Big hair ... now ... and then ...

Marlene Terry

Saw an interview with Oprah Winfrey recently. She wasn't asking the questions this time but was being questioned by a talk show host.

And I did listen ... a little. But what caught my attention, and kept me glued to my TV screen was her hair and how really big it was.

... Is it just me or has the volume of her hair really increased as dramatically as I think it has?

The photo of Oprah on the September issue of her magazine speaks volumes (no pun intended) about how huge hair can get. And even though in that particular photo, she was "wearing a wig," as she confessed, it had me thinking back to the days when I myself, went through some pretty dramatic changes as far as hairdos are concerned.

I was just barely a teen when girls my age discovered that backcombing (we called it teasing) the under layers of hair with a toothbrush and then using a pick to spread what was left over the top, could propel hair to phenomenal heights. ... Remember the beehive?

... Oh we still used curlers back then, and would toss and turn all night trying to sleep on them. 
... I still can't figure out whey we did that either. Because when the morning came, the curls and waves were teased beyond recognition with nothing remaining of the soft curly look. Hairspray ... and lots of it ... sealed the deal.

Big hair changed from time to time, but lasted through my high school years and continued on into my young married days. And even though the styles became not as stiff and straight as they'd been previously, they were still VERY BIG.

During the last years of that trend, curlers became obsolete.Then curling irons took over and fried hair into large loops. The rule? The more the better. And with time and practice, the loops could be arranged, pinned and sprayed to stay.

Really had me laughing as I viewed some photos of me and my hairdos from my Brownie Scout days ... all bangs and glasses, the backcombed and scary, high school years and the season when I, as a young mom, still found the time to position what looked to be 3-5 pounds of those aforementioned loop curls on top of my head.

... I was also taken back by how tired and skinny I looked. 

... But then the weight of the hair had to be fatiguing.... And the height and finished size of the hairdo in comparison to my average-size body?

... Well suffice it to say, I probably wasn't as skinny as I looked.  

♦ Hope you'll let me share your stories and photos here at my new residence "In a Nutshell." Email me at nutshellstories@gmail.com.