Lesson #30 – HAIR…….LONG BEAUTIFUL HAIR!!!

“Gimme head with hair Long beautiful hair Shining, gleaming
Streaming, flaxen, waxen
Give me down to there hair
Shoulder length or longer
Here baby, there mama
Everywhere daddy daddy
Hair, hair, hair, hair, hair, hair, hair
Flow it, show it
Long as God can grow it
My hair”  

(Book and lyrics by James Rado and Gerome Ragni and music by Galt MacDermot.)

A revolution.  Sexual, Drugs, Vietnam, Values.  Hair!

We all have it and some of us eventually lose it.  But hair has always been an important part of who we are.  ALWAYS.  Beginning in High School it was as important as the clothes I put on my back and how we packaged what we were born with.  It still is pretty darn important especially now when we all seem to be ‘falling apart’ (or is it just me?) at the corners in one way or another.  But, hair….it’s pretty much a constant in our lives wouldn’t you agree?

These times are crazy I know and thought provoking and upsetting.  The violence is getting crazier and crazier and I often would like to escape to the easier times when all I thought about was how my hair looked before rushing off to school!

Things haven’t changed all that much with that aspect of myself.  I’m not vain but I do work on my hair.

We women may be arguing with ourselves about to dye or not to dye.  More men are now adding color to their hair.  It’s all good. Come on grey here I am or, alternately, not on your life… YET.  To have long beautiful flowing hair or cut the damn stuff off.

I kept that long hair until I turned 40.  I chopped it all off and loved it.  My daughter, however, cried when she saw me and while sobbing managed to cry, “I want my mommy back!”  That about says it all.  We are our hair!  The only reason I grew it longer again was, as we get older, it seems to soften the face and disguise our hangey stuff going on.  Ha!  That’s a bunch of malarkey right?  It’s ok to think so anyway.

And what’s with water?  When you wash your hair in a different locale……you just don’t know what the water will do to your hair. Bouncy, full, flat, lifeless, shiny?

Rather than choosing a home based on layout, area, neighborhood, etc. I think all these years I should have chosen homes based on the water.  Wouldn’t that have been interesting?  Excuse me while I take a short shower.  HA!  Much like flushing the toilet on the 2nd floor to know if you can hear the rushing water on the first floor dining room while house shopping.  (That’s another story).

When I remember my Mother’s hair and the time spent on it even into her 70’s…  Dyeing, bleaching, curling.  She got it….the importance of hair.  My MIL (Mother in law) had a full thick head of hair which she put into pin curls every night.  She had let her grey hair shine through early on.  In fact, I don’t remember her ever dyeing it.  I understand she had a fashionable wig at one time but didn’t we all?  I had one (God forbid) which I wore a lot.  I still can’t believe I did that!

During high school, I ironed my hair so it would be absolutely straight.  It was the 60’s after all!  But, also, I would actually set my hair with orange juice cans (too uncomfortable to sleep) and later toilet tissue rollers (which, of course, flattened out at night causing me to have creases in my hair)…I suppose they actually sold rollers but we didn’t have any money.  So I used what we had around the house.

And you men.  Ha!  Long hair to show you were a nonconformist to the establishment but had to conform to be part of the group…with long hair!  Pony tails!  Then once graduated into corporate world (had to make a living) off came the hair to up above the ears.  Conforming to the corporate look.  Now at our retirement age I see more and more men with receding hairlines with pony tails. I actually love it and that look.  Retired men returning to their noncomformist days now that they may!  Their choice once again.

Back in the day there were no hair dryers as we know it but I did score and receive one Christmas ..one of those chair hair dryers.  I put the shower bouffant cap on and attached the hose to the back.  It blew warm air on my head.  It wasn’t efficient and I didn’t like it so I put it away in my closet.  Thank goodness for blow dryers.

At this age my hair has become increasingly important and something, for the most part, I can depend on. When I look in the mirror and see my wrinkles sprouting all over the place and skin drooping I MUST depend on my hair to make me feel A-ok. I am always on the look out for decent salons and hairdressers inside. At some point I am guessing I won’t care about this but not there yet.

Again, is any of this important?  The memories of the hair dos and don’ts.  The screw ups…those bad haircuts we all have received.  The perms. Oh boy. Of course it isn’t ‘important’ but it certainly is amusing and during these turbulent times when we aren’t watching the world fall apart, it’s nice to remember and appreciate our hair and be nice to it because of the abuse we have put it through!

“Hair, flow it, show it
Long as God can grow it
My hair, flow it, show it
Long as God can grow it
My hair, flow it, show it
Long as God can grow it
My hair”

Leigh

I would love to hear about your hair nightmares!  Contact me. May I publish your comment?

Coming soon!  “The Eyes Have It!”

Happy Easter everyone!