Three Salons At The Seaside

Update December 2022. I visited Blackpool a few weeks ago and, although I could not find Tricia's the Vanity Box is still there with a new facade and neat as a new pin although apparently not trading - Hillary would be just over 80 now. Mary's Way is still trading although now under different management, Mary herself was recently interviewed by a radio news programme and sounded in fine fettle.
From 1994 this slice of pure television gold focuses on the staff and customers of three Blackpool hair dressing salons. Stories of love, loss and gritty determination to carry on and make the best of things with a sense of humour abound. I am sure there are (still) salons all over the world where the same characters and stories abound.

[@paulevans4419]

My mum Joy was a hairdresser and had her own salon in Crewe for many years. We lived in the flat above the shop until I was 12 and I have many happy memories from those days. This lovely programme brought it all back! Mum was still working into her late sixties and her own hair looked great until the end. She died five weeks ago, aged 93.

[@Vacbear58]

Sorry for your loss, glad that the video brought back happy memories. I daresay some of your late mother's clientele resembled some of the wonderful ladies here

[@annetoronto5474]

Losing the older folks and our culture with them 💔 Sorry for your loss

[@paulevans4419]

Thank you x

[@MsScotlyn]

I'm so sorry, I lost mine at 91 earlier this year too, it's hard but we are very lucky to have had them for so long x

[@RaciePSB]

Your mum sounds like a lovely woman. ❤

[@cyanidefaery]

Sometimes, like today when I miss my nanna I watch this and have a bit of a cry and a laugh. They don’t make ‘em like this anymore xx

[@lui.s.e7400]

I'm thinking of my mother and nanna too as I watch this and must admit, I'm a bit teary eyed.. miss them every single day and those past happy times xx

[@speedtrls]

you said it right

[@trishb5738]

dont have a clue how i got here watching this but glad i did

[@lisa4680]

Same 🙂

[@JuneAngelPews]

me too!

[@itabrennan7420]

Same!

[@janepearson5802]

Ditto

[@michellegent5143]

Same. I'm so glad I found it. Gosh if this is from 1994 I would have been 24. One of the hairdressers sounds like Mrs Merton . Wonderful memories. Thank you for the golden piece of magic God bless those who have now passed away and to the ones that are still with us❤

[@DistantCousin]

How wonderful. Little did we know at the time, but the 90's really were the "last breaths" of many 20th century societal traditions - that have since been swept away during the 21st century at an astonishing rate - mainly caused by the pervading influence of the internet and the way business is conducted in the digital age

[@zeddeka]

It's been like that since the dawn of time. Go back several decades before this and the idea that working class pensioners would be able to spend time in hairdresses would have been an unimaginable luxury. We all seem to struggle with the fact that all of us, in every era that ever existed, are all on a giant conveyor belt. Nothing ever stays the same, ever. The ancient Greek philosopher Heraclitus knew this when he said "You cannot step into the same river twice". Everything is constantly changing and evolving.

[@sdm3447]

@@zeddeka I agree wholly, but I really do think the last 20-odd years have seen the statues-quo challenged at a pace much faster than before. So much change and demand for acceptance has been pushed onto us, and that's not me saying I don't agree with how things evolve, this is me saying that us as human beings are proving we can't all of us adapt at the same pace as the change. One minute I was in my late teens and learning about how to behave as an adult in society, then the next I was in my 40s feeling equally as perplexed as all the rules had changed. It's the apparent lack of social boundaries that I struggle with most now, almost as if there's nothing there anymore against which anything can be bench-marked...it wasn't all that long ago that the overpowering aroma of the new neighbour's cannabis that invaded my home, left me wondering if my inability to sit in my living room and enjoy watching TV while they sat next-door & smoked it was in fact less important than their right to do as they pleased in their home...I'm still not sure as to the answer, all I know is I found the stench to be unbearable to the point of having to go out when they smoked it.

[@kevinfowkes2327]

Most of the ladies gossiping in the salon are of the World War 2 generation, which has almost completely died off now, its final flickering flame arguably being extinguished with Queen Elizabeth's death 2 years ago. That generation, with their amazing life experience, had their own very distinct way of looking at things and we are the poorer for their passing. Like many others on here I can hear the voices of many sadly departed relatives in these ladies.

