Hooped Earring Bathing Caps (circa 1940s)

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

I was doing some research and that involved some old swimming magzines from the mid 40s. I saw a lot of ads and photos and the women were wearing bathing caps on their head.

Now I get this, but a large number (most of them) of these swimming or bathing caps had what looked like two large hoop earrings extending down on the right and left sides by the ears.

What is the purpose of that? Was it a style of the times? Or coud you use the hoops as some kind of a floatation device? Just wondering if they were for show only or if they had an actual purpose.

Thanks

2

Can you post a link to one of these caps? I’ve been trying to find one but no luck so far. My guess would be, however, that the loops were used as handles to help get the cap on and off the head.

3

My experience with bathing caps was limited to my Mom making me wear one when I was a tiny tot in the early 60’s. The first thing I thought of was that the loops had something to do with an optional chin strap. However, Tikki’s idea of using them as handles sounds reasonable. Those things were horribly tight!