Soviet beauty salons. About nail salons in the USSR Manicure in the USSR

In the late seventies, our heroine Galina Ivantsova changed her job at a scientific institute to a place at a manicure table. Soviet women are not some "filthy French women." It turns out that queues for manicurists lined up in the morning, although this was not included in any social package or standard of everyday Soviet life. About tips, conditions and connections - a story by Galina Ivantsova for Onliner.by.

A few years ago, Galina Ivantsova retired. I would have worked further, but my eyesight began to fail. For a manicurist, the eyes are just as important as the confidence of the hands, so our heroine changed her sedentary work pattern to active retirement: a house, a garden, grandchildren.

- I came to the hairdressing salon No. 2 in 1979,- says Galina (by the way, the Minsk hairdresser on Kirova, 1, opposite the station, is still working). - Prior to that, she managed to work for six years as a technician at the Institute of Soil Science and Agrochemistry. Around science, professors ...

The Soviet reward system was, of course, not without costs. For her work at the institute, Galina Ivantsova received 70-80 rubles a month. After a while, working as a manicurist, she will receive three to four times more.

- My mother pushed me: “What kind of salary is this!”- recalls Galina. - Through a friend, I came to get a job at the hairdresser's #2. Cool place for those days. Everyone came there to work "from someone" and on the recommendation. People were not taken from the street.

Jobs in the hairdressing salon appeared extremely rarely. The traditionally lucrative public service sector was protected.

- Five masters in the women's room, the same number in the men's room, four manicurists, cleaners, wardrobe girls - with the exception of a couple of people, all Jews: well-groomed, stately, smart. They went to them for hairstyles, manicures, communication and, of course, for culinary recipes. They taught me life without a drop of doubt, and I am still grateful to them. Many of them were long overdue for retirement, but they were in no hurry. And only when the path to Israel opened, they began to slowly gather. So there was an opportunity to get a free place.

There was nowhere to study - sit next to me, watch and remember. A couple of weeks later, having done manicures for my mother, friends and neighbors, I took the first client.

Manicure cost 22 kopecks - cleaning without coating. For 30 kopecks it was possible to make it coated. The set of loaves plus brown bread cost the same amount. Cheap? Yes. Today I would not go for a manicure, being a pensioner.

We had a plan - 7 rubles per shift. Count how many cleanings you need to do. And not just how, but in order to develop a clientele.

There was a problem with the instrument. Liquid varnishes gave exceptionally scary colors. In quality, they were more like building paints. But there should have been 20 flowers on the table - they mixed, they were wiser. To make it beautiful, they bought jars of petroleum jelly at the pharmacy. Vaseline was washed out, and the jars were filled with varnish. They put everything in some boxes from under imported sweets or cookies. Then the French perfume "Klima" appeared. When the perfume ran out, customers would bring us empty bottles. We poured varnishes into them. Workplace was transformed.

Even later, imported varnishes appeared on the market, we bought them with our own money. The client could agree to the Soviet varnish according to the official price list, or he could quietly pay us extra for the imported one.

The masters of the women's hall earned the most at the hairdresser's, especially during the season when styling, curling, dyeing began - up to 25 rubles could be received per day. My official salary was 140-160 rubles, not counting the "left" money. It is today that tips are legal, but earlier the authorities looked at them differently.

I remember well the first time they left me 15 or 20 kopecks for a tip. It offended me. But the Jewish colleagues quickly cooled down: wait, then you will be offended that you didn’t put in enough. In fact, I began to receive several times more than at the institute.

Once a respectable woman came into the hall with a child by the hand. She introduced herself as the wife of the chairman of the city executive committee and said to mow her grandson without a queue. Arkasha's hairdresser, pointing to the end of the line, replied: "Lenin - he was standing in line." Yes, we were, as they say, "useful" people.

I came to work at twenty minutes to seven in the morning and saw a crowd in front of the door: students, workers, pensioners, gypsies. We stood in a live queue, the record was conditional. If someone from the VIP entered through the back door, then he was simply entered retroactively. And so that the people from the queue would not become indignant, the cleaning lady carried the sheets to the back door. And a dear client entered the hall already in the image - they say, "in work."

