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, b.'33, used to wear a headscarf, queen-style. It was usually after having had her hair 'set' to protect it. She also wore a rain bonnet!

I don't recall her wearing a scarf into my teens, though.

I was born 70s, mum Catholic, England. No headscarf.

In our rural village in England in the 80s and into the early 90s I used to see women regularly walking around in headscarves. My mum didn't but my grandmother did.

I think Barbara wore her headscarf much better than Margo.

My gran got her hair shampooed and set at least once a week and wore a headscarf home. She had a number of head squares for wearing on windy days or tying her hair up in when she was doing the cleaning. She also kept a rain mate in her bag.

My other gran also had a housecoat and a scarf that she used when doing dusty jobs. She'd wear a scarf over her head if it was windy or wet and she was going down the shops.

This was 70s/80s.

My mum not so much I would say, although she had a lot of scarfs. She'd sometimes tie her hair back with one on the back of her head in the summer.

Oh my granny had one of those plastic ones. Yes it was pretty normal in the 70s for mostly older women to wear them.

My Scottish granny did in the 1980s

My gran did, in the 70s/80s. She was born 1922. She wore a plastic bonnet when it rained. I don’t remember my mum wearing one though.

I wonder if they will ever come back into fashion?

My mother never did but my nan wore one when I was little. She stopped sometime in the late 90s/early 2000s but I can't remember exactly when. She was born in 1929

I was born in 1955 and have never worn a headscarf nor did any of my family or friends. Perhaps it’s a regional thing.

Normal 🙂

My mother had one of those tightly folded plastic rain hoods in her handbag at all times.

She also used to go to the hairdressing salon once a week. I can remember a whole row of women sitting under the dyers with their hair in rollers and a brightly coloured nylon net scarf. Cup of tea, biscuit and a magazine. The kids all had colouring books or toys.

In Eastern Europe wearing scarves, even recently, was common. Occasionally, you will still see women of an older generation wearing a scarf out and about.

Yes my females relatives all did in the 60s and 70s. They all had rollered hair and couldn't risk the English wind/rain.

I've worn one a couple of times recently on a night out when I've done my hair and dp has been mortified!

My recollection in Ireland in 80s was older women wore them but by older I mean 60+. My gran was a young gran and she didn't but I remember some friends grans wearing them but none of the mothers.

My perception was that it was maybe a working class thing but that doesn't really tally with the Royals wearing them.

Yes my Irish mum wore scarves like this all the time when I was growing up, always tied under the chin, never tied back in a cool way at the back of the neck like Margot there in PP pic. My mum definitely suffered from wild Irish hair.

I wish they would! It would be great for those greasy hair days. We'll have to campaign for someone cool and fashionable to start wearing them and they'll come back in.

No but my nan did.

I'm from rural Wiltshire, growing up all of the women of a certain age wore a headscarf out of the house. Usually to keep their set or perm in place. My mum, born in 1920 would wear hers turban style when she was doing housework, again to protect her hair do. It was an age where women didn't wash their hair daily, some went to the hairdresser once a week, others gave themselves a wash and set at home once a week.

My Gran wouldn't leave the house without one. Presumably it was to protect her hair after it'd been permed and curled and whatever else ahe did to it. She didn't leave an inheritance but i kept a couple of her scarves cause they were too her not to

Me too! My Mum had one, and tried her level best to get me to wear one too. To be honest, they have their place in the world.

My DGM (on dads side) wore one as she would have her hair set once a week (or a neighbour did it, I can't remember exactly) so had a nylon scarf and/or rain hood to keep it nice.
In photos of my mum from the 60's there are a couple of her with a scarf on, I think particularly in her beehive phase, and she certainly had them in her drawer along with some 'smart' gloves which I never saw her wear

I vaguely remember my mother doing this and I was born in the late 70s (Ireland). I'd imagine she stopped when I was pretty young. Vaguely remember my grandmothers doing it too but they also stopped when I was young.

Me too. I think that fashion designers would LOVE to get us wearing hats and headscarves again - an entire world of relatively affordable accessories would open up to them/us.

Hermes works hard at it, and I have a vintage Hermes scarf, but I don't think I could quite go full "tied under the chin" with it, although privately I'd love to.

Some stylists are trying to make it happen - https://www.tiktok.com/@aestheticsofolive/video/7225611507596463406

Maybe it can be my spring look... :)

Both my grans did, but the older one (born about 1903) wore it ALL the time even indoors! She was never without it. The younger one (born late 1920s) wore it sometimes. My mum born in the fifties never wore one. All Irish catholic.