My grandmother was a dignified, hard working woman and this photo is how I remember her. You can't see that she's wearing sturdy "old lady" black shoes, stockings, and a dress. Always. She's probably in her early 50s in this photo.
When we visited my grandparents for a week each summer, we usually got a big treat. Just once each time we could get up early in the morning and come downstairs to their bedroom to watch Grandmother brush her long hair (down to her waist) and put it into one or two braids.
It was such a strange vision of our dignified grandma. She was transported into a young girl in our minds--long braids, glasses off, and wearing a long, flannel night gown.
Then we would watch her pin it up, twisting two braids around her head, or one braid into the bun you see in this photo.
When she reached her 70s she cut her hair and would go regularly for a wash and set with a "blue rinse." LOL. She was a widow by then. I admire her tenacity in learning to drive in her 60s after my grandfather died. Her sons taught her.
But I digress. As to the viewing of braids, I'd choose a braid connected
any day over one cut off and lying in an old chest.
I'm just glad that somebody, besides me, has hair saved in an old chest. I don't even know whose hair it is! My daughter assures me that she's not saving it. LOL!
ReplyDeleteMy grandmother had hair down to her waist also. She always made two braids that were wrapped around her head. I had to laugh about the sturdy black shoes as my grandmother wore them also. My how interesting that you have her braid--no gray hair? Beautiful and shiny! ♥
ReplyDeletePodso,
ReplyDeleteAs I read this post, I could envision my own paternal Grandmother doing the same.
She wore a starched waist dress with those heavy black shoes that laced up the front.
Atop her dress was a ragged old apron, but the rest of her attire was pristine!
Thank you for this post. . .and a stroll down memory lane.
Fondly,
Pat
There was something about those braids, right? By the way I love your teapots in your header!
ReplyDeleteMy great grandmother had a lovely long braid. I was never sure if she wanted it or felt obliged to have it. She felt that it was a sin for a lady/girl to have her hair "bobbed".
ReplyDeleteBest,
Bonnie
I love reading about the wonderful women in peoples lives...I barely remember each of my grandmothers. Yours was lovely and that braid...waist long hair, how beautiful!
ReplyDeleteI always envisioned myself as a grandmother with long hair in a braid (truly!), tucked under a straw hat while I worked in my garden. Times have changed. Seventy year old women looking like they are fifty...nothing wrong with that. I guess the days of yore will seem ancient.
I've been so behind. I noticed the first line of your last post. Going back to read it. No comment but know I hold you in my heart, Dot.
Jane x
Oh my. Grandmothers then looked so much older than grandmothers now. Early fifties, huh? My goodness. Your braid is lovely. :)
ReplyDeleteI have a similar memory of my grandmother, Lily. She was a very old woman to me, with snow white hair. She died at 57, so she wasn't so old at all! When I would visit her in Nova Scotia in the summer (and this ended when I was eight years old) I was allowed the same privilege as you. My grandmother would take down her braid and night and brush her beautiful white hair, and then braid it into one long braid down her back for the night. I have an overwhelming memory of the smell of Noxema from those times, because that's what she used as a face cream.
ReplyDeleteI have a braid in the living room desk. It is from my Lillypad's first haircut at age ten. She had such pretty hair.
This is pretty neat. I love this post, Podso.
ReplyDeleteAs some of your other commenters have observed, I find it interesting that older women looked so much older than they do now! I wonder if that is just how I see it now that I myself am older...or was there really such a difference in "young" versus "old" style a generation or two ago?
ReplyDeleteMy paternal grandmother and aunts all wore their hair in long braids entwined around their heads. My maternal grandmother had hers cut and styled... and colored to stay her feisty red. ;)
ReplyDeleteSuch beautiful hair in your braid, Dotsie... along with beautiful memories. I love how you are passing them down. blessings ~ tanna
Cheryl's thought is similar to my own questions.
ReplyDeleteI grew up with short haired women, and mom and grandma, who both loved a perm for the ease of it. My girls all have long hair and I love it! They braid, they pin it up, they do pony tails. It's lovely, and simple.
Thanks for sharing this and for sharing your braid. I find it interesting that the Victorians made art and jewelry with real hair.
Deanna
Ah, the braid we all wanted to see - looks like red hair back then. Both of my grandmothers had short hair so I never got the 'treat' that you did of the letting down of the hair. It took a long time, if at all for that generation to wear slacks, didn't it? The blue rinse you mentioned is what precipitated the garden clubs being called 'the blue hair meetings'. :-)
ReplyDeleteWhat a lovely memory of your grandmother and her braids. My grammie had very white hair (which I think I inherited!) and always wore it in a bun. I never ever saw it any other way. ;) She also always wore dresses and black shoes. I think it's neat that you still have your own braid. A friend of mine still has hers too.
ReplyDeleteYour hair IS thick--and the color was lovely. Neither of my grandmothers had long hair by the time I was old enough to remember, but my great-grandmother had very long hair that was white with yellow streaks in it when she died at age 87. She was bedridden the whole time I remember her (from age 83). Her daughter, my grandmother, lived to be 103. She looked older at age 60 than I do now at 64, but then she lived and worked on a farm, helping pick cotton and feeding all the farm hands, too.
ReplyDeleteI had the same experience with my grandmother. I can see her combing her long hair in front of the little mirror in the kitchen, then braiding it and pinning it into a small bun similar to your grandmother's. She, too, cut her hair short in her later years and with natural curl, it suited her well.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was 10 I was going to Bible camp for the first time and my mother didn't know what to do about my hair - to my waist, thick and wavy. She would brush it and put it into a ponytail every day because I couldn't manage it myself. A pixie cut was the answer, but my ponytail was carefully saved for years. I kept it until about 10 years ago and then threw it away.
Yours is beautiful kept.
My great grandmother had beautiful long braids too. To my knowledge she still had them when she passed. She was 95. Thanks be to God! Thank you for this post and thanx for the memories!! Cathy
ReplyDeleteI'm 57 now and have long four years ago I had short hair, I can't decide what I should do until the other day. I'm going to have it trimmed and permed it's almost to the top of my back side seat end lol.. Both my grandmas had short hair shoulder length. But My uncle by marriage his mom came to live with them when I was maybe 13 she had long beautiful shiver hair she sat on the porch and brushed and braided it every morning. One day she well they cut it off I almost cried I don't know how she felt though she never said.. Great post with love Janive
ReplyDeleteI haven't thought of this. I might save my hair in my next hair cut. :)
ReplyDeleteThe only grandparent I knew, as all had passed away, was my maternal grandmother. She immigrated from the Ukraine all alone as a teenager and married a my grandfather who was a widower with three children. They went on to have three children, the youngest my Mom. She also wore her hair combed back in a bun--I never saw it down. It stayed black until she died in her 70's!
ReplyDeleteThis story had me googling the Ukrainian lady whose hair I loved so much....I quickly found a link with a photo. Such an old-fashioned and attractive hair style! http://news.kievukraine.info/2007/12/make-way-for-lady-in-braids.html
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