The Power of Pink....

Pink foam hair roller necklace in argentium sterling silver by NJ metalsmith and art professor, Jill Baker Gower

When I was a little girl, my Dad used to take us places on Saturdays in order to give my Mom a little break. Often we did something fun, like spend the afternoon at the playground or go out for ice cream. Every now and then, however, he would drag us somewhere horrible, somewhere like a furniture store or a hardware store or ….worse...SEARS! I hated all of the “Dad stores”, but I really hated Sears. Those washing machine and lawn mower salesmen from Sears could’ve outfilibustered the most determined Washington polititian. They just droned on and on and on about the most insignificant things.

One Saturday afternoon, Dad came into my room and announced that we would be leaving for Sears in a half an hour. Of course, I wanted no part of this. I considered my options. A temper tantrum was sure to result in a lecture, a spanking or an early bed time. Plus, it wouldn't have worked! A faked illness would've caused me to spend the rest of the afternoon in bed. I wracked my brain for a way out and I kept coming up short, until it hit me. My Dad absolutely hated it when women wore curlers out in public. He thought it was so vulgar and always wondered aloud at the irony of anyone trying to beautify herself by going out in public looking so awful.

I pulled out my plastic pink weapons and got to work. When he walked back in, I was sitting pretty as you please with rolled hair and wet bubble gum - colored fingernails. I told him my curlers would need to stay in for at least another hour, but sweetly volunteered to put a scarf over them when we went out. I knew he would be appauled by this suggestion and I hedged a bet that he wouldn’t know that I would know this. I felt pretty confident that he wouldn’t risk hurting my feelings by questioning the appropriateness of the scarf. Since I normally rode bikes, made mud pies and climbed trees, Dad didn’t want to be responsible for cutting short one of my first forays into womanhood. At the same time, he didn’t want to run into someone from the office with his daughter looking like one of the tacky women from the convenient store.

How did he resolve his delima? He did exactly what I expected he would do. He cancelled our shopping trip. It was quite the rush. I did feel a little badly about using my feminine wiles for evil… especially with my Dad, but since I decided we were both better off at having spent two less hours of our lives in the appliance section of Sears, I got over it.

Important lesson from the story: Great hair should be left to the professionals. :)Hot Heads 407-671-0480 (Were you looking for something a little deeper? Oh, alright... how about this...? As women, we don't often recognize the power that lies within. Today, be creative and look for a different way around all of the pesky obstacles in your life. Also, if you're lucky enough - as I am - to still have your Dad around, call him and apologize for the myriad of ways you put him through his paces when you were growing up. Happy Tuesday!