Older Adults Are Revealing The "Weird" Beauty Trends And Routines From The Past That Would Be So Confusing Today

We recently asked older adults of the BuzzFeed Community to tell us the "weirdest" beauty trends and routines from the past that would confuse younger generations today. Here are the shocking results:

1."In the early 1970s, my mom had the beehive hairdo, and at night, she would wrap the beehive with toilet paper to hold it in place overnight! Worked like a charm!"

—trendyhawk442

2."We used to iron our long hair to get it as straight as possible. This required an accomplice to iron while the other stood stooped over the ironing board. I can't believe we actually did this."

—73, Iowa

3."As a child of the 70s, sunscreen was unheard of. We used baby oil, cocoa butter, and tanning oil (some of those were SPF 4). We'd lay in the sun for hours. It's a miracle we didn't burst into flames."

—56, Pennsylvania

"We used to slather ourselves with baby oil and lay out in the sun just hoping and praying to get that 'tropical golden glow,' but instead, we always ended up with blisters, second-degree burns, and peeling shoulders. Back in the 60s and 70s, there was no such thing as SPF."

—62, Texas

4."My mom would use a lighter to melt her eyeliner pencil for a more intense color (before liquid liner, I would assume). My grandmother would pinch her cheeks for blush."

—emcatt

5."Punk rockers used egg whites and Elmer's glue to get their mohawks extra spiky!"

—crafty_gm

6."My grandmother was blonde, and I was her only blonde grandchild. She showed me to put ketchup in my hair if it had gone a bit green (hard water/chlorine area) and then rinse it with cold chamomile tea. Works an absolute treat."

—annak4f45e0f65

7."In the 1990s, when I was in my 20s, it was fashionable to have overplucked thin eyebrows. I never did it because I have large eyes and didn't think it would suit me. I'm glad I didn't. I have friends who overplucked and now don't have any eyebrows left."

—vee1977

8."Sun In to add blonde streaks to your hair and baby oil for suntanning. Use a blow dryer on hair-sprayed bangs to get them to stand up, curl them with a curling iron (backward, of course), and then back-comb them to tease them out. Neon clothing, eyeshadow, and lipstick all together in the same outfit."

—surprisedfish60

9."My aunts used to put pop cans in their hair as homemade curlers. They said it worked really well!"

—amariem_88

"My mom used the big, frozen orange juice containers 😂."

—leighroy

10."Lemon juice to 'bleach' freckles. Also, lemon juice to lighten hair…neither worked."

—bittertoaster20

11."My college roommate spent so much time curling, teasing, and SPRAYING her bangs into the perfect shape that she only washed her bangs once a month. Her bangs were perfect '80s mall-chick bangs — very high! She would literally put a plastic sandwich bag on her bangs before showering so her bangs wouldn't get wet. By the end of the month, the amount of hairspray build up looked like the worst case of dandruff you could possibly imagine. When she finally did wash them, she had to take a fine tooth comb and comb out all the hairspray bits."

"Then, she would come them out — they reached her chin — put mousse in them, put in the pink plastic rollers, spray the heck out of them, and go to sleep. Every morning, when she got up, she'd roll them with a curling iron and spray them with hairspray while on the iron until they were crunchy. She'd end up with about six perfectly round, crunchy rolls. Then, she'd take a pick and pick them out. When she was finally done, she'd respray them. Sometimes, if she were going out, she'd repeat the process before leaving. I had a spiral perm and some curly bangs, but nothing compared to this — and I washed them every day!"

—50, Tennessee

12."Trying to use Kool-Aid to dye your hair. Also, do the kids still pierce their ears with safety pins?"

—wickedwalrus90

13."We would shave our legs with Vaseline instead of soap, shaving cream, etc. It left your legs shiny like glass, but it ruined your disposable razor."

—50, Virginia

14."I had a neighbor in the late '80s and early '90s who was so obsessed with having a tan that she would cover her body in Crisco shortening. She would scoop some out with her hands, rub it in like it was lotion, and lay in the sun for hours every day during the summer."

"She would get so dark, and I don’t remember her ever getting a sunburn."

—angrydaisy756

15."We'd use sun reflectors made of album covers and tin foil."

—63, Chicago

16."My mom made me sleep with a head full of curlers every night when I was a kid. When I was in middle school, my sisters told me it was time for my eyebrows to be plucked — one of the most painful experiences of my life! In high school, I didn't dare leave the house without first applying three different colors of eye shadow."

"Perms were also a big thing. And big hair."

—surprisedalligator80

And finally...

17."With the youth obsession today, it would surprise many to know that in the 1980s, many people were obsessed with trying to look older than they were. The chevron mustaches and exposed chest hair on young men (Tom Selleck was only 35 when Magnum, P.I. started), the padded shoulders and old-lady perms in women (Dolly Parton was only 34 when the movie 9 to 5 came out), and children dressing in tweed blazers or yachting clothes (looking at you, Brooke Shields)."

"Everyone wanted to appear 20 years older than they were. Now, everyone wants to look perpetually 15."

—43, Georgia

Older adults, what are some other beauty trends and routines that would be super confusing today? Let us know in the comments below, or if you prefer to remain anonymous, feel free to use this Google form.

Note: Some responses have been edited for length and/or clarity.