Grandma Lu Says Bobby Pins Are Magic

Marlee wanted to know what those things were that Grandma Lu was fiddling with in her fingers. "Oh, these are bobby pins. It seems like they are just like magic. I don't even use them any more, but they keep appearing in my pockets, my purse, and even in a junk drawer. The other day there was one in my silverware drawer. They are magic they keep disappearing and appearing."
Marlee wanted to know what they were used for and why they had a funny name. Well, of course, Grandma Lu had a story to tell.
She signaled the waitress and asked for a refill for her coffee and started the story of the Bobby pins.
"Well, bobby pins have been used for years and years. They still are being used, Marlee. They were invented by a man that lived in a country called France. He sold the first two (2) for thirty-five cents! The reason they are called Bobby pins is because during the Roaring Twenties when Mrs. Owens first came to Humansville was a time that women decided to do away with such long hair that men expected them to wear. The new style was called the Bob Cut because the haircut itself meant that women had their hair bobbed off by barbers sometimes in the small rural towns. It was almost an act of independence from men. They wanted to wear their hair the way they wanted it to look. In order to hold their hair in place a hair pin was needed that was small, the same color as their hair if possible and needed little bumps on the inside of it to hold hair in place. So that's where the name Bobby Pin came from; the bob cut.
A lady that you never got to know because once again it was in the olden days, was Mrs. Marie Roseanna Antil Aubin. She was my husband, Fran's grandmother. She also decided to get her hair cut short in a bob cut. Oh my goodness the fur flew when her husband saw what she had done. He settled down after awhile and said, "Well, it will grow again." She never did let it grow long again. She loved it shorter because it was much easier to take care of.

My mother did the same thing. I have shown you her picture when she graduated from high school. She also, decided that long hair was a terrible nuisance and went to a barber shop and had her hair cut. You talk about an angry father. My grandfather was a stern man anyway, but his daughter had cut her hair without his permission! It was unheard of in those days to go against a father's wishes. The whole thing was that in those olden days you talk about, Marlee, there was no running water or electricity in the house. The water had to be heated on the cook stove and no hair dryer to dry your hair with. Just thin towels mostly made of linen if I can remember correctly.

They didn't soak up the water very well, so often when ladies washed their hair they would go outside with their combs and brushes if the weather was nice, or stand beside the heat stove as my mother called it and dry their hair.
Then came the day that the bobby pin was used for something else. My mother sometimes wanted curly hair so she made pin curls in her hair. I know, it sounds crazy, but once in a blue moon I have done that if I had a piece of hair that just didn't do what I wanted it to. You put your finger against your head and wind your hair around your finger and then fasten  it with a bobby pin.
 I can remember staying at one of my mother's friends' house. They were farmers. She always did her hair in pin curls so that her hair would look nice for her husband when he came in for supper after working hard in the fields. The reason I knew that is because I asked her. I am a firm believer in asking questions. I told that little story over a year ago to the son of that lady who had long been gone. He thanked me so much for that little story. He told me it meant the world to him to be reminded how much his parents loved each other. Oh memories, Marlee. Always keep them safe, but remember to share them with others.