70s Hair Tricks that still work

Every decade thinks it invented "effortless hair." The 70s actually meant it. After the teased, sprayed, structural hair of the 60s, the decade swung hard toward natural texture, looser layers, and tricks that worked with your hair instead of building a shellac fortress on top of it. A lot of them never made it to the internet in any real detail. I found a few and put them through their paces.

What I Actually Tried

The overnight braid-set.

Instead of hot tools, damp hair braided before bed and released in the morning for loose, natural waves — the low-heat ancestor of the heatless curl trends that keep reappearing online with a new name every 18 months. Worked. Took some getting used to sleeping in braids, though. Woke up looking vaguely like I'd been in a fight with my pillow, but that's normal.

I don't think I care for the look on my thin hair. Instead of "I woke up like this" beachy waves, it's "I woke up and forgot to unplug my crimper."

Feathered layers without the cut.

Real 70s feathering depended on a specific layered haircut for straight hair. I don't have that cut, so I tried faking the look with my Caruso Steam curler which I adore. Find it on ebay, very old tech.

I've also tried this with regular hot rollers and the effect was actually better. I rolled all of the curls away from my face and rolled them sideways. This 70s hairstyle I surprisingly liked. Remington Ionic Conditioning hot rollers or Conair Ceramic are pretty close to my Caruso hot rollers.

The natural-oil scalp massage.

Less product, more circulation — the decade's whole ethos in one move. Genuinely relaxing. Did not transform my hair overnight, because nothing does, but a five-minute scalp massage before washing is a habit I'm keeping regardless. I used Jojoba oil since it's the closest thing to human sebum. Make sure whatever oil you choose is light.

Air-drying with product instead of heat.

The natural-beauty backlash of the era pushed women away from heavy styling and toward working with texture rather than against it. My hair air-dried with the right product looked more "undone in a good way." I'm terribly lazy even though I admit my hair looks better for days longer if I actually blowdry it.

The Honest Verdict

None of these are miracle tricks. They're all the same underlying idea repeated four ways: stop fighting your hair's actual texture and it'll do more of the work for you. Which, thirty years before "embrace your natural texture" became a whole skincare-aisle marketing category, the 70s were already saying, just less annoyingly.

The Betty Test

✔️ Does it require heat, or does it skip it entirely?
✔️ Can I do it the night before instead of adding a morning step?
✔️ Does it work with my texture, or fight it?
🤷🏻‍♀️ Would I actually keep doing this past the experiment?

FAQ

What hair trends came from the 1970s?

Feathered layers, natural texture over heavy styling, and lower-heat setting methods like overnight braiding all defined the decade's shift away from the structured looks of the 1960s.

Do overnight braids actually work for waves?

Yes, on damp hair braided before bed, released the next morning for loose natural waves without heat tools.

Can you get feathered hair without a layered cut?

Not exactly, but a round brush with a cool-shot finish can fake a softer version of the look temporarily.

Is air-drying better for your hair than blow-drying?

Air-drying skips repeated heat exposure, which over time can help prevent the dryness and breakage that come with frequent hot styling.

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