Tuesday, May 02, 2017

Proudly Rocking the Same Hairdo (More or Less) since the 60's

I haven't done a tour through the old photos for a while. This might be fun.
Yep, I was one of those babies that arrived with a full head of hair. The bouffant was a popular hairstyle at the time, and on a lark my mum would tease-up my hair. For the next five decades (with a few exceptions) I wore my hair pretty much the same. "If it ain't broke, don't fix it" etc. etc.

 "Oh no, mummy's hepped-up on diet pills again. I think I'll stay out here on the front steps until the storm blows over."
 "...still blowing, but it is a nice day, I can wait."


 Go ahead and smile kid, because this is the most even your bangs/fringe will ever be for the next fifty years. Enjoy them.

Around this time my mother put down the scissors (praise be to god-you should have seen my sister's pixie cut) and my hair started growing longer.
 Longer...
 ...loooooonger...
 ...and finally, "full hippie", complete with bright pink trousers. I don't remember the guitar, but I do remember the Mickey Mouse phonograph. Wish I still had it. After seeing this photo blown up on the computer, Danny was able to determine we still own the ceramic dog figurine on the left of the piano. He's since relocated it back to the same spot for historical accuracy!
Still wearing my hair more or less the same. My hair was quite black-the reddish tint is the film.
 A birthday, probably mine. What you can't see in the photograph is the wallpapered side of the kitchen. This was after a recent renovation and the fashion was for oversized floral wallpaper. It was all very 60's. Out the window was an apartment building that was built after my parents bought our place. The kitchen "view" was a brick wall. The second floor "view" was a man that frequently forgot to pull the curtains as he was er...pulling something else. His window faced my parents bedroom, and they finally had to install heavy shades and curtains that remained unopened until we moved in 1978. I'm sure the new homeowners were delighted with the "view". Anyway, after the building went up the kitchen went from a sunny room to quite a dark one, so my mother went bright orange decor to combat the gloom.
 
I tried out braids (and cheerleading) but didn't like either, and instead took to hanging out in back of the newsagent's playing the pinball machine (true). But hey, pom-poms! There's a Facebook page dedicated to the now closed camp. Kelly's was great fun. Tennis, swimming, arts and crafts inside when it rained-who could ask for more? It was a long-ish bus ride there and back each day, but completely worth it. I loathed overnight camp, but Kelly's was the best. The stay-over camp Birch Knoll was a living hell. Eight weeks sharing a cabin in the woods with rich suburban girls was not my idea of a good time. After a few weeks, I'd had enough and tried running away to the Indian Reservation down the road. I didn't make it. I was sent home by the camp. My parents were not pleased with me as they didn't get their money back. Birch Knoll wasn't cheap. I know it has been more than 40 years, but if the camp would like to issue me a refund, I'd be happy to take it, even in 1970's dollars.

Back to the parade of hair.

 Okay, mum got a bit carried away with trimming my hair and in an effort to "even it out" made it worse. We've all done that. By that time she was done with the diet pills so it was probably Valium. That looks like a Valium haircut to me. I'd still wear the shirt though-look at the great collar.


 I would NOT wear this. THIS is what child abuse looks like. Anyone that knows me will tell you, I do not hug, unless cornered. I'm not a touchy-kinda person. It was around the same time the parents bought me a winter cap with the Tootsie Roll logo on it. Tootsie Roll. Yeah, that and "Hug Me" are the stuff childhood trauma are made of. My hair's shorter, but still mostly the same. The photo is on a Kodak version of a Polaroid. I'm guessing it was a promotional thing to have your picture taken and see how the technology worked. We did buy a knock-off style of camera (not sure if it was the Kodak) that you had to crank a handle for the photo to come out. It took terrible photos, and we discarded it in favour of a Kodak Instamatic that took 126 film and flash cubes. I still own that camera.
Oh look, a Birthday cake I probably wasn't allowed to eat. I was a sick kid pumped full of tonnes of steroid medications and my mother knew full well it wasn't due to anything I was eating. It didn't stop her putting me on a years long starvation diet that screwed up everything from my spine to my immune system, and caused me infertility issues, without ever losing any real weight. I'm living with the consequences of extreme malnutrition and serious neglect to this day. Growing children can't live on 500-800 calories a day. Brittle bones, teeth,  and a messed-up-for-life metabolism-thanks Mum and Dad! I'm glad you had money to fix my sister's nose because you thought she'd never marry if you didn't,  but decided to ignore my scoliosis. I think of you every time I take a photo from my left, not my right so I don't look like Richard III.

