A good nights sleep was not to be had with rollers and pins

When I was a teenager there were four basic things that I needed to make my hair look good. A comb, a brush, lots of hair spray and brush rollers.

If you are under the age of 45 and have never had the “wonderful” privilege of sleeping on brush rollers, then you haven’t lived. Well, maybe you have lived, but you haven’t experienced one of the greatest of all self-inflicted pains.

It wasn’t fun, so I won’t try to kid you. The rollers came in different sizes (for a tight curl or a loose curl) and you would wind each small section of wet hair around them, then secure that roller with a small plastic pick down through the center until it hit your scalp until the roller became unmovable. I promise I am telling you the truth. Then you slept on them, or at least tried to.

I can remember rolling my hair every evening and at bedtime propping my head upon pillows, and even leaning my head over the side of the bed a little, to find the best position to be able to get some sleep. Some nights I had a very hard time finding that position. In the daytime it was not uncommon to see a woman with a head full of brush rollers covered by a colorful scarf as she made a quick trip to the store or post office. Ladies of the older generation, you know exactly what I am talking about.

I can remember my grandmother having my aunts curl her hair when she got older and couldn’t do it herself. They would wet her head and then take small sections of her hair and curl it into a circle and lay it close to her head securing with two crossed bobby pins. No brush roller or anything hard and plastic to be troubled by, but nevertheless still a tad bit uncomfortable. Oh the things we girls did to be gorgeous.

I went through this process of winding and securing these brush rollers each and every night through the school year, and I attended church every Sunday, so Friday nights were the only nights that I got to sleep “plastic pick and wire brush” free. Can you imagine?

A couple of years after graduation from high school and beginning my marriage I tried a new method that I had seen in a magazine. Women were using orange juice cans for a non-curly, full, bouncy look. This idea was not successful for me because my hair wasn’t long enough to go several times around the can, and the follicles were thin, so I had a difficult time securing my hair around the can.

The larger 4 inch bobby pins did not work and after much meditation and experimentation I ended up purchasing a bag of spring loaded clip clothespins. This would be the solution, or so I thought.

I must tell you that these clothespins were very successful in two explicit ways.

1) It was impossible to lay your head on a pillow without the clothespins springing off.

2) The sight of me ( according to my new husband) gave him the best laugh he had ever had in his life.

The following Christmas he bought me my first hot rollers, and they were my salvation.

They say that Lady Gaga uses coke cans, but I researched her and she empties the can, yet leaves the ends of the can intact. She needs to take those ends out and go to the dollar store and buy some clip clothespins. I really don’t think anyone would be “freaked out” by the sight of her in them. Maybe I will write her an e-mail with the suggestion.

Since many of you will be headed out to buy those orange juice cans, I thought a recipe for a delicious orange nut bread might be in order.

ORANGE NUT BREAD

1 cup orange juice (plus 1 tablespoon)

1 cup raisins

2 teaspoons finely grated orange peel

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 egg, beaten

2 tablespoons melted butter

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup chopped nuts

Put orange juice in saucepan and bring to a boil. Finely chop or grind raisins and add to orange juice mixture with orange peel. Cool slightly.

Stir in butter, vanilla, and egg. Add orange peel. Sift together the flour, baking powder, salt, soda and sugar; add to the first mixture. Beat well; stir in chopped nuts.

Bake in greased and floured 9 by 5 by 3-inch loaf pan at 350 degrees for 45-55 minutes.

Test with a toothpick for doneness.

Jeanie Merritt can be reached by e-mail at jeaniemill@hotmail.com.