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Parenting & Farm Kids:  Saving Hair Braids...  |
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mandi
Farmgirl in Training
21 Posts
Amanda
Nashville
Tennessee
USA
21 Posts |
 Posted - Jul 18 2008 : 08:30:35 AM
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After reading the hope chest post in the forum, I had to post this and see if mine is the only family that does this... (I've mentioned this to some people who thought it was odd, or even a bit creepy.)
My family for several generations has had a tradition of saving little girls' braids from their first major haircut. Kind of like saving babies first curl, I guess. All of the girls in my family grew their hair long, long, long when they were kids, but before starting kindergarten, got it cut much shorter (shoulder-length or so) to make it easier for getting ready for school in the morning. But when we got it cut, we braided it with a rubberband at the top and bottom and cut it off as a braided ponytail.
My mom has my braid, her own braid, my grandmother's braid, and HER paternal-great-grandmother's braid saved. It's actually kind of interesting to look at them side-by side, and compare the color and texture (which are all nearly the same!).
I plan to do this with my little girl, if & when my husband and I are blessed with a daughter. Does anyone else do this in their family?
I've also thought about displaying the braids together in a shadowbox when I inherit them. But maybe that's a bit too creepy? ;) (Then again, have you ever seen the human-hair artwork done in Victorian times? It was quite a "thing" back then, I guess...)
Farmgirl Sister #264
http://www.mandiknits.com/farmgirl |
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Aunt Jenny
True Blue Farmgirl
11381 Posts
Jenny
middle of
Utah
USA
11381 Posts |
Posted - Jul 18 2008 : 09:39:26 AM
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My mom used to have a braid like that of mine when I was a kid. I wonder if she still does. My hair was waist length when I was 3 and then after that I remember usually having pretty short hair as a kid..we got short cuts in summer and then it grew over the year ..until I was in 8th grade and put my foot down..long hair ever since except for 2 short haircuts over the years that lasted just long enough to grow them out.
I hadn't thought about the braid thing in years. I will have to ask her. I don't think it is creepy.
Jenny in Utah
Proud Farmgirl sister #24
Inside me there is a skinny woman crying to get out...but I can usually shut her up with cookies
http://www.auntjennysworld.blogspot.com/ visit my little online shop at www.auntjenny.etsy.com |
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Tina Michelle
True Blue Farmgirl
6948 Posts
Tina
sunshine state
FL
USA
6948 Posts |
Posted - Jul 18 2008 : 3:27:53 PM
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hi,
I think it would actually look nice to use the braid to "frame" a picture of each person in a shadowbox type frame. To spruce it up a little perhaps put the image of the person in an oval mat frame..then use the braid around that..and then add bits of vintage laces and maybe some millinery type flowers glued to the mat board.
~Seize the Day! Live, Love, Laugh~
visit me at:
http://gardengoose.blogspot.com/
and at www.stliving.net
you can also check out my etsy shops at:http://GardenGooseGifts.etsy.com |
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KYgurlsrbest
True Blue Farmgirl
4853 Posts
Jonni
Elsmere
Kentucky
USA
4853 Posts |
Posted - Jul 19 2008 : 06:05:24 AM
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I don't think my hair was ever long enough (when I was little) to have a braid, but I do know that my great grandmother, thought she didn't have hair braids (her girls all had that 1920's bob, as did she) just random, she had brooches and jewelry made with braided hair. I don't know if she did them herself, but I think they were for a different purpose--probably mourning. A dealer at Burlington has the largest collection of jewelry and items made from hair from the victorian era I've ever seen!
I have Justin's first curls that his mother gave us with his baby book, and I don't see anything wrong with saving braids. I think of little Aria and Julia's braids that day, from last year and I think it can be such a poignant memory for a mother and family to have.
Farmgirl Sister #80, thanks to a very special farmgirl from the Bluegrass..."She was built like a watch, a study in balance ... with a neck and head so refined, like a drawing by DaVinci"...
NY Newsday sportswriter Bill Nack describing filly, Ruffian.
http://www.buyhandmade.org/ |
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Forrester Farm
True Blue Farmgirl
703 Posts
Ann
Belmont
MI
USA
703 Posts |
Posted - Jul 19 2008 : 06:23:23 AM
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I was probably in 2nd grade when I asked my mom to cut my long, blond hair to look as cute and short as it was in a baby photo of mine. 2nd grade logic told me that it would be a really cute style. My mom obliged after some long talks. She braided my hair, chopped off the braid and tried so hard to make my hair look the way I thought it should. I had the worst "shag" hair-cut ever - and cried like crazy. But.....saved the braid! - Until 8th grade when I thought it should be rebraided. 8th grade logic said that it would just look better - not fall apart in my hands. So, I had a saved braid for 6 years.
Ann
Forrester Farm
http://picasaweb.google.com/FORRESTERFARM/FORRESTERFARMWEDDINGS |
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Forrester Farm
True Blue Farmgirl
703 Posts
Ann
Belmont
MI
USA
703 Posts |
Posted - Jul 19 2008 : 06:35:00 AM
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P.S. I've often thought that if I still had that braid - it would have been donated to Locks of Love.
My 7 yr old just begged to have her long hair cut this summer - but for the length that she wanted cut off, it wasn't long enough to donate.
Ann
Forrester Farm
http://picasaweb.google.com/FORRESTERFARM/FORRESTERFARMWEDDINGS |
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Parenting & Farm Kids: Saving Hair Braids... |
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Saving Hair Braids...
