I got my hair cut this week. A trip to the beauty shop (I know that isn’t the correct term anymore.) is a quick and painless task these days. My hair is curly and I have no need to “style” it, no desire to change its color. I seldom let it get more than two or three inches longer before having it trimmed again. My haircut this week cost me thirty minutes and $18. Good for another six months.
Later I thought about all the time and money I’ve spent on my hair over the years. Amusing now to recall that most of that time and money was spent on trying to change it- straighten the curls, loosen and soften the curls, improve the color, highlight the color, change the color. I usually kept it quite long and styled it in a pony tail or French twist or a bun on top of my head. Bobby pins were my constant and reliable aids. Does anyone even own bobby pins anymore?
I loved buying a new card of bobby pins! They were neat and orderly and shiny. They came in different colors and some were even decorated with little stones or beads. I kept them at home, in my desk at work, in the glove compartment of my car.
My mother curled her hair with bobby pins. She made little circular swirls and secured them with two bobby pins forming an X. I often did the back for her, but she could also do it herself with remarkable precision. She tried using them on my hair when I was a child, but my hair always came out of the pins looking wild and crazy. Rag ties worked best and I could sleep in them. Then we both discovered foam curlers. Much easier and more comfortable than bobby pin curls. However, foam curlers didn’t produce quite the results I imagined, so I tried brush rollers.
I hated the years of brush rollers with their cruel little pink pins holding them in place. They were ugly and I usually had to wear them all day in order for my hair to dry and curl properly. On rare occasions I actually slept with them in. I can’t even remember what special event would have prompted such self-torture. But the results were more than satisfactory, so I endured.
If there was one beauty ritual I absolutely hated, it was the home permanent. It was a tedious process and the chemicals burned both nose and eyes. I didn’t need one, but Mom relied on them for many years and I was often the one who applied them for her. I was so thankful when she started going to her cousin’s beauty shop instead.
Next on the list of torturous procedures was the home coloring kit. Again…horrible smell…tedious process. But I endured it so I could have nine different shades of blond hair in ten years. Also tried red a couple of times, and black once. I liked a couple of the blond shades more than others, but of course the home coloring process wasn’t precise and I never had exactly the same color twice.
The only way to always have the same color and style was to wear a wig. Yes, I actually wore one for about six months. During a period of depression that I won’t bother to explain now, I had my hair cut very, very short and then regretted that decision so much that I bought a long wig. It was heavy and uncomfortable and after several months I decided that my own hair was beginning to grow, so I got rid of the wig.
Since my passion is history I had to think for a time about how my ancestors would have addressed the hair rituals and challenges of their day. I turned to one of my most reliable sources for daily routines- The Welcome Baking Powder Encyclopedia of Cookery, 1890,which of course includes beauty recipes:
A Good Wash for the Hair.
One pennyworth of borax, half a pint of olive oil, one pint of boiling water.
Mode: Pour the boiling water over the borax and oil; let it cool; then put the mixture into a bottle. Shake it before using and apply it with flannel. Camphor and borax, dissolved in boiling water and left to cool, make a very good wash for the hair; as also does rosemary water mixed with a little borax. After using any of these washes, when the hair becomes thoroughly dry, a little pomatum or oil should be rubbed in to make it smooth and glossy.
Oil to Make the Hair Curl
Olive oil, one pound; oil of organum, one drachm; oil of rosemary, one and one-half drachm.
I am SO happy that I don’t need to worry about making that last concoction. And even though I really don’t need to do much more than wash my hair, I sometimes miss bobby pins. Maybe I should buy some.
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