The Home Front in World War Two

by Susie Hodge

  Even after the war ended in Europe, most members of the armed forces had to carry on until Victory in Japan was declared in August.

  When the war ended, there remained the massive problem of rebuilding Britain’s devastated cities.

  5

  YOUR BATTLE ORDERS

  “War gives us a chance to show our mettle. We wanted equal

  rights with men; they took us at our word. We are proud to work

  for victory beside them. And work is not our only task. We must

  triumph over routine; keep the spirit of light-heartedness. Our

  faces must never reflect personal troubles.” ~ Yardley

  advertisement in 1942

  Yardley was not the only cosmetic company that told women blatantly to make their appearances a priority during the war. Cosmetic advertising was used almost as propaganda as it was seen as unpatriotic not to try to look one’s best. The Yardley ad above continued: “With leisure and beauty-aids so rare, looking our best is especially creditable. Let us face the future bravely and honour the subtle bond between good looks and good morale.” Advertisers and beauty journalists constantly reminded their readers that, more than ever, it was their duty to look their best. Most advertising used a rather condescending tone of voice that would irritate many in the twenty-first century, (“match-made for flattery”, “a woman’s crowning glory” and “sure you couldn’t be lovelier if you took more care?”) but women of the 1940s were used to and accepted this. Another Yardley ad of the war period ran: “Put your best face forward…To look lovely while you ‘look lively’ is a big help to good morale, for good looks and a high heart go together.” An ad for Elizabeth Arden ran: “Tomorrow takes a bow! Yesterday’s self was glamorous – today’s is serious and hardworking. Tomorrow’s – with the consciousness of work well done – will shine forth in the beauty and gaiety that is every woman’s birthright...Tomorrow’s self will be a woman whose smile we are proud to receive.”

  Make-up

  It had been realised quite early on in the war that looking good boosted the morale of everyone – and women in particular were urged to look their best when their husbands came home, whether from work or on leave from fighting. So the government tried to encourage them, despite the terrible circumstances, to take care of their appearances as much as they could. Before the war, the wearing of cosmetics had been considered by many as being rather vulgar; anything more than a restrained dab of powder had been disapproved of as not respectable. But once the war started and everything seemed so drab, increasing numbers of women began wearing more make-up. It was a way that they could still feel feminine while they were taking on men’s roles. Many of the older generation were shocked to see women in uniform wearing lipstick, foundation and powder, but the heavy make-up worn at first to counteract the effect of severe uniforms did not last long as by 1941, cosmetics became increasingly scarce. In October 1942, an article in Good Housekeeping written by Susan Drake was called ‘How do you look when he comes home?’ Typically for the time, it concentrated on encouraging women readers to make themselves attractive for their men! It ran:

  “…Today when there are so many good excuses to let appearances slide there is no need to search for one. There’s the war, the shortage of cosmetics, and there’s the one about working so hard there isn’t time anyway. But, at the risk of being called frivolous or superficial, I’m sticking to my opinion that a woman’s job of keeping herself attractive is as important now as ever it was. This is as true of older women as younger folk... The truth is that economy and a right attitude to wartime conditions should be as nearly invisible as possible.”

  The fashion for make-up was established and old taboos of disrespectability had almost vanished. Women found it confidence-boosting; a way of making themselves feel better and they did not want to stop wearing it. As the war continued, there was rarely enough stock of anything to be found anywhere, but in an attempt to hold on to some semblance of glamour, many improvised when they could not get hold of essential items.