[@zeddeka]

​@@sdm3447and if it's any consolation, I too hate the stench of cannabis. For me though the answer was crystal clear - they were breaking the law and I reported them to the council. I didn't feel any sense of moral ambivalence about it. I know friends who live in blocks of flats with similar problems have done the same.

[@zeddeka]

​@@sdm3447It's hard to compare with previous generations because we weren't there. I suppose though that they too had to go through huge upheaval: those who saw the change from an agrarian to an industrial society; the advent of electricity; the dawn of the communications age with telephones and TV. The old ladies in this documentary would have gone from the world of their youths when it would have been far from uncommon to see horses and carts on the streets and the only real long distance communication was by letter, to living in a world when he had satellites hurtling round the Earth. The change for them too from the Victorian moralism of their youths, to the permissive society that started in the 1960s, and then something of a retrenchment in more recent years in some areas (most notably out attitudes to child abuse and domestic abuse have changed beyond sight). The pace of change in the past couple of centuries in particular has been incredible.

[@Joanna7428]

Awe the lady in green who lost her husband, i felt for her 💔

[@irenemorley75]

Me too, carries his picture around with her, bless.🤗

[@julieandrew3674]

Just to let you know the vanity box is still there with the same owner still doing hair xx

[@TimelordUK]

that's amazing!! I hope it still has the same retro signage outside

[@paulashepherd7223]

I tried searching vanity box and upto date photo and couldn't find one

[@julieandrew3674]

@@missw324 your at the wrong shop lov trust me she's my sister and still there and doing hair what's wrong with being 80 we come from hardworking parents

[@julieandrew3674]

Dont know any Charlotte 🤔

[@traceysaxton5268]

Just googled it and google maps shows the shop still with nets and the owner in front garden . The next door that was a video shop is now overgrown with leylandi

[@emmsue1053]

Thank you for this, I grew up with the smell of setting lotion as Mum was a hairdresser in South Manchester. She often did friends and relatives hair at home on a Sunday for a bit of "pin money" .. I would be the little apprentice and pass her the perm curlers or rollers! I now realise how hard she worked, running for the bus in a morning, a clean and tidy house and a hot home cooked meal from scratch every day. No grocery deliveries back then, you trawled the shops and carried all back by hand.. Happy memories and I can still roller a "set" really well. LOL.

[@tanithkershaw]

That’s lovely 🥰

[@robonaught]

I'm born n bred in South Manchester, where abouts? X

[@nibunibu4254]

Great stuff! A lost world. No mobiles, not even for emergencies. And hair set so tough that even the worst Irish Sea gale wouldn't trouble it.

[@zeddeka]

Some people definitely had mobile phones back then, but there was an odd stigma to them. Being seen using one in public was seen as incredibly gauche and ostentatious. I remember a woman I worked with in 1994 (when this was made) telling me how mortified she was when her mother called her when she was in the supermarket.

[@mamarobyn]

Believe me.If there is an emergency, there would know right where to find them l o l..

[@rainbowgirl4038]

😂😂😂

[@sjsmyth1380]

Last night I watched a documentary about Caroline Ahearn, they showed a clip of Three Salons At the Seaside. Craig Cash said it was a big inspiration for him and Caroline when writing the Royle Family. I love this, salt of the earth, real people are the most interesting x

[@matthewwilkes1973]

I've just watched the documentary which led me to this.

[@galarama76]

@@matthewwilkes1973same here!

[@treenacooke8006]

me too

[@SamanthaLewis-jm3xe]

The very same reason I decided to watch it.

[@DistantCousin]

It was just as much as inspiration for the Mrs Merton character

[@sweeky6855]

I am a hairdresser and believe it or not this is one of the most fulfilling jobs for me being a hairdresser. Out of all the tasks I do, looking after the older ladies with their rinses and sets is just heaven. There are still stylish older ladies in the 80s who are a pleasure to work with. A good set will last a week, and quite a few younger ladies are wanting to sit under the dryer!

[@zephyrsky__]

I remember my nana would get her hair washed and set and it would last a month. Judged her generation as 'dirty' but washing my hair everyday only made it greasy. She also used to say when I'd sit and dwell in front of the mirror as an insecure teen "Stare long enough and you'll see the devil". She wasn't wrong, lol.

