The '70s Beauty Trends We Hope Never Come Back

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Although every decade has its dubious beauty trends, the '70s take the cake. Often called "the decade that style forgot," the 1970s were all about garish colors, gaudy designs, and even the music of the time, most notably disco, left much to be desired. Granted, it was a complicated time in history; a 10-year span rife with political scandal, a recession, and a decade so violent that the term "serial killer" was officially coined by FBI agent Robert Ressler, but that still doesn't explain the affinity for Sun-In hair lightener or orange bell-bottoms.

While there were a handful of once-popular beauty trends from the 1970s worth remembering, for the most part, a walk down memory lane is cringe-inducing. It's a haze of over-the-top makeup, butterfly collars, and perms that looked like they were on steroids. Looking back, the 1970s were a vacuum where quiet luxury and old money aesthetics went to die, only to be reborn as chevron patterns printed on synthetic fabrics.

But as obnoxious as the 1970s were on the fashion front, there were also some beauty trends that were absolutely unforgivable. Not only did they border on embarrassing even during their height, but now, some 50 years later, we're really hoping they'll never come back. While only time will tell, we're crossing our fingers that these looks stay in the past forever.

One of the biggest standout beauty trends of the '70s was blue eye shadow. Both Liza Minnelli and drag queen Divine rocked blue eye shadow in their 1972 movies, "Cabaret" and "Pink Flamingos," respectively, and Covergirl descended upon magazines with endless advertisements for the moody eyeshadow hue. Not only was blue eyeshadow everywhere, but most people were taking things a step further, dragging the color all the way up to their eyebrows, creating a distracting, tacky appearance.

While blue makeup became our favorite beauty inspo in summer 2024, the revival was short-lived. This probably had everything to do with the fact that blue makeup, eyeshadow in particular, is so entwined with the 1970s in our collective consciousness that it's hard to pull off and not look like you're headed to a Halloween party. "Blue eyeshadow gives chic PanAm flight attendant," makeup artist Natalie Dresher told Allure in September 2025. While that may be true in some cases, in other scenarios, you can end up looking dated and out of touch. So, dear blue eyeshadow, please stay away. 

Despite the fact that sunblock was first invented in 1891, it wasn't something people regularly used in the 1970s. In fact, sunbathing to the point of being a crisp orangey-brown wasn't just the norm; it was a beauty trend — and a very unhealthy one to boot. People were so desperate to be tan that they'd go to great lengths to accelerate the sun's ability to literally cook their flesh by using baby oil and/or sun reflectors. While self-tanning products existed in the '70s and were an option, they weren't like the ones that are on the market today, and left behind visible, messy streaks. So, people preferred to bake in the sun. For those who wanted to keep that bronzed look all year, tanning salons became popular ways to do just that. 

According to a 2015 study published in Arts, History, and Humanities of Dermatology, although cases of skin cancer have been documented as far back as 2500 BC, it was the tanning culture of the 1970s that really put skin cancer, notably melanoma, on the map. A 2014 study by Cancer Research UK found that malignant melanoma rates have skyrocketed since 1975, making them five times more prevalent now. In other words, this beauty trend isn't just bad — it can be deadly. Let this be your reminder to keep your SPF on hand all winter long, so you don't become a statistic.

Skinny eyebrows have come and gone for not just decades, but centuries. "Thin brows have popped up as fashionable throughout time, including in the Middle Ages when some European women plucked their brows almost out of existence to emphasize their foreheads," renowned "Eyebrow Queen," Anastasia Soare told TZR in October 2024. While that may be the case, it doesn't mean that they've ever been a good look.

After going out of fashion when the silent film era came to an end, skinny eyebrows made a major comeback in the 1970s. But not only were they ultra-thin when they remerged, they also had a weird, unnatural curve to them. Instead of framing the face, as eyebrows are meant to, this particular shape only highlighted just how awkward a beauty trend they were. Granted, the thinner the eyebrow, the more room for bright blue eye shadow, but it still wasn't doing anyone any favors.

Although thin eyebrows came back again in the 1990s during the grunge era, they didn't have quite the curve we saw in the 1970s. This was definitely a good thing. Because as much of a legend Donna Summer was, even she couldn't make this work, which is really saying something. 

While there's a lot that can be said about the hair trends of the 1970s — huge, over-processed, desperately in need of conditioner — one look that really stood out as downright strange was the Dorothy Hamill haircut. Also known as the wedge cut, this particular hairstyle was created by Trevor Sorbie in the 1970s and became extremely popular after Hamill's ice skating performance in the 1976 Olympics, for which she won the gold medal. After that, girls and women of all ages were lining up at the salon so they, too, could get the Dorothy Hamill haircut.

Although the wedge cut has been modernized, making it a fun short haircut for every face shape, back in the 1970s, it made the wearer look more like a mushroom than anything else. As much as there's nothing wrong with mushrooms — they're both delicious and healthy, after all — as far as hairstyles go, it's just not flattering. But for some reason, it became a major trend of the decade with Johnny Ramone of The Ramones rocking his own longer version of the look throughout the 1970s as well. 

If you're thinking the Barbie doll makeup trend of the 1970s was just that generation's subtle take on the Barbie obsession of the era, think again. In fact, the Barbie doll makeup trend was lightyears away from nearly bare-faced Barbies of the time. Not only did the trend embrace blue eye shadow, which was inescapable, but it also required loading up on blush, getting heavy-handed with the eyeliner, overdoing it with the false eyelashes, then topping it all off with a bronzer and frosted lipstick. In other words, it definitely led to a doll-like look, but more like a doll handled by a two-year-old with a stack of markers.

If the person trying to make this look happen was also a sunbather, and they went full-speed ahead into all that makeup, it just amplified how silly the look really was. Of course, men in the 1970s were letting their facial hair get out of control with handlebar mustaches and mutton chop sideburns, so the looks complemented each other. Either way, let's close the book on all these trends and never look back.