Rag Curls/Paper Curls

[braided-rug]

Nana was pretty good with the hair styles. She introduced me to rag curls. I have pretty straight hair.

Is this a Grandma thing for you too?

[lynn]

BR, we didn't do rags, but we used pink sponge rollers or if we didn't have enough of those, we'd use the stiff hard rollers with little picks.

My hair is naturally wavy and has lots of body.....teeeheee....matches the rest of me! lol

[Deed]

No not grandma for me. I had both grandma's living until I was about 14, and even though we faithfully visited them weekly neither one barely spoke to us children.

Anyway my mom did do this. My 3 sister's and I all had stringy straight hair. I can remember after baths on Sunday night we would each sit in front of my mom while Wonderful World of Disney and Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom was on and get our entire heads rolled up in curlers. And they were either the black picky ones with the pink plastic hairpin looking things to hold them or the picky ones with the hard snap on covers. We got to sleep in those things, then the next morning mom would fix our hair with barrettes and/or ribbons. I can remember walking to the bus stop (6 houses up the hill) and by the time I got there, most of my curl was GONE! All that pain for 5 minutes! Oh and the painful part was not only sleeping on the things but my mom's hands sweat in the extreme, so lots of hair pulling went on while she was curling our hair and fixing it too!

[lucie]

lynn said:

BR, we didn't do rags, but we used pink sponge rollers.

My mom would curl my hair with those! Especially on special occasions. I remember for Christmas, Easter, and my first communion.....Ahhh...the memories...

Dee, I love hearing about when you were small. I used to watch The Wonderful World of Disney too!

[braided-rug]

I watched the same Disney, every week.

Mum did the curler thing and so did Nana, I think the rags were from an earlier time. I'm glad no one put the curlers in my hair, ouch. Nana even had a little plastic rain hat to keep her hair from being spoilt.

[Tammie]

Well, my mom was the one to put my hair up in those pink sponge rollers, never did like them too much...but the result sure seemed to make mom happy!
Each Sunday night, at a time when there was actually "family viewing" on TV, we also watched Walt Disney and Mutual of Omaha....very faithfully! Just thinking of that brings back memories.
Now on to what Grandma did for me...she gave me home perms until I was about 18yrs!! Oh how I remember buying the box of home perm, thinking that for sure I'd end up looking as gorgeous as the model on the cover by the time Grandma was done with me. LOL
Gram was never trained as a beautician, but in her days ladies gave each other home perms all the time. So there I'd sit, towel draped around me, having Gram patiently roll my hair up in those little pink curlers. Then she'd douse me in all this *stinky* solution and voila, after time went by I'd have some curl in my normally straight hair! I just wrinkle my nose remembering that smell. Good memories though!

[braided-rug]

I remember the smell that came out of those little clear bottles, and the paper too, is that right?

[frugalmel]

I got the sponge rollers. Mom used the prickly ones. I used to have "banana curls" or ringlets almost every day. (think Nellie Olson from the Little House on the Prarie series) Ony my hair was long, so the ringlets were down my back.

[ellise]

All us girls always had long hair and We'd watch Grammy braid hers (it was past her behind) and wait for her to get time to do ours. I use to love it when she'd braid my hair, it always looked so different than other girls braids. Somehow, she would make it look like it was merely twisted with a long strand of hair down the center.

[braided-rug]

They are both lovely kinds of braids and curls to have.

[braided-rug]

In a book written by Laura Ingalls Wilder called "On The Banks Of Plum Creek", she mentions paper-curls I think, maybe it was the more common form of curling there than my Nana's rag curls.

[Admin]

Pink sponge rollers when I was young and home perms given by my mom. As a teen I rolled my own in those picky rollers with the pink pins to hold them in place and then sleep on them. Ouch, what was I thinking...

[lynn]

Oh what we women go thru to look what we think is "presentable". lol

Underwire bras
girdles
control top pantyhose
high heels
stinky solutions on our hair to make it curly or sometimes, straight! lol

It's funny to me to think that in my grandma's day, fair skin was "in." I can remember her admonishing me, "Don't even think about cutting that grass unless you have a hat and long sleeves on." What!!!!! If we got freckles from being in the sun, she would tell us to "bleach" them out with lemon juice....lol

Reading everyone's experiences with their hair bring back alot of memories for me and alot of thinking about how times have changed so much thru the years....from Grandma's to now!

[braided-rug]

I was thinking yesterday, how I have been wearing maternity bras for so long with extended b/f for the last two girls, that I will miss the comfort of them, no underwires. I will be making a long trip into town for some normal ones in the next few months.

My husband wears long sleeves, I can't quite come at it, but I can relate to what Nana said about spots now. She did the lemon juice thing too. Did your Grandma have a tree Lynn? In Australia we have a really high rate of skin cancer. I have skin that is not fair which I am grateful for lol. I haven't reformed about hats either, just can't seem to find one I am comfortable wearing out. I am not really that comfortable in sunglasses either.

[lynn]

Hi BR,

You know, I've worn underwire bras for so long, I don't think my "girls" would feel properly supported without them!

Both of my grannies had big yards with trees. Here in the southern part of Georgia (I am only about 50 miles north of Florida), it gets wickedly hot in the summer. I have had a couple of sunburns that sent me to the emergency room. And guess what I was trying to do? Get a tan!!!! My skin is very fair. My sister, on the other hand, is naturally tan. She just has that type of skin. I blister very easily and peel and itch like a mad dog. I still don't wear hats or long sleeves, but I am firm believer in that sun screen now! You won't catch me in the sun for very long without it. I wear glasses 24/7 and got the transition lenses....the kind that darken when I am outside. I just love them.

My oldest son works for a landscape company. His boss has told him many times to protect himself from the sun, as he had skin cancer. Of course, Jeremy is 18 and thinks that will never happen to him. Everytime I see his boss in the summer, he has on a long sleeve shirt (breathable cotton of course) and a wide brimmed straw. My grandmothers always wore those kinds of hats if they were going to be in the sun for very long. I am thinking when I get older, I am going to wear one just to aggravate my children....lol...think Weezer in the movie Steel Magnolias.

I miss my grannies....more than I could ever express.