Rockabilly, Pinup and Burlesque Hairstyles to Fit YOUR Face

Rockabilly, Pinup and Burlesque Hairstyles to Fit YOUR Face

A facial guide to choosing the right Rockabilly, Pinup or Burlesque Hair Style for your face.

The woman who is fortunately blessed with an oval face can wear any style with ease and flattery. But her less fortunate sisters who happen to have a long, thin face or a short, full face have a much more difficult problem on their hands.

The girl with a long face usually finds one style which is becoming and sticks to it because it does so much more for her than any other style she has ever worn. But being a woman, even a flattering style becomes boring after awhile, and she will long to wear a pompadour or a pompadour band or something new and different.

It is possible for the girl with the long face to wear a pompadour and have it flattering just so long as it is styled for her facial contour. It wouldn’t be the same pompadour that I would work out for her full-faced sister, but one that must out of necessity be individually styled.

Be sure to check out the downloadable eBooks we have on 1940’s hair styling

1. The Pompadour for long, thin face

The style designed for the long thin face, the hair is brought out at the sides to give the illusion of width. The pompadour is higher on the sides, dipping down in a diagonal wave in the center. The back of the hair is dressed in a full chignon(pronounced “sheen-yon,”) which hides a long neck and gives flattering fullness to the lower part of the face.

2. Pompadour for short, full face

The hair is swept up close to the head on either side. The height of the pompadour is concentraded in the center – tapering off on either side. The back hair is cut short, and combed into casual curls that are placed well up on the neck. These curls should bluster close to the head behind the ears to give a soft profile line, but should not show from the front, as a general rule, because with the full face additional width at the jaw line is not desirable.

The same principles can be applied to pompadour bangs for the long face and the full face:

3. Pompadour bang for long, thin face

4. Pompadour bang for short, full face

The feather cut.

Sketches 5 and 6 show two versions of the feather cut.
In each case the style for the long face gives fullness at the sides and at the neckline, while the style for the full face emphasizes height and as little fullness at the sides as possible.

5. Feather cut for long, thin face

6. Feather cut for short, full face

7. Flat-top for long, thin face

The newest(in the 1940s-50s) trend in hairstyles is the flat-top. Sketch 7 shows a flattering version of this style for the long, thin face. The hair is combed smooth across the top and the sides are combed out in vertical waves that stand away from the head to give the desired fullness.