A New Do Hair And The Lack Thereof
In
With Dad's permission, Fred ran off to join the Air Force before finishing his education at Pontotoc High. Fred's actions had nothing to do with the playground fracas and were most likely related to the restrictions and demands Dad placed on Fred's free time. In preparing this article, I couldn't remember seeing Fred with a peeled head when he came home after boot camp, so I phoned him this week to ask about it. He said that boot camp was thirteen weeks, and his hair had grown so that he could comb it, by the time I saw him. Fred was always proud of his hair, and years later when his hair began to thin I remember telling him he would wind up looking like our dad. Fred's response was terse and forceful. "I'll never be bald! I may have to spend a thousand dollars for a wig, but I'll never be bald." In the pre-inflation years of the seventies, a thousand dollars was quite a sum of money. Fred's attitude about baldness gradually mellowed, and when he finally lost enough hair to be considered bald, he didn't buy a wig. Well, actually he did purchase a full-head wig and brought it home one time to show Dad. It was obviously fake hair, and I think he bought it just to show his sons how ridiculous they looked with long hair. His wig was mostly a novelty, and as far as I know he never wore it in public except for laughs. Fred grew up with great hair, but hair for me was an altogether different story. In my earliest childhood years, my hair was so white that one of my great-uncles nicknamed me cotton-top. By the time I started first grade, my hair had darkened to a blonde color. It continued to darken until about the time I reached puberty. From that point forward, my hair color remained a medium shade of brown with a few red highlights, until about five years ago when gray hairs began to appear. Unlike my brother's wavy hair, my childhood hair was finely textured and straight. There was nothing about my hair to drive the girls crazy. I was taught to wear my hair parted on the left and combed so that it stood up slightly in the front. When the flattop craze hit in the late fifties, I never had the courage to change hairstyles. A lot of my friends wore crewcuts and flattops, but I was too afraid of the ridicule I would face if changing my hairstyle didn't prove satisfactory, so I kept my old hairstyle. Had my cousin's husband not talked me into getting my hair cut and styled by Malcolm Lindsey in Ripley, MS, back in 1970, I probably never would have tried a different hairdo. However, my wife is quick to remind me that in 1968, her dad, Marshall Crouch, trimmed my hair to suit the look she had in mind for me. By the middle seventies, my hairline had receded sharply and was rapidly thinning on top. I decided all the verbal teasing I had heaped upon my older brother was returning to haunt me. Time plays cruel tricks on one's body; I found myself growing bald. I could foresee the day would come when I would no longer be able to style my hair, because there wouldn't be enough to style. Thus, when my barber informed me that he had a friend in Memphis, TN, who fitted men with natural looking hairpieces, I expressed an interest. One Thursday night more than twenty years ago, I met Travis Johnson at Malcolm's barbershop in Ripley and ordered a hairpiece. Travis convinced me that the hairpiece wouldn't fall off, get blown off, or get lifted off by a toddler or a prankster and that it would look natural enough so that most folks wouldn't be able to tell I was wearing one. Travis was right on all counts. All the skits one sees on TV or in movies about a guy's toupee popping off may be funny, but they're not very factual and are greatly exaggerated. Truthfully, most folks didn't notice my new hairdo, unless someone pointed it out to them. The few who did notice were, for the most part, other guys who knew me and were losing hair, too. I attribute that to the nature of people, for it's my theory that bald or balding individuals, because of their own experiences, are more apt to spot another individual with a similar condition. After all, misery loves company. Thus, because of their heightened awareness of the other individual's hair or lack of hair, balding men are more likely to observe and comment on any change in the hairstyle of someone else. Persons who have a full head of hair don't seem to care if someone else is not so blessed, and they surely don't spend time trying to figure out if someone is wearing a hairpiece. Earlier, Max Akins had advised me that it would be better to purchase a hairpiece before the need for one became apparent to everyone. "It won't be nearly as noticeable, if you get one now," Max stated. "If you wait until you're bald, like me, then everyone will notice it." Max doesn't wear a hairpiece, but he may have considered one in his younger days. My life has been filled with great challenges. A few would include my first day in school, walking the aisle at church to make a profession of faith, showing up at the marriage altar, and making "cold calls" on businesses back in my salesman-days. But, I think the hardest thing I've ever done was summoning the courage to walk out the door of my house to face the world for the first time with a new hairpiece. And, the second hardest thing may have been learning to accept the fact that not everyone would notice I had changed my appearance. When my brother, Fred, saw my hairpiece, he was impressed. He was also inspired and sometime afterwards made an appointment with Travis Johnson. A couple of months later, Fred had his first natural looking hairpiece. Wig, toupee, and rug are common terms used to describe a hairpiece. Folks often ask me what's the difference between a hairpiece and a wig or "rug." I have a pat answer, "A little over a thousand dollars." A hairpiece isn't cheap, but the more expensive ones don't call attention to themselves. Years ago, I wanted to get beyond the balding process so badly that I wished I could wake up one morning completely bald. I remember thinking how nice it would be to have all my hair fall out because of chemotherapy. It was a dumb thought, and I really didn't want cancer, but the prospects of a "quick fallout" appealed to me. Since I don't go to bed at night wearing my hairpiece, I wake up pretty much bald every morning. The expression, "be careful what you wish