From platinum blonde to nearly bald: Jean Harlow’s horrifying hair routine

Before there was Jayne Mansfield, Kim Novak, Debbie Harry, or Gwen Stefani, there was Marilyn. But the very first celebrity to rock platinum-blonde strands was the 1930s sex symbol Jean Harlow.

It was Howard Hughes who orchestrated the shocking new hue. The billionaire producer signed Harlean Carpenter (the actress’s real name) to a $100-per-week contract and cast her in his 1930 film, Hell’s Angels, as a two-timing vamp read on