* Er...back to the cake...(Must be the current post-surgical pain, I don't typically sound that bitter)

... it looks shop-bought, that would have been a splurge. I'm sure it didn't come from anywhere fancy like Dinkels. Probably the Heinemann's Bakery in the Dominick's  grocery. I would go shopping with my mother and admire all the plaster model cakes on the wall, knowing I'd never get the Cinderella cake with the moulded sugar paste carriage in the centre. I obsessed over that cake for many years, even briefly considering ordering one as a wedding cake in 1992. I didn't.  I regret that almost as much as I regret marrying my first husband (see below).

All-right now, there's some 70's hair before punk.,,
...and after. I dyed it the glossiest blue-black I could find and got a perm. Still, aside from the colour and the waves it is pretty much the same hairdo. I'd spike it out with Tenax gel and Ivory soap flakes on a whim (the classic punk hair styling recipe), but I don't have any photos. I also don't have any photos of my hair platinum which is probably just as well.
 Passport photo from the 80's. They told me to brush my hair out of my eyes, so I did without thinking I'd have to live with this photo for the next ten years. Lesson learned. Super-skinny eyebrows are another lesson learned.
 I wish I could say I remember any of these people from University, but I don't. Except Daffy Duck. I remember him. I think this was taken at Six Flags Amusement Park in St. Louis.
This photo was, "AD". After Dysentery. I was about 23. The shirt I'm in was something I bought in the children's department at Field's. I have a funny amoebic dysentery story (doesn't everyone?) but I'll save that for another time. Still wearing my hair the same. Actually, it is a crazy-funny dysentery story because no one picks up an amoeba in my family without a bit of craziness ensuing.
I beat the dysentery! Body changed, hair didn't. That's actually a wig, but even the wig is in my typical style. Yes, I wore a wig to the beach-I wasn't going to actually swim, you know! Wish I still had that swimsuit. I also wish I wasn't so damn hell-bent on sunbathing (look at that tan). I'm paying for it today. Also, younger self, can we talk? Stop holding in your guts, you're not fooling anyone and no one gives a toss about how you look in a swimsuit anyway. The photo was taken by a boyfriend who obviously didn't care.
Ah, finally some proper 80's hair. This is moussed, dyed ash blonde, and a look I hope never to return to again. Santa approves though. I know you're probably wondering WTF is going on here, but that's between me and Santa. What happens at the mall, stays at the mall.
Wedding #1. Couture evening gown made-to-order by Jimmy Gamba, flowers that cost more than a month's rent, and six months later it was over. I like to think of it as a very long, bad date.
Wedding #2. Got hitched at the courthouse in a vintage dress that cost about ten dollars. The hat came from my neighbour. It was, "Juvenile Court Day" and we sat on a bench waiting our turn as handcuffed and shackled teens filed past on their way to the courtroom. We later found out a wild party had been busted the previous weekend and the shackles were a sort of, "Scared Straight" bit of show. The court supervisor thought it would be awkward to get married in front of all those surly teens, so they opened another courtroom just for us. We pulled a secretary and a driver's exam employee away from their work to be witnesses. In hindsight, it might have been fun to have the big public ceremony with all the teenagers. It was surreal being in a giant, empty, dark courtroom (it is a turn-of-the-century building with lots of wood paneling and stained glass) getting hitched. The dog stayed home.
 The 2000's with a Nokia phone clipped to my jeans. And yes, the name of the import store behind me is indeed, "Happy Bang." The hair is messy, but still about the same. Side part, from the looks of it. "Happy Bang" Heh, heh.
 Chimney Rock, Nebraska. It has since lost a bit more of the chimney due to a lightning strike. The sign to my right is warning to stay on the sidewalk as the area is infested with rattlesnakes. I had my hair dyed a magenta red. I'd do that again, but I'm not sure I'd wear a suede halter top these days. Well, yeah, maybe I would.

