These recollections were dictated by Ione Theis of Shakopee in 1980 and originally shared in the collection “As I Remember Scott County”
We have read of some of the great women in history and their attempts to beautify by dressing their hair - Helen of Troy, Cleopatra, Marie Antoinette and others. But what did our mothers and grandmothers do to beautify their hair? If she was a prairie wife or a village matron at the turn of the century, she caught rainwater from the drain spout so she had soft water to use in washing her hair. She may have used homemade soap, or perhaps a product purchased from a traveling peddler, a bar of Castile Soap or Tar Soap. Many preferred to finish with a vinegar rinse. She probably braided her hair in long plaits and wound it around her head as she worked. Many young girls wore their hair in braided pony tails, but on special occasions mothers put their daughters hair up in rags to make long tight bouncing curls.
Women also saved combings form their hair brushing and kept them in celluloid hair receivers to shape into buns or rats which they used to fill out their hair arrangement. They used an assortment of pins to hold this all in place, including common wire hairpins, celluloid hairpins and combs, ranging from plain to jeweled ornaments.
During the years of World War 1, it became fashionable to cut the hair short, and women had to find a new method of dressing the hair. They first attempted to curl the ends using a curling iron with wooden candles bent over the glass chimney of a kerosene lamp. They tested it on a piece of paper for heat and to remove soot, but I suspect many burnt and singed ends resulted.
In the late 1920s and 1930s we were introduced to a professional hairdresser in the area. She had taking training in the Twin Cities and was trained in marcelling, cosmetology and permanent waving. Marcelling gave a rigid wave that was both popular and enduring.
One of the early hairdressers of Scott County was Rosella Dressen Ries who distinguished herself and Shakopee by being chosen “Miss Minnesota” of 1929. She was a contestant at Atlantic City. Rosella operated and managed the “Modern Beauty Shop” on first avenue from the 1930’s through many years.
Ione Theis and Rosella Dressen Ries "Rosie" standing in front of the Modern Beauty Shop, 1944.
As a recent graduate of the Brady and Rogers School of Beauty, I arrived at the Modern Beauty Shop in the late 1930’s and trained in the methods of the time. Marcelling the hair was giving away to the ore popular spiral wave. The hair was wound on long slender rods, then with a lotion saturated pad was baked on an electrical machine that could be described as a torture device! Somewhat later, and even more popular, was the invention of the Frenchman, Monsieur Crogonle. It gave a tighter curl to the ends of the hair, but still used the heating machine that resulted in many casualties of the scalp. Later, Mr Willette invented the “cold wave”, the forerunner of the permanent wave we enjoy today.
Hairstyles and hairdressing today, for both men and women vary according to individual choice but are far removed from grandmother’s rain water and vinegar rinse.