Oui Madame!  Ooh! La! La!

And with that response under her cap, Madame Du Ploy opened a salon (next door to Harte’s Garage in Miles Street) for Mount Isa’s fairer sex.

The year was 1937 and women on the mineral field were eager to avail themselves of the frivolity of a new hair creation, especially from the exotic Madame Du Ploy who was advertised as having been ‘late of King Street, Sydney’.

Dry cuts were the norm of the day given the preciousness of water and hair cleanliness was a subject not to be mentioned for fear of someone finding out that your family had hair lice.

However, Madame Du Ploy was known to turn a blind eye to the occasional nit while she primped and preened women within a bobby-pin and hairnet as hairdryers were yet to be commercialised.

Alas, it was not long before word had spread, along the railway line to Townsville, that Madame Du Ploy was no more French than Sydney was Paris.

And before the year was out a second hairdresser, one Miss Burns, arrived in town, at the invitation of Mrs James Boyd whose family built the first hotel.

She was ready with scissors and perming solution to restyle women’s hair and with a good application of Lysol, the local nits soon disappeared.

Offering an up-to-date selection of styling and shaving (for gentlemen, maybe?) Miss Burns’ opening advertisement invited customers to Walk In – please! Walk Out – pleased!  A Trim – solicited! Satisfaction – guaranteed!

The ‘big smoke’ hairdressers were cutting and curling their way through the ‘little smoke’ town.

But never let it be said that the local women and their daughters forgot to brush their tresses one hundred times a night, for fear of the threat of feeling the back of the hair brush on one’s derrière.

For a woman’s hair was her crowning glory and like a halo it was expected to shine in sunlight or lamplight, through brushing.

However, the early novelty of having a ladies’ hairdresser in town soon became an expectation and no longer a luxury as new salons opened to wash, trim, cut, style and perm their client’s hair.

Out went the dry ‘basin’ cuts above the ears, for children, along with nits and in came shampoo and Lysol.

And with the local population predominantly men, they were not forgotten in the hair stakes as they continued to have their short back and sides dry cut albeit with a spray of water on their hair, at George the Barber or George the Barber; yes there were two barbers named George at one time.

But for each hairdressing salon’s claim to curly fame, it was Marylyn’s Beauty Salon, in the Hub Arcade, that not only coiffured ladies hair, they offered a service not heard of outside of the local Finnish community – a steam bath with masseur.

With dedicated times for both sexes, the steam bath proved an unexpected bonus to sportsmen.

“It certainly helps condition players,” noted Bert Holcroft, a leading rugby league coach.

“And it tones up their muscles.”

Golfers used it to keep them feeling fresh and trim, or perhaps it was to relieve the aches and pains of hiking roughshod over the golf course in all weathers.

And as word spread through the sexes, the benefits of a steam bath quickly gained momentum when its virtues were advertised as the ideal way to bring out all the grime, dust, lead and copper from your skin, leaving you fresh and relaxed.

Which only added to the benefits of cleansing, toning and moisturising that women were told to do to keep their face smooth and youthful looking.

And considering the quick succession of chemists opening for business, they were also told that the days of using soap and water to wash their faces had given way to cleansing creams and moisturising lotions.

Brunskil’s Pharmacy, Menzies Chemist, Bertoni’s Pharmacy, Cristaudo’s Chemist and Comino’s Pharmacy not only dispensed to the sick and infirm, they lead the transformation of women’s interest in skin care and the application of makeup, suitable for day and evening.

Angelo Bertoni was an innovative marketer of cosmetics, dispensary items, and photography which allowed him to expand from one store to eventually three pharmacies.

“Our trained staff is only too happy to help you with the needs of any member of the family, including your precious baby,” he announced to the Mount Isa Mail in 1964.

He was conscious of Mount Isa’s harsh sunlight and he encouraged women to talk with Inga Aittola and Merryl Suthers about the Cyclax range of skin care which promised to smooth and soothe delicate dry faces.

And for women wishing to transform their natural looks into Hollywood glamour, they had Lyn Harvison to show them how to apply the world renowned Elizabeth Arden makeup range.

While Desley Moran took women on a perfumery journey of the senses to enhance every occasion from Yardley’s Lavender Garden to Estee Lauder’s Youth Dew.

But it was to Menzies Chemist in West Street that many women gravitated seeking pharmaceutical advice from John Price while sisters, Ivy Little and Sylvia Marshall would cajole and guide them in their general well-being and preventative care.

One wonders then, was it their own experience at Madame Du Ploy’s Salon, for which the sisters later became loyal extollers of home hair care lotions and colouring agents.

And as Margaret Beard of Playtime would say, “There is no excuse for not being well dressed and with clean, tidy hair while living out west.”

Researched and written by Kim-Maree Burton.  

www.kimmareeburton.com

Information sourced from Cloncurry Advocate, Mount Isa Mail and the North West Star. Photographs courtesy of North Queensland History Collection.

This history column can also be found online in the community section of The North West Star website at www.northweststar.com