Back to the 1980s - Fingerless Gloves and Feathered Hair

When I was brainstorming for this writing challenge, and specifically for the letter F "Falkland War" came to mind. But frankly yesterday's post about the Ethiopia famine was depressing enough, and I'd rather treat you to something lighthearted today. 

So "fingerless gloves and feathered hair" it is, and if you're anything like me, In your mind's eye, you see Cindy Lauper! 

First of all: In today's day and age fingerless gloves make a lot of sense, because smart phones. Back then though? It was more a case of "because I can" ;-)

And that “because I can” attitude pretty much sums up 1980s fashion as a whole. It wasn’t about subtlety or practicality. It was about expression, visibility, and taking up space, sometimes literally. Fingerless gloves weren’t elegant and they weren’t especially useful, but they signaled movement, attitude, and a refusal to be neat or apologetic.

The same applied to hair, especially feathered hair. Not just “big hair”, but hair cut in visible layers, light at the ends, designed to move. Feathered hair looked soft and airy, even when it took a small engineering project to achieve. It framed the face, caught the light, and made sure you were noticed before you even opened your mouth.

Cindy Lauper embodied this perfectly. Her look always felt assembled rather than styled: feathered hair that bordered on chaos, fingerless gloves stacked with bracelets, fishnets layered where they didn’t strictly belong. It looked playful, improvised, and fearless, as if fashion were something you did, not something you followed.

But she wasn’t alone. If there were official poster children for feathered hair in the 1980s, Howard Jones and Limahl would absolutely qualify. Howard Jones wore a softer, intellectual version: light layers, gently blown back, very synth-pop, very thoughtful. Limahl, on the other hand, turned feathered hair into performance art. His Kajagoogoo-era look was sculpted to appear effortless, airy, fluttery, almost androgynous, and completely inseparable from the music and the image.

Of course, achieving that “effortless” look was anything but effortless. Commercial products did a lot of the heavy lifting: mousse, blow-drying with round brushes, strategic backcombing, and, inevitably, generous amounts of hairspray. Hair in the 80s was built, not merely brushed.

And then there were the unconventional methods. Long before YouTube tutorials and affordable styling ranges, people improvised. Sugar water, beer, and lemon juice all made appearances. And yes, the rumors were real: some people really did dilute fabric softener with water as a detangler or shine enhancer. It wasn’t safe, it wasn’t recommended, but it happened. The 80s treated hair like a chemistry experiment, and sometimes the results were spectacular.

Feathered hair was meant to look light and touchable, even when it had survived heat, product, and possibly a mild industrial solvent. But that contradiction was part of the charm. Like fingerless gloves, it wasn’t about function. It was about freedom. The freedom to be seen, to be expressive, and to dress like you had absolutely nothing to apologize for.

Now tell me, what hair experiments did you do, and how did they turn out?