Click the image to see Ms. Neal's blog post.
Rebecca O’Neal is an accomplished young writer with many passions, one of which is vintage fashion. Needless to say, I was thrilled to find Ms. O’Neal’s blog post, “More Vintage Royal Crown Hairdressing Ads From 1959-1969,” highlighting vintage hair product advertisements (click the pictures to read her blog post).
On a personal note, it’s a little strange to see things referred to as ‘vintage’ that I remember from my early childhood. But I’ll get over it ’cause these images are fun. They bring back hair memories. I remember taking a little jar of Royal Crown Hair Dressing to my dad so he could do my hair before school.
My dad had two little sisters so he knew how to fix hair. Nothing complicated but he had the basics down. He used to tell us stories about how he and his brother made relaxers with their mom’s soap lye – burned their older brother’s hair out and laughed at him when he ran and jumped into the river to get the homemade relaxer out of his hair and stop the burning. I’m happy not to use relaxers anymore. Making more natural choices suits me well.
Click the image to see Ms. Neal's blog post.
When I was a kid, my dad worked the swing shift. That meant my dad did my brother’s and my hair before school. He knew what he was doing and I always got complements on my afro puffs or ponytails. I even had Princess Leia style buns before Princess Leia. Caucasian people always wanted to know how I made my hair “do that.” I would just smile and say, “My daddy did it.”
I didn’t know it at the time but it was an amazing bonding ritual for my dad to fix my hair before school each morning. And, I remember waking him up as I climbed up on my parent’s bed and plopped my box of hair accessories on his chest. He’d sit up yawn and, I’d hand him my comb. Next thing I knew it was done and I was on my way. My brother had his very own plastic pick with the ‘black power fist” handle and my dad styled his fro to perfection. It was pretty big until my brother got tired of being teased and convinced my parents to cut it short. It was the 70s and big fros were “in” but not in our neighborhood. I think my mom was nearly in tears ’cause my brother was six when he got his first haircut. I think she still has some of that hair in an envelope somewhere.
Some of my hair memories are negative but I wanted to focus on the positive for this post. I can’t wait to read some of your hair memories, positive or challenging.
