A Tight Perm


 " Pay particular attention to the details of your work. 

Paying attention to detail makes for the personal touch...it is thoughtful and  it is kind"

This was a particular manra of my tutor Mr Brint , back in my psychiatric days
I remember it well as in one lession we had, the class was taught how to put ladies hair rollers in! 
The ladies were a group of "patient volunteers" from the long stay ward and Mr Brint and a tired looking Occupational therapist were showing us all how to shampoo and set!
Hair and make up are vital for good self esteem" Mr Brint trilled " Everyone can be made to feel beautiful " 
He looked over at me as I manfully tried to roll my patient's grey locks around a roller which resembled a hairy caterpillar 
" And how is your lady looking Nurse Gray?" he purred 
I looked at my lady's head thick with haphazard looking rollers 
" She looks like a German mine!" I told him honestly 
His heart was always in the right place 

Speaking of tutors, my out standing essay was finally second marked yesterday
I’m averaging a B for last year’s academic work which is bloody good going, given that I’m a definite bit of a plodder.
Hey ho

52 comments:

  1. Ha-ha! A German mine! Don't you mean a coal mine? Well, the pithead anyway!

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  2. Brilliant, say what you see. 😄

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    1. Make up and hair care isn’t a high priority in my home

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  3. Thanks for the image and the giggle. I remember those spiky rollers. I used to try sleeping in them, expecting lovely curls when I woke up. Trouble was, a) I couldn't sleep, they were too uncomfortable and b) any curls I managed to create dropped out after about half an hour. I soon gave up and accepted my hair as it is! xx

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    1. Well done on the B grade. B for bloody great! xx

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  4. Oh I remember those days of the shampoo and set .. back when I had a schoolgirl Saturday job in the local hairdressers.

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    1. Smelling of strange lotions and gossip

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  5. I can assure you that trying to sleep in those rollers is like lying with your head in a nest of hedgehogs. And the ensuing 'curls' were a mixture of signals pointing every which way - that's if you had any hair left after trying to untangle it from those spiky hedgehogs. Absolute torture!

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    1. Ana Dunk5:09 pm

      Vanity - thy name is woman!" quote Shakespeare.
      I would lay my head with my ear on top of my folded fist to keep the weight off my curlers. I had naturally curly hair to start with, but it wasn't the right KIND of curls!

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    2. It’s all Dutch to me lol

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  6. I remember those days of trying to sleep with those spiky rollers in my hair. So painful!! Now I keep my hair short and cut it myself so no more rollers needed!

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    1. As I recall I could not use pins , as the patient tried to swallow them

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    2. Anonymous10:34 pm

      Pins? As in stab the pin in the head to keep the roller fixed? I've never heard of pins being used.

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  7. Anonymous4:10 pm

    You should have paid more attention to your tutor, you're not always kind..

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    1. And your statement is kind because ..........?

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    2. No but I try to be , something u obviously don’t do

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    3. Anonymous10:36 pm

      The comment wasn't to you veg artist. Mind your own business. You have no idea of what context Anon was referring to.

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  8. Barbara Anne4:11 pm

    Love the story and your apt analogy! I, too, and glad to be rid of those hair rollers.
    Your B average is most excellent as you bravely went back to school not so long ago. Shoulders back!

    Hugs!

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  9. You paint such vivid pictures with words. Thanks for the chuckle.
    Well done on your B average... you've got this!

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  10. Mr Brint was wise indeed...what a lovely mantra to live by. x

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    1. He was before his time , a conscientious objector during the war too

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    2. Anonymous10:37 pm

      Weren't conscientious objectors shot?

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    3. Not before the war, they were subscriped into psychiatric hospitals as staff

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    4. Anonymous2:14 pm

      No you're wrong. Conscientious objectors were put in prison.

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    5. No , I’m right as you are ( in part) some were imprisoned but most were conscripted into the medical corps or in psychiatric hospital staff

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  11. Anonymous6:28 pm

    Only a B HOW disappointed you must be?

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    1. lol , you obviously don’t know me.
      I was cock a hoop at my B average. I am not used to academic rigour , and I have always been a plodder academically .
      I’m pleased as punch

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  12. Good work, a very respectable eval/ grade. Are you pleased, that's what counts.

    I remember the hair rollers lesson, you have mentioned it before. I bet that is no longer taught or expected! Here a patient is lucky to be tossed a baby wipe once a week.

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    1. Oh just saw your answer, above. Again, great work!

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  13. Congratulations on your grades, if not your perm. :)

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    1. Thank goodness I never had one in the 70s

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  14. Another wonderful picture painted with your words, and memories of the tiny details, John! I well remember those silly curlers, and back in the day had plenty of them tangled in my own hair! I think they came with pink sticks to set them in place. Bravo on the B!

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    1. We had to cope sans pins, the risk assessment

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  15. Congratulations on the B! I would have been thrilled with that. Academia was never my thing, but I sure could dance. :)

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  16. A B average is something to be proud of and that's all there is to it.

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  17. Anonymous9:09 pm

    I was always thrilled with a pass. I would be very pleased with a B. I never liked school, but kept going because my parents insisted. I learned more from travel and reading than from school.. I had wash and wear hair, some days it looked better than others. I never gave a rats ass what other people thought. You are very smart and brave to take on a new career and you will be so good at it.. gigi

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  18. Anonymous9:50 pm

    When my mom’s hands got too arthritic to put her hair rollers in by herself, my dad learned to do it for her! That showed true love, in my opinion! Congratulations on your B grade, that’s excellent! -R in NY

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    1. Anonymous10:07 pm

      Ps- my husband started studying to become a nurse at age 57- and he’s still working as a visiting nurse, at aged 71!

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  19. Congratulations on the B average, well done!-Mary

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  20. Congratulations! It must be a bit of a relief to see these obstacles between now and your future toppling one by one. Well done you!

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  21. You are going to be a brilliant therapist.

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  22. I am still grinning. I liked this post a lot!

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  23. Maintaining a B average while still working and managing your household is impressive. Well done.

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