[@sweeky6855]

@@zephyrsky__ my mum used to say the same to me! As a teen I would give the eye and be cheeky and she would tell me the wind would change and my face would stay like that lol

[@LisaHoneychan]

This is such a bittersweet video. The passage of time and fashions have made beauty shops like this so rare nowadays. The idea of the “funeral bag” that different ladies would borrow for funerals and it would be stocked with a bit of money and a mint was so considerate. Loved this documentary!

[@sdm3447]

The funeral bag was just the sweetest thing...the diary of death was, however, a whole new level! One has to wonder how such a document would have stood up to the rules of the modern-day GDPR. I know it's a cliche, but there is so much mileage in it, when I say that times were in so many ways much simpler back then...if it wasn't for Hilary's dislike of smoking (a fact that we learnt about from the documentary) you can be sure that several of her old girls would have been puffing away while under the dryer, such was the culture of day. I find it so, so hard to understand that 1994 was, in fact, thirty years ago. It seems like only yesterday.

[@src3360]

I grew up in Lakeland Florida, a small town. There was a beauty shop called "Talk of the town" it was wear my gramma got her hair done every friday afternoon or Saturday. I used to sit and wait for her. Reading trashy magazines and listening to them talk and gossip for an hour or 2. Then they got a tv and I was able to watch cartoons while I waited. It was like another world lol My gramma was a southern belle. She died her hair black with a blue sheen, until she died. She never left the house with out makeup on, drenched in perfume and costume jewelry. She had no eye brows, she drew them in with pencil. She had an eyebrow pencil in every room, in every purse, in the car, her coats, everywhere. She could not be without her eyebrows!!! She jokingly said she could be Elizabeth Taylor's younger, prettier sister.... 🤣🤣🤣🤣 She was a hoot, I miss her dearly 💖

[@bouffant-girl]

Do you know Sheriff Grady Judd?

[@src3360]

@@bouffant-girl I dont know him personally but he's the sherriff of Polk county. Why?

[@sallyannelines1110]

She sounds amazing 👏xxxxxx ♥️ 😍

[@michellefalleur960]

She sounds like a wonderful woman !

[@adair-y6h]

Ahhhhhhh bless sweet memories 🙏🏻🤔🙏🏻✌️

[@Lomie32]

Watching in 2024, makes me so nostalgic for that generation long gone, these ladies would have been young women in the 40’s and here they are still resilient.

[@Lehanorah1918]

This popped into my feed,this evening. An absolute delight 💕

[@telstar32]

A real piece of British social history. For the days when the BBC still produced quality programming. Thanks for uploading.

[@stevemead4021]

This is great i used to work in a working mans club in the 1990's. These ladies would come in for the ballroom dancing every Thursday and sunday. I used to love working that shift. They were such a good laugh. I must have put thousands of glacier cherries on cocktail sticks for their lime and sodas. None of them had a penny to spare but they all looked immaculate. You don't realize it at the time but they were the last of the war time wives. Thanks for posting this.

[@bethany5688]

I love the way they call their clients by their surname…….I remember my mum going to the hairdressers every week without fail, wash and set and every now and again a perm…..those were the days🥰

[@Medusalaughing]

Women are just so so amazing. What a beautiful film.

[@bouffant-girl]

I absolutely adore women; especially the lady who like md to drink Jack Daniel's Tennessee Whiskey 😍 ❤️ 💕 💗 💖 💓

[@lonnie6380]

4 mins in and this is the best thing I have seen in years 😅😅😅

[@cassandra3862]

The funeral bag! ‘ A little bit of money and a mint. Perfect.

[@dazzp2]

That is just perfect as you say , imagine 2 clients going the same funeral needing it 👍🤣, It would be Handbag wars !

[@Trishawitchqueen]

So many people living with heartache, then and now ❣️

[@NickMcGivney]

The ritual of being human is everywhere. Fair play to the director Philippa Lowthorpe for capturing this wonderful slice of it.

[@PortoAR]

You can hear glimpses of Mrs Merton in many of the voices here. Although some distance from Manchester, the lyrical quality of North West England conversation is unmistakable as key source material for Coronation St, Alan Bennett, and The Royle Family. The syntax of the upward-looking, aspirational working class seems now just a memory, but one wonderfully captured here in the general chit-chat in these 3 Blackpool hair salons. This treasure trove of Lancastrian conversation is a joy to behold, featuring ladies who all lived through at least one World War, tough as boots, but all with a fighting spirit. Thanks so much for archiving and uploading. A joy!

