In the 1950's and up till the Beatles came to town in the 1960's was quite a creative time for men's hair. We saw more of men's heads due to President Kennedy. He was the first president to really make a fashion statement not wearing a hat. From then on hats were not cool. At least not for dress-up.
Oily or creamy hair tonic were the norm along with butch wax for those flat tops or butches. You needed those products to slick it back or keep it up. During my teens, I had my hair slicked back long on the sides with a ducktail in back, a flattop with long on the sides, just flat-top, or some combination with the top combed forward with a "waterfall" down the forehead. Oh My!
When the Beatles came over the barbers started going broke. Up until then, with flat-tops especially, you got your haircut every week or so. The barber I went to in Marshalltown, had a track device that he mounted on the back of the barber chair. He could set the clippers on this track and cut the "perfect" flat-top. He had a patent pending on his invention, but, obviously the long hair trend just beginning after the Beatles and Viet Nam War, put an end to that idea!
During my college years at Drake and majoring in business during the mid 1960's, I wore my hair fairly short and trimmed. No ponytails or "shoulder length or longer or where it stopped by itself."(Remember the musical Hair?) During the late 1960's, I took a risk, even while working for an insurance company, and grew a mustache and sported long sideburns for a "short" time. Besides, my mustache grew out RED and I had to touch it up to match my dark hair. That got old in a hurry!
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