Then I cut it REALLY short. I believe this photo was taken on the morning before 9/11. We'd just moved to Nebraska from Boston. We saw a plane being escorted by fighter jets fly over the farm. We later figured out it was Air Force One flying the President to Offutt  Air Force Base.  I've long since stopped colouring my hair, accepting that red just isn't my colour. I rather like my salt and pepper hair now, but I'm not promising I won't ever colour it again. Probably not red though. 
 Pregnancy made my hair grow like mad, and for a few years after Danny was born I wore my hair long. Eventually that came to an end, and it started thinning out again but for a few years in the mid-2000's I had great hair. I'm wearing a corsage, so I'll guess this was Mother's Day. At that age it took both hands getting the kid to stand still for a photo.
Late nights making Easter eggs for Danny to wake up and find Easter morning. I think I might have been on a heavy dose of Prednisone there (kind of an on-going thing over the years) but hey, my hair looked great. 
Eventually, the hair loss came back and got caught up with what it was missing whilst I was pregnant. 
Wait, I said, "Hair" not, "Bear." Sorry for the misunderstanding.

Back to the present. Will I keep wearing it this way in my dotage? Probably. I'd prefer to age into a respectable weekly roller-set like my nanas did, but by the time I'm ready for that, all the hairdressers that remember how to do a roller set will be dead. It would be like trying to find someone to do Marcel waves today. 

What about you? Are you one to radically change your hair over the years, or do you prefer the familiar?  

*Really, I don't typically spend much time thinking about this stuff-must be the power of nostalgia and all the photos. There's hardly any point at my age, when anyone left to confront is already long dead. Let that serve as advice to you youngsters out there-get this stuff sorted when the parents are still around or you'll be blogging about it at three in the morning after oral surgery. 





20 comments:

Vix said...

Well, I'm glad there's nothing on the TV this evening 'cos that was a cracking read.
I loved your hair through the ages and the hilarious commentary. I'm still tittering about the neighbour and his antics. Isn't it funny how we all knew a man like that and laughed it off back then like it was acceptable?
My hair's been long since I was about 13, permed, fringe and without fringe and gone from natural blonde to dyed black where I'm happiest.
Yes, I should have asked more questions when I was younger, I suppose I can make up a past now they're all dead. xxx

Anonymous said...

I loved this!
You must be feeling much better, very glad about that. JanF

Beth Waltz said...

It's taken a two-cup teapot of Assam to get me through this post, Goody, because I keep speaking to the photos of you as a child. Perhaps one must be your age or mine to read the paragraphs between the lines about mum's diet pills and the starvation diet imposed on a growing girl child. Yes, it was abuse; and yes, you emerged a damaged survivor. Key word to understand and appreciating Goody of Eat The Blog: Survivor!

Some years your senior, I, too, carry baggage from an era when females were valued for beauty or utility. I did ask questions, I did not believe the answers. Oddly enough, I do find myself journaling about it at 3:00 AM,, still trying to help that 13-year-old understand that it was OK to have brains and ambition, too.
Pity I can't pour her a drink...

Hair? Always some shade of tea red, now originating in a bottle. The bangs reside in a box, along with the faux braid. Length has varied from down to my bum (Peace, baby!) to just long enough to put it up (and display my collection of clips).


ThriftyParka said...

Suede halter top! Yes please!! Wow, you look AMAZING in that swimsuit!!

Meh, don't apologize about being bitter. Feel free to vent away. Parents and starvation diets, 'nuff said!

The hair looks fabulous throughout the decades, your hair has nice (natural?) waves!!

Hee! Yes, please share the funny dysentery story!!!

Happy thrifting ;)

Vicky said...

Loved the post and we must be around the same age as I had similar haircuts/perms at the same time as you.

Bibi Maizoon said...

