Hallelujah for the flat iron!

Hopefully this will never happen to you. Two teen girls, let’s just call them “big bang” Betty and “small fry” Betty, to protect the innocent, are excited for the big school game. Both of them were looking for a knock out hairstyle, and they wanted something different. Keep in mind this was back in the time when big perms and mall bangs were popular and they had both. But let’s just say for the sake of relevance, their hair was chemically treated and potentially fragile. To be different, the Betties wanted to be super straight and silky smooth. This was not so simple since the styling flat iron was not yet widely used by the public. But “big bang” Betty’s sister said “I know how to get it straight. We will iron it.” And by iron she meant press Dad’s shirt, iron. We’re talking cook a grilled cheese, iron.

So the ironing begins. The first sign of trouble was when the girls laid down on a towel on the kitchen table, and spread their hair out like a fan. Then came the coating of the awe inspiring Aqua Net. And then the heat begins. But the Betties could not have been happier with their results. Their hair was straighter than any girl at school. It was shiny and smooth. And they were movie stars at the game that night. You could say that “they turned heads”.

The next day when they washed and dried their hair, their long spiral permed hair had tightened up. The curls shrank as if the Betties had put their fingers in a light socket. Maximum “fryage”. Their hair, which was originally mid length curls down their backs, was more like chin length and frizzy. It looked more like Don King than anything else. Not good. And then, there was the crying breakdown.

Then came the solution. “Let’s just do a VO5 hot oil treatment” they said. But the only drawback was that they did not have any VO5 hot oil. So, they decided to heat up some Wesson vegetable oil on the stove. (Do not try this at home. In fact DO NOT TRY THIS EVER!) When they applied the oil it had not cooled and the poor girls were mildly burned at the scalp. Enough that there was even some light blistering. Ultimately the “oil treatment” did nothing but burns the Betties, and make for a good story. Their hair was totally fried and, no recovery was possible. The only thing these poor “movie stars” could do was watch their hair break off as quickly as it could grow. Eventually they were left with mini pony tails and frizzy flyaways for more than a year.

They moral to this story, girls, is let a professional take care of you hair. Enjoy styling and playing with your hair. But unless you are experienced, do not cut your own hair or perform any chemical services on yourself or your friends. Certainly do not iron your hair with your mothers clothing iron and put hot vegetable oil on it.

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Everydayhair
Shawn Michael