Maggie, at From Cave Walls, and Lauren, at LSS Attitude of Gratitude, alternate hosting Throwback Thursday. The idea of the prompt is for them to give us a topic and for us to write a post in which we share our own memories or experiences about the given topic. This week, Maggie noted that “part of growing up is finding you own way of self-expression.” To that end, she asks us to talk about “Transitions and Modifications.”
Here are Maggie’s questions.
1) Think about your first haircut. Were you the kid that cut your own hair? Did you go to a salon or did your parents cut your hair? Did your parents save a lock of your hair?
My mother probably cut my hair when I was still a baby. But after I grew up a bit, maybe old enough to start school, my parents took me to a barbershop for haircuts.
2) How about shaving? Fathers often teach their sons to shave. Most girls I know, decided for themselves when to shave their legs and their underarms. Some cultures do not shave at all.
My father taught me how to use an electric razor when my facial hair started to sprout at around fourteen. But at one point, probably when I was a freshman in college, I switched to shaving with a Gillette safety razor with double-edge “blue blades” after a girl told me my stubble, even after using my electric razor, irritated her skin.
After I switched to the Gillette razor, she said my face was as smooth as a baby’s bottom. Booyah!
3) Did you alter your clothes? Cut jeans into cut-offs? Cut the sleeves off t-shirts? Wear graphic tees? Tie-dyes? Sew patches on your jeans?
No, at least not as a young child.
4) Was there a time you remember challenging the authority in your household. Do you remember the first time you found your voice?
I probably went through the typical teenage rebellion phase, but I can’t recall a specific incident. Sorry.
5) What about piercings? Girls getting their ears pierced was a rite of passage for girls. Then boys started getting one ear pierced. As time passed, piercings became more mainstream and accepted.
To this day, and I’m in my 70s, I’ve never had either any piercings or any tattoos.
6) Did you walk on the wild side? Smoking? Drinking? Did your parents know?
I took up smoking cigarettes in high school and, yes, I did keep my cigarettes hidden when I still lived with my parents. I would also drink beer when I crossed over into the District of Columbia from my neighborhood in the Maryland suburbs because the drinking age in DC was 18, versus 21 in Maryland.
7) What about tattoos? Did you get a tattoo while still living at home? Did your parents approve?
As I said in my response to number 5, to this day, I’ve never had a tattoo. Why would I want to deface this bodacious body?
8) What about language? Was swearing allowed in your family? Did you use the same language around your friends as you did at home with your family?
Certain “swear” words, like damn and shit, were “tolerated” in our household. But most of George Carlin’s seven words you can’t say on TV were forbidden in our house, as well. However, with my friends, nothing was off the table.
9) Think back to high school. Girls, did you iron your hair? Did you color your hair? (using Sun-in counts!) Guys, did you grow a beard or moustache? Did you grow your hair long? Feel free to share a photo of yourself back in the day.
I grew my hair long in college. I grew a beard and mustache after I was discharged from the Army. I still have a beard and mustache, but my long, flowing hair abandoned me long ago.
10) Many people think our authentic self is the person we were as young children. Are you still inherently the same person you were as a child or have you changed your personality and demeanor along the way?
I would say I am not anything like I was as a young child. I was naïve and trusting without an ounce of guile. Not I’m a jaded, cynical, skeptic.
This, That, and the Other 
I don’t think so 😂
Sent from my iPhone
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That razor is very familiar. I think every man in our family had one like it. Interesting how you think you’ve changed. I wonder if other people that know you would agree? The state line where we grew up was a big deal for similar reasons.
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My hair was usually trimmed at home by my mom. She kept the first curls. I had long hair, almost always, so there wasn’t a lot going on with hair-cutting. I did get bangs once (or twice, actually, in different ways), though, and didn’t like them. I did the Sun-in type of thing once, in high school; didn’t like that either. I vaguely remember sleeping on wet hair brushed flat to keep it more straight — probably junior high. I guess that was “the times.”
For some reason, my mom made shaving legs into a control topic she thought was worth presenting as a conflict with no reason. This was paired with her prohibition on going to school dances or on dates (which it seems she couldn’t differentiate) in high school until I was sixteen, but she changed her mind on the shaving soon after I started high school. I wanted my ears pierced, was supposed to wait until sixteen. Mom took me when I was fifteen.
I never wanted a tattoo. I cut off jeans (or wore bought cut-off shorts) in summer. I wasn’t allowed to wear any sort of jeans (except a highly-stylized pair in junior high and a pairing of red jeans and a purple sweater top, once and only once, in like fifth grade) to school. Most other kids wore jeans (but not tee-shirts), yet it was a private school and altering the clothing wasn’t a thing. I did mess with my hair in various approaches to braiding.
“Challenging the authority” in my home was being offended at my mother and her choices in life after divorcing my dad. I have an aunt who actually waved the twelve-year-old self in my face, recently, as proof of being a problem child. Sure, Your Highness the Ultra-Catholic. I was a bad girl for wanting my dad in the house and not other men. As far as I know, this came out of the blue. But she must have stewed on it all these decades.
I didn’t “walk on the wild side” with smoking or drinking. My dad had, though, given me a little bit of wine whenever we had company and served wine. I didn’t see it as forbidden, just a legal problem. I did, though, try smoking pot during the summer after high school (still 17). I did this with a boyfriend, and I did it with my best friend the near-valedictorian (we didn’t have a “salutatorian” but she was voted Most Likely to Succeed).
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Most other kids wore jeans (but not tee-shirts), yet it was a private school and altering the clothing wasn’t …
Refers to the place I went as “junior high” (for me while it was a k-8 school) as well as to the follow-up high school.
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They wore jeans … not every day, or even most days, with the majority of them.
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As for foul language or “cursing” — it wasn’t modeled for me. And I didn’t do it. Nobody did any of that except one of my grandfathers (my mom’s dad). [He was also slightly, truly only slightly in that he later consciously changed his attitude in this regard, bigoted. By then, the cussing was settled in the category of my mind for cantankerous guy with old thoughts.]
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Awesome answers to this weeks questions Fandango! xo
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Thanks for joining in again this week Fandango. The razor makes a huge difference ti a face being kissable.
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I remember we got our hair cut at home, but more vividly I remember a few night of curlers in my hair that were an absolute tangled mess the next day… it really hurt and took a long time to brush out my long hair.
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