a post about hair.

[thedilettante]

 I just discovered this in The Chalet School and Barbara*:

Matron looked her up and down. "Yes; well, your hair won't do like that," she said briskly. "Have you brushed it at all this morning?"
"Oh, yes, Matron," Barbara assured her.
"Not very well, I'm afraid. Here, slip on your dressing-­gown, sit down at the mirror and give it a good hard brush­ing

Comments

[sillahestian]

"...your scalp should be tingling by the time you've finished."

And this is a GOOD THING? Oh matron, tell me again about static electricity!

[thedilettante]

"My hair, Matron. It..it..electrocuted me!"

[sabethea]

I need more details! How do you de-tangle from the bottom up? Presumably you don't comb it backwards, but just do the little bit at the end first?

The Mouse has crazy curls and hates me brushing his hair. I suspect I'm a bit Matron-like on the quiet (though I try and do the end tangles by putting a hand on the upper bit so it doesn't hurt so much) and would love to know how to do it without sobbing from the boy...

Hurrah for Chalet School! I really do recommend going on to Abbey Girls if you ever run out of CS :)

[thedilettante]

Yep, you start with the inch or so at the bottom, detangle thoroughly (with hand on the upper bit, which is something Matron probably never did), then do then next inch or two, and so on. It's easy when you get used to it. Also, it's better to use a comb (or even fingers) than a brush. I'm not sure exactly why this is, but I've heard a couple of explanations - one is that you want the hair to curl in strands rather than each individual hair curling separately (because that would be chaos) and this is easier to achive with a wide toothed comb. The other is that brushing just creates more static and curly hair is in danger or frizzing as it is. I'm not sure if either of these is scientific, but my hair has gotten far better since I've used combs.
Oh, and a bit of oil does more for not making it hurt than anything else I can think of.

What exactly _are_ the Abbey Girls books? I never read them as a child, but I'm curious and would like to.

[sabethea]

That is VERY helpful, thank you. I am loath to remove the Mouse's curls but I hate making him miserable.

The Abbey Girls books are difficult to describe. They are sometimes lumped in as school stories, but mostly they're not. I shall give a bit of plot away in the theory that it might help:

Two girls are bequested an Abbey and an enormous Manor by a rich man (uncle to one of them). They're at school at the time and the action wavers between the school and the Manor. The Manor girl adopts a couple of teenagers (when she's only about 20) and it follows the stories of the two girls AND the teenagers (and random other characters) through a period. There's lots of country dancing, but I think I might possibly even like them better than the Chalet School, though it might be because I haven't read them as often.

[istari_lady]

LOL yes... I brushed too when I was younger... not by reading those books (dont know what they are in fact.. *blush*) but just because thats what girls were supposed to do? :P :S... no matter that it left a strange fluffaway bushy mess, and did damage to boot. I'm glad there be more knowledge in the world now about curly hair care :P Thats how we can tell our society is indeed making civilized progress

[istari_lady]

*LOVE* the icon btw. Daffodils are among my most favourite flowers :)
Yay for spring!!!!!