I was born in 1967.
I remember when we tuned the TV to the channel we wanted by turning this dial on a box, then you could hear the antenna on the roof moving, with this sort of CHUNK! CHUNK! sound.
I signed a petition in high school to get MTV added to our cable lineup. It was a big scandal since it showed these things called “videos” that might be glorifying drugs (gasp) and sex (GASP!)
Our senior year, we had to turn in a ten page paper for English. I had to type each page out, and there couldn’t be any Wite-Out on it, so if I mis-typed, I had to start the page over.
Gas stations had full-service pumps and if you pulled into one, an attendant ran up, you told him how much of what kind of gas you wanted, and then while it was pumping, he checked your car’s oil and washed the windows.
There were Four Food Groups-Meat and Beans, Milk and Cheese, Fruits and Vegetables, and Breads and Cereals. A healthy meal had one serving from each. We never used the words “protein” or “Carbs”.
“Body on Tap” was a shampoo with Beer in it. The commercial had a lady saying “I just washed my hair with beer!” I also remember Flex, and Breck, and Tame cream rinse that came in a tall white bottle and smelled fantastic.
I remember Maybelline Dial-A-Lash mascara, and the Cover Girl eye shadow kits with the four shades of blue. The diagram on the back showed you how to apply all four shades at once, which I did.
I remember Tussy roll-on deodorant, and Mitchum- “so effective you can even skip a day!” There was no such thing as body wash, we used bar soap in the shower.
Our hair-styling options were mousse, gel, or hairspray. Gel was pretty much those jars of Dippity-Do, which you scooped out with your fingers and glopped onto your damp hair.  When Vidal Sassoon products hit our stores, everyone I knew stopped keeping a tall can of Aqua-Net in their locker and switched to Vidal Sassoon. You could smell it on the girls in my school like it was perfume.
Speaking of perfume- My sister wore “Poison”. There was Charlie, and Enjoli, and Jean Nate (Pronounced Nah-TAY) body splash. That commercial had a lady getting out of the bathtub, pouring Jean Nate into her hand, then splashing it up onto her LEG. And then it showed her dressed as a jockey riding a horse. Because nothing enhances the horse-riding experience like smelling like lemons.
We wore Bonne Bell Lip Smackers, and then Maybelline came out with Kissing Potion, which was a liquid lipgloss in a tube with a roller ball. Mine was Strawberry.
I thought the 80s was an interesting time for clothes. The preppy years started in 7th grade, when we wore pastel Oxford shirts untucked, top two buttons undone, sleeves rolled up. With khakis (also called “Chinos”) and Bass Weejun loafers with a penny in the slot in the front. For dressing up there were Candies sandals, and for summer we wore wood-soled Dr. Scholl’s sandals. How those didn’t kill our feet I have no idea. I loved mine.
Also popular that year was the Prairie look. White ruffled shirts, usually with an attached piece around the neck we tied in a bow, and long denim skirts with ruffled tiers, worn with turqoise jewelry and cowboy boots. We had Shaker sweaters made by Forenza, and jeans by Calvin Klein, Jordache, and Gloria Vanderbilt.
There was a brief “Flashdance” trend in high school, my Mom had a FIT when I asked her to buy me a sweatshirt only to cut the neckline out of it. And Junior year (1984) there was a Neon phase. Sweatshirts, t-shirts, socks, headbands, all in these shades of neon pink, blue, green, yellow. Think those glowsticks kids carry on Halloween, then imagine yourself wearing it HEAD TO TOE.
“Color Me Beautiful” was this line of makeup that women sold at home parties. They would drape scarves around you and then tell you what “season” you were, and sell you the makeup that looked best on you. You also got a fabric swatch for your purse so you could pick the best shades when shopping. I couldn’t believe it when I googled it and found out that Color Me Beautiful still exists! I’m a Summer
Play along in the comments if you want to share your 70’s and 80’s memories!
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Although I was born in ‘68 I too was class of ‘85 and I am right there with ya.
How about ON tv, that was the first pay station that played movies, we didn’t have it but the neighbors did.
And don’t leave out the Pong, the first home video game, which led the way for the Atari Video Game System. those graphics were amazing and yet just so wrong.
My older siblings in the 70’s wore the BELL bottom pants and hip huggers, the low rise and boot cut kids of today would be astounded with the width of actual bells.
A foray into the 80’s can’t leave out bike pants, parachute pants and lest we forget our dear friend Mork and his rainbow suspenders, I wore mine almost everyday (dork that I was/am).
Made me smile.
Girl where I come from we had black and white tv until the 80’s, same decade our second tv station come into being and oh yeah tv stopped broadcasting at around midnight.
Flex was my favourite shampoo and I right now I have a bottle of charlie on my dresser.
Remember those dusty encyclopedias too? Oh these kids are so lucky.
I was born in 1970 but a lot of this is still familiar.
Definitely the eyeshadow, hairstyling options, and Dr. Scholl’s wooden clogs – I loved how over time my feet would wear them down to the perfect fit.
I also remember the (brief) popularity of wearing knickers (complete with argyle socks, lol), and layering different colors of socks over each other and then over your pant cuffs – to match the layers (usually in pastel colors) of shirts you were wearing.
I think it was an old sweatshirt of mine that got the ‘Flashdance treatment’, lol.
Great list!
*sigh* I feel old.
I was born in 1967, too. Don’t forget “Gee Your Hair Smells Terrific” shampoo. And the fact that we didn’t have conditioner, we had “creme rinse.”
I still think of “flip-flops” as “thongs,” but I don’t say it anymore because it makes people give you funny looks.
Your post brings back a lot of great memories!
how about cuffing your pants in a roll, or “Harem” pants? Or MC Hammer pants, or those Michael Jackson leather jackets with a million zippers. Or “mock” turtle neck shirts? Oh oh oh fanny packs! And those Bruce Jenner jogging shorts or those terry cloth spaghetti strap tops?
What about GIGANTIC shoulder pads and GIGANTIC plether belts with huge shiny belt buckles? Oh and don’t forget the jean jackets with the puffy sleeves at the top. The Karate Kid. Or reading Judy Blume’s RACY “Forever”!! Scandalous! I remember when they RE-introduced red M&M’s and big foo foo hair, trying to get it to feather back all poofy and big.
I remember the beats diet, the cabage diet, drive in movies. White anklet socks with little pom poms on the back heal. I could go on forever.
Perfect research papers with NO white-out. You just brought back a certain pain in my brain that hasn’t been there since the invention of the fabulous word processor.
Parachute pants? Camoflauge pants?
I was born in 1964. I totally enjoyed reading your post…it bought back so many memories. Do you remember how all the channels would go off the air at a certain time…and would start again the next morning showing a picture of an American Flag and playing The National Anthem. Speaking of TV, how about The Afterschool Specials? I used to race home to watch them. We may not have what our kids have, but we sure did have it good!