A post from 2009, I believe it was, re-written because I liked the original but thought I could do better...
As is common with me, a couple of things happen in a row and I'm off with my head in my hands, looking for patterns.
Two things of note today: the faucet fixture in the kitchen sink has been replaced, and I washed my hair.
I'll pause for a moment, here, to allow you to regain your breath.
The faucet in the kitchen has been unruly for a bit now, spraying unwanted water everywhere. This became serious when we discovered that there was also some sprayage going on under the sink, luckily landing in my "cleaning bucket", AKA the "cleaning boo-kay". Things had come to a head under the sink, so to speak; and so we dug deep and bought a new fixture with the money that was to have gone toward having my elbows polished.
You know, you save and you save...
Shortly before Jon and Mary arrived - Jon being the one to install the new faucet, Mary in a strictly supervisory capacity - I was in the shower, washing my hair, when some shampoo got in my eyes. This rarely happens, particularly whilst shampooing sober, and it instantly reminded me of my childhood, kneeling on a chair, my head in the sink, my mother washing my hair.
Do people still wash their hair in the kitchen sink? This was quite popular in my youth, at least in my family: the shampoo and conditioner on the counter, the towel draped around one's neck, the gradual and insidious seep of water down one's head and into one's eyes as your mother directed your head one way and then the other.
"My eyes! My eyes!"
Insert, here, the nervous cackling of my brother and sister as they await their own turn under the Faucet of Destiny.
Despite my assertions at the time that any future diagnosis of blindness would be attributed to my mother's careless and indiscriminate use of Prell (or was it Breck?), I have yet to be struck sightless.
And I am no more blind today than I have ever been.
Which brings me back to today.
The old kitchen faucet fixture is gone, and long live the new one. The replacement fixture in the kitchen sink is an elaborately raised faucet, a shepherd's staff of a spout designed for the filling of large pots and the washing of heads of all sizes - an improvement over the old, straightforward style of faucet.
And this makes me happy: A subtle and yet important change to the kitchen and a small vacation, if only in my mind.
Happy Thursday, everyone. I'm off to call my mother.
29 comments:
I am also of the head in sink shampooing school, with Gee Your Hair Smells Terrific in place right next to the dishwashing detergent.
Your new fixtures make it ripe for you to return to the good old days of hairwashing.
Ah, the old kitchen-sink-hair-wash-torture!
Been there and suffered!
That could be why all my hair fell out!
Elbow polishing?
Are you also a connoisseur of the ol' bendy bits?
Far better than knees because the knobbly bits are always behind you and out of sight.
Do you remember the little 'halo' that you could get from the folks who made Halo...you sent away something off the label I think plus a dollar or so and you got this plastic thingie with a stretchy band on the inside that you put over your head. It was supposed to keep water out of your eyes and ears. Yeah!!
Congrats on the new facuet. Does it have a sprayer attachment or had you already had enough spray to deal with lol.
I thought you used elbow grease to polish elbows. Prell. That tube of emerald green where did it go?
Oh yes I did, I had my hair washed in the sink, especially whilst receiving Ye Olde "Home Perm."
"Ahhhh...my eyes! My nose!
oOoOOo, I'd forgotten about the home perm! Had one -- just one, and it fried a patch of hair on the back of my head, causing a clump of hair to break off... And the smell!
"What's going on in the kitchen?"
"Well, Pearl is either getting a home perm or mom is mixing up another batch of meth..."
Oh, yes, we did our hair in the sink way back when, up to and including today :) I've got enough hair for two people so it rinses out more easily directly under a faucet than in the shower, I find.
And, a vacation in the mind can be the very best kind of getaway!
Have a great day!
I went through so many sink hair washings & home perms that I'm grateful I'm not bald!!
I'd have to say that washing one's hair at the kitchen sink beats washing one's face in the toilet. I believe the dog frowns (if a dog could frown, that is) on that... something about the soapy flavor of the water.
Yes, it was common practice at my house to have my hair washed at the kitchen sink in my youth. We were never expected to kneel on a stool, however, just lean over the sink until our backs ached.
I marvel to think I bathed my 6' plus grand-son in the kitchen sink.
A while ago I'll admit.
NeVer underestimate The Water's power to destroy, even something robust looking as a metal faucet.
Wash your hair in the SHOWER?
I'll have to try that.
Terrific post, and well worth a re-run. You mentioned Prell. I don't know if that shampoo is even made anymore, but I don't recall seeing it in any stores for a very long time. However, after my father died a couple years ago, I found a half-tube of Prell in his house while cleaning it out to sell. Now, with us living in a different state, we were in a big rush to clean and sell the house as soon as possible, so I gave away a ton of valuable stuff just to find a good home for it. But that half-tube of Prell? Would you believe I brought it home with me? And ya know what? It still smells the same. All I have to do is close my eyes and take a good sniff, and I'm a kid again.
Oi! Oh yes, I remember the washing hair in the kitchen sink torture...and since I had very long, thick hair as a child it went on forever!
Southern European extraction. We were raised for our wool, which may have been washed after shearing. Don't remember shampoo.
Of course I remember washing my hair in the sink. Didn't everyone? Now the only hair that gets washed in our sink is either Gizmo or Daisy's.
I tried to get Lazer, our husky, to go for it once, but he demurred- emphatically.
You had a sink and shampo?. We had a bucket and lifebouy. No blindness there we were not allowed:) Yeah new tap. B
I swear we've had the exact same childhood! Hairwashing in the sink and the warming of the ear medicine....
Yup, those were the days!
It's funny to such a tiny change can improve the mood of a room, and of a person. Great post!
My mother always washed our hair in the kitchen sink. And 2 kids were always in the tub-me with my sister and my 2 brothers together. I used to wash my husbands hair in the kitchen sink when we first married as had no shower, only footed tub (old house made into duplex).
I fond memory of him brought on by your post...he died Saturday, Nov. 15th.
Breck or Prell, which one did they drop a marble in to show how thick it was?
Thought it was interesting that in my RSS feed, under your post called "Tiny Bits Glued Together to Form the Semblance of a Whole" was this.
Oh did this bring back memories. Of course my mom washed our hair in the kitchen sink. And with Prell (I can still see the pearl sinking slowly), Breck, or Halo and Tame for the tangles.
She also cut our bangs by taping them to our foreheads and cutting along the top edge of the tape.
Thanks for the memories.
Totally remember having my hair shampooed by my mom.....but for now, I'm intrigued about elbow polishing! :P
Hey Pearl! Ah yes, I remember those days. Now, I just toss my toupée in the washing machine. I let it drip-dry, of course, else I frizz. Roth
Prell, wow you took me back in time. And yeah, I used to be a head in the sink washer when I was young.
I love those pot-filler taps! But for hair washing I'll take the shower any day. Bending over the sink is too hard on the back. I never polish my elbows, just sandpaper the rough bits.
It used to be that everything was washed in the kitchen sink... your hair, your dog, the collards. Been thinking about it and can't come up with an answer as to why it still isn't.
oh my! It all comes back. The back ache as I reach on my tip toes to get the soap off the back of my neck. The faucet was NEVER long enough to do an easy job of it.
I can't remember the last time I washed my hair in the sink....oh yes, in a public washroom in Amsterdam, but that is not as bad as trying to dry it with paper towels. well...you know....
Rosemary
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