  Simplicity was the key to the application and style, predominantly because there were so few choices of products and colours. Brands available at the start of the war included Yardley, Coty, Revlon, Helena Rubenstein, Max Factor, Tangee, Goya, Dubarry et cie, Snowfire, Dorothy Gray, Boots Number 7 and Elizabeth Arden, but the technology was limited and tastes were restricted; directly inspired by Hollywood. Skin was creamy-pink and powdered; lips were matte red and eyelashes were enhanced with mascara – this came in cake form, with a tiny brush like a miniature toothbrush and required moisture (usually spit) to apply it. Eyebrows were arched and defined. A particular orangey-red lipstick shade by Tangee (priced at 6d) was popular as it contrasted well with the khaki uniforms of the ATS but this soon became scarce, although lipstick continued to be manufactured on a reduced scale throughout the war, as it was considered to be psychologically important. The early metal packaging however, was soon replaced with plastic and then with paper. Pond’s cold cream, Vaseline and Vitapointe conditioning cream for hair were the few items usually available throughout the war and these were used extensively. Women constantly checked their local chemists’ shops and any new cosmetic supplies were sold out within an hour. Well-known brands were scarce and some enterprising chemists made their own cosmetics such as cold cream, hand cream and talcum powder from simple ingredients. Many women would take their own jugs or bottles to particular chemists who would fill up their containers with home-made creams for a small price. Perfumes were also in limited availability and those that were around were quite strong – effectiveness overcame subtlety. The three perfumes that most women remember were Ashes of Roses and Evening in Paris both made by Bourjois (who also made the most popular rouge of the period) and both sold in Woolworth’s and Californian Poppy made by Atkinson. A 1943 ad for Californian Poppy ran: “As haunting as a Chopin nocturne…as dangerous as a tropical moon…as tantalising as a yashmak… as intimate as a kiss… as deadly as a live wire…”

  By 1940 fabrics were needed desperately for uniforms, parachutes, hospital blankets and other wartime essentials, so clothes rationing was introduced. With fashion no longer changing and developing as it did in peacetime, make-up and hairstyles became more important in the quest for women to make themselves look attractive and feel special, but with so many things in short supply, it was not easy. One afternoon in 1943 the manager of a Ministry of Labour office in a small Berkshire town gave each of his female staff permission to take a short break as it had been circulated that a local shop had received a delivery of hairgrips. The year before the Ministry of Supply had become so concerned about the morale of women munitions workers that they distributed an allowance of face powder and foundation with a booklet called Beauty Hints, Look to Your Looks. At another time, Max Factor officials from America visited some munitions factories and gave out new pancake make-up and lipstick. After they had handled a lot of explosive materials, munitions workers’ skin often turned yellow, so they were urged to wear make-up as a protective barrier against the chemicals and the dirt they worked with each day. Women in the Forces were allowed to wear discreet and understated make-up, and in general, most women eked out products to make them last or hoarded them if they managed to buy any, but inevitably cosmetics became used up or dried up over the course of the war.

  Some women tried making their own cosmetics. With rationing, shortages in practically everything and limited availability of ingredients that might have been helpful, most of these attempts were not too successful. Calamine lotion was sometimes mixed with cold cream to create a form of foundation. Powdered starch was used as face powder and Fuller’s earth powder was mixed with water to make a face mask. Red lips – which became a symbol of patriotism during the period – were occasionally improvised with beetroot juice and Vaseline, but although in short supply, lipsticks could still be bought and most women simply continued to use theirs as sparingly as possible right to the bottom of every tube. End pieces of lipsticks
were often scooped into egg cups and stood in hot water so that they melted together and could continue to be used. Eyebrow pencils were devised by lighting a match and then blowing it out and using the soot residue to darken the brow. Some women used shoe polish or burnt cork for mascara. Rouge, which was in powder cake form, was also used as sparingly as possible but if that was used up the old-fashioned pinching method usually had to suffice. Or they followed the tip in a magazine article, which recommended that readers “add a few drops of warm almond oil” to cold cream to make it go further or to melted down lipstick ends to use as a cream rouge. A 1942 advertisement for Ino soap featured the headline ‘Powdered Starch and Beetroot Juice’. It began:

  “Why worry if cosmetics become so scarce that you are reduced to these primitive substitutes for face powder and rouge! Remember the first aid to beauty – INO Toilet Soap, with its creamy, gently searching lather that penetrates pore-deep, nourishing as it cleanses.”