[@rosmyers9815]

This is a stunning piece of television ❤️ It makes me so proud to be born and bred Blackpool.

[@bestdisco1979]

It’s almost like a Mike Leigh movie. Brilliant

[@MartinvonBargen]

This is ace when your mum's 85 and goes for a shampoo and set every Wednesday just to get out of the house and have a good old chinwag. I worked the watermains around this area back in the 90s and I bet that a lot hasn't changed since then, except for the video shops and death sticks adverts on the newsagents. Reminds me a lot of the row of shops across the road from where I grew up. Each one of them doing their own little bit for the community.

[@Tony-yg9mc]

@MartinvonBargen . I used to go to a unisex shop for my haircuts instead of a barbershop.. most of the ladies there were getting their weekly shampoo and set .. plenty of chins waggin there some pretty juicy stuff too .. I was 31 or 32 at the time getting shampooed right along side of them -but no set 😝and the ladies in there were all about 85 including the ladies that would shampoo and cut my hair - they did better job than the barbers I went to. They were all nice with me .. I think they liked a young guy among them .. the only rooster in the henhouse .

[@londonnodippydolly6635]

Lovely to see people having a proper conversation, not looking at the mobile phones and no interest in who or what is around them!

[@NickForest999]

Who came here after the amazing tribute to Caroline Aherne last night on BBC2? 😎

[@carolepitman6809]

I did exactly the same as you - looked for it straight after watching the Caroline Ahern documentary because Hillary from the Vanity box is my mum’s hairdresser! I couldn’t believe my eyes 😂

[@suesmith4289]

This has taken me back to when my lovely mum used to go to the hairdressers once a fortnight, or sometimes weekly, this life now seems a distant memory, lovely days, sweet memories, very nostalgic😊

[@rbr2023]

This is wonderful. Brings back memories of my nans in the 80’s and 90’s. I’m from London but my nans were also always talking about death and Mr or Mrs so and so who lives at number whatever and their illnesses 😂 imagine a hair salon these days keeping a log of who died when! What a great little time capsule this doc is! It’s giving me a mixture of old Corrie, Dinnerladies and The Royle Family ❤ Let’s get that time machine built!

[@zombiechicken7114]

Came here from reading re documentary now!'s spoof. Fascinated by this. Its wonderful. Like listening to my aunts sitting chatting!! Bizarre how the ideal parking spaces say no parking everywhere!! And the sign forbidding long hair?!&the scandal of the new windows!! Lol! The ladies were all so lovely especially the lady who kept up her husbands favourite hairstyle tho he was gone...such lovely eyes! And how devastating when she says I was cut in half. How well put. Bless her!!

[@Vacbear58]

I recently visited Blackpool and had a look for these salons. The Vanity Box is still there with an update to the exterior, neat as a pin - I half expected to see Hilary at the door. It does not seem to be trading now, hardly a surprise as Hilary would be 80 now. Mary's Way is still in business, outside updated a bit but much the same :)

[@disfamily98]

@@Vacbear58still trading !!

[@cassandra3862]

‘I never get good use out of a chair…’. Wonderful.

[@justjane8452]

This is just such a sweet film. Reminds me of how things used to be. Really lovely.

[@laynedoon7437]

what a wonderful look back in time,hearing all their stories and being so kind and supportive to eachother,bless all of the lovely ladies,

[@syhooverman5418]

A brilliant piece of social history

[@traceysaxton5268]

Aww love this , wish it was like it nowadays, down to earth people

[@duncangowans4036]

I love telly like this, that makes everyday life magical. Do the BBC still commission stuff like it? I can remember my Gran referring to lifelong neighbours as Mr this and Mrs that - friendship with dignity.

[@Harry-fk5of]

I wish they did still make shows like this about every day life and it's characters

[@elizaphe58]

I grew up not knowing a lot of our neighbour's Christian names.Even where I lived for 25 years I still referred to some by Mr or Mrs.

