Wildroot Cream-Oil was a men's hair tonic sold in the United States from the 1940s to the 1960s by the Wildroot Hair Tonic Company based in Buffalo, New York .
30-545: The company first started selling Wildroot Hair Tonic in 1911. In the 1920s, the tonic was primarily marketed to women, with advertisements warning that bobbed hair and tight hats would cause baldness, unless they used the Wildroot product. Wildroot started marketing the product to men in the 1930s. In 1937, the company was scolded by the Federal Trade Commission for claiming that Wildroot Hair Tonic keeps
60-410: A fringe ( British English ) are strands or locks of hair that fall over the scalp's front hairline to cover the forehead , usually just above the eyebrows , though can range to various lengths. While most people cut their bangs straight, they may also shape them in an arc or leave them ragged. The term bangs originally referred to hair cut bang-off (i.e., straight across at the front), although
90-466: A fringe at the front. The standard bob cut exposes the back of the neck and keeps all of the hair well above the shoulders. Historically, women in the West have usually worn their hair long. Some young girls, actresses and a few "advanced" or fashionable women had worn short hair even before World War I , such as French actress Polaire , described in 1910 as having "a shock of short, dark hair",
120-506: A bob for live-action movie version for 60s anime series Speed Racer and later. Katie Holmes got a bob cut with bangs in 2007. Jenny McCarthy is known for a sporting an A-line bob. Kate Bosworth is said to have popularized the bob in 2008. Shoulder-length bobs became popular after being sported by stars such as Heidi Klum and Jessica Alba . A shaggy version of the bob was popularized by Dianna Agron and Kate Mara . Fringe (hair) Bangs ( North American English ) or
150-459: A bob haircut with very unusual colors that was asymmetrical with bangs. Also, for the first two seasons and the first two episodes of the third season of Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman , the character of Lois Lane ( Teri Hatcher ) had a trademark bob haircut. The character of Dr. Laurel Weaver ( Linda Fiorentino ) from Barry Sonnenfeld 's 1997 film Men in Black also sported
180-427: A bob. Julianne Moore had a bob in the 1998 film The Big Lebowski for her portrayal of Maude Lebowski. Katie Volding, who played Benjamin “Ben” Cooper's little sister Angie in the 1999 Disney Channel TV movie Smart House , had a bob haircut. In 2006, the bob was adopted by the singer Madonna and, as a move away from boho-chic , by actress Sienna Miller . In November 2005, Canadian ice dancer Kristina Lenko
210-419: A cut she adopted in the early 1890s. The style, however, was not considered generally respectable until given impetus by the inconvenience of long hair to girls engaged in war work. In 1909, Antoni Cierplikowski , called Antoine de Paris, a Polish hairdresser who became the world's first celebrity hairdresser , started a fashion for a short bob cut. He said it was inspired by accounts of Joan of Arc . In
240-473: A receptive American audience in 1915, and by 1920 the style was rapidly becoming fashionable. However, it was artist and illustrator Clara Tice who was the first public person who used it the United States. Popularized by film star Mary Thurman in the early 1920s and by Colleen Moore and Louise Brooks in the mid to late 1920s, it was still seen as a somewhat shocking statement of independence in
270-417: A sign of modernity. Close-fitting cloche hats had also become very popular, and could not be worn with long hair. Well-known bob-wearers were actresses Clara Bow and Joan Crawford , as well as Dutch film star Truus van Aalten . As the 1930s approached, women started to grow their hair longer, and the sharp lines of the bob were abandoned. In the mid 1960s, Vidal Sassoon made it popular again, using
300-422: A style, helping to raise its popularity worldwide with girls asking hairdressers for a "Pob"—Beckham's nickname Posh Spice conflated with "bob". In 2007, R&B singer Rihanna had a bob haircut in the video for " Umbrella ". She has said that she was inspired by actress Charlize Theron in Æon Flux . Keira Knightley had a bob in her short TV ad for Coco Mademoiselle . Actress Christina Ricci also had
