Diamonds & Dames Does: Nora Charles

For my most recent episode of Diamonds & Dames, I decided to consider the request of those who have been hankering after a Nora Charles (Myrna Loy) hairstyle on my channel requests for a while. Since my hair is in a bob, the only real differences between my hair and Loy's is that her's is cut slightly longer in the back ,as per the style of the day, and mine has bangs. But since those things aren't detrimental to the look I was aiming for, I broke out my foam rollers and pin curl clips to tackle it anyway.


A little about the movie...

The Thin Man (1934)
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Nick and Nora Charles are a happily married couple living in upper society New York when Nick is approached by an acquaintance about doing some detective work. Since Nick hasn't been a detective for years, he balks at the idea, but Nora eggs him on since this is all very exciting and new to her. Amid cocktail parties, witty banter, kooky friends, and stellar 1930's fashions, the case is solved- leaving Nick and Nora more nauseatingly inlove than ever.

Myrna Loy has never been more irresistibly charming than she is as Nora, and she and William Powell's Nick have some of the best onscreen chemistry in history. Dashiell Hammett was the creator of these gumshoe stories and the plots are sometimes predictable, but the offbeat humor, oddball characters, and never-ending supply of one-liners make the movies utterly timeless. Part of this is thanks to Van Dyke's direction, which keeps the story clipping along even if we aren't necessarily on the edge of our seats.

My Rating: 10/10
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The Tutorial:

For this style, I used pin curls on the top and sides and small foam rollers in the lower sections along the nape. The reason for this is that my hair is still cut somewhat asymmetrically after my pixie grow-out process. So pin curls are still difficult on those lower sections. I sprayed each section with simple water before rolling it up, although my hair did have some setting mousse scattered through it beforehand. For those of you who wonder, I still am using the remains of my last can of the Sahag Sculpt Mousse (which is now unavailable unless you are super lucky) but will likely go back to Lottabody Setting Lotion when I'm finished.

The style I chose from the film was one of several that Myrna Loy wore. Her bob was at times peppered with accessories, at times center parted, at times side parted. Since I have a super angry little cowlick, I opted for the latter at this time.

After my hair was completely dry (morning, since I slept on the set), I removed my trusty headscarf and began releasing the clips and rollers. From there, styling this one is very simple and involves very little effort. A basic knowledge of brushing out a vintage set is necessary, but if you're not familiar with that process, it really just means that after the initial brush out, when hair gets super frizzy, you just have to keep brushing. Brushing 'past the frizz' is an age-old technique and still works beautifully today. You will see waves begin to develop instead of frizzy curls and you can then take hands and perhaps a little pomade to begin molding those waves into place. Since I have bangs, I had to clip them out of the way and work my top hair over them to somewhat mimc the look of Loy. But if you don't have bangs, you should be able to more closely copy her casual look by brushing back, pushing forward, and repeating that process until you have your desired look. As far as product goes, I used very few. I strongly believe that a Denman Styling Brush is a MUST-HAVE for vintage styles and if you're lucky enough to find the now-discontinued Vintage Glam Thermal Shine Spray, make sure to grab it!

Otherwise, here is the video from last week. As always, let me know if you have any questions!

So Long, Dearies!!