Long hair was in, then long, long hair was out, then short-long hair was in and all the while controversies raged on about what type of hairstyle looked best—on boys and girls. This didn’t apply to the entertainers alone. Teenage hairstyles are a constant battle since now long, long hair on girls is the thing and at the same time Twiggy has made short, short hair very popular. What are you to do?
The only solution for you or your friends or even for the entertainers who are constantly seen by the public is to wear your hair according to what you think looks best. This is what Micky Dolenz did and what did he run into but a rash of protests from fans. This hardly seems fair.
Circus Boy blond Permalink
Micky’s hair has been a problem to him ever since he entered show business at age 10. For the “Circus Boy” series, the producers were more than pleased to find such a darling, natural boy as Micky to play the part of “Corky.” But his hair wasn’t just right. Because Corky was supposed to be an orphan, they thought this could be shown better if the little boy had hair drooping into his eyes. This gave the idea that he had to “go it alone” and had no mother or father around to push it out of his eyes. And, for some reason, they felt his hair should be blond.
To put across this idea, the producers had the make-up department do a complete overhaul on Micky’s tresses. His hair was then bleached and on this first session it had to be bleached several successive times to cover all the natural brown.
Part of job Permalink
Because Micky was young, he never seriously minded having his hair bleached once a week. To Micky, this was just one part of his exciting job on the new television show.
Unfortunately, his hair did suffer. The constant bleaching week after week, and this went on for three years, made his hair dry, brittle, and very unmanageable. Then when the series ended, Micky wanted very much to let his hair grown out to its natural color. His mother was very concerned too, that Micky’s hair grow out so that the dry and split ends could be cut off and the healthy new hair could grow back.
Now it’s curly Permalink
Perhaps it was this sudden change in weekly hair treatment or perhaps it was just that Micky was growing up, but about this time Micky’s hair began growing out very curly.
For several years his hair went untouched artificially. Micky was very happy not to worry about anything except washing it regularly and combing it every morning.
Micky kept his hair style pretty much the same all through high school and even while he was performing with the “Missing Links.” The popular style then was for a boy to wear his hair combed straight back.
Change for college Permalink
When Micky started college he remodeled his hair style and began wearing it a bit shorter and slightly combed to one side. This was more in the collegiate tradition and on Micky it looked very becoming. All the while, how he wore his hair was never a big thing. As times and fashions would change, so would Micky.
Lets hair grow Permalink
After leaving school in the San Fernando Valley for a while, Micky returned to college at Los Angeles Trade Tech college. Here there were no specific regulations about dress or appearance, and since Micky really dug the new look of longer hair, he began to let his grow a bit.
Then the Monkees auditions came along and after several months, Micky was chosen as one of the very special four. Like in “Circus Boy,” the show’s producers had a certain image of what they thought the Monkees should look like. This is typical, no matter if an actor is doing television, movies or live stage—as an actor, you must fit the part.
Monkees are special Permalink
There was, however, a difference with the Monkees. When they were chosen, they were picked to fit into a vaguely sketched character as one member in a group of four. What is groovy about the conception of the Monkees is that each boy was picked for the remarkable individuality he would lend to his loosely written character.
That’s why Micky was chosen as one of the four. He was a hundred different people all rolled into one. The only thing the producers weren’t sure about was his curly hair. Since heat and water tend to make curly hair frizz up, they feared under the hot lights that Micky’s hair would not always look the same. And this is vital since they shoot part of a scene one day and part of the same scene another day.
Micky goes along Permalink
To relieve this worry, the producers suggested Micky have his hair professionally straightened by the studio hairdresser. Micky agreed cheerfully, not only because that’s just part of his groovy way, but because he was just as eager as everyone concerned that everything about the show go as smoothly and perfectly as possible.
To keep his hair looking the same for each show, Micky had to have this hair straightened at the studio once a week. This meant he had to be there two hours early one day a week. This doesn’t seem so bad, until you look at the rest of their schedule—filming from seven a.m. to seven p.m. four days a week, recording or rehearsing from eight p.m. to 11 p.m. every week night, concerts every weekend, and so on.
A real drag Permalink
This hectic and unbelievable schedule kept up for the entire first year and it became a real hardship for Micky to have his hair straightened each week. And this wasn’t the only hang-up. When hair is straightened, a straightening cream must stay on the scalp for nearly an hour. It’s a cream that is so potent that it burns and stings while it touches the scalp. Also, like bleaching, this process dries out the roots until the hair becomes brittle and split and most unmanageable. And Micky put up with this for over a year!
But something had to change. And the change came on the Monkees’ summer tour. Micky decided that even though the tour would be very hard, he would try and make a little vacation of it since they would be traveling all over the country. The best way he could do this was to forget the painful, time-consuming straightening sessions and let his hair grow out naturally.
