Hair "Dos"

While visiting teaching today,
we started talking about how many women
in our mother's generation would go
once a week to a hairdresser to get
their hair washed and styled.
Then there was no need for them to do
anything to their hair
during the week other than give it a comb over.
Gary's mom always did that,
and her hair always looked very nice.

I made the comment that my Mom never did that
because my Dad always did her hair.
They were amazed.
I never really thought of that as different because
that is all I ever knew. I guess I thought all men did that.
Marilyn, who I visit teach, said I needed
to write that down in my history.
So here it is.

Mom would wash her hair. Dad would trim it,
give it a perm when needed, and roll it in
those prickly rollers.
Then Mom would wear them all day
until her hair was dry.
Then Dad would style it.

Dad cut my hair, my sister's hair, my brothers' hair,
my cousins' hair, our neighbor's hair.
He wasn't a barber.
He was just a do-it-yourself-er.

I still remember in high school when I decided I was
going to a hairstylist for a perm and cut instead
of having Dad do them for me.
I think Dad was kind of hurt that I didn't
want him to do my hair any more,
but I can hear in my mind Mom saying,
"Now Golden, she is in high school now and wants to
have her hair cut like the other girls."

As Dad got older, mom started going to a
hairdresser to get her hair cut,
but he still gave her the perms, rolled
the curlers and styled it every week.
After Dad died I, or whoever was visiting,
would be the person to roll the curlers into mom's hair.

On the Friday before Misty's wedding on Saturday
(and two days be fore she died on Sunday),
I went up to Mom's house to roll the curlers in her hair.
She wanted me to give her a trim, too,
so I trimmed it a little.
I am definitely not a hairdresser,
and my sister-in-law later told me she said it was
a little shorter than she was used to,
but that she liked it.
I remember feeling very anxious
as I cut it and also nervous about the wedding.

About 20 years ago,
at a gathering with my high school friends,
one of them jokingly said that we had to promise
each other that we would never wear house dresses
and never have our hair
"Done" and plastered with hairspray once a week.

Well, I long ago broke the promise of no house dresses,
and those once a week hair "dos"
are sounding mighty inviting to me right now!