330-730: Is "again and again the choice of men who put good grooming first." In print ads, the company encouraged consumers to try "the Famous Finger Nail Test": "Scratch your head and see if you find dryness or loose, ugly dandruff. If so, you need the new Wildroot Cream-Oil formula." The company's commercial jingle, "Wildroot Charlie", suggested: Get Wildroot Cream Oil, Charlie It keeps your hair in trim. You see, it's nonalcoholic, Charlie; It's made with soothin' lanolin... Wildroot's many radio sponsorships included The Adventures of Sam Spade (1946–50). When Sam Spade star Howard Duff and creator Dashiell Hammett were listed in
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#1732780905200360-662: The Middle Ages . During the Elizabethan era and the Renaissance , European men continued to wear bangs, but they were out of style for women. Clergy cautioned against bangs in the 1600s as a sign of a vanity and "a slide into mortal sin". Bangs, often curled, regained popularity among women in the Victorian era . The "Alexandra fringe", a mass of short, frizzy bangs named for Alexandra of Denmark , became popular in
390-463: The "Dutchboy bob", Mamie Eisenhower 's short waved bangs, and Audrey Hepburn 's pixie cut . The hairstyles of popular musicians in the 1960s such as the Beatles included bangs and became popular with men. In 2007, bangs saw another massive revival as a hair trend, this time thick, deep and blunt-cut. In October 2007, style icon and model Kate Moss changed her hairstyle to have bangs, signaling
420-534: The "bob" have evolved since. In the late 1980s, Siouxsie Sioux , lead singer of Siouxsie and the Banshees , and Corinne Drewery , singer of " Swing Out Sister ", had bob cuts for a short time. Singer Linda Ronstadt sported a very "Louise Brooks" inspired bob on the cover of two Grammy award winning albums in the late 1980s: 1987's Trio album with Dolly Parton and Emmylou Harris and her 1989 release Cry Like A Rainstorm, Howl Like The Wind . She also wears
450-414: The 1880s. In the United States during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, bangs were popular among young female immigrants because the hair covering the forehead helped hide skin blemishes such as smallpox scars and acne which, popular magazines assured them, prevented them from looking like authentic Americans. Bangs continued to remain popular through the twentieth century in various styles, such as
480-583: The 1920s, he introduced the “shingle cut”, which became popular with daring young women—the Bloomsbury set and flappers . Among his clients were world-famous female figures such as Coco Chanel , Queen Marie of Romania , Sarah Bernhardt , Greta Garbo , U.S. First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt and Brigitte Bardot . English society beauty Lady Diana Cooper wore bobbed hair from childhood through adulthood. It has been said that renowned dancer and fashion trendsetter Irene Castle introduced her "Castle bob" to
510-407: The 1950s, Al Capp 's comic strip hero Fearless Fosdick (a spoof of Dick Tracy ) endorsed Wildroot Cream-Oil in a popular series of print advertisements, presented in comic strip form. In the ads, Fosdick battled his nemesis Anyface, a murderous scoundrel who could mold his pliable face into any form of disguise. Fosdick always recognized the villain, however, because of his telltale dandruff. At
540-513: The American group We Five . Valentina , the transgressively erotic heroine of a surreal Italian comic strip series created by Guido Crepax in 1965, sported an iconic bob inspired by actress Louise Brooks (as well as by Crepax's own wife Luisa). The bob cut was also popular with African Americans in the mid-to-late 1960s, reflected in such singing groups as Diana Ross & The Supremes and The Marvelettes . Many styles and combinations of
570-817: The Wildroot Hair Tonic Company set up the Wildroot Foundation (now the Western New York Foundation), which provides funds for local organizations in Buffalo. The Wildroot company was sold to Colgate-Palmolive in 1959 for $ 10.5 million. A "Wildroot Hair Groom" is still being marketed today by the Oakhurst Company. At the height of the product's popularity, the company advertised extensively in print, radio and television, claiming that Wildroot Cream-Oil
600-697: The anti-Communist tract Red Channels , Wildroot was unhappy with the names being associated with the show. Sam Spade was removed from the air in 1950, and replaced with a more Wildroot-friendly title, Charlie Wild, Private Detective , which ran from September 1950 to July 1951. Other radio sponsorships included The Woody Herman Show (1945–46), The King Cole Trio (1946–48), The FBI in Peace and War (1951–52), The Shadow (1952–53) and Twenty Questions (1952–53). Television sponsorships included The Adventures of Robin Hood (1956) and Perry Mason . In
