Glamour at a glance: a brief guide to the most elegant eras in hairdressing history

Whether you're working on a collection, brushing up on your dressing skills or just need a hand getting clued up on cultural references, hairdressing history is important.

To be able to look to the future, it's important to take a look back first - no forward-thinking hairdresser should be without a good cultural context of trends and techniques from the past.

We've rounded up some of the most iconic moments of the last century as a guide to understanding glamour - from the cuts that wowed to the music that mattered.

Liberated young women of the 1920s showed off their freedom - and caused scandal - by cropping their hair into daringly short styles - box bobs and Eton crops, finished with a Marcel wave or shingled styles.

The cut didn't just shock society but also caused concern for hairdressers, who up until then had seen women visiting weekly for washing and setting services.

The popularity of the cut meant they didn't need to worry too much - one New York salon reported 2,000 women per day visiting for a crop, and short hair encouraged women to experiment with colour and styling treatments too.

Icons to Google: Lillian Gish, Great Garbo, Dolores Del Rio, Clara Bow, Josephine Baker, Mary Pickford, Louise Brooks, Coco Chanel, Gloria Swanson, Colleen Moore, Claudette Colbert

Movies to watch: Metropolis, Pandora's Box, Nosferatu, The Kid, It, Coquette, The Jazz Singer, Wings, Joan of Arc

Music to download: Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald, Bessie Smith, Al Jolson

Hollywood was the big influence in the 1930s, with hoards of young people flocking to the cinema several times a week to see the latest output from their idols.

Curls, waves and updos all required plenty of upkeep with women visiting the salon weekly to get their style wet-set in place - with hairnets and rollers providing an alternative for those on a tighter budget.

Hair colouring was nothing new, but still considered  déclassé in high society; actress Jean Harlow made headlines with her bleach blonde style, inspiring countless copycat colours.

The war may have placed a momentary pause on women's spending habits during the 40s, but Hollywood continued to influence with women across the globe trying to recreate a bit of big-screen glamour to brighten up their lives.

Romance and elegance were the watchwords, with curls, waves and elegant updos adding femininity to lives which had become increasingly touch - both in terms of manual labour while men were at war and the hardships of wartime life.

Headscarves, turbans and snoods all enjoyed popularity too - protecting hair while women worked and ensuring they could leave their locks set in rollers and still look presentable.

Short and medium-length styles dominated in the fifties, but glamour was still key with hair still being set into elaborate waves and curls.

While hats were becoming less of an essential, styles were still often topped off with decorative accessories with bows and headbands also popular for younger women.

Stylists like Alexandre de Paris helped to ensure that stylists were lauded like filmstars too, with women clamouring to visit the big-name stylists popularised by celebrities.

The sixties was an era of contrasts, with inspirational celebrities opting for a wealth of different styles.

Hippy-chic dishevelled lengths, in a sun-kissed natural shade, provided one option, while the bombshell styles of Brigitte Bardot took that texture and teased it into something super-sultry.

The tomboy also reigned, with cropped elfin looks from Twiggy and Edie Sedgwick encouraging a new generation of young women to opt for super-short locks - with Vidal Sassoon leading the charge of hairdressers daring to do it.