But I guess I did it anyhow. In the pic you see five-year-old moi, seated next to my cousin Laurie who was just a few months younger but no daredevil. Not like me. I wish I could remember the sweet woman sitting next to Laurie. An aunt? A friend of the family or someone from Laurie’s father’s congregation (he was a pastor). I don’t remember.
If I asked you to caption the photo, you’d probably think of something along the lines of ‘sweet little girls, dressed for some holiday’. Yeah, sort of. I was going for an especially angelic look. Can you tell? Knees together, hands folded, smiling benignly for the camera. The picture of a ‘good girl’? Why?
That morning I gave Laurie a haircut. Tired of coloring books and playing games, she wanted to give all of her dolls a buzz cut. Just her dolls, at first. To bored little Vicki, that sounded like great fun, so I stealthily fetched the sharpest shears I could find from the kitchen.
Laurie’s dolls had matted, crinkly hair and she misguidedly thought a haircut might prompt new growth? I knew better but didn’t tell her the truth…um….they’re DOLLS and once the flammable hair’s clipped off, it’s gone-zo…for-EV-er. I thought I was a gullible girl but Laurie always won the award for most likely to be terrorized by her slightly-older cousin. Me.
When I returned with scissors, Laurie hesitated but I prodded her, showing how easy it would be to give her Barbies and other assorted dolls a ‘fresh look’. Laurie became giggly with anticipation – knowing we were engaged in no-no business as we took turns holding the dolls while the other hacked away.
I thought the dolls looked awful – they all morphed into ugly versions of “Ken”, but Laurie was thrilled. And then…she asked. Honestly – she ASKED – I did NOT offer – about cutting her hair. Laurie had waist-length glossy blonde locks, which she hated (for the same reasons her dolls were getting new coifs – brushing is a nuisance). Laurie’s hair was the epitome of 70’s beauty. Silky straight blonde strands parted down middle, and I thought she was a whiner for complaining. Laurie’s hair looked good all the time.
Me? I had a famous bedhead most days and endured a regular head whomping from my mom as she tried to tame my hair with a stiff brush every morning. No one had bangs then, it was a cooler to look like the older girls with their hippy-looking, easy breezy tresses.
When Laurie pleaded with me to ‘do her hair’ I knew I was headed toward quicksand, but I did it anyhow. First, I lopped off a few inches in a zigzag hack that looked like I’d used enormous pinking shears. Laurie giggled as globs of her hair melted into the mess of doll hair on the floor and chanted ‘more, more’. I stood back, appraising my work and decided to pull some hair forward and chop in some bangs. If you look at the pic, I didn’t do a bad job. My aunt and mom neatened things up and trimmed Laurie’s lopsided length and new fringe – after both Laurie and I were resoundingly reprimanded (spanking was the way in those days).
There was a lot of shouting about evil little Vicki, terrorizing her younger cousin, and Laurie folded immediately, claiming it was all MY idea – starting with the dolls and then progressing to her horrible haircut. I tried to defend myself, but you know how it is. My reputation preceded me, and I decided to shut up and take the licks, until I saw my mom approach with the shears. “Your turn”, she said, and she plopped me into a chair, chopping in a fresh set of bangs for wicked me. In the pic, they don’t look too bad but just an hour before I was red-faced and devastated. Mom made sure my bangs were the shortest of short…as punishment for “ruining” Laurie’s beautiful hair.
“The day Vicki ruined Laurie’s hair” was a family story told and retold for years afterward. Years later, I agreed to be her maid of honor in her wedding. I never brought up the ‘hair incident’ to her then, seeing how nervous she was as a new bride, but I chuckled to myself during all of the wedding prep, wondering if Laurie might ask me to do her hair on her big day. 😉
See what happens when an errant family photo falls out of drawer? Thanks for reading and letting me share.
Vicki 😘
Victoria Ponders 
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