Leg tan was a thick liquid and you had to keep it even or you had blotchy legs. We'd paint a seam up the back of our legs too.
Leg Tan – What I can remember mostly, is trying to look glamorous on a shoe-string budget. Nylon stockings or silk stockings were very difficult to get or too expensive for my pocket, so we used a leg tan concoction which we rubbed on. It was a thick liquid and you had to take care to keep it even or you had blotchy legs. We’d ‘paint’ a seam up the back of our legs too.
One thing you had to do was keep your legs dry. You got rainspots if your legs got wet.
Perms – Having a perm was something else. It took ages and smelled foul. There were really heavy hair clips, which were kept on an electrical apparatus and your head was a mass of black and red clips.
The perm was always frizzy – for months it seemed. But oh, so glamorous.
We wore pancake make-up and Max Factor colour-fast lipstick – ‘the lipstick of the stars’. We washed our hair on Friday nights for ‘Friday night was Amami night’ – according to an advert heard frequently on Radio Luxembourg. Women had to try to:
“Keep young and beautiful
It’s your duty to be beautiful …”