Victory Hairs Pins and the Wartime Beauty Routine: What WWII Teaches Us About Resourcefulness

The WWII Beauty Salon and a life of Save, Simplify, and Substitute

During World War II, beauty salons across many countries felt the impact of metal rationing. Production of salon essentials, from hooded hairdryers to hairpins to lipstick canisters, slowed as materials were redirected to support the war effort. Citizens were called on to donate scrap metal and minimize their use of anything that could be repurposed for military needs.

• A Woman’s Duty of Beauty
• Resourcefulness… WWII Style
• Rationing and the Beauty Salon

The Duty of Beauty

Women were expected to uphold their appearance not only for personal morale but also as part of a broader national spirit. Advertisements reminded them that beauty was a duty. This duty uplifted soldiers morale, boosted patriotism, and maintained a sense of normalcy at home. Yet this “duty” had to coexist with the higher obligation of supporting wartime production.

Save, Simplify, Substitute → Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

During WWII, a rallying cry echoed across the home front: Save, Simplify, and Substitute. Citizens adapted creatively. They swapped silk stockings for rayon, turned kitchen grease into munitions, and repurposed what they already had. It was a collective shift in behavior, supported by government messaging that made conservation part of everyday life.

Today, we hear a different refrain: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. The modern call to sustainability mirrors those wartime values, even if it doesn’t always come with the same urgency or unified sense of purpose. As we mark Earth Day, it’s worth remembering how capable we are of adapting our habits when the stakes are high. The wartime beauty routine shows us that with creativity, community, and a little compromise, we can live beautifully… and responsibly.

Victory Hair Pins

This unopened packet of Victory Pins was manufactured by the Smith Victory Corporation. It is a reminder of the ingenuity born of necessity. I found it on eBay, a rare artifact of beauty during austerity. These pins were part of a broader push to maintain everyday life with fewer resources.

Rationing Hair Pin Wire

The rationing of raw materials, like metal used for hairpins, made the daily beauty routine much more expensive and difficult. The War Production Board only allotted a certain amount of metal wire to hairpin companies to make hairpins. They could only distribute so many hairpins, so if you showed up at your hair appointment without your hairpins… a vital tool for pin curl sets… during a time of low inventory, instead of an SOS moment… you could be having an SOL moment.

The back of the hair pins reads:

The war didn’t stop women from making beauty a priority. You might also like: Convenient Salons for the Women at War in the 1940s

These Pins have been packed under rigid inspection at our factory, and upon sale to you, package should be sealed, thereby guaranteeing you service with pins that have not been used or handled since leaving factory. These pins belong to you and your cooperation in re-using them as often as possible will not only save you money, but save a great deal of steel and guarantee your future hair setting.

Thank You.

Shop Owner