[@juliethompson1786]

This was a wonderful watch. Following all the conversations was like watching an episode of Coronation Street in its glory years, when it was well written and astutely observed. Full of warmth, sincerity and pathos. It took me back to my childhood- both my grandmothers were like these ladies, going to get their hair set every week. It’s a beautiful piece of film-making that allows real people to shine. I almost welled up at times.

[@JillLawton-zt8me]

Me too I’m 77 now and can remember all this. Did she say would you like a mint Mrs Lawton. I’m a Mrs Lawton. ☺️

[@Wanapelei]

I will never forget this, thank you ❤

[@nighthawwwk]

Read about this recently and found it here. One of the best things I have seen in many years.

[@christian1294]

The mentions of Lewis's closing down and litlle bits of local gossp added to it even more for me. I grew up in this time in this place.

[@mariasmusicmemories4025]

This was a great watch,reminded me of my years in Hairdressing started as a Saturday girl in 1975,then onto Apprenticeship from 1976,it was a meeting place aswell for the older people ,things have changed a lot in Salons now which is a shame .

[@SamM-oh2cx]

Vanity Box is in St Leonard's Road Blackpool and the Chinese takeaway Hilda had spare ribs in syrup, beef and bamboo and chicken with cashew had "Eggy" fried rice and chips is just across the road over the junction, The Great Wall! World and all within was definitely better back then!

[@mariacollins3666]

I loved this. As a salon owner myself and a hairdresser, I loved watching this. How the salons have changed and what I do miss is the the community spirit that was so present back then. I think I would like to go back intime for a bit :)

[@viciouslady1340]

thats it the community spirit and of course the gossip I remember going to a salon like this with my mum and I would always see the same ladies there .

[@bouffant-girl]

Me too ✋️ I am dealing with severe urinary retention problems, that are becoming life-threatening, and I have to have badly malformed male genitalia completely removed, including total orchiectomy, and vaginoplastt performed very soon; and they have to dramatically shorten my urethra! Sadly, I have zero bladder tone ?! When I get stressed, it is amazing 👏 🙌 just how much a shampoo and roller wet set bouffant hairdo makes me feel a million times better! I can relax and just be lovingly pampered. It does absoluemtw wonders for my emotional health 😢 ✨️

[@bouffant-girl]

Sometimes; you just need to be in a safe place; 🙏 ❤️ 😊 ✨️ where you can feel loved 😍 ❤️ ♥️ 💜 💕 💖 and cared for! This is why I am going to study Cosmetology as soon as I am physically able to do so!

[@oliverstuart]

I saw this ....years ago and loved it. I've been looking for it ever since. Thanks a mil for posting, this is documentary film making at it's absolute best.

[@jodypritchard5425]

Apparently it was one of the late great Caroline Aherne's favourites, I'm sure Mrs Merton would have felt at home in one of these salons.

[@sdm3447]

@@jodypritchard5425 Maybe she would. May be not. Let's have a heated debate!

[@alcorfield1157]

I love this so much, its like a real life Victoria Wood sketch. Also reminds me so much of my Nana who was a Lancashire lass, the beautiful turn of phrase, never stepped out looking anything less than her best. They don't make women like that anymore. Absolute diamonds:)

[@demirc7009]

so true

[@deniseohalloran8201]

My aunty is in this filming the lady having her hair put up. we only ever seen her with her hair up love watching this

[@ltvanburen8555]

She had the most GLORIOUS head of hair!

[@asha-kb9yh]

Her Crown was most Beautiful 🧡

[@JillLawton-zt8me]

She is beautiful.

[@emc5500]

Fabulous, Thank you. The days my nana and mam always had their hair done has come flooding back to me. Beautiful time in my life. Innocent and no stress.

[@cmurray1571]

Dream job. So much camaraderie.

[@SalisburyAaron]

I just watched the parody of this on Documentary Now! and had never heard of it before. I see now that it was barely a parody. Amazing.

[@metrodonkey8093]

same and same, lol

[@thewayofyeshua9384]

Beautiful - good for the heart storied, thank you 💕🙏 we need more like this.

[@rachelcookson3492]

This was beautiful to watch. It was a dash of everything simple and sweet with a touch of sadness and laughter at the girl on the roller skates. Bless 💞

[@angelaegan7511]

It seems like yesterday and yet it was so long ago. I believe the Vanity Box is still there. 😊

[@heatherdowling317]

This was such a good watch , thank you.