I concur with Beth as to the dieting being abuse. I was put on diet pills (amphetamines) , HCG shots, sent to weight loss camp every Summer, and on every possible diet that came into fashion by my mom- all I got was fatter. I still wonder how much this goes on today when I still hear of parents putting their children on fat free diets? But I think the anti-vaxxers are abusive too, I am told I am anti-feminist for not supporting women doing crap like that to their kids.
I did ask my mom what she was thinking when she put me on that rollercoaster of diets and drugs starting at 6 yrs old, "I don't know." was her answer. It wasn't until I was about 40 that I realized she suffered Borderline PD & therefore had the self awareness, & emotional & decision making capabilities of a toddler. I am certain being the 11th child in a strict Mennonite family my mom was severely neglected which is what caused the BDP.

Your appearance and razor sharp wit have always reminded me of my favorite brilliant comedienne Tracy Ullman. I just googled her & there is quite a resemblance! You look happiest in that mauve wedding dress with the dog. (My first wedding lasted 6 months too). Actually you look happiest in all the photos since that wedding ;) I am so glad that we both found our way out of crazy & into healthy families of our own. And I'm sooo glad I found you on the internet googling lemon & mace cookies. Fancy that!

PS: Go to a beauty school if you want a roller set done & at 'student prices'. They still teach roller sets at beauty schools in the US. They still do Roux Fancifull rinses too. Bibi is sporting a mauve rinsed platinum Ziggy Stardust-inspired scraggly pixi'do today- It's a unicorn thang!

Polyester Princess said...

I really enjoyed this post, from the photographs of Goody through the ages to your witty comments. I'm especially enamoured by the one of you in your vintage wedding dress, and I agree with Bibi that you are looking your happiest in it. Thank you for taking me along for a ride in your personal time machine! xxx

Vronni's Style Meanderings said...

Where to start? Looking through old photos certainly stirs up all sorts of things...

First of all you were a gorgeous child and I can see how much Danny resembles you.

I was so sorry to hear about your year of malnourishment and the consequent legacy of ill health. I cannot imagine putting any child on such a regime. It was shameful.

Having seen some of your wonderful cakes why you don't you make yourself a Cinderella cake - you could, you know - then you could achieve your dream; albeit many years later.

Your first wedding gown was beautiful but I preferred the second wedding outfit and you look much happier...

As for self pleasuring neighbours - we had one as well! He used to stand in the small side window of a bay window, on a chair to make sure he could be seen, and do his stuff; usually as I was coming back from school - and then greet you in the street the next day as if nothing had happened!

I well remember the 1960s big floral wallpaper and the orange fest that was the 70s!

Your hair looks fabulous in all its manifestations, Goody, and I especially like your current style and colour. I also greatly appreciate your wit and humour!

Hope the pain is diminishing...

Goody said...

@Vix
I'm sure today the police would be involved but in those days we just pulled the curtains. I'm not condoning it, but yeah it wouldn't have made the nightly news.

@Jan
Thanks.

@Beth
*Nods* I'm sorry you had your fill of it too. Our younger selves would have had a lot to talk about.

Clip-on braid I'm familiar with, but am I reading you right that you have (be still my heart) clip on bangs? If such a thing exists I want them!

@Thrifty Parka
Nebraska might be the only place I could get away with a suede halter!

@Vicky R
There's comfort knowing you weren't alone in the crazy clothes you wore.

@Bibi
Yeah, because science is so anti-feminist. Give me a break.
I'm sorry you had to put up with that crap too. I'd say it was generational but that thinking is still alive and well. I'm glad you found me too-you've become a good friend over all these years.

I hadn't thought of beauty schools. The idea of a weekly set appeals to me (as I'm lazy). Watch out with those rinses in the rain!

@Ann
Thank you. I always enjoy seeing your photos as well.





Goody said...

@Veronica
I guess the neighbourhood exhibitionist was more common than I realised!

I am starting to get back to a routine, but I still can't chew or open my mouth terribly wide. I finally have an excuse to look grumpy. I took a short walk with Danny before the rains started today, and we saw a butterfly-I can't complain when there's butterflies about, now can I?

Melanie said...

These photos are fabulous! And may I say, I have serious glasses envy! Yours are incredible.

Your neighbour as a child, oh my! Walking to the bowling alley as a child, my friend was flashed from an upstairs window of a house, but she simply pointed and laughed at him!

