DA DO RAG RAG

Everyone knows what a durag is. Or dorag. Or doorag. I have one from the 70s in my Etsy shop. It’s vintage and retro, but the design is still current.

Where did this come from? Probably Africa, where women still wear fabulous head wraps. They’re like big do rags with the tie in front. We know in 1700s New Orleans enslaved women were required to wear head coverings to demean them and make sure everyone else knew they were enslaved.

That hideous law has been turned on its head, thank goodness. In current culture, the durag is embraced by musicians, motorcyclists, bicyclists, top fashion designers, medical personnel, people with hair loss and people with natural hair protecting their do. Rihanna’s dancers wore do rags under their fuzzy hoods at Super Bowl 2023.

This hip accessory makes me think of the 1963 song by the Crystals – “Da Doo Ron Ron” – specifically written to imbed itself in your brain. Sort of a rock ‘n’ roll tumor.

Enjoy:

Just imagine The Crystals performing at the first Super Bowl halftime show just four years later. It would have been rock and roll – you know – Satan’s music. They would have had those bare arms and those wiggly, shimmy moves. Outraged, God-fearing viewers would have complained to the FCC. They would have used words like "overtly sexual" and "patently offensive and completely inappropriate for children." Like porn. And you allowed your innocent offspring to watch because?

 

“Excuse me, ma’am, have you ever watched porn?”

 

Just like the more than a hundred people who complained to the FCC after Rihanna’s performance at Super Bowl 57. They claimed the show was "overtly sexual".  Some of the dance moves "were patently offensive and completely inappropriate for children." You know, just like porn. Sooo you let your children watch porn because?

 

“Excuse me, Karen, have you ever watched porn? How about you, Ken?

Never mind. Your fat red face is answer enough.”

 

God bless America.

THE CASE of the DEADLY HAIR DRYER

 In case someone is interested in why I haven’t written a blog post since 2015, maybe it’s because I was off the grid, lost in the woods, in witness protection, lazy or in prison. You decide.

And now,

THE CASE OF THE DEADLY HAIR DRYER

This retro, Mid Century Modern hair dryer was state of the art in the 1940s and 50s. The pretty pastel green, painted wood handle and extra-long cord made drying hair a breeze. No pun intended. Actually, I did it on purpose.

You’re fairly old if you’re old enough to have used one of these. Remember how heavy it was? This one weighs two pounds … the weight of a toaster or eight apples. Yikes.

You also remember how blisteringly hot it was. Just seconds before you smelled burning hair, you could turn on the ‘cold air’ switch. You also needed the cold air on your face. By now, sweat was dripping off the end of your nose.

My aunt, who lived in one of those great big, brick ranch style homes, gave this to me. After using it as a craft dryer for a while, I put it in my TangoPony Etsy shop. A couple of days later, BOOM! Etsy took it down for safety reasons. I assumed it was some kind of electrical issue, so I cut off the plug. I relisted it as décor for boudoir, bathroom or salon. It’s in someone’s cart right now.

Though it has the ubiquitous Underwriters Laboratory plate, the plug is only two pronged – no grounding prong. The law requiring safety outlets in bathrooms (GFCI-protected) was not initiated until 1975.

Besides risking injury just to dry your hair, hair dryers were great murder weapons. Milady in the bath and the terrible argument with Hubby ends with the handy hair dryer dropped into the water. Suddenly all the lights in the house flicker, the fuses are blown and Mr. Mister thinks he has the perfect alibi.

“As I was leavin’ for bowling night with the guys, she said she was gonna take a bath and go to bed early. When I got home, I found her like this. I guess she fell asleep and drowned. At least she was smart enough to have a big life insurance policy.”   

If that wasn’t scary enough, 90% of hairdryers manufactured through the end of the 1970s were insulated with asbestos. I guess the manufacturers forgot to tell us. What a surprise.

A photographer who was using a hair dryer to dry his prints ‘discovered’ the asbestos. Tiny, dust like bits of asbestos were blowing all over his photos.