Thursday, March 20, 2008

Toilet Paper Roll Beauty

by Shirley Bahlmann
Why is it that people (women, mostly) generally want hair different than what they were born with? If it's curly, they wish it were straight, if it's straight, they want curly. I'm guilty, too.
I'm headed for the LDStorymaker Writing Conference, and I'm a straight-want-curly girl. It's true that I have rollers. (The baaa-d sheep-wool perms of the 80's have thankfully gone by the wayside, except for the photos in the family album that make my boys ask, "Which one is you, Mom?" I point me out. "No, Mom, which one is really you?") The rollers I have are small, and I wanted big, luscious waves instead of tight, kinky curls. I tried to go the conventional route, I really did. I looked on the curler shelf at my store. They had some big rollers, all right, but they were nested with a bunch of medium, small, and tiny rollers. I would have had to buy ten packs to get the curlers I wanted. Then what would I do with the other sizes?
In the 60's, I remember my big sister used to roll her hair on orange juice cans. That was a little bigger than I was looking for. My hair isn't as long as hers was. What to do? What to do?
Then, one day last week, I was in that special room where it's always calm and peaceful, and my eyes lit on the perfect sized roller... a toilet paper roll. I was so excited I nearly jumped off my seat.
Last Sunday, I gave the toilet paper rollers a test run. I pinned the cardboard tubes to my nearly-dry hair and walked around like a medusa with coiled snakes on her head. When I was reasonably dry, I took the toilet paper rolls out and went to church. One of the prettiest ladies in our ward saw me, did a double take, and said, "Oooo, I love your hair!"
"Thank you," I said.
Some beauty secrets are better left secret.

8 comments:

Doug Johnston said...

I will see you there.

Marcia Mickelson said...

I'm a curly-want-straight woman myself. I spend up to 30 minutes getting rid of those unwanted curls. Isn't that crazy? My curls are crazy though.

Marcia Mickelson said...

I'll look for you and your curls tomorrow, Shirley and you look for me and my non-curls!

Janet Kay Jensen said...

Bwahaha! Now I'll imagine those handy cardboard tubes all over your head, Shirley! I'm a "Heavenly Father Gave Me Straight Hair so I'm Trying to Accept It" woman.

Unknown said...

Great visual, Shirley! Can't wait to see the hair tomorrow :-) Bet it's the most glam hair there.

Tamster said...

I have naturally curly hair, and I used to really want it straight. I got to a point where I realized what a blessing it is because so many want curls. There are still times, however, when I wish it were just straight and non-frizzy, since so often it seems more frizz than curl. I'm a low-maintenance kind of girl; I used to put gunk in my hair to help the curl/tame the frizz, but I got sick of feeling tied to having to do that so I stopped. So now I rarely use gunk in my hair, still deal with the frizz, occasionally really wish it were straight, but mostly just try not to think about or worry about it and just be happy with what I have. I will admit that I sometimes wonder what I would look like with a completely different head of hair. I don't think it would be me! :-)

Tamster said...

That's pretty funny though. I'll have to remember that idea the next time my husband bugs me about buying rollers for my daughter's hair! "Here, honey, I've got a much better, more cost-efficient idea!" :-)

crissy albert said...

Well you know the saying..

"A Girls Go to Do What A Girls Got to Do"