Store directors, BSU professors, officials' wives... We received benefits in return. Shops were like coming home. A cleaning lady runs in: a sausage was delivered to a nearby store! We take a sheet, go through the back door and exit with a full bag. Weighing, payment - all later.

In the late eighties, hairdressing salon No. 2 was closed for repairs, and Galina Ivantsova moved to another, even more famous salon - Alexandrina.

I can only say good things about my colleagues. We managed to acquire, support and develop a strong school of manicure. In conditions of scarcity and lack of tools, we managed to show amazing results. Own customer base was not an official goal. But only in this way the first experience of helpful and attentive performers was formed in the USSR.

The nineties for manicurists are already completely different times. A tool, varnishes appeared on the market. Men began to come more often, there were businessmen, and bandits, and ordinary people. Alexander Solodukha drove up in a Mercedes, played us a cassette with his songs - we listened. His hair has always been not very chic, but he is a sociable and cheerful person. There were deputies, artists, scientists…

- Do you yearn for the USSR?

- What are you! No, no and NO! We often had guests, and setting the table was a real disaster. We could go to the store manager, but if he himself is empty, then what will he share? Constant running around, grabber, deficit. I don't even want to think about the past because of this. And the streamer from the queues at the end of the month? Was my family wealthy? There was a TV, a Zhiguli, a VCR appeared. But what is wealth? Therefore, I do not yearn for the USSR.

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If you were lucky, you could even get a manicure or pedicure. The happy owner of an ideal appearance walked happy for a couple of days, and a week later he went to the master again - it was difficult to do this at home.

There were no beauty salons in the USSR

Let's start with the fact that there were no beauty salons in the modern sense in the USSR. There were just barbershops, but not every one of them could boast even an ordinary sign with the name. So Soviet people simply found their master in a barbershop around the corner and went to him regularly, families and even generations.
Those "salons" that bore the name turned out to be the best and most popular. One of the famous barbershops of the USSR was the Moscow "Enchantress". In the early 70s, it opened on Novy Arbat and captivated the inhabitants of the city. A huge hall with a panoramic window overlooking the street, the most modern equipment, which, of course, was much easier to get in the capital than somewhere on the outskirts, and masters famous for victories in competitions. Everyone dreamed of getting a haircut at the Enchantress, but not everyone succeeded. I had to sign up for a haircut for a long time, there weren’t enough places for everyone. The barbershop's regulars were actresses, singers, and wives of high-ranking party officials. The cafe located on the second floor added a special charm to the "Enchantress". Waiting for the appointed time, fashionistas could drink a cup of coffee and discuss the latest gossip. So the barbershop became not just a place for the transformation of Cinderellas into princesses, but also a cultural center. Soon "Charodeyka" became a real brand, and hairdressers across the country rushed to take over the name from their metropolitan colleague.

Elite barbershop "Charodeyka"

Beauty is worth a penny

It is interesting that anyone could afford a haircut in the elite "Enchantress" - the prices in it were almost the same as the usual ones. The fact is that the price list of hairdressing services, like any other, in the USSR was approved by the state and only slightly adjusted depending on the region. For example, in the men's hall, a mustache cut cost an average of 40 kopecks, and beards - 55 kopecks. For the famous "model" haircut, the builder of socialism had to pay 40 kopecks. The price for refreshing the face with cologne ranged from 5 to 20 kopecks. In the women's hall, a Sasson haircut, fashionable in the 70s, cost an average of 1 ruble 60 kopecks, curling hair with curlers - 80 kopecks. For a complete set of perm and haircuts, Soviet beauties had to fork out and part with almost 5 rubles! By the way, men and women were certainly served separately: the ladies did not want to reveal all their secrets.
"Charodeyka" was the most famous hairdressing salon in Moscow

Curlers are an integral part of any Soviet hairdressing salon

Rows of sushuars and sugar instead of varnish

Indeed, a hairdressing salon for ladies became a kind of beauty factory. It is unlikely that the rows of women sitting under sushuars and peacefully leafing through magazines could cause admiration from the opposite sex. Besides professional tools quickly ended, and even masters in barbershops used unsightly folk remedies. They washed their hair with beer and soaked strands with it, curling them on curlers. When the hairspray ran out, sweet water was diluted with sugar or powder and the bouffants were fixed with this mixture.