I have pretty much had the same hair my whole life, but that's entirely to do with it being naturally curly. I went through the oddness of it being twirled into ringlets by my nan, which is really bizarre since it was already curly. It was like a Nellie from Little House on The Prairie type torture. Then my mother would try to brush the curl out, which I hated. I was forced to get it layered too, which spawned many terrible photos. Then after years of waiting for it to grow long enough so it would look longer than shoulder length (it was actually past my shoulder blades but the curl was tight) I got it cut into a graduated bob and am in a battle of wills with my stylist who thinks it should be 'modern'.

Bobbi said...

You were such a cute little girl! I had kind of the opposite with food - forced to eat things that I hated (and still hate) just because my parents like it. Gag.
Your hair is amazing. You found your look so early! I've had short, long, blonde, brown, pink...now I'm just too lazy to deal with all of the styling and just let it be big and curly.
Suede halter top! How cool!
Feel better, dear.

Propagatrix said...

I think our younger selves would have been instant friends, and I will forever hate your parents on your behalf for sending you to Eagle River. Also, why not try navy blue hair? It would be smashing on you. Much better than the Kids in the Hall's "Stinky Pink."

Goody said...

@Melanie. Thank you. I bought the glasses about 30 years ago at a thrift shop in Wisconsin. I'm dreading the day when they can no longer be re-set with new lenses because I just don't feel like myself in other frames. I've tried, but I keep coming back to these.

"Nellie Hair" would be grounds for murder, no matter how much you loved your nan!

@Bobbi
I love the way you wear your hair-I wish mine would do that.

@Propagatrix
Definitely-we'd have been terrors too!
"Stink Pink cooks your dinner!"

I wonder what blue would look like on my grey-that could be interesting.

Mim said...

Thank you for that trip round your hairdos. Short and red doesn't look like you! I would always have envied you your colouring; dark hair and eyes are so lovely.

As a kid I wasn't really very aware of fashion - probably a good job as we had 0 money anyhow - so I just let my mum tell the hairdresser what she wanted. Nowadays I cringe at the photos of me with a bowl haircut as a teen in the 1980s. No wonder boys were never interested. Though that was a good thing. I did do the highlighted poodle perm in later in High School, then dyed it black when I was 19 and it stayed black till I was 30, usually bobbed but sometimes grown out long. I went pastel blue for about 9 months when I hit 30. Since then it's varied in length and between brown and red, but nothing really adventurous.

Sue said...

I LOVED this post so much. Nothing like a trip down memory lane, good and bad stories, it is after all what makes us who we are. Have to say your mum sounds like a dodgy one to me, and that is why you are such a good mother, not repeating the past! I am guilty of cutting the odd wonky fringe on myself and my sons, we laugh now but at the time not so funny. My hair has been to my waist in my teenage years and pixie short. Now I just cannot be arsed with it so long it stays. Thanks for sharing all your old pics. I am hoping you are on Face Book now.

Goody said...

@Mim
Pastel blue hair sounds exciting (on a young person, on someone my age it would look like a rinse for my grey). I'm having a hard time picturing you with a poodle perm as your hair looks so beautiful straight.

@Sue
I have no idea if I'm a good mother, but at the very least, I feed the kid;)
Your hair is so nice whether you wear it dark or light.

Miss Magpie said...

My mother wanted to train as a hairdresser but my Nan wouldn't let her so I suffered as a consequence! I can't bear to have my hair touched now. I had the dreadful too short lopsided fringe and the bowl cut but mostly she spent hours brushing it into pigtails and plaits and all stuff like that. My hair has always had a life of it's own though and within minutes it would be on end which would mean yet more brushing ARGH. It's mostly always been blonde, I did have it red at one point and it's been short a couple of times but as it still does it's own thing regardless of what is done to it I have given in and tend to leave it to it's own devices. I wish it would grow long but it never gets further than my shoulders.

Radostin said...

This post is interesting and moving. You look so wonderful in that second wedding photo, absolutely lovely. Thank you.

Goody said...

@Miss Magpie
If only mothers understood the terror they induced brushing their children's hair. I like your hair-I wish mine had that much body to it.

@Radostin
I'm glad you enjoyed it.