Woman's Realm / 15 July 1961
A lovely example of a double-page spread advert, which crop up occasionally in my collection, presumably because they must have been considerably more expensive than a one-page advert. This looks like a new product launch for the home perming application Prom, and we’ve seen later adverts on this site promoting the ‘Pink Rose’ and ‘White Rose’ variants. At least they pretend they like their customers in this one…
Woman's Weekly / 28th May 1965
Some jokes are so easy, you feel cheap just telling them. But I’ve never claimed that I’m expensive.
Woman's Weekly / 25th June 1965
Here’s another advert insulting older women from Prom. This time, they’re suggesting that it’s even worth cancelling your holiday if you’re not happy with your hair. After all, you wouldn’t want to show your husband up, would you?
Tags: beauty, blatant sexism, emotional blackmail, perms, Prom
Woman's Weekly / 2nd April 1965
Right. So this advert’s saying that you can’t attend family events if your hair’s a bit of a state, as if any of your loved ones would really give a damn. Still, Prom does look tempting; after all, you might get flirted with by a camp-looking photographer!
Tags: blatant sexism, dodgy advice, emotional blackmail, perms, Prom
Woman / 5th May 1967
Well, no, it doesn’t, but this advert is rather optimistic about the effect of a home perm, especially as it boasts about making your hair smell like lemons (which may please any wasps lurking around, but wouldn’t cheer me up). Anyway, wasn’t this woman’s hair quite nice to begin with?
Tags: beauty, blatant sexism, dodgy advice, perms, retail, Sandra Howard, social history