How Marlene Dietrich Changed Her Appearance For Hollywood

Posted by Almeda Bohannan on Tuesday, May 7, 2024

Time and aging, of course, took their toll on classic Hollywood stars in the early days of the industry just like they do to average men and women today. To help manage her youthful appeal as the years wore on, Marlene Dietrich turned not to plastic surgery, which was risky in those days, but to an innovative hairstyle that not only kept her timeless locks in place, but also helped smooth out her skin, as the Daily Mail explains. Her approach became known as the Croydon facelift, and here's how it worked.

Beginning in 1944, when Dietrich was only 43 years old, she developed a technique with her make-up artists. They wound her hair so tightly around hairpins it pulled back the skin on her face, as Brightside reports. Sometimes, her hair was pulled so tightly that this kind of plastic surgery with no cutting would sometimes draw blood, per Daily Mail. Dietrich's extreme beauty routine didn't stop there. She's also known to have used surgical tape and gold chains to make her natural wrinkles less visible, and although it's only a rumor, it's even said that she knocked out some molars later on in life to keep her cheeks nice and sleek. Just think of that the next time you look in the mirror (via Daily Mail).

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