Peace and Blessings Family,

After viewing the Hairamentary Part III (http://destee.com/forums/showthread.php?t=45648), and it showed a young Sister getting her hair pressed ... whew Lawd ... i just had to share ... as that sent shivers through me ... that i'm still feeling right now!

Watching that took me back to my own old pressing hair days, when i was a child!

My Mother never pressed my hair, but she would send me every other Saturday to Ms. Redmon ... God Bless Ms. Redmon, as i'm sure she is an Ancestor now. She was "older" then. Such a sweet sweet lady. She wasn't married, and didn't have any children. She had a little setup in her basement, where she pressed hair. I remember that there was a window (basement window) right above where she did my hair, so the smoke and smell of burning hair could easily escape the room.

Oh my gosh! Talk about nervous! Whew! I always hated going, it was such a scarey experience, but i was always happy afterwards, as my long thick nappy hair was so much more "pretty"!

But oh my gosh ... what a price to pay for pretty!

I would sit in that chair as still as still could be!

The last thing in the world you wanted that hot comb to do, was touch your scalp or skin! Whew Lawd!

The lady in the video, Hairamentary Part III (http://destee.com/forums/showthread.php?t=45648), was just talking and talking while she was pressing that girl's hair! Oh my gosh! I didn't ever want Ms. Redmon to be talking! How could she focus with that hot comb in her hand, so close to my scalp, doing all that talking!!! I would have quit going to that woman above, doing all that talking with my life in her hands! ... lol ... whew!

Me and my friend Sissy ... Cynthia ... useta go together every other Saturday. Ms. Redmond lived in walking distance, so we'd just wait for each other, taking turns every time, who would go first. One time, Ms. Redmond accidently dropped the hot comb on Sissy's naked thigh ... whew Lawd! Oh my gosh! Talk about SPOOKED after that! But it didn't keep us from going back every other week, we just prayed harder each time!

Oh yeah ... while i'm reminiscing ... the VERY WORST PARTS of getting my hair pressed ... was when Ms. Redmond would be doing right around my ears, and i'd have to hold my ear down, so she didn't burn it! Oh Lawd Oh Lawd Oh Lawd! I would be all tensed up, scared to breathe! It was the same way when she did the kitchen ... yall know what i'm talk'n about ... whew Lawd! I'm tense right now, just thinking of it!

I Thank God for Ms. Redmond and am enjoying the opportunity to share her with you all ... who wooda thunk ... :love:

If you have any Pressing Comb Memories you'd like to share, please do! :)

Anyone ever ENJOY the hair pressing process?

:heart:

Destee

Oh yeah ... while i'm reminiscing ... the VERY WORST PARTS of getting my hair pressed ... was when Ms. Redmond would be doing right around my ears, and i'd have to hold my ear down, so she didn't burn it! Oh Lawd Oh Lawd Oh Lawd! I would be all tensed up, scared to breathe! It was the same way when she did the kitchen ... yall know what i'm talk'n about ... whew Lawd! I'm tense right now, just thinking of it!


With all the heads our stepmother had to do... you'd think you were looking at a retro 70's Soul Train line... 6 girls lined up with freshly washed afros and a towels around our necks awaiting our 30 minutes of torment. I would hear my father talkin mess in the back ground:

DAD: "Earlene, let them gals' hair alone... let it growwwwww"
MOM: "Oh Ross... pleeeeze... go on 'head with all dat... LQQKn"

NO, there was not a "COLOR PURPLE" scene afterwards. What he'd do was take one of us from the "line of doom" and put our hair in 50/11 folded pigtails in different colored rubber bands to show moms "how it "should be done" :heart: However, we hated that style!!!!!!