  In August 1944 Good Housekeeping ran an article by Susan Drake, called ‘Kitchen Beauty Calendar’. It was one of many to expound the benefits of using natural ingredients as beauty preparations. The article began:

  “1. The next time you prepare tomatoes for the table, wash your hands with some of the parts you normally throw away. Tomato juice whitens the skin.

  2. Washing dishes or clothes? Then take time off to wipe off your make-up and cream you face. The cream will prevent the steam from enlarging the pores; the cream-plus-steam will give the skin a pore-deep cleansing. Steamy work over, remove the cream and wipe the face with skin tonic, rose water or complexion milk.”

  Other magazines gave further suggestions, including:

  “1. To fill out hollows in the neck, warm a little olive oil and pat it into the hollow places with your finger tips. Repeat this treatment every night before going to bed.

  2. Combing your hair in the sunshine will help to keep it in good condition. Lift up your hair, piece by piece to let the air and sunshine reach the roots.

  3. Cucumber is excellent for whitening the skin. Put a few slices of cucumber in a saucer of milk, and let it soak for an hour. Then gently wash the face with the milk and rub the cucumber into the skin. Let it dry on for half an hour, then spray it off with a little rose water. This treatment will be very soothing when the skin has become hot and rough with the sun and wind.”

  To counterbalance any upset caused by the dearth of beauty products, the government promoted the importance of a clear complexion, declaring that this was far more beautiful than the artificiality of powder and rouge. In a quest for this natural beauty, women were encouraged to eat fresh vegetables and to wash well in good, wholesome soap; which was fine until early in 1942 when soap was rationed. After that, every adult could choose from either four ounces of household soap or two ounces of toilet soap per person per month. This caused major problems. Soap rationing affected personal hygiene, laundry and house washing; most people collected their tiny slivers of leftover soap in a jam jar, which they then squashed together. Magazine articles began featuring soap-saving tips, such as collecting the last pieces of soap in a pan, covering them with boiling water, stirring the mixture over a low heat and then pouring it into a dish to set. The squishy result could be used for a lot longer than the small, leftover scraps of soap. Other ideas included putting the soap scraps into a tin, piercing the tin with several holes and pouring boiling water through – the resulting liquid was a watered-down solution of soap. Chris Butterworth relates how her nan, Emily Adams, “eked out those last little extra-thin slivers of toilet soap that were too small to wash your face with by collecting several of them in the foot of a nylon stocking, knotting them in, and then using that to lather up and wash with.” Some families put washing soda crystals into baths in place of coloured bath salts. As it was, water had to be used with care. It was recommended that only one bath a week was taken and hair should only be washed at the most once a fortnight. And on top of that, razor blades were practically impossible to obtain.

  Hair care

  Even though women’s salaries were lower than their male equivalents, wartime work for women meant that most still earned more than they had previously and this, along with the desire to feel more feminine, meant that many spent more time at hairdressers’ salons than they had done before. As hair was such an important aspect of the appearance, it was recognised that hairdressers were doing a valuable job and many were exempt from war work in order to leave them available for perming, cutting and styling. Coiffured hair, make-up and jewellery became the main ways that women tried to enliven the look of their increasingly worn clothes and uniforms and to inject a little luxury into their lives.

  A relatively recent invention of permanent waving using chemicals, heat and spiral curlers became extremely popular, replacing the previous, often dangerous and limiting method of being attached to a machine in the salon. This inevitably caused problems during the Blitz, so for many reasons, the chemical perm was welcomed. Although short hair would have been more practical, most women preferred the glamour of longer hair that they saw in Hollywood films, particularly the cascading waves of Veronica Lake. So during the day hair was pinned or tied off the face and kept out of the way of machinery with turbans, scarves, snoods, combs, grips or “bobby pins”. Perms became almost essential to keep unruly hair in check, to ensure that the style adhered to the fashionable “not a hair out of place” look, while remaining bouncy, curly and controllable. Hairdressers, like everyone else, suffered with the shortages and it became a real problem for most to obtain their vital supplies of perm solution, bleach and most of all, shampoo. Various methods of making shampoo were developed. Some shredded cake soap and mixed it with boiling water, others dissolved a few Lux flakes – usually used for washing clothes – in water.

