Meet the Other Phone. Protection built in.

Meet the Other Phone.
Protection built in.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Style and beauty

Looking for style advice? Chat all about it here. For the latest discounts on fashion and beauty, sign up for Mumsnet Moneysaver emails.

Beauty problems we didn't have in the 80's

199 replies

DameDiazepamTheDramaQueen · 16/01/2017 18:20

*Pores- no one fussed about open pores,in fact the only place you read about them was in a science paper at school.

*Cellulite- it was just 'dimply legs' if you were a bit fat,then suddenly magazines made it a 'thing!'

  • The right colour foundation- there were only about 3 shades back then and no one made a fuss if you had the wrong one as everyone didGrin

  • No one cared about the damage Sun In and lemon juice did to your hairShock

  • No one waxed their eye brows,we all went at them like crazy with a pair of tweezers!

  • 99% of people had pubes!

I was contemplating this around Tesco earlierGrin

OP posts:
DesolateWaist · 18/01/2017 22:19

For your nostalgic viewing pleasure:

Tessticklesyourfancy · 18/01/2017 22:21

Silky Mitt! That was the instrument on torture Grin
Bonne Bel, was that a brown type colour in a clear bottle? It was the silky Mitt stripper for the face Shock I remember the sting

228agreenend · 18/01/2017 22:35

I remember during the 80s having an Avon product to highlight the hair. You used a mascara-type brush and dipped it in a small bottle and then brushed it through your hair. I had a copper coloured one, and my sister had a silver one, but that turned our hair grey. I even remeber the packaging - mauve/pink colour with gold stars on it.

DameDiazepamTheDramaQueen · 18/01/2017 23:04

There was also a pump hair spray called FINESSE I think, and it was like glue, you could actually see the big globs of it on your hair but no one cared as it kept your 'big flick' in perfect place. There could've been a hurricane and our hair wouldn't have shifted.

OP posts:
lukeymom · 19/01/2017 00:10

I wore Oatmeal Beige foundation by Rimmel. Also Champink frosted lipstick. Black eyeliner and mascara. Sometimes Electric blue. Wore Poison perfume. Had big hair with lots of hair spray.
As for beauty problems,the only thing is that I had cellulite as a teenager in the late 80's. My thighs and bum were quite flabby.I saw for the first time on tv of a new procedure called Liposuction. I was fascinated by it. I so wanted it but didn't have the money.It took 10 years before I could finally have it done.

RubyFlint · 19/01/2017 00:23

Ha ha brilliant, this thread brings back so many memories. Constance Carroll eh? I just googled and you can still buy it! How funny.

Zoflorabore · 19/01/2017 00:33

Born in 78, my birthday was yesterday (18th ) and I was thinking of things like this!
Nostalgia...

I remember kiwi lip balm from the body shop
Cover girl make up- smelt divine
Exclamation! Perfume and another one in a blue bottle that I can't think of but can smellGrin. Thinking it begins with T
Ra-ra skirts
Waistcoats
Bros shoes!
Jelly shoes old school style
Mc hammer type trousers
Lots of day glo coloured clothes
Waspy belts- thick belts with a zip in
Matey bubble bath
Body shop baskets for your friends at Christmas
Scrunchies

have remembered the perfume! It was called Tribe

The best thing from the 80's though was the music.

burnishedsilver · 19/01/2017 08:08

I was always looking for a lipstick that was the same colour as germolene (back when it was pink) 😁

Tessticklesyourfancy · 19/01/2017 08:16

Body glitter, small pots of glitter suspended it gel. Glitter hairspray, both early 80s.
Opium, Rive Gauche, Beautiful and Anais Anais perfumes being used it such amounts that I'm amazed we didn't knock taxi drivers out going to Wakefield for a trip to Roof Top Gardens Grin

DesolateWaist · 19/01/2017 18:19

Constance Carroll eh? I just googled and you can still buy it!

I still use it! Shall I get my coat?

RubyFlint · 19/01/2017 22:09

Desolate aww sorry, I honestly had no idea CC was still in the shops. Haven't seen it for donkeys years. You know, like spangles.

poppym12 · 19/01/2017 23:15

I miss spangles

I was a rive gauche gal, followed by oscar de la renta. Fanciable boys always seemed to wear kouros or mandate aftershave (even though they only has fluffy faces and pimples).