[@dedmaroz9335]

Just read about this in the Guardian. Thank you for uploading it to KZbin! This gives fond associations to my favourite series, The Royle Family. Such wonderful women in Three Salons at the Seaside, helping one another to get on with living while here on earth.

[@Mia_monroe56]

Yes I very much agree. Definite royle family vibes. One of my fave tv shows too. It would’ve been funny if they did a salon episode. With all the ladies gossiping under the dryers 😂. God bless and hope you have a great day. Glad to relate and reminisce with a fellow Brit x ❤

[@charlieesuxx]

Royle Family - Best Series ever!

[@friendlybaby1]

I watched a doc about Caroline Ahearne and Craig Cash mentioned that this programme was a huge inspiration to them

[@danutat9915]

Some souls "speak" to all living things regardless if they're speaking out loud. I believe i am one such soul. A particular queen bee visited me all the time. She actually stood still while suspended in mid-air. My adult daughter witnessed it. One small, small example. It's very, very humbling. I'm very honoured. ❤️🇵🇱🇨🇦🤗

[@ellena.9788]

Lovely ! Every week i go to my hairdresser for a wash and set. A ‘old fashion’ shop in Assen in the Netherlands. I love the old fashion style in combination with a classic headscarf when i leave the shop. I am 53 and i hope my hairdresser will do her work for many years. Regards from the Netherlands 😘

[@DomBarber]

Do you still visit the salon Ellen ?

[@jodypritchard5425]

This documentary was a favourite of the late comedienne Caroline Aherne who wrote The Royale Family and was Mrs Merton.

[@ellena.9788]

@@DomBarber o yes i do. Still happy with my wash and set.

[@bouffant-girl]

I LOVE ❤️ your big beautiful bouffant hairdo, and will have the same hairdo in a few months ❤️ 💙

[@bouffant-girl]

I love ❤️ your hair ! I am going to have to have a mtf bottom surgery performed soon at UC DAVIS! I hope that I can find a salon/ school like this for when I just need to decompress; and be pampered for an hour or so!

[@mattie17]

Absolutley love this! Reminds me of when i would go out and about with my grandmother in the town for shopping and a cup of tea. The language and dialogue is identical. That was after a morning of helping her battle with her twin tub lol

[@dazzp2]

This is Priceless footage , Great memories for the families of clients , and I think every Hairdresser , From your little corner salon to Chains like Toni&Guy can relate somewhere in their career the sometimes really funny to some serious/sad things in life that clients tell you in confidence or a "Get something off your chest "that you wouldn't tell your nearest and dearest , great video preserved by The Beeb , and there's as I say a bit of "Nana and Barbara " ( Royale Family) in this to the Vera Duckworth gossiper , it easily could have been a series ,or even made into ,which it did with Chanel 4"s The Salon years after this show , Thanks to the uploader , RIP to all who was involved in this ,as I say , priceless memories for those who knew the ladies 🙏

[@julieandrew3674]

She's 82 this yr and still going strong some of her original clients still go for there hair done she will never giv it up xxxx

[@katemarkham1366]

My god how times chsnge .

[@thisawareness2342]

What a gem.... love it. Older ladies looking so beautiful... no botox or lashes. Strong, natural women. Such nostalgia...

[@Cire6609]

I loved this documentary it really captured a generation gone by. The heart warming women of the North never fail you. I did take to the lady who worked there when her husband passed I thought she was just lovely ❤

[@christopherhughes8554]

That brought back very happy memories of my days as an apprentice in the 1960’s.. and i worked at Lewis’s department store in the late 60’s early 70’s…

[@mica412]

I always try and go to a more traditional hair salon whenever I can, even if it's just for a wash and blow. They're just so much more peaceful and relaxing than modern day hair salons plus they take me back to my youth

[@jdavidknox6187]

A remarkable documentary---now almost 25 years old---that captures part of UK's cultural history. I can imagine my Scottish aunt and grandmother in such a salon in the Glasgow area!

[@demirc7009]

I can imagine that too

[@kellyshaw7271]

i found this after Cate Blanchett mentioned having watched it whilst being interviewed on hot ones. She's just made a parody of it in Australia. She said, that northerners talk about death a lot and from this film you can see it clearly, it's all death. I'm originally from Manchester but married my husband from Lincolnshire. He said, your family always talk about death lol, so i guess Cate Blanchett was right, it is a northern thing.

