I have brown curly hair. I am the only one in my family with curls. Not just waves, but corkscrew curls. People asked throughout my childhood: Who has curls in the family? The answer to strangers was: Her grandmother had wavy hair. To friends and one another, we joked: Her father was Zorro.
Zorro is what we called the postman who delivered mail on Neat Lane. Zorro stayed out in front of our mailbox and talked to Mom for hours. Literally. He would sit in his little postal truck and Mom would lean against the mailbox, and they would talk.
None of us knew his real name, and no one, not my dad or my older sisters, must have honestly believed that Zorro was a threat. I do wonder, though, what all the other housewives thought as they waited for their mail while Zorro frittered away the morning chatting with Mom.
Mom says my hair started out straight but that after the tracheotomy at 18 months, the time I nearly died of croup that became pneumonia, my hair got curly. She says I was in an oxygen tent for days and that as I lie sleeping and sweating, the ringlets formed.
Like a flower growing, in those nature shows where they speed up time, time lapse photography, that’s how I picture me inside the oxygen tent. Mom and Dad peering into the plastic then wham, straight wispy hair curls up all around, my forehead covered in drops of sweat. I even see their eyes growing bigger, as if witnessing something unnatural. And even though I’m sure this isn’t at all the way it happened, it is forever pressed into my consciousness, my own little film about a time in my life that I was too young to remember.
Nowadays my hair is long. If I were to straighten it, it might even reach my shoulder blades on my back. I usually straighten it when I have a meeting, like in China or with people I don’t know.
Something about straight hair, the notion that it’s not actually me underneath it, allows me to slip into a more businesslike, more powerful persona. I like having the option, and even though I’ve come to love my curly hair, I like that at any time I can blow it out and make it as straight as straight can be.
I was remembering this morning about a time, maybe in my 30s, probably after Em was born, when I lost a lot of hair. I was thinking about the thin-haired women, aunts and cousins, on Dad’s side of the family. I remember I went through a period where I had a recurring dream that I was one of those alien dog-men from Bewitched, the one who didn’t have much hair on top of his head but had instead long, hairy ears.
My dream was that I get up out of bed in the morning, wash my face in the sink, and as I’m rinsing the soap off my face I catch my reflection in the mirror. I am just like the dog-man on Bewitched. Bald on top, long floppy ears down the sides.
-related to Topic post, WRITING TOPIC – HAIR
It’s funny because before even reading this practice or QuoinMonkey’s, I saw the word “hair” and I thought “yuck” I guess there’s something there for me to look into.
Amazing in your case, that topic brings up Zorro the mailman and a tracheotomy at 18 months! Ouch. I guess the upside of that experience is you lived through it and you don’t have recollections of that time, but then again it must have affected you in ways that you aren’t conscious of. Talk about a rough start.
In my case, I debated on whether I’d write about my own experience or about a movie I saw last night and decided to go for the movie since we always end up writing about ourselves anyway. You are of course welcome to have a look.
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ybonesy, how did Zorro (the mailman) get his name? I bet there is a story there.
I didn’t know that you were in the hospital as a baby. That sounds scary. Isn’t it weird when we make up our mind’s version of events pre-memory? They are all based on what our families tell us.
When’s the last time you straightened your hair? I don’t think I’ve ever seen it that way. It’s interesting how you talk about changing hair – changing personas. It’s something I never think about.
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Well, not much of a story. The mailman, apparently, was very handsome and looked just like Zorro (LINK), who was hugely popular at the time. And since no one knew his real name, he became Zorro. (My sisters named all sorts of people on our street: one teen boy their age was “Washrag,” his mother was “Beet.” And so on.)
BTW, we moved from Neat Lane and my mother did get a call from old neighbor friends when Zorro finally died. I guess some of them knew his real name.
Also btw, you can see he didn’t have curly hair 8) .
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ybonesy, great Zorro link. I had totally forgotten that Guy Williams had played that part. And he was also signed to star as Professor John Robinson in Lost in Space. Wow.
Remember the them song:
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Interesting about your hair change. I’ve heard that happening before, only with young boys who’ve had their hair shaved real close to play youth football and then their once straight hair grows back curly.
For some reason that makes me wonder about that young girl that had a transplant in Australia (I think it was?) The one who had her actual blood type change. Makes me wonder if she’ll have any outward appearance changes as well. Strange stuff.
I’m sure you’re ringlets are quite lovely on you yb.
