ABSTRACT

In a rare case of government policy dictating fads to the general public, Washington deep-sixed the ladies' long shoulder hairdo by severely curtailing the manufacture of bobby pins. WPB order L-104, developed to conserve approximately 6,000 tons of steel, left American women with three options: letting hair grow and putting it up old-fashioned-like, adopting a mannish cut, or indulging in a new feather wave cut. The majority of females seemed to prefer the latter. The hairpin had been hanging on in the marketplace for a generation since women had begun cutting their hair and using bobby pins. Hairpin sales were also boosted by the fact that sanitary laws in about thirty states disallowed beauty shops from using them a second time. The feather wave cuts, which required hairpins for setting but none after the customer left the shop, did not especially please hairpin makers.