[@michelles2299]

I think it comes from the Irish my family came from Ireland to Liverpool in the mid 1800s and stayed in Lancashire subsequent generations I remember as a child going to see dead people it was normal for us a part of life

[@kellyshaw7271]

@@michelles2299 you're right. My father's family originated in ireland too. I remember when his mum died in 1985, she was laid out in my aunts home before the funeral. Nobody here ever speaks about death but i make up for it.

[@SalisburyAaron]

That parody is episode 3, season 4, of Documentary Now! and it's very good.

[@neatpaws]

What a peculiar, entertaining, GEM! 🤗

[@CraftingNannie]

What a splendid idead, keepin a death book.

[@davidcartwright1677]

Documentary Now brought me here. Brilliant!

[@valeriethenetballplayer]

Fantastic - I was born and grew up in Bispham/Blackpool. The clients remind me so much of my mum and her twin sister (who was a client of the vanity box !). Good people - kind and funny - the very best combination.

[@NashaWriter85]

Cannot wait for THIS episode of Documentary Now!

[@heartheart5543]

It's the episode with Cate Blanchett

[@Munrubenmuz]

Filmed in the actual same salon apparently

[@dazh1295]

No other word but Brilliant.

[@conradheyns1306]

Just amazing! Absolutely loved it!

[@michaelharper7029]

Just found this after it was mentioned on a Caroline Aherne documentary. If you have seen Derren Litten's series "Scarborough", you will be amazed how much came from here: Mrs Bookham featured in both, both had a customer "dying on our toilet", the phrase about "us old girls having nowhere to go" if the salon closes, and the "Vanity Box" itself even mentioned. Even Geraldine, the owner of the hair salon in "Scarborough" is dressed just like one of the owners in the documentary. Really enjoyed watching.

[@florencecarpenter3730]

It called beauty parlour stroke,

[@SellerPokemonGo]

I remember when I was 7 years old, and was with my grandmother, just before school started. We go to Mary's, where I just get the same treatment as my grandmother, a perm, and set... And after we were there, I became a regular customer there for the next 3 years. I always looked forward to getting there weekly for my set. When I would get perms, went all afternoon I remember..

[@3000vikki]

This documentary was absolutely lovely! I could watch hours and hours. Can anyone tell me who the ladies were gossiping about having plastic surgery in the very beginning? Their stories were wonderful and heartfelt. Brought me to tears several times.

[@robertm4102]

Ivy in Coronation Street, a character who’d been in it for years played by Lynne Perrie. She had plastic surgery without letting the programme makers know. It really changed her appearance and she was written out of the show soon after.

[@vintagemovielover4511]

​@@robertm4102 I remember that then she went onto The Word and made a show of herself, that kiss, if you know you just know, wish I didn't 😂

[@syhooverman5418]

Reality tv thats actually WORTH watching. More please.

[@Harry-fk5of]

I wish the BBC would still make these one-off documentaries about real people

[@vollsticks]

That hairwashing scene at around 11:00 Beautiful

[@Tony-yg9mc]

Even better when you’re getting it done. I used to like the one lady that shampooed me when I went for a haircut.. old school ladies .. I think they did better job on my hair than the barber

[@lisa4680]

September 2024. Seen this for the first time today and i loved it. Out of curiosity i looked on google maps to see if Vanity Box was still there. I found it 🙂 Front of the house was the same but it had a mature garden with an elderly lady tending to it. I do hope its the lady who owned Vanity Box, it could well be as she would be in her 80's now.

[@Vacbear58]

The outside of the Vanity Box has had an update but when I visited it was neat as a pin. The video rental shop next door is no longer there and the outside (also very neat) looked like it it had never been a shop. Mary's Way is still in operation although I believe it has a new owner

[@justmemimi7338]

Simply delightful, thank you.

[@caroledell9751]

Absolutely brilliant, loved these real wonderful ladies. ❤

[@troylewis2471]

The shops is still in the same place you can see it on street view and looks to be in the garden that is now outside the shop. The spat and laundrette plus shop next door on corner all look to be gone now sadly. How we all miss those people from that era. What fantastic spirit. I think they will all begone now. 1994 but looks like could of been 80s that’s Blackpool for you.