Rows of sushuars are a real symbol of Soviet hairdressing salons

The size of the pile matters

Fashion for hairstyles was dictated by scarce foreign magazines and new films. In 1956, the film "The Sorceress" was released with Marina Vladi, making straight hair popular. In 1959, the film Babette Goes to War was released, starring Brigitte Bardot. Soviet women of fashion immediately rushed to hairdressers for a Hollywood hairstyle. What they just didn’t put in such “babettes” for volume: combing, nylon stockings and even banks. By the beginning of the 60s, hairstyles with huge bouffants came into fashion, and not only adult women wore them, but also young girls. And when the girls came to school, they were often checked to see if the students had bouffants. If they were, they were sent home to be smoothed. The apotheosis of the 60s was the beehive hairstyle, which could even be made from hair middle length. Rare happy owners of hairpieces curled overlays at home and carried them ready to the hairdresser so as not to dry them for hours under a hair dryer.
Combing, nylon stockings and even cans were put into the bouffants for volume.

The more fleece, the better

Like Mathieu and Orlova

Also in use was a hairstyle “like Mireille Mathieu” or curls “like Orlova”. It is believed that it was Orlov's love that was one of the first Soviet women who opted for plastic surgery. To the list of services of "beauty salons" of the USSR plastic surgery did not enter, so the women watched with surprise Stalin's favorite actress, who was getting younger every year, and tried to achieve the same effect with grandmother's methods: sour cream masks and cucumbers on the eyes.

A rare woman in the USSR did not try to make curls "like Orlova's"
Among the Moscow salons, the Red Poppy barbershop was also famous. In fact, she had no name, but people just got used to calling her that because of the cafe of the same name nearby. It was located on the corner of Petrovka and Stoleshnikov Lane, besides, local hairdressers were known for their skill. Of course, the “Red Poppy” was still inferior to the “Enchantress”, but even here it was necessary to sign up in advance. The popularity was added by the fact that there was a legend in the city that the craftsmen worked here in white coats over their naked bodies.

Darling men's haircut of that time: "model"
The main problem of the Soviet "salons" was still the fragility of the effect. Professional styling, manicure or pedicure is almost impossible to reproduce perfectly at home, and I had to go back to the hairdresser a week later.
Ekaterina Astafieva

Even the youngest readers, whose mothers and grandmothers hunted for the same beauty treasures and kept the same scarce cosmetic gifts from abroad, can keep memories of cult cosmetics in the USSR. Times change, and since Lancôme powder has ceased to be amazing, we recall the harsh Soviet makeup products, many of which can still be found on the shelves.

Mascara "Leningradskaya" for eyebrows and eyelashes

The very mascara that should have been spit on (or soaked in other, more hygienic ways), scrape with a tiny toothbrush, and apply to the eyelashes. Until the 1950s, all mascaras were produced in this format: Rimmel, Maybelline, and the Svoboda factory had the so-called cake mascara. It had to be applied thickly and quickly, and skilled people really managed to create fluffy voluminous eyelashes with the help of compact mascara. Many, by the way, after the procedure also separated them with a needle for lack of a comb for eyelashes, and if the mascara got into the eyes, irritation was guaranteed. If you like pain, you can buy a copy of Leningradskaya in a variety of stores, and if you just like the vintage atmosphere, look for modern counterparts in conceptual brands: for example, Bésame Cosmetics produces such a nice solid mascara.

Foundation "Ballet"

58 rubles

Another bestseller of the Svoboda factory is the first Soviet Foundation. The name transparently hints at the ambitions of the product: it is practically makeup, very dense and stable. On the one hand, he really covered all the redness and pimples, on the other hand, he looked like a mask, could emphasize bumps, lay down in stripes and do many other things, because of which he created more problems than convenience. In addition, the cream was produced in only one shade,. "Ballet" can be bought to this day, but in three color options: beige, peach and natural. The tool has become lighter, retained 100% masking skills and can even be suitable for people with unpretentious skin: it contains glycerin, lanolin, beeswax and other familiar components.

