In her autobiography, Shirley Temple wrote that sometimes fans would pull her hair in futile attempts to prove she was wearing a wig (via Ranker). She wasn't. Instead, her mother Gertrude Temple vigorously and almost fanatically maintained Shirley Temple's lustrous locks. In contracts she'd sign with studios, Gertrude Temple would ensure that only she could touch her daughter's hair (via The Washington Post). Up-keep required nightly bobby pins, set to create, per Los Angeles Times, exactly 56 curls on Shirley Temple's head. According to The Washington Post, every two weeks Temple's mom would wash her hair with the help of Castile soap and a vinegar rinse. Sundays, according to Anne Edwards in "Shirley Temple: An American Princess," were day-long curling sessions. Temple couldn't take out the curlers, lest she turn up less-than-perfect for Monday morning shoots.
Blake Lively might put mayonnaise in her locks, Catherine Zeta-Jones may well use beer and honey to condition hers, and Nicole Kidman cops to bathing her hair in cranberry juice (via Marie Claire). But it's hard to picture any single one of the Hollywood stars exhausting themselves as much as Temple must have to achieve their iconic dos. Of course, when Shirley Temple's hair changed as a teenager, so did her luck in Hollywood. Brown, straighter locks were just not that remarkable, according to film historian David Thomson (via The New York Times).
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