Monday, April 4, 2011

Flashback: early 1950's

Image: Wikipedia;  article

This morning, while starting to brush my teeth, I remembered why I always start with my front teeth; the upper incisors, to be exact.  Although I've been brushing my teeth this way for 60 years, the routine process did not always begin this way. 

Flashback:  Our first Arkansas home was in the country, about five miles outside the nearest town (population appx. 400).  City-supplied water, if there was any,  stopped at least 4.9 miles from us.  When we moved to the farm we drew what water we needed from the well on the screened porch outside the back door.  Many hundreds of buckets of water were pulled out of the ground before my father was persuaded that an electric pump and, at least, a cold-water line into the kitchen were in order.  And so it was done.

Daddy installed a large sink on one wall of the kitchen. I think it came supplied with two faucets, but only one was operational (as I remember, Sister); I had already left home for college before hot water was available inside.  If we needed hot water, we heated it on the stove.

A mirror and a substantial open shelf were on the wall above the sink.  These served as a sort of 'bathroom vanity' (the 'bathroom' was about 50-75 feet away, a privy in the chicken yard).  Daddy's razor, shaving cream and brush, the family toothpaste, our individual toothbrushes,  my younger sister's cosmetics, and other personal grooming items required by two parents, three girls and one boy were on the shelf. 

One morning, as I was getting ready for school, I selected my toothbrush, absent mindedly reached up on the shelf, grabbed a tube and squeezed a ribbon of white paste onto the brush.  As was my practice in those days, I inserted the toothbrush all the way back into my mouth to the vicinity of my left molars.

Gag! Sputter, Gag, again! 

Of course, you already know what I had squeezed onto my toothbrush, don't you?  Yep!  Brylcreem! --used by my father on the few hairs he had left on his head, and by my younger brother.  The tube was the same shape and size as the toothpaste tube and, as I expected it to be toothpaste, I didn't even read the label.  That experience changed forever the way I brush my teeth.


You can take my word for it: a little dab'l do ya!


Tomorrow is also a day.

13 comments:

Janie B said...

Ha! So funny, but yucky!

Friko said...

yeuck, Brylcreem

I would most certainly test whatever I put on my tooth brush after that disaster.

Are you really watching eaglets being hatched? that's something we could never do here. wonderful.

Betsy Banks Adams said...

Hi Pat, We enjoyed our visit to your gorgeous state despite the weather!!!! This is our 7th visit to Mt. Nebo--Cabin 60... LOVE it.

I do remember Brylcreem--and that little saying about the 'dab'....

Aren't you just lovin' the baby eagles????? SO precious... I was scared to death yesterday when one of them somehow got out of the nest... I thought he/she was going to fall off....

Home from vacation, and trying to catch up some...
Hugs,
Betsy

nanny said...

Uh Oh....that got your attention, uh?
Can you believe this wind?

George said...

I remember 'a little dab will do you' very well, although I was fortunate not to try to use it as toothpaste.
Thanks for sharing this trip down memory lane.

rhymeswithplague said...

You made me laugh today!

Your house sounded like our house, except my Dad was never persuaded to put in the pump, and our kitchen didn't have a sink. It had two basins, one for washing and one for rinsing, and when the dishes were done we opened the screen door and through the water in the back yard.

Can anyone say "number 2 tin tub"? Or maybe it was number 3....

I remember Brylcreem, too, which I used until I got a flattop and switched to Butch Wax.

Arkansas Patti said...

How funny. An experience like that would make you start brushing in the front. Easier to detect a wrong tube quicker.
Funny how living like that seems so difficult these days but was just normal when we did it. We really have gotten spoiled.

Hilary said...

Too funny.. I remember that jingle so well. A little dab'll do ya for sure.

I had the unfortunate absentmindedness to squeeze a droplet of contact lens cleaner into my lens before popping it into my eye.. instead of the usual, non-burning wetting solution. Those darn switcheroos.

Pat - Arkansas said...

rhymeswithplague Oh, yes! I remember the washtubs very well. It took a lot heating of water and trips to fill and then empty the tub to get four kids bathed and their hair washed. I am SO thankful for "inside plumbing."

Oregon Gifts of Comfort and Joy said...

Hi Pat, that is so funny! Kind of gross, with the hairs and everything though. I've heard of people saying that they mistook Nair for hair mousse and went bald for awhile with their switch-a-roo mishap, but I don't know if that is an urban legend or not.

I loved your little video! Georgie Porgy wasn't having too much luck until he discovered Brylcream, was he?

Have a wonderful day,

Kathy M.

Elizabeth said...

Like you and Bob, the home I grew up in was similarly labour intensive, though we never had a well and all water had to be brought onto the farmstead, begged from whoever we were visiting.We never got the sink or the electricity and mum still had an outside loo when she died at 93. My brother used to use a jar of Brylcreem and used to nail the lid to the underside of the table...why? No idea!! x

Rose said...

hahaha....sounds like something I would have done...

Jinksy said...

LOL! A friend of mine once sprayed her hair with polish, in mistake for hairspray! It didn't make her hair any more shiny, though... :)