I hear ya Destee... my mother made us put a spoon over our ears to prevent burning. Couldn't chew any gum or candy either, because them temples would pulsate up & down... up & down:rolleyes: After a while she began blow-drying it to make it "easier" on our scalps, or just running a curling iron through it. What's bad is when the melted oil burned you more than the hot comb, or when the hair turned "white" from the comb being too hot! We were rewarded with a pack of Orange Now&Laters if we "sat still". Well, we thought it was worth it, because the next morning at church we would toss our heads vigorously side to side purposely just to say: "I told you my stuff was long":lol:

Yeah moms and aunties had the whole house smelling like Blue Magic and black eyed peas:D. On top of all the heat, flinching and sizzling sounds; we'd get"popped" with a wooden Goody brush if we dared "move wrong". We'd get up from getting our hair pressed, and lo & behold... we look in the mirror with watery red eyes, a pouty greased down face, and the typical hair do: A fall & flip, or a curly ponytail up top with the back down & flipped outwards. Then every Sunday I'd pull out the SAME favorite burgandy dress and red stockings with clear sparkly "jelly shoes" and get told constantly: "red don't 'go' with burgundy Fatima!!"

Those were the days... days I CERTAINLY won't let my daughter experience:nono:

With all the heads our stepmother had to do... you'd think you were looking at a retro 70's Soul Train line... 6 girls lined up with freshly washed afros anda towel around our necks awaiting our 30 minutes of torment. I would hear my father talkin mess in the back ground:

DAD: "Earlene, let them gals' hair alone... let it growwwwww"
MOM: "Oh Ross... pleeeeze... go on ahead with all dat... QQ"

NO, there was not a "COLOR PURPLE" scene afterwards. What he'd do was take one of us from the "line of doom" and put our hair in 50/11 folded pigtails in different colored rubber bands to show moms "how it "should be done":heart: However, we hated that style!!!!!!

I hear ya Destee... my mother made us put a spoon over our ears to prevent burning. Couldn't chew any gum or candy either, because them temples would pulsate up & down... up & down:rolleyes: After a while she began blow-drying it to make it "easier" on our scalps, or just running a curling iron through it. What's bad is when the melted oil burned you more than the hot comb, or when the hair turned "white" from the comb being too hot! We were rewarded with a pack of Orange Now&Laters if we "sat still". Well, we thought it was worth it, because the next morning at church we would toss our heads vigorously side to side purposely just to say: "I told you my stuff was long":lol:

Yeah moms and aunties had the whole house smelling like Blue Magic and black eyed peas:D. On top of all the heat, flinching and sizzling sounds; we'd get"popped" with a wooden Goody brush if we dared "move wrong". We'd get up from getting our hair pressed, and lo & behold... we look in the mirror with watery red eyes, a pouty greased down face, and the typical hair do: A fall & flip, or a curly ponytail up top with the back down & flipped outwards. Then every Sunday I'd pull out the SAME favorite burgandy dress and red stockings with clear sparkly "jelly shoes" and get told constantly: "red don't 'go' with burgandy Fatima!!"

Those were the days... days I CERTAINLY won't let my daughter experience:nono:


lol Sister Spicy ... ohhhhh Gurl ... i'm over here LOL'n for real !!! ... :lol: ... you so krazee ... Sister Sister Sister ... chewing gum, eating candy ... while gett'n pressed ... whew Lawd! ... not only did you not chew ... (:lol: still laff'n at the temples moving up and down ... hahahahaha) ... not only did we not chew, but shooot ... i aint even breathe hard ... didn't blink ... didn't think ... didn't do nuth'n but pray ... whew Lawd! ... and yes yes yes at the snap, crackle, pop of the hot grease ... now i don't remember any hot grease dripp'n ... but i'm sure it probably did ... i probably thot she had burned me, when it was actually the grease dripp'n!

Awwwwww Sister Spicy ... this is such a great story! Thank you for sharing it! Gurl i can see you all decked out on Sunday morning! I know that's right! And it didn't even make no whole bunch of difference that we had to wear the same stuff most every Sunday ... we knew we were cute ... we had the grease burns to prove it ... lol ... :)

Yes ... i wouldn't ... i couldn't ... do it to my daughter either. It was just too traumatic for me, to put that on her. Now i did get her a perm ... hmmmm ... when she was probably in middle school or something ... maybe even elementary still ... like 5th grade or something ... and i'm now trying to undo that. Trying to encourage her to love her own self, just like God made her. If i had only known then, what i know now. Even my son, i have to undo him, because as i've said somewhere on here before ... he made more noise than anyone, when i cut my hair and quit getting perms. Even right now, he'll say, Momma, i'll pay for the perm, please, go get it! :)

We fight now about the GrandChildren i have yet to be blessed with. I dun told him not to press or perm my GrandDaughter's hair ... and he aint really hearing me ... just a good thing he aint got no babies yet ... or we would be fall'n out ... :wink:

Ohhhhh and how kewl a Father you have ... to take yall out the line and try to save you!

