Hairdos

When I saw this picture I knew I had to blog about all the hairstyles and trends throughout these last 60 years or so.  How many of you girls remember this?  All those bobby pins.  This is the very first way I was taught to curl my hair.  Wrap a small section of wet hair around your left forefinger and push it off against the head.  Open the bobby pin with your teeth, hold it open and push it over the curl.  Make sure you get the little end of the curl tucked in or you will look like a porcupine in your school pictures.  I have first hand knowledge of this.  My sisters endured a lot of torture from me back when.  It was my job to help curl the girls hair on Saturday afternoons.  Remember that girls?  Remember me dipping the comb in a glass of water to rewet your hair?  There was a time when my littlest sister endured her big sister's latest creations.  My other sisters were just old enough to say NO!  She was my guinea pig and I thought she was the cutest thing ever on Sunday mornings.

After the bobby pins came the same type curls only using pink spools; wrap wet hair around the spool and push down the top to hold the hair in place.  Then there was the brush rollers which were a huge innovation but pure torture to sleep on.  The pink foam rollers that came along next were heaven...so very comfortable compared to sleeping on a bottle brush, but they had a tendency to crush down and your curls would be so tight it would look like you had a fresh perm, and girls, we sure know about perms don't we?  These rollers were still around in the 80s for I used them on my daughters hair and we had oh such fun with both of us in tears when we combed it out.  I still feel bad that I put her through so much torture (and the time I used two perms on her long hair back in the 80s).  Mom took advantage of perms to make her straight-haired little girls into curly headed girls (which she always wanted).  Looking back at those photos, we looked ridiculous....sorry mom, but so did everyone else.  Personal note:  I am so glad that perms are a thing of the past. 

I remember having a tiny black velvet headband to wear to the grade school Christmas program.  I was beautiful.  Remember the tiny little velvet bows that were attached to the little clippies?  Those were popular when I was a teenager.  By the time I was a senior in high school, the bouffant hairstyles were in.  Lots of teasing or ratting as we called it.  Then we would very carefully smooth just the top layer over all those rats...........spraying like crazy.  You didn't want any rats showing at all.  If you were very talented you could flip the ends to make a beautiful flip (which you couldn't break with a hammer).  Gosh, we were so pretty.  Then a little later, the up dos became popular and if you could make leaves, one leaf layered over the other, then you were really uptown.  Most often, the girls had to go to the beauty shop to achieve that style.  One thing I know, again first hand, is that a letter opener made a great head scratcher............No wonder I never dated when I worked at Tinker.........who wants to date a girl who has the same style for a week at a time and sticks a letter opener in her hair, scratching away with this euphoric look on her face?

And girls how could you forget the scarves we wore over our huge, teased, plastered hairdos?  We didn't want that hair to move one iota.  Remember wrapping your hairdo with toilet paper and clipping it place so that you sleep.  I had a pink poodle stuffed dog and in order not to mess my hairdo, I would lay that dog on its side and put my forehead on the dog side.  That way my face my face was framed by the legs and I could breathe.  Yes, that is how I slept my whole senior year.    

Remember the fabric bonnets (what I called them) in the 70s?  The ones where you would stuff you hair inside with the little ties in the back.  Very 70s.  And before that, remember wearing huge nylon bonnets covered with pedals or ruffles trimmed in lace over your curlers (or orange juice cans - I kid you not!)?  We wore them to school and nobody thought a thing about going out with curlers in your head if you had one of these on.  We were quite chic. 

It was fun for me to reminisce about hair styles this afternoon.  I am sure you have hairdo memories about the same as mine.  Your styles may not have been the same as mine, but I am sure you will agree, it is a lot easier these days to shampoo and go.  Don't believe I could endure a night with pin curls or foam rollers in my hair now.   Nope, not gonna do it!   And no more wiglets or wigs!

I love you all.

I had a moment at dinner tonight.  Just a moment, lasting not more than 30 seconds, but enough for the hubby to notice and ask what's wrong.  There was a lady across the restaurant with her gray hair all coiffed.........just like my mom did every Friday.  Brought tears to my eyes........but just for a few seconds.     

By the way the picture came from www.hot1940shairstyles.com