Monday, February 23, 2009

Evil Dippity Do

I don't know what it is about showering and having flashbacks about my youth. Last night's flashback was about Dippity-do. I'll tell you this, these were not happy flashbacks :) Dippity-do nights were nothing short of horrific! Mom would wash our hair. Then out came torture devices...which included Dippity-do and its accomplices...the tooth comb, the dreaded bucket full of curlers, squares of toilet paper and bobby pins. For the purpose of this post, bobby pins will always be referred to as "bobby needles". After our hair was washed, it got combed with the evil tooth comb. Mom would use the pointy end to make parts. That hurt! Next step was Mom applying the green goop (dippity-do) to our hair. As she did this I often fantasized about eating it. It looked so good and reminded me of Jello. Mom would then comb a small amount of hair, hold it together, apply a square or two of toilet paper and start rolling our hair on the curler. Pain would start when she started inching up towards our scalp. I know for sure that my scalp was pulled away from my skull. The final but scariest part was left. With Mom's left hand holding the curler vice-like tight she used her right hand to dig in the bucket to find a Bobby-needle. The screaming voice in my head is begging "please Mom, find a Bobby-needle that still has the rubber nipple attached to both ends". Sometimes, the rubber nipple fell off the Bobby-needle. That is real bad! Using a Bobby-needle with no rubber nipple to secure a curler to one's head is the equivalent to using a nail or needle :) What I described is just ONE curler. Imagine this process 20 more times, rinse, repeat, etc. For what, so I could look like Shirley Temple...which never happened, not even close? Dippity-do nights also meant sleepless nights. How is it possible to sleep when 20 or so plastic tubes attached to your head? Oh, I forgot.......we had bangs which could not get curled. Mom used scotch tape......swear to god and cross my push-up bra, to secure our bangs to our forehead to keep them straight as we slept.....which of course we couldn't because of those damn curlers! I found out that Dippity-do is still manufactured I can assure you that I will not be purchasing it! It is banned from my house! Long live straight hair :))

4 comments:

Jenn said...

got the GREEN?! I always go the pink and a generous mix of those nasty pink foam rollers and those rubber 'ufo' shaped pin curl jobbies...ah good times...good times

gypsy moon designs said...

Your story has me cracking up! I remember those days...I hated them...and the tape, never understood the tape!

Patrice said...

bahhh haaa haa haaa haaa!!! Hee hee hee...

Brenda said...

Hahahahaaaa! Oh my lord, the memories you just invoked! The Saturday night ritual in order to be pretty for church the next morning. And that pink tape with pinked edges (like pinking shears) - that's what my mom used for my bangs. :) Thanks goodness for the horrendous pink foam that got rid of the hard plastic and bobby pins.

Long live straight hair! xo