Perfume "Red Moscow"

636 rubles

Today, most people will say about this floral chypre that it smells like a grandmother - "Red Moscow" could be found in almost every home on all dressing tables in the country. If we discard the stereotypes, wearing "Moscow" is possible and necessary: it is a complex and bright fragrance, and it is better than many conventional evening scents from the mass market. Him rich story: originally named "The Empress's Favorite Bouquet" and dedicated to the 300th anniversary of the Romanov dynasty, the fragrance has survived the revolution and change of power to become a true symbol of Soviet elegance. In the USSR, and even the Novaya Zarya factory itself had other perfumes, but Moskva easily overcame class differences and financial restrictions, and therefore became the main one.

Ruby Rose Eyeshadow Palette

450 rubles

A real flood of the market with cheap imported cosmetics happened in the 80s: crazy-colored nail polishes, mother-of-pearl lipsticks, powders with disgusting sponges in the kit. For those who preferred the one that creates a holiday on the face to basic cosmetics, the Ruby Rose multi-color palettes of shadows were the object of desire: sets of 12 or 18 colors existed, it seems, in all possible versions. Of course, adjusted for fashion: basically everyone chose mother-of-pearl blue, white, purple, green shades or used brown ones. The shadows fell, lay unevenly, but in the 80s and 90s (especially for schoolgirls) they seemed no worse than unattainable luxury palettes - they could make the perfect make-up for a disco. The brand still exists.

Hairspray "Charm"

169 rubles

Perm, hydrogen peroxide and other things of dubious use were often responsible for the hairstyles of Soviet women, and daily styling products were often homemade - for example, sugar syrup. Therefore, the very fact of the appearance of an affordable domestic hairspray in the 70s was perceived as an event, and the composition, texture properties and fragrances, and other trifles worried the consumer a little. By the way, “Charm” varnishes cannot be called of poor quality: they are not very convenient to spray and easy to apply more than necessary, but they perfectly fix the hair. The era of bouffants has passed, and the Charm product line is replenished with a variety of new products and other formats.

Rose Powder Lancôme

2 873 rubles

Despite the fact that in almost every category of makeup or care products there was a domestic substitute for luxury, Soviet women dreamed of something else: powders, blushes and lipsticks of the famous expensive brands Lancôme, Estée Lauder, Dior. Alas, Soviet lipsticks sometimes tasted like either soap or rubber, and the powders lay down in a thick layer. It was possible to get a French product with a pleasant texture and delicate fragrance by being born very rich, visiting the Beryozka store or catching dealers in the market. Not so much has changed: most people still prefer Lancôme powder today to domestic flower powder.

Kiki nail polish

79 rubles

Another herald of budget changes is Kiki's colorful nail polishes, available in hundreds of textures and colors. Due to the relatively low price of consumables, manicures could be changed at least every day: they did not last long, however. Perhaps not even because of the properties of the varnish itself, but due to the fact that the base, fixative and top for manicure were then excesses - the nails easily deteriorated. Today, Kiki-branded nail polishes still come out, but times have changed, and even in their price range, you can find better and more interesting products, and shimmery blue nail polish or a shade of fuchsia are in store for time travel.

Views: 1906

It feels like in Smolensk everyone is doing manicures all day long! - my metropolitan guest exclaimed irritably, calling two dozen salons.
- What else is that! IN Soviet times it was even worse. It was impossible to get a manicure, - I consoled.
- Come on, in Soviet times, we didn’t even have a manicure, what kind of Smolensk is there!
I don’t know how it is in the capital, but, according to Olga Kaurova, a manicurist with twenty years of experience, manicure was very popular in Smolensk. Apparently, the Smolensk people devoted much more time to it than to what "there is no such thing in the Soviet Union."

GIVE MANICURE IN THE USSR!

