Sunday, November 15, 2009

MIBHS





Most of you know my children, Randy and Leigh, and many of you may have always felt like there was something just not quite right about the two of them. Sure, they are both successful, happily married, well-rounded, sociable individuals, but still.......that nagging feeling that something was amiss in their childhood. I've never felt free to discuss it and especially not in this venue, but now I feel I must. Yes, my friends, they both suffer from:

MOM INDUCED BAD HAIR SYNDROME (MIBHS)

This is much a catharsis for me as it will be for them. I was delusional for years and it was just recently that I went through photo albums and saw for myself. There it was.....MIBHS in all its ugly glory. Oh, I tried to reconcile it in my mind......all the other moms cut their sons' hair.....all the other moms gave their daughters Tonette Home Perms.......as a single Mom, I was saving money by cutting and styling their hair myself.....they look adorable (that was me at my lowest point)....blah, blah, blah. But, I could not deny the looks on these faces....


Sure, they have grown up. Perhaps, they have even forgiven me. And, Randy has sworn never to do this to his own flesh and blood. But, will Leigh be strong when she has her first? Will she be able to stop this cycle? You see, my Mom also gave me Tonette Home Perms, curled my hair by putting strips of cloth in it and twisting each strand, made me suffer in silence in those pink sponge rollers. Many a night, I tossed and turned all night trying to get comfortable. And, I still can't openly discuss the brush rollers. And, from what I hear, it was even worse for my mother. She had electric rods put in her hair and the heat turned up until her whole head smoked. I don't know if we can ever fully recover. We're all trying, but it's hard. MIBHS must be stopped. Don't be silent about this. If you see a child victim, speak up. It's your duty.








4 comments:

  1. Love this post, those faces in that picture are priceless. Yes I agree MIBHS has to stop!!! Maybe the new "administration" can enlist Congress to make a new law outlawing such a thing.

    Honestly, when I first met Leigh and she showed me some of these pictures I thought Randy wore helmets in all of his pictures. ;-)

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  2. Mom! Look at my hair in the "sad children" photo! My bangs, oh the horror! I was JUST thinking of cutting my bangs a little shorter, like I wore them in highschool, but I see that cowlick in these old photos and I'm reconsidering. And Randy's hair is the worst. You've denied putting a bowl on his head and trimming around it, but I don't believe you.

    I happened to notice the blender in the first picture with the perm rollers. I bet you still have the old thing. They don't make small appliances like they used to, that's for sure.

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  3. In that last photo, Randy's hair is EXACTLY like the plastic snap on hair that Cole's Leggo men have!! EXACTLY!! And did I just ready that you DENY cutting that poor, poor child's hair with a bowl? I actually agree...I believe that you placed a baseball helmet on it and cut it around that. There is no other way you could have obtained the flow around the ears without one.

    And Leigh is just crying on the inside for help. You can see it in her eyes. She's pleading, "Stop my mom from coming after us with her Flowbee!! HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! No one deserves bangs like this!!!!!"

    I will have to post the photo of my middle sister, Laurie. We also suffered from MIBHS, but Laurie's third grade school photo is especially horrifying. And I, with my close cropped coif, looked exactly like my younger cousin, Ricky.

    Sufferers of MIBHS, Unite!!

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  4. Hi, my name is Karen and I am a victim of MIBHS. I have also inflicted this on my children, mainly my sons. I admit that they too had the "Randy look". I thought it was in style and I was saving money. After all, the Barber shops of that time really butchered their hair.

    It wasn't until I read this post that I realized I truly needed help and this must be stopped. You should see my first grade picture with my natural curly hair permed to an even tighter curl with a Tonette Home Perm, including my bangs!!!!!

    Thank you Bobbie for leading the way to help stamp out this terrible disease. We must stick together to encourage each other to move past this so that we can finish out our days MIBHS free. May I suggest that we have our montly meetings at Katy Mills. We can conclude our meeting at the cupcake shop. As we eat our cupcakes, we can observe others who need our help and enlighten them about this great cause! Leigh and Stacey, of course the invitation is always open to you.

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