Thursday, April 14, 2016

A to Z April Challenge: L is for Locks of Hair

Genealogists and family historians get a lot of satisfaction from chasing their ancestors’ stories. Finding a diary, a message on a postcard, or a photo with a name attached is like the sun coming out after a storm. One day we will be somebody’s ancestor. We need to leave our descendants a little bit of sunshine too. So here is my story told alphabetically, not chronologically: Growing Up in Cradock.


is for Locks of Hair.

Two memories about my hair are crystal clear in this ever-fading memory bank: (1) Momma always cut my bangs too short, and (2) Momma loved to give me a Tonette permanent (the child’s version of the popular Toni Home Permanent kit of the 1950s).

Wendy Slade Mathias Easter 1955  http://jollettetc.blogspot.com
Wendy and her fresh haircut Easter 1955
In most of my school pictures, it looks like I had a perm. My parents always bought the pictures no matter how bad they were. However, in looking for the pictures for this post, I see that grades 6, 7, and 8 are missing. The disaster of my 5th grade picture must have traumatized my parents causing them to cease purchasing sight unseen. We have lots of copies left if anyone wants one. Yeah ~ 


Wendy Slade Senior Picture 1969 http://jollettetc.blogspot.com
Senior Portrait
This style has come and gone
several times.

Don’t let the labyrinth of lampoons and belles-lettres languish at the A to Z April Challenge.

© 2016, Wendy Mathias. All rights reserved

23 comments:

  1. That last photo could be from today! Gorgeous!

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    1. Maybe too much hairspray but that hairstyle has come back.

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  2. you're so lucky having a collage of pictures showing you growing up and growing into yourself - that last one is just beautiful! Leanne @ cresting the hill

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  3. I find all of the photos lovely in their own way, especially that smile, which hasn't change throughout the years. Beautiful! Thank you for sharing.

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  4. Great pictures; beautiful senior portrait :)

    My mom cut my bangs too short too! I wonder what it was, they didn't want to cut them often so they just went short and sweet?

    betty

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    1. I think that was it. Easier to whack 'em all off at once than to deal with a wiggly child. Plus my mom couldn't stand it if my bangs got in my eyes.

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  5. So fun to see you grow up right before our eyes. I will admit that I was bad when it came to cutting my girls' bangs - must have learned it from my mother.

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    1. Oh please! My daughter throws that up to me whenever she can about the time I read this handy tip to tape your child's bangs down and use the tape as a cutting guide. Good tip. BUT I cut on the wrong side of the tape resulting in bangs just like I had growing up. HA HA

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  6. My mother wouldn't let me have bangs, although she herself had bangs for awhile. I think you look pretty cute in your 5th grade photo.
    Finding Eliza

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    1. Now you're just being kind because I looked 90.

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  7. Love all the photos. Funny, my daughter just got her girls' teir Spring Break haircuts yesterday and haircuts have been on m mind since. And now here you are!
    My Dad was like the town barber, for kids... he had clippers and such, and charged 25 cents to all the neighbourhood boys. And - he always cut my hair. When I turned about 15 I asked him to cut my hair and he said it was about time I went to a real hairdresser now - I was so sad. But once I went it was like a whole new world to me.

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    1. Speaking of barbers -- my grandmother took my cousin "Bobbie" to a barber. She wasn't paying attention as the barber started cutting away. The barber thought Bobbie was a boy but NO. Grandma walked around town a LONG time before getting the nerve to take my cousin back home.

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  8. I always had a perm when I was little ! It really is fun to see that beautiful smile consistent through the years.

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    1. What is it with mothers and perms? I had my girls' hair permed only once and that was when the super curly hairstyle was in.

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  9. You look like a model! Wonderful!
    In the coming weekends I intend on putting my kids school photos into a photo book.

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    1. And you look like you need to get your eyes checked.
      I gathered up my girls' school pictures and tried to put them in chronological order - there are a few years that it is difficult to tell.

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  10. I love seeing those school photos together like that, great idea. Beautiful photos!

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    1. I sort of like seeing them grouped together myself, just to notice the maturing factor.

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  11. Such a wonderful collection of photographs and hair styles. I too had never thought of doing a collage, though once we mooed to High School, we no longer had individual photos taken. A pity in some ways, but I had rather a lot of "bad hair" days, so perhaps these days are best forgotten!

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    1. HA -- gym class rarely did anything good for our hair.

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  12. A very glamorous Senior photo and I love your short hair :) not sure perms are any worse than the basin-cut look. I reckon I looked like a boy half the time.

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