630-500: The cut in the video for her duet with James Ingram , " Somewhere Out There ". Annie Potts made an appearance in the supernatural comedy film Ghostbusters II with a bob as she played the character Janine Melnitz. Phoebe Cates's character Elizabeth in the 1991 black comedy film Drop Dead Fred got a bob haircut after getting part of her long black hair cut off. Anna Wintour , editor-in-chief of American Vogue since 1988, apparently had hers trimmed every day ( Times 2 , 10 July 2006). In
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#1732780905200660-541: The early 1990s Cyndi Lauper had a bob haircut with very unusual colors; soon afterward, the cut became identified with Uma Thurman 's character of Mia Wallace in Quentin Tarantino 's 1994 film Pulp Fiction . The bob went into hibernation, but eventually became popular again. Natalie Portman sported a bob haircut in the 1994 English-language French action-thriller film Leon: The Professional for her portrayal of her character Mathilda. T-Boz of TLC also had
690-407: The end of the ad, Fosdick encouraged readers to "Get Wildroot Cream-Oil, Charlie!" The character was also featured on promotional tin signs displayed at barber shops. Bob cut A bob cut , also known as a bob , is a short to medium length haircut for women, in which the hair is typically cut straight around the head at approximately jaw level, and no longer than shoulder-length, often with
720-464: The fashion correspondent of The Times was suggesting that bobbed hair was passé, by the mid-1920s the style (in various versions, often worn with a side-parting, curled or waved, and with the hair at the nape of the neck "shingled" short), was the dominant female hairstyle in the Western world. The style was spreading even beyond the West, as women who rejected traditional roles adopted the bob cut as
750-422: The mix, the company bottled the product, and the new Wildroot Cream-Oil was a success. The product's main ingredient was lanolin , also known as wool grease, which is a wax secreted by the sebaceous glands of domestic sheep . Wildroot Cream-Oil was first sold in 1943. In the 1950s, the product was associated with the greaser subculture, teenage boys who slicked their hair down into a ducktail style. In 1951,
780-454: The scalp "healthy", "penetrates" the sebaceous glands, cleans up dandruff "completely", and that the results were "guaranteed". The company's original tonic was alcohol -based; alcohol became more scarce during World War II . In the early 40s, chemist Emanuel Gundlach invented a new alcohol-free formula. At first, Gundlach presented the Wildroot executives with a cream that came in a tube, but they rejected that formulation. Adding more water to
810-484: The shape of the early bob and making it more stylish in a simpler cut. Its resurgence coincided with the arrival of the " mop top " Beatle cut for men. Those associated with the bob at that time included fashion designers Mary Quant and Jean Muir ; actresses Nancy Kwan , Carolyn Jones , Barbara Feldon , Georgina Ward and Amanda Barrie ; and singers as diverse as Keely Smith , Cilla Black , Billie Davis , Juliette Gréco , Mireille Mathieu and Beverly Bivens of
840-550: The term is now applied to diverse forms of hair styling. It is probably related to bang-tail, a term still used for the practice of cutting horses' tails straight across. The term fringe refers to the resemblance of the short row of hair to ornamental fringe trim, such as those often found on shawls . Bangs were worn by both men and women in ancient Egypt , ancient Greece , and in the Roman Empire . Hair styles that included bangs can be seen on men and women in artwork of
870-442: The young women known as flappers , as older people were used to seeing girls wearing long dresses and heavy Edwardian-style hair. Hairdressers, whose training was mainly in arranging and curling long hair, were slow to realise that short styles for women had arrived to stay, and so barbers in many cities found lines of women outside their shops, waiting to be shorn of hair that had taken many years to grow. Although as early as 1922
900-523: Was asked to join ITV1 's new series, Dancing on Ice . She went to her stylist in Toronto and told him "Do whatever you like." He cut Lenko's waist-length hair into what is referred to as an A-line bob, where the hair is shorter in the back and gradually longer toward the front, with the longest pieces toward the front of the face. Later, ex– Spice Girl Victoria Beckham decided to cut her own hair into such
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