LOL @ the soul train line ... too cute Sister!

Thanks Sister Spicy ... it was sooooo much fun reading this!

:heart:

Destee

With all the heads our stepmother had to do... you'd think you were looking at a retro 70's Soul Train line... 6 girls lined up with freshly washed afros anda towel around our necks awaiting our 30 minutes of torment. I would hear my father talkin mess in the back ground:

DAD: "Earlene, let them gals' hair alone... let it growwwwww"
MOM: "Oh Ross... pleeeeze... go on ahead with all dat... QQ"

NO, there was not a "COLOR PURPLE" scene afterwards. What he'd do was take one of us from the "line of doom" and put our hair in 50/11 folded pigtails in different colored rubber bands to show moms "how it "should be done":heart: However, we hated that style!!!!!!

I hear ya Destee... my mother made us put a spoon over our ears to prevent burning. Couldn't chew any gum or candy either, because them temples would pulsate up & down... up & down:rolleyes: After a while she began blow-drying it to make it "easier" on our scalps, or just running a curling iron through it. What's bad is when the melted oil burned you more than the hot comb, or when the hair turned "white" from the comb being too hot! We were rewarded with a pack of Orange Now&Laters if we "sat still". Well, we thought it was worth it, because the next morning at church we would toss our heads vigorously side to side purposely just to say: "I told you my stuff was long":lol:

Yeah moms and aunties had the whole house smelling like Blue Magic and black eyed peas:D. On top of all the heat, flinching and sizzling sounds; we'd get"popped" with a wooden Goody brush if we dared "move wrong". We'd get up from getting our hair pressed, and lo & behold... we look in the mirror with watery red eyes, a pouty greased down face, and the typical hair do: A fall & flip, or a curly ponytail up top with the back down & flipped outwards. Then every Sunday I'd pull out the SAME favorite burgandy dress and red stockings with clear sparkly "jelly shoes" and get told constantly: "red don't 'go' with burgandy Fatima!!"

Those were the days... days I CERTAINLY won't let my daughter experience:nono:


Thanks Sister Spicy ... it was sooooo much fun reading this!

Yanno, it's amazing how much hairstory one can establish in their lifetime. Thanks for sharing yours as well; I can totally relate;)

Peace

Hi Destee,:spin:

I remember the kitchens that moma had to get that were in the back. And then there was those edges...whew! I decided not to put my daughter throw that. Now that she's grown, she still loves her hair natural. She wears dredlocks. I wear the natural too but in twists. It feels so good being a natural sistah.

I can remember them days watching mom's fry hair with them hot combs
coming out the fire hair sizzling whewwww the smell of it i can still smell it !

I can remember them days watching mom's fry hair with them hot combs
coming out the fire hair sizzling whewwww the smell of it i can still smell it !
I bet it made you glad to be a boy:D

No matter where I was, east coast, west coast, up north, down south, they all said the same thing, "I didn't burn you that was just the heat."

One time the comb cam off and I moved my thighs trying to avoid getting burned, fell back and branded my behind. To tthis day I wonder it there is not still a comb shaped mark somewhere around Aquapulco:D

When I was a teenager I went to get a perm, but the lady didn't tell me you weren't supposed to get a perm right after taking braids out of your hair. I had just taken them out and you could still see the crinkles.
Me: It burns
Lady: Well it's going to burn a little.
She kept rubbing it in and rubbing it in until my head felt like it was on fire. I couldn't stand it and jumped up and ran over to the sink. She just took her time folding up the towels and everything. Another lady came over fanning my head with a newspaper. When the lady that was doing my hair finally made it over to the sink she turned the hot water on me.

In California I went to a posh salon at the mall. He put the blow dryer right on my scalp like a vacuum cleaner.
Me: that burns
Him: Oh that's okay Are you familiar with the Jheri Curl?

Why don't we all write a book? Call it Beautician Dearest.

I remember those days. Hair smelling like it was on fire and hoping she don't burn my ears.

yeah it did sister river ....but at one time i fryed and laid it to the side and found out it wasn't my style or me