Back in the Day

I went on my mission in April of 1979 with short red hair and weighing just about 130 pounds. The rule in the mission was that our hair could not be longer than a certain length and so mine was just below my ears. And it was red - or strawberry blond - more strawberry than blond. But while on my mission, I was in the sun quite a bit and so gradually, over the almost 2 year period, my hair bleached out to where I came home with much more blond than the strawberry....and it had grown out to about 4 inches past my shoulders. I had also had Typhoid Fever twice and had lost almost 25 pounds. I was different enough that at the airport, I was able to walk right past the guy I had dated for a year before my mission and he had waited for me. He didn't even recognize me! I guess that should have meant something to me at the time.
I moved into an apartment with my two cousins and a dear friend, Bev Davis (Roberts) who was my actual ROOM mate. Bev had the typical Utah hair - shoulder length and permed so that she could wear it in a full head of curls from hot steam rollers. I had never done much with my hair, especially during the previous 2 years, and so found myself a little lost in the 'glamour' department. So it didn't take much for Bev and my cousins to convince me to get my first perm. I was promised that it would make 'doing my hair' so much easier and quicker each day.
I went to the cheapest place I could find in Provo - the beauty school, and turned my head of hair over to a student that had been 2 weeks into her dream of being a beautician.
I cried for days...literally cried. To say it was a disaster would have been an understatement in the least. What they called 'virgin hair' had taken to the perm probably the first 5 minutes of what ended up to be a 30 minute process. When the curlers were removed, about 2-3 inches of hair broke off with each discarded curler. I don't think my eyes were any bigger or more surprised than the eyes of the student looking back at me. Her's held a look of panic as she called over the director of the school.
Now, the question became 'how to fix it?' The hair clearly had to be cut. So, off it came; up to shoulder length. And there was much shampooing...a usual 'no no' right after a perm. But finally, after about a month, the hair began to relax to where I was finally able to do something with it....More often than not though, it felt like a 'bush' that I was trying to keep in one place.
The result?? You have the above picture...my first perm and just 3 months after my mission.
The silly part?? I actually had one or two perms after that...but never again at the beauty school.
Kylie and Kathryn, well, and Mike, got a real kick out of the picture. My girls can't believe I ever looked like that. Del got a sly grin when he saw the picture again for the first time in years. That's what I looked like 'back in the day' when we met. I'm sure he wishes I still did.
And this is what I looked like when HE knew me...Jeff...his birthday is coming up. I miss him.