Show Choir Hair

Show choir hair- curly, done up, extra bounce for extra energy on stage. This is achieved by curling it in some manner. For the first two performances, I went the curling iron route. I learned that while this is great, for long- term hold, meaning all day hold, and for bounce, you really need to use curlers.

I talked to my mom, as all daughters do, to get advice. She later texted me from Wal-Mart telling me what they had for rollers and off I went to buy the time-honored foam rollers.

Thursday, after school, armed with a spray bottle, I sat Audrey at my feet and prepared to spritz and roll. But not before I called a friend to get last minute rolling advice. Her words? There may not be enough time for the hair to dry in the rollers. No problem, I said. I’ll just hit it with the hair dryer. (Thus commencing the whole hair dryer fiasco.) And how do I do it again? Little to big? Big to little? She told me start with the big on bottom and work to little on top. So Audrey and I talked, turning her head and body this way and that, dampened and rolled and… proceeded to do it opposite of what Renee told me. Heh! We were just trying this whole thing out, no biggie. It turned out just fine. Some hair was still a little damp and I just touched it up with the curling iron. The kids had a nice performance that night. (Renee said she used heat rollers in her daughter’s hair because of the shorter time frame. I was going to borrow Beth’s but forgot to get them because I was smitten with Valor.)

Friday night, armed with the now familiar hair implements, I rolled Audrey’s hair for two hours! I would grab a nice little section of hair, combing it smooth, dampen it thoroughly, roll it carefully, making sure I used the big one on bottom and working to the small ones on top. It was a thing of beauty. Well, sort of. Off to bed she went.

Saturday morning. Glorious Saturday morning. We sleep in. I stumble around the house for a while, slip in a run then Audrey and I assemble all the stuff needed for our now pre-performance ritual. She texts her friends or takes wonky pictures of us, I apply make-up. She tells me for the one hundredth time not to curl her bangs. I tell her if I hear that one more time…, etc. All the while, I comfort myself with the thought that there are at least thirty moms in the Ballard area doing the exact same thing at the same time.

We are a little behind on the time schedule, but no problem. I start unrolling the big ones from the bottom. Big, beautiful, boingy curls (raise your hand if you remember Ramona Quimby’s envy of the girl with the boingy curls.). Yes! Moving on up, more curls. Nice. These are definitely staying in. This is definitely the way to go. About the 3rd size up, the curls are becoming a little obnoxious. As in, they are frizzier than I would like and I’m not advanced enough in my foam roller skills to know exactly how to handle the frizz, but they were sort of that way Thursday night and it worked out just fine. Finally, I un-roll the smallest ones on the top of her head. My eyes widened. I un-roll another one and my eyes noticeably bulged. Another one- oh! Another one- OH MY WORD! I flew through the rest of the rollers because… because OH MY WORD!! My daughter’s beautiful hair looked like a stressed out poodle had just electrocuted itself!!!

I do not have any pictures to show you as I forbade Audrey from taking any. I laughed a little nervous laugh. I stood there, Home Alone like, poking at the frizzed out mass, wondering what in the world to do. At this point, Audrey reminded me that we didn’t have that much time and she still needed make-up! There was no time for a re-do. So with every curling iron under our roof heating up, I informed Audrey that she would be applying her own make-up, to which she protested and to which I firmly announced that there was no other option and I would instruct her step by step through it. I picked up the largest barrel iron, grabbed a section of hair and with a prayer heavenward and a sizzle of possible follicle damage tried out what I hoped would save my daughter from utter embarrassment.

It worked!! IT WORKED!!!!

I whipped through the upper half of Audrey’s hair like I was on Extreme Home Make-Over, re-curling the undulating sea of brown froth into smooth(-er) waves and then hairsprayed the whole thing. (But who am I kidding? Those curls were going no where, for a long time. But it just feels not finished unless it’s sprayed. Call me Annelle from Steep Magnolias.) I touched up her make-up just a bit. She flew downstairs to gather the rest of her things, I slapped together a pb sandwich for her, hollered to the boys that I’d be right back and jump into the van, pulling violently (but carefully) out of the driveway. Two van lengths down the block, I just let out a good ol’ scream and Audrey and I laughed and Oh my worded all the way to the school. Bill was coming home from the shop, when he saw us rounding the corner. Later, after I unleashed the fury of the story to him, he said we looked happy in the car. I said we were grinning silly, on the brink of show choir hair insanity!!

Her hair, by the time I saw her on stage looked great! It definitely had the most bounce it’s ever had. The show choir sang the best they have done to that point. They came in second and I’m sure it was close between them and first place.

We’ve now learned that Audrey never, ever wants a perm. Her hair takes styling so well that a perm will never be needed. That once you have a styling tool, you should always keep that styling tool unless it is broken and doesn’t work or you lose your hair, etc. That hair and make-up should be given plenty of time for styling. And that my daughter and I can enjoy this as a memory for a long time!!