“Pillow case white” was what Monroe dubbed her signature shade of platinum. A rotating team of hairstylists like Kenneth Battelle, Gladys Rasmussen, and Pearl Porterfield—the Hollywood hairdresser responsible for Jean Harlow’s own pale blonde—applied peroxide and bleach highlights every three weeks, according to author Pamela Keogh, and Monroe was said to have minimized washes by dabbing sifted Johnson’s Baby Powder on the roots.
Count Out Exactly Five Drops of Chanel No. 5
“You know, they ask me questions. Just an example: What do I wear to bed? So I said, ‘Chanel No. 5,’ because it’s the truth!”
Famously, Monroe wore five drops of Chanel No. 5 to sleep, but she was said to love the heady jasmine and Bulgarian rose perfume so much that she added pours of the fragrance to her ice baths, too. To wit, an iconic black-and-white photo by Ed Feingersh shows her clutching a crystal bottle and applying No. 5 with a smile.
Take Your Beauty Sleep to the Next Level
“I have never been able to wear pajamas or creepy nightgowns; they disturb my sleep.”
After plunging her face in a bowl of hot water each night, according to Keogh, Monroe would grab anywhere from five to 10 hours of sleep in an extra-wide single bed, huddled beneath a heavy down comforter. “On Sunday, which is my one day of total leisure, I sometimes take two hours to wake up, luxuriating in every last moment of drowsiness,” she told Pageant magazine of savoring her restorative weekend rest.
1950Photo: Getty Images
Work Out Strategically—But Not Too Much
“I don’t count rhythmically like the exercise people on the radio; I couldn’t stand exercise if I had to feel regimented about it.”
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