“My mother was just normal – just like I’m normal, and like anyone else. But she stood out to me. And she’s made me a better person.”
As a child, Nadine had long hair. Washing it once a week was a task that her mother oversaw.
Having my hair washed when I was young was an ordeal. It was long and it would get tangled. It was too hard for my mother to get down in the bathtub, so she would take the kitchen Formica table, and she’d put up the drop leaf and push it up to the kitchen sink. And she’d take two pillows from the couch and stack them on top of each other. And then she’d have me climb up on top, and she’d wash my hair in the kitchen sink.
Nadine’s grandmother had been a beautician, and Nadine’s parents grew up during the depression. These factors combined, and Nadine grew up with an industrial hairdryer as a staple in her home.
The hairdryer used to be in my grandmother’s shop. And then it came to us. My parents grew up in the depression. Throwing away something like this that had a useful function, for my parents, was not happening.
As Nadine and her sister grew older, they requested perms. Their mother would put in rollers, and then let the treatment set under the hairdryer.
I had straight hair – my hair was straight as straw really. As we got older, everybody wanted curly hair. My mom would try to curl our hair with the spongy pink rollers. And she used this hair net that you tied, and she’d do it all around the bottom and tie it up at the top, and then she’d add a hairnet that had elastic around it. So she’d curl it all up, and then I’d sit under the dryer.
Nadine has fond memories of sitting underneath the hairdryer.
I used to love sittng under the dryer –it’s really loud. And the heat, especially on a colder day, it just felt really warm and comfortable. I’d just take a book and go into another world.
Today, Nadine keeps the hair drier in her garage. She’s not sure if it works any more, but she cannot bear to throw it away because it ties her to her childhood, and more specifically to her mother.
I don’t want to just junk it – send it in for scrap metal. I’m emotional about it. When I look at it, I think of how much my mother used to care for us. She just did everything for her family — for my dad and for her kids. She was extremely patient, thoughtful, and considerate. She gave unselfishly of herself to whatever — to the church, or to the school, or the PTA, to the family, or to friends.
Her hairdryer is on display here. When Nadine looks at it these days, it makes her emotional.My mother was just so loving! She was such a caring mother. I get choked up! It’s good to feel that kind of feeling, because it means that you had that love in your life. It’s not sad — it’s a deep connection to love. And it’s overwhelming – that we have so many things in our world that we want and we think we need. But, this connection to being loved so deeply, where a parent is sacrificing so much for their children, it just goes beyond anything else you need. It’s wonderful.