I began to be interested in manicure in my early childhood, in the early eighties. For the first four years of my life, I simply admired my mother's nails, and then put the knowledge I gained into practice. I stealthily took my grandmother's "Lancome" from the foreign exchange store and "unmanicured" myself, dolls, hares ... I also did not ignore the wallpaper and new furniture. Grandpa's false teeth followed, but, fortunately, my father woke up in time.
“Well, mommy, bunnies want to be beautiful too,” I whimpered, hiding under the table.
A little later, my mother brought some kind of miracle of technology from a business trip. It was a bright red apparatus called "Echo" with many incomprehensible attachments. The name did not quite correspond to reality: the device made such sounds that not a single echo in the world can be compared. It was the great-grandmother of modern hardware manicure. I disliked the car from the first day: my mother paid too much attention to it. How "Echo" can contribute to the beauty of nails, I did not understand. However, I still have not been able to comprehend the secret of the "Soviet miracle".
“Mommy, why are you so cut? I asked every evening.
When mother finally got tired of the naive childish question, she threw the "Echo" away. A couple of weeks later, a certain aunt Masha came to visit us. She was clearly out of sorts and in a hurry.
- And what is this aunt? I asked as soon as Aunt Masha disappeared.
“That’s my manicurist,” Mom said proudly. It was the mid eighties outside.
“I have been doing manicures for twenty years,” says Olga, a manicure and pedicure specialist. “I remember very well how it all began. I was going to enter the physical institute, but it didn’t work out. I imagined what it was like. Some scissors, tongs. They didn’t explain anything to us, they just showed us. I returned to Smolensk and set to work. There were few salons, but there were many who wanted to. I will never forget my first visitor. She patiently waited an hour and a half, during which time I managed to cut nine fingers! My hands looked even worse than before the manicure ... Manicure was done then, mainly by the intelligentsia. All the pleasure cost ninety kopecks. Gradually, I learned everything, even became a laureate all-Russian competition. Queues began to form for me. Yes, yes, real queues, like for sausage!" The Soviet Union collapsed, a new era began. People were interested in more vital issues. Only a select few went for a manicure.

THE MOST IMPORTANT OF THE ARTS IS...

"U real lady nails should be well-groomed and painted with red lancome, - this phrase was uttered by my mother at any opportunity.
I understood why Vitalik from the parallel class did not pay attention to me, and complained to my mother. Mom made a decision: it's time.
So I first got to the "adult" edged manicure. The purpose of the means did not justify: Vitalik did not notice anything. Then I painted my nails black, orange, colorless ... until Vitalik didn’t like me. I was completely disappointed with the manicure. Then there was graduation, studying at the institute. Manicure became popular again. The fashion trend did not pass me by, and after a long break, I again went for a manicure. Red Lancome is out of fashion. Now they painted bizarre "Playboy bunnies" on the nails, decorated them with rhinestones, piercings. The nails became unimaginably long. I thought for a long time what to draw on them, and decided to leave everything as it is. It was the end of the nineties.

WIFE! IT'S TIME FOR YOU TO MANICURE!

professional advice

how to care for nails
- don't forget to rub your hands protective cream
- Do your homework with gloves
- regularly use homemade scrubs
- make hand masks, baths with sea salt
- in winter, do not leave the house without warm mittens
- Get a manicure at least once every two weeks.

To build a “babeta” out of your hair, arrange a chemical explosion on your head, curl curls “like Orlova’s”, or simply freshen up with cologne - all this could easily be done by a visitor to a Soviet beauty salon. If you were lucky, you could even get a manicure or pedicure. The happy owner of an ideal appearance walked happy for a couple of days, and a week later he went to the master again - it was difficult to do this at home. Ekaterina Astafieva will tell about the history of the places where Soviet dandies and fashionistas preened.

There were no beauty salons in the USSR

Those "salons" that bore the name turned out to be the best and most popular. One of the famous barbershops of the USSR was the Moscow "Enchantress". In the early 70s, it opened on Novy Arbat and captivated the inhabitants of the city. A huge hall with a panoramic window overlooking the street, the most modern equipment, which, of course, was much easier to get in the capital than somewhere on the outskirts, and masters famous for victories in competitions. Everyone dreamed of getting a haircut at the Enchantress, but not everyone succeeded. I had to sign up for a haircut for a long time, there weren’t enough places for everyone. The barbershop's regulars were actresses, singers, and wives of high-ranking party officials. The cafe located on the second floor added a special charm to the "Enchantress". Waiting for the appointed time, fashionistas could drink a cup of coffee and discuss the latest gossip. So the barbershop became not just a place for the transformation of Cinderellas into princesses, but also a cultural center. Soon "Charodeyka" became a real brand, and hairdressers across the country rushed to take over the name from their metropolitan colleague.