My sister always wore opium and just remembering that smell gives me a headache.

Apologies for lack of capitals. I'm very lazy today.

CharlieSierra · 19/01/2017 23:43

Sorry, bit late to the party but had to pick up on this

I think the reason fake tan wasn't a "thing" was because it was actually acceptable to go out wearing tights with sandals

I was in my twenties through the 80s and I can categorically state that it's never been acceptable imo to wear tights with sandals. We used to wear leg make up or fake tan if getting our legs out and people also used sun beds. It wasn't a thing to be bright orange all year round though.

Tessticklesyourfancy · 20/01/2017 09:03

We never had bare legs in winter, that's for sure. It was tights from September right through until Spring Grin then it was skin tint or if you'd more money, stocking cream. We didn't want legs the same colour as our white stilettos Blush
When it came to actual sunbathing
SPF 8 was considered to more or less be sunblock, what we actually wanted to use was carrot oil Shock

TeethDrama · 20/01/2017 09:35

I remember being introduced to fake tan - my mum mentioned it in 1991 to me and I was amazed that there was such a thing, I'd never heard of it before! So it wasn't at all popular or common.

I went looking in Boots and the only one they had was a Piz Buin one, if St Tropez was around they didn't sell it there! The Piz Buin one was one shade only which was a kind of dark biscuit shade. I knew nothing about streaking or application (no mitts available and only advice was to "wash your hands" after use which as anybody knows does precisely nothing to stop dark fake tan developing on dry patches.)

Still, I happily covered myself in biscuit fake tan - photos from the time show me looking ok ish on my arms and legs, if a bit streaky and over-done, but I looked like I'd painted gravy powder on my face!! Grin

TeethDrama · 20/01/2017 09:37

Oh and I remember when colour-correcting concealer came out (Boots No7, green shade) and this was uh-mazing too, although nobody said you should cover it on top with foundation, so we all had slightly green looking noses and chins...

Nellyphants · 20/01/2017 09:55

Online that dark shiny bob & lipstick was my look in the 80s. I didn't want that, I wanted crunchy blonde hair. Sadly I never got it.

I'm due a revamp, my hair is still dark, I'll consider a bob again!

Sidge · 20/01/2017 10:10

Ah I loved my Miss Selfridge make up, white plastic cases with that pink kiss mark on it. If you had Miss Selfridge make up you were Properly Grown Up. I had that Iron Lady lipstick (or was it Iron Maiden?) (despite being pale and blonde and it gave me the lips of a corpse).

Tessticklesyourfancy · 20/01/2017 14:51

Iron lipstick! I had that plus a lotion thing called Googoo.
There was fake tan around in the 80s Duo Tan was a weird orange colour that ran in the rain. It absolutely stunk, I had to use it for school once, I was in Westside Story. My dad thought there was a problem with the plumbing in the bathroom, he then discovered the strange smell was coming from me Blush
Think that's why I only used No17 skin tint.
We never really bothered too much about a perfect tan, it was just wanting to take the glare off.

woodhill · 20/01/2017 15:58

Yes Sidge I posted earlier about Miss S lipstick & couldn't remember the name of that deep pink lipstick. I had the make up box in white & loved it.

Sidge · 20/01/2017 18:39

woodhill it was your post that triggered my memories of it!

Housewife2010 · 20/01/2017 18:48

Tans were a big thing. I used to sunbathe covered in coconut oil and put lemon juice in my dark hair for blonde highlights. I painted my tanned ties with Rimmels Gold Fever nail polish. Fortunately I always had long one length hair so it hasn't dated in photos.

Housewife2010 · 20/01/2017 18:52

I also remember Duo Tan. It had an immediate tint and then developed over night. Fourth year Juniors I went through a phase of applying it to my face every night before bed. My Mum eventually stopped me when she realised that I was going into school, orange

woodhill · 20/01/2017 18:57
Smile

I love this nostalgic thread

DameDiazepamTheDramaQueen · 20/01/2017 23:13

Weirdly,even though we were plastered in make up the idea of false eyelashes wouldn't have crossed our minds!

OP posts:
Swipe left for the next trending thread