[@ginger1973wine]

What a lovely piece of history...very missed...all the Nans and Mums...smelling of hair spray and setting lotion...I loved going with my Mum..I also remember you could smoke too...!!! I loved the house coats all the hairdressers wore! x

[@adelehewitt1961]

I so miss real people ,down to earth humble and salt of the earth.whatever happened ? I would much rather mix with these lot rather than than the botoxed vacuous type in a posh wine bar ! ❤

[@sdm3447]

Looking at Google streetview, it is as if "Vanity Box" has been converted / converted back into a house. Last photo was from September 2022, with a lady in the front garden who looks very like Hillary. There are also several previous pictures of it on streetview, from May 2009, October 2014 & 2018, and January 2021, all of which seem to suggest it was still open for business and closed down quite recently. What is perhaps most interesting of all is what happened to the shop attached to it next door - you will see that the matching rectangular extension to the front of the building has been removed, making it look like a regular 1930s / 50's type house. I wonder how they did that. Also on the 2009 streetview, you can see a launderette on the opposite corner - presumably the same one where the woman who worked there came in to Vanity Box to announce the death of the wrong Betty.

[@Vacbear58]

You are right about the video shop next door, you would think the shop part had never been there, now replaced with a rather nice rose garden

[@disfamily98]

It hasn’t. Still a shop. Still owned and run by Hilary.

[@bailers5801]

Can anyone recommend any similar documentaries? I know this is a one off but I love stuff like this. Looking at normal life and conversation of time gone by is fascinating. Used to go to the hairdressers with my Nan in the mid 90s in Yorkshire. Exact same set up. Lovely.

[@sdm3447]

While not quite the same thing as this, two documentaries I thoroughly enjoyed (not least because of the interviews with ordinary people who talked about their everyday experiences) were as follows: The Secret Life of the National Grid 2 - Switching On (2010) All Mod Cons - NEW upload! - Complete Both are on youtube and can be found if you copy & paste the titles to the search box.

[@LauraJones-gr2li]

Watch World In Action blood and guts shift. It's and A and E dept in liverpool in the 70s

[@MsObsidian1]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/aKLTgp6KmKdpfposi=W7_lr5S09sUYLVJ2

[@ladysouthwold]

I loved watching this again - I was 32 when it was first shown. Love the chatter and warmth from a different era... They left a lovely programme behind them all

[@s.l.george7348]

The woman with the thick long white hair is "lovely" as the British say---inside-out.

[@JillLawton-zt8me]

Wasn’t she lovely.

[@irenemorley75]

Yes I wouldn't have that cut off, it looked so elegant .....better than a short perm.🤗

[@omalley5196]

Thank you documentary now!!!! This was as hilarious as their parody. But after watching their parody this was kinda touching!!!!

[@LynneUK1]

Watched this when it was originally aired, love it.

[@sargee97]

Amazing, it was wonderful watching this. If life was only as good now. Real community and real people.

[@michelles2299]

That kid on the roller skates gets about

[@math1182]

I was thinking that. She probably died at 13 of exhaustion!

[@newforestpixie5297]

Our mum began training at a salon in a newly built multi-storey block & parade of shops upon the clifftop at Barton On Sea at the now eastern tip of Bournemouth in 1950 & the premises only ceased use as a hairstylist in the late 00s.

[@TS-1267]

... 13:37 " HIYA DOROTHY! ".... Splendiferous Indeed 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🥂🌄🌄🌄

[@zephyrsky__]

What a lovely documentary, no agenda just every day life

[@Ladybug-le2tv]

I enjoyed every second of it! And how amazing was that thick snowwhite hair from that lady!Do you have more documentaries like this?

[@RaciePSB]

What a precious time capsule! ❤

[@ivanahavitoff7308]

what a way to go. she died on our toilet,. still, she has a lovely step mum now...

[@AniWatX]

This was brilliant. The sense of camaraderie and community was heart warming. How is it 30 years since 1994 ? Time really does fly.

[@MsScotlyn]

I can almost smell the perm lotion! Such happy memories, we still have a hairdressers like that in our village!

[@TimelordUK]

just wonderful!