Inspired by another thread - if you are white British/Irish, did your Mum routinely wear a headscarf when you were small, and when did she stop?

[astoundedgoat]

Looking back at baby photos of me from the 70's (rural Ireland), I realise that my Mum (Catholic, born in the 1930's) nearly always wore a headscarf when she was out of the house during the day.

Being the 1970's, the scarves were often brown/orange/mustard and of course nylon, and she must have abandoned them by the time I was 3 or 4 because they were in my dressing-up collection by then. She had a small black lace mantilla and I think I remember that she sometimes wore it to Mass, probably around the time she ditched the headscarf for daily wear but was wondering how to cover her head in church, but it disappeared (into my dressing-up box too!) pretty soon.

Sometimes they were tied behind her head (summer?) and sometimes under her chin, like the Queen (winter?).

My Nanna (Dublin/Protestant/working class, born in 1910) never ever left the house without wearing a hat (usually a knitted one, with a smart one for occasions/funerals etc.).

Was this just Ireland? Common in the UK too?

My mum did - she was born in 1942. She had dead straight hair and sometimes used to set it with curlers and setting lotion, and it was to keep it in place if it got windy - a bobble hat or something would have flattened it down. Always really nice ones, silk, something from Liberty etc. She probably stopped sometime in the mid-80s.

Yes, DM often wore a headscarf, mainly to keep her hair in place I think, especially if it was a bit windy or damp outside. Perms weren't such a thing years ago, and she pinned her hair up every night and used setting lotion to put curls in, then wore a hairnet all night. So the last thing she needed was some wild weather to ruin all her efforts.

My grandma also wore the clear plastic ones as well. This was in the 80's

Grandma (Irish, Catholic Heritage) and a keen horse woman with stables - yes she did, but only sometimes.

Every Friday she had a shampoo and set and every Tuesday she had it pouffed up. She always wore a headscarf on the way back from the hairdressers if it was windy and usually at other times when it was windy. It was partly about her hair and partly about her ears - she was prone to ear ache. Always a nice silk scarf.

The farm hands wives almost always had a scarf, knotted under their chins in winter, and under the back of their hair in summer or when working.

Mother: b 1936 - not on your Nellie! She was more of a Mary Quant frock, chain belt and summer boot sort of girl. Although in the late 60s/early 70s, she had hats, with a scarf thing attached at the sides that knotted under the chin

Me: 1960 - there was a phase in the mid/late 70s where we wore cotton triangles covering our heads and knotted under our hair at the back. My mother used to say I looked like a potato picker and tut but they hid a multitude of sins greasy hair

My Mum, who would be over 90 if she was still with us, occasionally wore one when it was cold because it wouldn't have squashed her 1960s hairstyle like a hat would. But not for any other reason. In the 70s her vibe was very Margot Leadbetter - think long dresses, headband scarves. Posh choir dressing

My granny certainly did. I remember asking her about it and she said it kept her hair neat. My mum, born in 1955, never did.

Mum didn't, but my maternal granny (born 1901) definitely did. She had quite a range of scarves that she called her headsquares 😄

I think my mum wore it like this as it was in fashion at the time

Yes! Sherwood one all the time, as did her sisters. Very Mrs D'Oyle from Father Ted. Once she got to her late 60's though she started to wear normal hats - much warmer!

Yes, browns and mustards as you say, gone by mid 80s. She wore them with knee high brown leather boots and heavy leather handbag, square shaped. I remember not liking the 'look'.

My mum (now 91) did - not sure when she stopped wearing them on her head - would have been late 70s probably, possibly into early 80s. She also always carried a Rainmate in her bag (a plastic version that folded up into a tiny rectangle and had ties on it to tie under your chin). In later years she’d still wear headscarfs (and still does) but folded and tied round her neck. She’s got a lovely collection of them - many were Christmas/birthday presents

Same as my nan, just like the queen. She's late 70s now.

My mum wasn't born until '68 so this was well out of favour by then. My nan still wears hers if it's windy or rainy bless her.

I was born in 71, north west England. I don't remember my mum wearing a headscarf but the generation before her definitely did.

No, but my nan did, into the 90s. Regularly saw other older women wearing headscarves or those crinkly plastic rain bonnets when it was wet outside. This was in Norfolk though. Maybe it was different in London.

Not mum but I remember my grannies and g granny wearing them! Always wore them when going out. This was 80s Scotland

My Nan (born 1920s) did but my mum (born 1940s) didn't

My gran was born in the 20s and wore a head scarf when it was windy and she had to leave the house. Or when she'd had a fresh perm. I kept one when she died, it still smells of her perfume.
Can only remember my mum (born mid 50s) wearing one when she had a boyfriend that had a soft top car.

My grandmothers, both born around 1910, often wore a hat or scarve when outside but they were also of the generation that had a once a week hair wash and set at the hairdressers so that would probably explain why.

My mum would occasionally wear a hat but that was more for fashion in the 60's I think, like a Jackie Onassis pillbox style.

I remember an older lady offered me her spare rain bonnet when I was on a bus in the early 80's, I politely declined but was internally horrified!

Just to add she was born 43 and fairly fashionable. Eg. She wore bell bottoms in the 60s

I think it's to do with the hairstyle - my mum rocked the farah forcett wave in the 70's whereas her older sister (both born mid 40's) had 'set' hair like the queen so always wore a scarf. Definitely something I tend to think of more for older ladies.

Now those hideous floral nylon housecoats on the other hand, everyone had one!

My nan was born in the 1920s and wore a headscarf in the 80s but only if it was windy/raining or she was gardening or doing messy housework. DM and other grandma weren’t British but I can’t remember them ever wearing headscarves anyway.

Yes my Nan did. But not because of religious reasons it was to protect her hair from getting ruined (she would have rollers in night before) or just to keep her head warm.

My mum, (white British) wore a headscarf occasionally, through the 60's, as nobody wore beanie hats or anything else that would keep your head warm and your perm from becoming disarranged. So it was headscarves or nothing.

My White/Irish catholic nan wore a head scarf and rain hood. In early 70s living in england

Not my mum but granny did.