion of beauty.
In the literal sense of the word, there were no beauty salons as such in the USSR: as we said above, there were hairdressing salons, and not each of them even had its own name and sign. As in any other business, including health care and tailoring, it was important for a Soviet person to find his master, to whom he could then go for years to the next basement around the corner and also take his whole family there.
In good hairdressing salons, the masters were strictly divided into male and female; "Generalists" mainly worked in the periphery and in hairdressing salons at train stations, baths and other public places. No wonder: women wanted to at least partially keep the secret of transforming from Cinderella into a princess, and men were not eager to demonstrate such intimate processes as shaving, trimming mustache and beard, and maybe even dyeing hair.
Salons with original names usually turned out to be the best and most popular. One of the most famous hairdressing salons in the Soviet Union was the Charodeika on Kalininsky Prospekt (now Novy Arbat) in Moscow. The salon opened in the early 1970s and quickly gained popularity among metropolitan residents. Those wishing to get a haircut or do styling were in for a huge hall with panoramic windows to the street, the most advanced equipment and masters who won various specialized competitions. Of course, it was easier to get new equipment in Moscow than in the regions, but nevertheless "The Charodeyka" was always different in this sense.
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Each dreamed of making a fashionable hairstyle and a haircut in the "Enchantress", but not everyone had such an opportunity: the queue for a haircut lasted several weeks, there was not enough room for everyone. This is where friendship with a hairdresser would come in handy. Surely such privileges were enjoyed by the regulars of the "Enchantress" - actresses, singers and the wives of high-ranking Soviet officials. Glamor was also added by the presence of a cafe on the second floor, where, while waiting for the appointed time, visitors could discuss city news over a cup of coffee. The Enchantress became a truly legendary place, and soon hairdressers all over the Union began to call themselves that.
Despite the elitism, "The Enchantress" was as democratic in terms of prices as the rest of the Soviet salons: the price list was approved at the state level and could only slightly differ, adjusted for the region.
How much did hairdressing services cost in the USSR? For example, in the men's room it was possible to cut a mustache for 40 kopecks, a beard for 55 kopecks. A men's "model" haircut cost only 40 kopecks, and pouring cologne over the whole thing would cost from 5 to 20 kopecks, depending on the category of cologne.
A fashionable women's haircut according to the Sassoon method - from the famous stylist and hairdresser Vidal Sassoon, who revolutionized the fashion world in the 1950s by offering simple women's haircuts instead of complex curls and styling - cost an average of 1.6 rubles … Curling hair on curlers cost 80 kopecks. A full range of services, including a perm and haircut, would have cost a Soviet fashionista as much as 5 rubles.
Magic was happening in the women's halls, and not all the secrets I wanted to reveal to men. Some of them were pretty repulsive. After all, professional funds that were purchased centrally quickly ran out, and the craftsmen had to resort to folk methods.
For example, they could wash their hair with beer and wet the curls with it before winding them on curlers for better fixation. How it all smelled, one can only guess. Out of hairspray? It doesn't matter: water with sugar was used, which did an excellent job of fixing the fleeces. “Excellent” is an assessment in an environment where there is nothing better, and everything else is also there. Of course, all this easily disintegrated at the slightest rain and did not last long.
Where did the fashion for hairstyles and haircuts come from in the USSR with the closed "Iron Curtain"? After the release of the 1956 film "The Witch", straight strands came into fashion. In 1959, the premiere of Babette Goes to War with the young Brigitte Bardot in the title role took place, and the image of the actress inspired the Soviet spectators so much that they rushed to hairdressers to do their hair like hers.
The more volume there was, the cooler the babette was: combed hair, nylon stockings and even cans were put into the hairstyles. In the early 60s, everyone wore fleece: both adult women and young girls. In schools, students were checked for fleece and sent home if the hairstyle was not smooth enough. The fascination with volume led to the creation of a "beehive" hairstyle that could be created even on medium length hair. Women who had hairpieces curled them at home and carried them ready-made to the hairdresser, so as not to waste time sitting under a hairdryer.
Favorite actresses and singers were role models in their hairstyles. At one time, a haircut like the French singer Mireille Mathieu's, as well as styled curls like that of actress Lyubov Orlova, were considered very fashionable. It is believed that she was one of the first among Soviet women who decided to undergo plastic surgery. Ordinary compatriots did not know anything about plastic surgery, this service could not be obtained in hairdressing salons, so it remained only to watch with amazement how Orlova was getting younger from year to year, and to try to repeat the effect with the help of cucumbers on the eyes and sour cream on the cheeks.
Another popular Moscow hairdressing salon is Krasny Poppy at the corner of Petrovka Street and Stoleshnikov Lane. In fact, it was another nameless hairdresser, but the people called it that because there was a cafe with that name nearby. Local craftsmen were famous throughout Moscow for their skills. It was a place simpler than the "Enchantress", but all the same it was necessary to take a queue much in advance. The number of applicants also grew because there was a legend in the city that hairdressers work here in dressing gowns on their naked bodies.