Being frugal has to do with more than just money; you need to be frugal with your time.
This was especially true years ago when moms stayed home to care for the kids, clean house, and have a meal on the table when hubby got home from work.
One thing that took a lot of time back then was doing our own hair styling. At night we would wash our hair, roll it with those spiky brush rollers, then toss all night trying to get our head in a comfortable position. The next morning, the rollers would come out, we would tease every strand of our hair, then comb it, which took maybe 45 minutes to get it just right, then we would spray it with lots of hair spray to make sure even a tornado wouldn't affect it.
One morning, I finished my hair routine by spraying my hair, then I picked up the basket of clothes and took it outside to hang on the line. Did you know that bees are attracted to hair spray? I had just stared hanging clothes, when I heard a buzzing sound then felt a weight on the top of my ratted hair. I walked back into the house, being careful not to move my head and looked in the mirror. There, on top of my hair, sat the biggest bumble bee I have ever seen!
I carefully walked into the center of the back yard and shook my head from side to side, up and down as hard as I could. This only made the bee mad and it would buzz angrily each time my head shook. In the hopes he had flown away, I went back in the house and looked in the mirror - still there.
Back outside, I ran all the way around the perimeter of the back yard chain link fence, then checked the mirror again, still there. Making sure to keep my head still, I went to the furnace room and picked up a can of hair spray, walked into the middle of the yard, closed my eyes, held my breath, and sprayed the bug spray like crazy above my head. I walked back in the house, looked in the mirror and praise be, the bee was finally gone! But now I had to wash my hair and go through the whole torture routine again.
I have often wondered how many women were peeking out their kitchen windows at me that morning, I guess they still talk about the crazy lady who use to live in that house.
By Fortunately from Fairview Heights, IL
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How well I remember the days and nights of rolling hair on brush rollers, then trying to sleep. Not me,
but my older sisters kept our shared bedroom filled with that horrible-smelling hair spray, and moaned and groaned about trying to sleep on the terrible prickly rollers.
My hair was always naturally curly, so I just left it alone and I think the sisters hated me for a long time. We laugh about it now, and still remind the oldest who threatened to cut her hair off like a boy's.
Our mother would have died, I think.
Funny story. Thanks for sharing it.
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I found your essay very funny! Thanks for posting it.
Sincerely,
Janet
Thank you for sharing! Loved it!
Great story. Thanks for posting it!
As a teen in the '70s, I used electric rollers each morning for my poker-straight hair. Then traveled overseas w/ my parents once. Took along the curler set & an adapter. The Egyptian hotel somehow couldn't accommodate the adapter. My hair, however, being dirty from Nile water, couldn't do w/o its daily shampoo, even though the water ran blackish from the faucets. So, maybe you guessed it: I slept in these cold plastic rollers every night. Not a comfortable experience!
Well, thanks again for remembrances.
Well, an interesting story and one I share regarding the wire curlers on my head at night. But as far as "frugal" goes, I don't really think so. If you could afford hair spray, it doesn't sound very frugal. Not being impolite to you just posting my feedback.
This is an excellent story on being frugal. My mother could never afford to go out every week like clock work and get her haird done at the beauty parlor. My mom was a widow with 5 kids in the late 60's. She did her own hair and that bottle of hair spray lasted a long time compared to what it would have cost to go to the beauty parlor. It was a matter of being frugal and still being presentable.
This is a great story and told well. Thank you so much.
Taking care of my baby fine hair was torture until I had it cut short in a precision style- Dorothy Hamill style. Now I never need more than a blow dryer and a curling iron in the morning. I can't stand the smell of hair spray so I never use it. Plus when I tried it my fine hair would blow at some weird angle to my head, then freeze there. Getting professional hair cuts may not be frugal but it is important to my self esteem and I need a professional look on-the-job. For me being frugal is cutting out the dumb purchases. Now if you are broke or near broke, you just have to do without, but I won't live like I am broke if I can afford an enjoyable standard of living.
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