Have you ever wanted to hide so that you were completely out of sight? I did the morning of my senior prom.
At that time, it was the early eighties. Anybody who was anybody had big hair. I’m talking curls and hair that stood out a few inches from a person’s scalp. Let’s put it this way, if you had invested in a company that produced hair spray during that era, then you probably received a good amount of return on your money.
I know this is going to sound strange, but for me, that time period was such a hair struggle. Why? As most of my hair dressers have said: “You have the worst combination of hair.” My hair is so fine that it has no body, but it is unusual for fine hair in that it so thick. In fact, it is so heavy that it pulls straight. Stick straight. So, are you wondering how I dealt with the big hair phenomenon? In a word: perms.
Every three months, I got a tight curly perm. I know that sounds too close together, but as my hair grew and became heavier, it would pull out the perm. You know, it’s a wonder I still have any hair after that. When I left the hair salon, I looked like a poodle. Of course, I didn’t want to look like that when I went to school. At first, I used hot (electric) hair rollers in the mornings, but I quit doing that because of the heat and the pain from the hair clips on the rollers. So then, I rolled my hair in large sponge rollers at night before going to bed. That worked pretty well.
Then came my senior prom. I wanted my hair to be extra tall for that occasion. After I washed my permed curls that morning, my mom rolled them in big plastic rollers with little silver hair pins in them. I was thankful that nobody would be able to see me except for my mom. That is until Papaw E.O. called.
He loved hamburgers from Krystals. He asked mom if we wanted to ride with him to the one on Clinton Highway so he could buy them for everybody. Mom agreed, but I was mortified. I could not let anybody see me in those big hard plastic rollers. For example, have you ever heard of people having nightmares about being somewhere and they are in the nude? I would have bad dreams about being out without any makeup and in my hair rollers. I didn’t want to stay here all by myself, so I went along. “You can duck down when you think you see somebody you know,” she suggested.
I went along and sat in the back seat, but when we reached Emory Road, I got down in the floorboard of Papaw’s station wagon and I stayed there until we got back to Pedigo Road. I stayed hidden so nobody could see my head full of rollers.
“For there is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed; neither hid, that shall not be known.” Luke 12:2 (KJV)
The people outside of Papaw’s station wagon had no idea that I was crouched in the floorboard behind him, but the people inside did. We may be able to hide things from other people and even ourselves, but we can never hide anything from the Lord. So, don’t even try it. He will deal with it and it will be eventually known.
As for my hair, I have attached a prom picture of Tim and me at my mom’s house. You won’t need a magnifying glass to see how tall my hair is. I think it may have even touched the roof of his car.
Brooke Cox is an author, speaker, and storyteller. She was a 2016 Selah Awards Finalist for Debut Novel. Her children’s book: “Dinosaur Eggs,” is now available. It is based on Ephesians 6: The Armor of God. Her novel “Until the Moon Rises: A Conniving Cousin Mystery” is also available. Also, she has two books out in her storytelling series: “Saucy Southern Stories.” The Amazon links for her books may be found on her website: brookecoxstories.com. Please feel free to contact her. She would love to hear from you.