From the moment I knew the meaning of the words CURLY. HAIR. I knew I had it.
And I hated it.
My Mom, on the other hand (or head, as the case may be) had and still has PIN. STRAIGHT. HAIR.
My Mom has admired my CURLY. HAIR. for as long as I can remember and I have coveted my Mom’s PIN. STRAIGHT. HAIR. for just as long.
The problem is this: I grew up in the 50’s, 60’s and 70’s. My childhood photos are always me and my super-short so they wouldn’t curl bangs and my curly hair…
My cousins, my friends and just about everybody else had real bangs and PIN. STRAIGHT. HAIR.
The 60’s? Let’s just not go there with CURLY. HAIR. with icons like Cher and Twiggy. I ironed my hair. With a flat iron. I reverse permed my hair. I rolled my hair each night in soda cans and slept in them…
And the 70’s? Well, at least by then some genius had invented hand-held hair-dryers with comb & brush attachments and electric hair rollers.
All the while, my Mom kept on loving my CURLY. HAIR. and I kept on coveting her PIN. STRAIGHT. HAIR.
This brings me to the title of this post, my Mom and Hurricane Irene.
Barry and I were up very early yesterday morning to keep an eye on Irene’s approach. By 7:00 am, we had lost electricity…
This means NO ELECTRICITY. No hair-dryers. No hair straighteners. No CURLY. HAIR. daily dose of paraphernalia.
My Mom was staying with us at our home because we didn’t want her alone in her senior development for all the hurricane reasons why the elderly should not be alone… and because we love to have her at our home anyway.
At one moment during the morning, my Mom looked at my hair for a l-o-n-g moment and said, “I’ve always loved your hair like that.”
“LIKE THIS? I’ve spent more of my life than I care to admit to have my hair NOT like this,” I laughed.
And my childhood came flooding back to me.
My Mom fixed my hair every single morning… in braids, pony-tails, hairbands and buns wrapped inside those wiry bun holders that I loved so much. She had every ribbon color, every barrette color and every size bobby-pin. She had brushes and combs that she meticulously cleaned each week in ammonia. I can still smell the faint smell of ammonia from those days.
My Mom told me every single day how much she loved my hair.
And you know what? I believed her then, I believe her now and it still means the world to me… even yesterday in the middle of a hurricane that turned into a tropical storm that still did a CURLY. HAIR. number on my CURLY. HAIR.
Now… Audrey’s boys? Not quite the same CURLY. HAIR. reception.
As Barry, my Mom and I walked into Audrey and Matt’s home right after the worst of the storm with a nice, big pot of meatballs (I heated them up on my gas stove)… all 4 boys looked at me, aghast, and yelled, “GRANDMA, WHAT HAPPENED TO YOUR HAIR!?”…
Ah… a head of hair that only a Mom can love.
Thanks, Mom. I love you!
(And I still love your PIN. STRAIGHT. HAIR. !!)
And, oh… the boys devoured the meatballs.
The day has finally come: just this once, I’m going to totally disagree with a MomGenerations post!
I am a proud curlyhead, after years of hating it. And I firmly believe that any anti-curly who spends just a tenth of the time trying to find the right cut and products for their hair to wear it curly as they do on yanking and frying it straight, they will love their hair too!
http://www.naturallycurly.com is my friend – and I think you should give it a try, because those pictures of Little Curly Sharon are ADORABLE!
Sharon, I also have curly hair. For many years I spent hours trying to make it straight. It became more and more difficult as I aged to hold my arms up over my head for so long while I worked my hair. Finally gave up and now I just go with the curls. I do pretty much nothing to my hair except put a bit of goop on it and let it air dry. But I continue to envy my sister her straight hair.
Truth be told… I love your curly hair. And… wisely I say, I also love your hair straight. Hey, I’ll admit it…I love your hair any way your wear it!
You don’t get to hit that 35th anniversary mark by being stupid!
And Sarah… for what it’s worth…I think that your “curly” hair looks great too!
As the owner of the pin straight hair, I would give anything for your curly hair. I think you look beautiful no matter how you wear your hair though.
Just a little note on my CURLY HAIR now! I have honestly embraced my curly hair. I know Barry loves it. There are so many products that make it beautiful rather than frizzy. (Thanks for the link, Sarah!) I can wear it both curly AND straight. My biggest problem were the decades I grew up in… but age and wisdom take care of those problems, don’t they!!??
OH… by the way! QUIDAD was one of Barry’s students here in RI back in the 70’s! We’ve visited her salon in NYC and 2 years ago Barry, Jane, Audrey and I bumped into QUIDAD and her husband over near W 57th on a rainy, rainy December night. Barry looked at her and said, “RITA?” Her husband stopped and said, “Someone from Rhode Island knows you!” Quidad’s name is Quidad, but used “Rita” in high school. Small, wonderful world, isn’t it!!??
Barry is the epitome of a gentleman. I like your hair too, sir. 🙂
I’m sure she’s a really nice person, but I’m in the final stages of growing out a Ouidad haircut now, thank goodness. I tried it because I’d heard such good things about it, but it was reeeeeeally bad for my hair.
Curly hair definitely has a mind of its own – we just have to learn to go with it!
True Sharon – age and wisdom do take care of a lot of problems we wasted so much energy on. I too always wanted curly or wavy hair and ended up damaging my beautiful straight locks with bad perms years ago. Thankfully, I embrace every bit of hair on my head now and so glad I even have so much of it left after all I did to it in the past. You definitely look great either way – straight or curly hair but mainly, I think it’s the light inside of you that is really responsible for shining all that beauty outwardly. Hugs!