There were no beauty salons in the modern sense in the USSR

Elite barbershop "Charodeyka"

Beauty is worth a penny

It is interesting that anyone could afford a haircut in the elite "Enchantress" - the prices in it almost did not differ from the usual ones. The fact is that the price list of hairdressing services, like any other, in the USSR was approved by the state and only slightly adjusted depending on the region. For example, in the men's room, cutting a mustache cost an average of 40 kopecks, and beards - 55 kopecks. For the famous "model" haircut, the builder of socialism had to pay 40 kopecks. The price for refreshing the face with cologne ranged from 5 to 20 kopecks. In the women's hall, a Sasson haircut, fashionable in the 70s, cost an average of 1 ruble 60 kopecks, curling hair with curlers - 80 kopecks. And in order to get a complete set of perms and haircuts, Soviet beauties had to fork out and part with almost 5 rubles! By the way, men and women were certainly served separately: the ladies did not want to reveal all their secrets.

"Charodeyka" was the most famous hairdressing salon in Moscow

Curlers are an integral part of any Soviet hairdressing salon

Rows of sushuars and sugar instead of varnish

Indeed, a hairdressing salon for ladies became a kind of beauty factory. It is unlikely that the rows of women sitting under sushuars and peacefully leafing through magazines could cause admiration from the opposite sex. In addition, professional products quickly ended, and even masters in hairdressing salons used unsightly folk remedies. They washed their hair with beer and soaked strands with it, curling them on curlers. When the hairspray ran out, sweet water was diluted with sugar or powder and the bouffants were fixed with this mixture.

In the salons of the USSR, sugar water was sometimes used instead of hairspray.

Rows of sushuars are a real symbol of Soviet hairdressing salons.

The size of the pile matters

Fashion for hairstyles was dictated by scarce foreign magazines and new films. In 1956, the film "The Sorceress" was released with Marina Vladi, making straight hair popular. In 1959, the film Babette Goes to War was released, starring Brigitte Bardot. Soviet women of fashion immediately rushed to hairdressers for a Hollywood hairstyle. What they just didn’t put in such “babettes” for volume: comb-outs, nylon stockings and even cans. By the beginning of the 60s, hairstyles with huge bouffants came into fashion, and not only adult women wore them, but also young girls. And when the girls came to school, they were often checked to see if the students had bouffants. If they were, they were sent home to be smoothed. The apotheosis of the 60s was the beehive hairstyle, which could be made even from medium length hair. Rare happy owners of hairpieces curled overlays at home and carried them ready to the hairdresser so as not to dry them for hours under a hair dryer.

Combing, nylon stockings and even cans were put into the bouffants for volume.

The more fleece, the better

Like Mathieu and Orlova

Also in use was a hairstyle “like Mireille Mathieu” or curls “like Orlova”. It is believed that it was Orlov's love that was one of the first Soviet women who decided on plastic surgery. Plastic surgery was not included in the list of services of the "beauty salons" of the USSR, so women watched with surprise their favorite actress Stalin, who was getting younger every year, and tried to achieve the same effect with grandmother's methods: sour cream masks and cucumbers on the eyes.

A rare woman in the USSR did not try to make curls "like Orlova's"

Among the Moscow salons, the Red Poppy barbershop was also famous. In fact, she had no name, but people just got used to calling her that because of the cafe of the same name nearby. It was located on the corner of Petrovka and Stoleshnikov Lane, besides, local hairdressers were known for their skill. Of course, the “Red Poppy” was still inferior to the “Enchantress”, but even here it was necessary to sign up in advance. The popularity was added by the fact that there was a legend in the city that the craftsmen worked here in white coats over their naked bodies.

Favorite men's haircut of the time: "model"

The main problem of the Soviet "salons" was still the fragility of the effect. Professional styling, manicure or pedicure is almost impossible to reproduce perfectly at home, and I had to go back to the hairdresser a week later. The services that were offered in the USSR could only correct aesthetic shortcomings, but they did not fundamentally solve the problems.