Hot Rollers

Monday August 24, 1992

I had alot of trouble getting my motor started this morning. I awake at 8:15 and come down for a french toast breakfast I made for us. After that I was sleepy and lethargic until noon. It was 12:30 by the time I was finally dressed, had my make-up on and hair done.

We had lunch and I sat and read most of the afternoon between doing the wash. I called and ordered the book "Fighting Cancer" for Joan and Francis.

At 7:30 we went square dancing til 9:30. Did fine, but did sit out 2 tips.

No matter whether Mom was going out or staying in, sick or healthy, camping in the dirt at Lake Don Pedro or staying in a 5-star hotel, she spent more than an hour every morning drying her hair after her shower, then curling it with hot rollers or with a curling iron (this part she could not do at the lake due to no electricity), and then backcombing her hair to give it more body and applying massive amounts of hairspray to keep her creation from drooping. I often wondered if breathing in all that hairspray every day is what caused her cancer. After the cloud of hairspray dissipated, she applied foundation, powder, eyebrow pencil, eye shadow, eyeliner, mascara, and rouge. Mom spent all this time on her appearance not so much to impress other people but because it made her feel better about herself. Some of my best memories of visiting with her were of her sitting on a stool in front of her make-up mirror applying her make-up while I sat on the edge of the huge tub in their master bathroom. She loved to work on my hair too from the time I was a little girl until I was in my 40s. I always had a perm and curls even though my natural style is stick straight and baby fine.