Selling Romance - The 10 Way Hairpiece!

Anyone who has picked up a romance comic from the late '60s and 1970s has probably come across this advertisement for the "10 Way Hairpiece!" Sometimes it is in color and other times in black and white, but it is usually accompanied with this attention-grabbing ad offering a series of rewards for rare coins.

I am not sure that coins and wigs appeal to the same demographic, but hey! Who am I to judge? Notice that the address is the same for the Beauty Aids Co. and Best Values Co., as is the price for the advertised good -- just $1! It seems to me that a hairpiece would be a tad more expensive than a catalog, but again, what do I know?

Hopefully teenage girls mailing in for a "100% Glamorous Dynel" hairpiece remembered to send in a hair sample to be color matched by experts. You may be asking yourself, what is Dynel anyhow? According to Wikipedia, it is basically a synthetic fiber somewhat akin to PVC. Yuck! That doesn't seem like anything I would want on my head, but then again, being flame-resistant is a selling point.

While looking for more information on this mystery material, I came across this 1962 article from the TIME magazine archives. Wigs made from Dynel were a more affordable alternative to ones made of human hair. These synthetic wigs also allowed women not running in Hollywood circles to buy more than one hairpiece and change up their look without going broke. The Dynel wigs mentioned in the 1962 TIME article sold at Macy's in Manhattan for $49.50 (about $346 today), which still seems rather expensive.

The Beauty Aids Co. ad for Dynel hairpieces was written in 1967, and their versatile version of the fashion accessory sold for just $1, which equates to a little over $6 today. Wow! What a difference! The TIME article does warn of inferior knock-offs, but taking that chance must have seemed of little consequence for teenage girls trying to achieve the look of their favorite romance comic heroine.