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I guess you could say I got really inspired by this topic because I’ve just written a second post about it. And still more ideas and memories keep coming to the surface. Amazing how such a simple word can bring up more than a lifetime of memories.
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YB, great story about Zorro! I think a lot of families have stories similar to the mailman in your life. About the straight hair turning curly, I know this also happens in many cases where people have undergone chemotherapy treatments. J & I once had a landlord who underwent chemotherapy. His hair fell out & when it grew back it was very thick & curly. Anuvuestudio brings up an interesting question about the girl who had the transplant & took on the blood type change of the donor organ. Hmmmm.
btw, enjoy those ringlets! A lot of women pay big $ to get them! D
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Yay, it is an interesting phenomenon. I know three women whose hair after losing in chemo came back thick and wavy. One whose hair came back an almost different color.
That is a sort of fascinating question about the girl whose blood type was changed. I hadn’t heard about that story. But have you seen previews for the movie where a woman gets an eye transplant and then can see things in the supernatural.
QM, thanks for those lyrics. I’ll have to get a YouTube music blast to see if I can remember it. BTW, I had no idea that Guy Williams was on Lost in Space. Which was Professor John? Not the main older guy who’d get so flustered, was he?
Smiler, I could do several more posts on hair. I had just scratched the surface when my alarm went off. I mean, I have the childhood pixie cut, the jr. high attempts to look like celebrities, and all the memories and thoughts about body hair. So much hair, so little time.
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I’m one of those hair-change people!
Mine used to be wavy, not quite curly, when I was younger. If I used a curling iron at all the hair would stay in little ringlets until I washed it out again.
Then I had a hysterectomy at 40 and now take daily estrogen, and it’s as straight as can be!
Of course, I’m enjoying it, after 40 years of being annoyed by that waviness.
YB – I am worried about the thinning thing, too. I don’t know if it seems thinner because it’s straight now, or if it really IS thinner. You’ll tell me if you see a bald spot, right?
Oh, and that Zorro guy is a hottie. Prrrrrrr.
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ybonesy, Guy Williams as Professor John in Lost in Space had slick black hair, was considered the smart, handsome one on the show. You’re thinking of neurotic Dr. Smith! Ugh, that guy always creeped me out. I didn’t realize the connection between Professor John and Zorro until I went to your link and read about it. Then when I saw the photo of Zorro without his mask – yep, Professor John.
Hair, hair, hair, I bet we could all write a lot more about hair. I do think it gets thinner with age for both sexes. A lot of that is hereditary I think. With the exceptions of all the anomalies I’m reading in these comments!
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BTW, QM, this links to a YouTube video on the Zorro theme song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gTfdiHxYivA
Now that I’ve heard it again, yes, it came back to me. But I must have only seen reruns. My older sisters and parents knew it well, but for me Zorro (the series and the mailman) were part of our family legends.
It’s kind of interesting, how as the youngest child, and with 13 years between me and the oldest, I have a completely different relationship to my immediate family history than my older siblings. It’s cool that they can fill me in on so much. But I was thinking, with you being the oldest (you are the oldest, right?), you probably hold many of the memories and serve as that memory-filler-in-er for younger siblings.
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bloomgal, I’ll definitely tell you. Although, being as how there’s not a lot anyone can do about thinning hair, are you sure you want to know? I think I might just want to live in denial, myself.
BTW, I was thinking, I sure hope that hair genes do come through matrilineally (is that a word?). My mom’s dad had thick straight hair up until his death at 90 or 91. My brother has the thickest straightest hair ever. I used to call him toothpick hair. If not for the fact that we’re both graying at the temples, it would be hard to tell that we’re related based on how different our hair is. Once I tried giving him the feathered look cut. It seemed SO easy to do the feathered look. My gosh, but cutting thick straight hair is about the hardest thing to do. I butchered his hair; bless his heart.
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I’m been kind of taking a break from politics this weekend (will warm back up for Super Tuesday, but I keep coming back to the hair essays. This has the quality of a fairytale to it, a child nearly dying, awaking from the tragic illness transformed.
I’m glad you got better, and now you have this amazing story that goes with you everywhere.
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[…] -Also related to PRACTICE: Hair – 15min […]
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[…] when I’ve done timed writing that led to stories about my tracheotomy (specifically here and here) so I figured it was time to polish the narrative. Plus, since it contains important elements of my […]
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