The snood (rhymes with food) is a type of hairnet or scarf which was particuarly popular with factory girls during World War II. It kept their long hair out of the way of machinery and was worn by lots of celebrities including wartime sweetheart Vera Lynn. You can even see the ever-glamorous Rita Hayworth wearing a snood here.

Snoods weren’t a new invention borne out of wartime neccessity, they had actually been around since the Middle Ages – just think of the hairstyles in all those Robin Hood movies! The 1940s was a perfect time for this style to come back into fashion again. The snood was a stylish and practical answer for women who suddenly found themselves taking over men’s roles in industry. Hairstyles during the war tended to be very complicated (if you don’t believe me take a look at some of these 1940s hairstyles) and a wearing snood was a simple way of looking fashionable without having to spend hours on your hair.

Snoods can be colourful crocheted hair nets, made from much finer mesh for an evening look, or made from fabric (see below). If you fancy having a try at knitting your own snood from a vintage pattern why not give it a try? I’d love to see how you get on!

Two sisters wearing snoods in 1942 at the Corpus Christi, Texas, Naval Air Base, working on a practice bomb shell.

Mrs S. Solomon, wearing a bowler hat with a fine-mesh snood, playing cards for charity at the Victoria Park Golf Associates’ party in 1940

A girl wearing a red knitted snood puts the finishing touches on the bombardier nose section of a B-17F navy bomber, 1942

A woman wearing a fabric snood is trained as an engine mechanic at the Douglas Aircraft Company, Long Beach, Calif. 1942

Clerk in one of the stock rooms of North American Aviation, Inc wearing a fabric snood, 1942

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