  Many women made their own snoods, which began as a safety accessory and ended up as an essential fashion item of the war years. Many were knitted in different types and coloured yarns with beads attached to make wearers feel and look a little more glamorous. Snoods were not as hot to work in as turbans.

  Coloured snood

  This is an original knitting pattern for a snood:

  I oz wool, cotton or yarn

  Pair knitting needles, size 0

  Medium crochet hook

  Round elastic to fit back of head

  Cast on 42 stitches, first row knit, second row knit one*, (k I, p I, k I) all in same stitch, purl three together from * to last stitch, knit one. Third row purl, fourth row knit one*, purl three together (k I, p I, k I) all in same stitch, repeat from * to last stitch, knit one, fifth row purl. The last four rows form the pattern and are repeated until the work measures 14 inches (or suitable length). Cast off, but do not break off yarn. Make up – holding the elastic against the knitting, work double crochet over it into the edge of the knitting. Work round three sides, leaving the cast-off edge plain for front of head. Draw up the elastic to a suitable length and sew neatly to beginning and end of double crochet.

  Women’s magazines continued to appeal to their readers to remain resourceful and frequently gave recipes and ideas for simulating toiletries and cosmetics. For instance, bicarbonate of soda was dusted under the arms as an anti-perspirant, while Reckitt’s Blue; a clothes whitening product, was used to brighten grey hair. Other ideas included:

  • To stop hair falling out, grind some dried parsley seeds and rub the powder into hair sparingly;

  • To prevent wrinkles: collect rain water and add a handful of barley, boil the mixture and add it to a little white balsam to make a paste; apply it to the face once a day;

  • To eliminate pimples, wet some saltpetre and dab it on the spots;

  • To make hair grow quickly, crush a handful of nettles and stew them for a short time with a little water, then rub on to the scalp and comb hair in upward direction

  Simulated stockings

  Some shops offered stocking-darning services, but more girls and women tried replicating the look of stock
ing seams down the backs of the legs with eyebrow pencil or the sooty end of a used match. This needed a steady hand (or a good friend who could do it for you). A pre-prepared stain for the legs could be bought from chemists or some women used gravy browning or onion skins to tint their legs, but as food was scarce for all, dogs or flies would usually follow them, which was quite off-putting! Another problem with that was if you were caught in the rain, your legs would become streaky. Tea was suggested as a suitable tint by some, but with only a few ounces allowed on ration each week, this was rarely taken up or if it was, the tea was so weak, having been used so many times to make cups of tea, that it was practically useless. Any methods of colouring the legs had to be washed off each night or the colour rubbed off on the sheets and most of the staining ingredients also stained the hands, which was difficult to remove with only a little soap – then again the whole process had to be repeated the following day. With all these difficulties, eventually most women moved on to either not wearing stockings at all or wearing socks.

  Salvage

  From the moment war broke out, the concept of salvaging was adopted by everyone on the Home Front with enthusiasm. The war effort demanded huge amounts of raw materials for uniforms, armaments, fuel and more and women, men and children were urged to play their part and save paper, rags, bottles and jars, bones, food waste and scrap metal. At the end of many streets large bins appeared, labelled for each type of salvage being collected: rags; food scraps to feed the pigs; tins and silver foil; scrap paper; bottles and jars and another for bones, which was made into fertiliser, glue or soap. As the bins were collected, the contents were sent to a network of collection depots. One campaign ran: “Every scrap of food stuff saved is a blow to Hitler’s U-Boats which are out to starve us. Here is your chance to beat the enemy in your own kitchen. Put your reply to Hitler’s threat in the waste food bin.”