Since the dawn of mankind, people have been infatuated with their hair. Hairs' most useful purpose was to probably keep the head warm in the cold weather and to keep the scalp from getting fried to a crisp in the hot sunshine. But from the first time someone noticed some other head of hair, hair became an adornment.
Even back in ancient Egypt, hair was a big deal. The Egyptians were certainly ahead of their time when it came to things that could be done to hair. They would shave their children's heads leaving a tuft of hair on the side to grow long. A side tuft was a sign of youth, but I imagine it made washing a child's hair a much easier process.
They had wigs and even hair extensions that were made from real hair, real hair and plant fibers, or just plain plant fibers and wealth determined which hair piece one could afford. They even had hair dye and its believed that they came up with the first permanent wave, perm, for hair. This was thought to be accomplished by wrapping hair around wooden dowels and then packing the head with mud. Setting in the sun would dry the mud thus drying the hair in curls. The curls would last until the hair got wet. Getting ready for a date on a Friday night must have had to start on a Wednesday.
Over the years, the lasting results of the perm got a lot better. The first perming solution used cow urine and water. If you think they still smell bad, get a mental whiff of what that would have smelled like. This was quite a cumbersome process and took hours to achieve the desired results.
The perm finally evolved to a smaller version, the box perm. This could be purchased and applied at home and turn straight hair into steel wool in a matter of minutes. Mother used these on my sisters, Lela & Blanche. They have endless school pictures of poodle fur bangs. Then Mother got clever and permed the bottom edge of their hair, those are classic pictures indeed. I was fortunate to be born with curls so I did not have to endure the abuse of the perm, but by the time she got my bangs cut straight, they were about a half inch long.
Items as small as a pencil to as big as a soup can have been used to style hair and the accomplished hair-do was given a name. Names like the 'bob', the 'wedge' and even the 'shag', which was obviously a pre-name for the mullet. Once in junior high my neighbor decided to fix my hair for school pictures the next day. She rolled the top of my hair, on a large juice can, to the side, because we were trying to achieve a chic side sweep look. I slept with the can in my hair. The next morning, try as she might, there was no way to get the giant curl off the top of my head. We named it "Day of the Condor-Do" and I'm sure it's the reason she did not pursue a career as a hairdresser.
We love our hair and sometimes we hate it, but one thing is certain. Once we have it styled the way we like it, it's hands off. For many years I have worn my hair short and spiky. It works for me and I use a product called "glue" to keep it in place. I fix it in the morning and it stays put all day long. One evening when my husband and I were out for supper, a young man commented on my hair and reached out to touch it, I nearly planted a fork in his hand.
Be forewarned, our hair is important and regardless of how it is styled, we, the individual wearers of the hair, like it that way. So what ever you do.....don't mess with the do.
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