for," applies here. However, now that I am bald, I don't want to be seen as bald in public. I prefer to have hair, even hair I can claim as mine only because I have a receipt for it. Back around the first of April, I got a new hairpiece and a new hairdo at the same time. I've lost track of how many hairpieces I have had over the past twenty-odd years, but I like the one I have now and the way it's cut better than any of the previous ones. All of the colored hair in the hairpiece is human hair; only the gray is synthetic hair. My new hairpiece is cut shorter than the previous one and is styled to create a casual look. I don't use any hairspray with this one and often wet it before brushing to shape it. I can wear it with either a "wet look" or a "dry look." Once the wet look dries, it holds its shape until I brush through it, and even then it retains the general contours of the wet look. I've also discovered when I wear it dry and conditions are windy, it falls back into place better than the previous models I've owned. One may be asking, "Do you dye your natural hair." No, I do not. The color of my hairpiece is determined by the color of my natural hair. Right now, I still have a lot of brown in my growing hair, but as more of it becomes gray, my future hairpieces will have a greater percentage of gray hair than at present. For me, the advantages of wearing a hairpiece outweigh the disadvantages. It's true, it takes me longer to get ready for work because I must spend time getting my hairpiece taped into place and brushed, time that I wouldn't require if I went bald. But, I see myself both "with" and "without." Trust me, I look nicer, "with." Plus, I feel better about myself with hair on my head. The fact that I look a few years younger with hair is not a motivating factor; but it's a nice side benefit. I don't think every bald or balding person needs a hairpiece, but having hair is right for me. Fred bought a new hairpiece last year, but he's less happy with his than I am with mine. He freely admits that he likes the way his new hairpiece looks, but he finds it less convenient to fix and claims it takes him longer to put it on and take it off. I've advised him to get Travis to trim it shorter the next time he's near Memphis. I'm enjoying my "new do," and I'm betting when Fred sees this one, he'll will like it, too.
Reader Response Turtle Article Appreciated Regarding the article on the turtle that laid eggs in our front yard a couple of weeks ago, we received the following from our readers. "Just read this week’s RR – interesting article about the turtle. Please be sure and keep us updated in future issues of the little turtles." - Cheryl Radford/ Southaven, MS. "Liked the story on the turtle!" - Lamar Carter/ NYC "Hey! Enjoyed the terrapin story VERY much! As you know, my children and I are real big into reptiles and amphibians. Last summer Donna McCullar found a yellow-eared slider (water turtle) laying eggs. She scooped them up, put them in a Rubbermaid box and set them on the top shelf of her closet. Approximately 60 days later she had baby turtles everywhere! I think they ended up with 12. We adopted one. At almost one year of age Ed is huge! When we walk into the room he scrambles up to the front of the tank and begs for food. He will eat out of our hand and follow us anywhere if we put food in front of him." "We also witnessed a box turtle laying eggs while visiting at Wade and Betty Allen’s house last summer. A few months later Betty brought us a baby box turtle. We had him until a month ago. He got very soft and died. Moral of the story…water turtles make much better pets than baby box turtles." "‘Tis the mating and hatching season for reptiles and amphibians. Keith Davis [PHS Principal] found a snake in his office at the high school this past week. Snakes get stupid during mating season. [My daughter] Hannah identified it as a banded or diamond back water snake and turned it loose for him. It sure looked like a cottonmouth but didn’t have the "poisonous" features (slit eyes, pits, fangs, # of scales behind his anal opening)." "Watch yer step!" Tami Harrell/ Pontotoc, MS. Notes: A couple of other readers wanted to know if we had marked the spot where the eggs were laid. While we had not done so at the time, we can now report that the site has been flagged. If we are lucky enough to see any hatchlings, we'll try to get their picture in the newsletter. Readers with access to the Internet may want to view a short video of our mama turtle in the act of digging out a nest for her eggs. Check it out at www.rrnews.org/bigdig.wmv The Editor is not one who cares to encounter snakes, domesticated or otherwise. He assures everyone that when he was up to his knees in kudzu last weekend, working on the hillside adjacent to his property, he kept an eye out for any suspicious slithering. While trimming back kudzu vines, there were a few times when his hedge trimmer grabbed a vine he was standing on, and he jumped before thinking. He called his reaction, "erring on the side of caution."
Bodock Beau You're From A Small Town If... Check the following to determine if you're from a small town. You might be from a small town if...
6. You swore at someone and your parents knew within the hour.
25. You decide to walk somewhere for exercise and 5 people pull over and
ask if you need a ride.
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his youth, my older brother, Fred, had hair to die
for. In 1953, our family returned to Pontotoc, following a nine-year hiatus.
Shortly after our return, Fred's good looks and wavy, dark-brown hair made
him quite popular with the girls and the object of animosity for some of
the boys. In the minds of a few of Fred's classmates, he needed taking down
a notch or two, and it was decided he needed a haircut. With barber scissors
in hand, a group jumped him on the playground, bent on shearing his locks.
Tempers flared and a struggle ensued. Fred put up a good enough fight that
the leader of the ruffians tried to stab him in the face with the scissors
once they had him pinned to the ground. Fortunately, Fred managed to get
a hand between the scissors and his face and averted a facial scar, lost
eye, or mortal wound. When the dust settled, Fred's hair was perhaps a little
dirtier than normal but intact, and the stab wound to his hand did not damage
any tendons.
