Beauty salons and barber shops, despite inroads by chains, have remained bastions of individual initiative. That initiative included, at least until recently, their often strikingly personal signs. Unfortunately, hand-made hair parlor signs have followed the broader signage trend toward clip art and plastic. The relatively short lifespans of both the signs and the salons have made this changeover rather rapid.
The signs below were photographed mostly in the first two decades of the current century, and with a few exceptions they’re gone. Styles range from folky to ultra-glamorous to barely trying, and there are even a few fine efforts on plastic included. Altogether, along Chicago’s Western Avenue and its vicinity, they provided a frequent respite from the uniformity of a franchise-dominated roadside.
