Saturday, February 27, 2010

How come?

While we are walking down memory lane and as I look thru old pics...
I wonder,
How come we had to wear bathing caps?
It was explained to me by my Grandpa that it was to keep long hair from clogging up the filters of pools.
But in the top pic you can see my mother wearing one in a...lake.
And you know what?
We're talking the late 60's early 70's here. Many, many boys and men had long hair.
In fact, I seem to remember a perfectly, ghastly pixie cut my mother gave me that was far shorter than any guy's haircut.
So how come we had to wear them?
And then...
How come everyone stopped wearing them?
Did the filters in the pools get better?
And, we also ( being Catholic) always had to wear a hat or veil to church. On Easter we really jazzed it up, obvs.
My mother was twenty-five years-old in this pic...
Hats can age you I guess.
How come we didn't have to wear hats or veils to church any more?

I know the answer to that one!

Styles were changing in the late 1960's/early 1970's and the fact that women covering their head at church was not mentioned by the Vatican II... well little by little the practice lapsed.
Thank goodness because I could never find a bobby pin to keep my veil on!

4 comments:

OHN said...

You are killing me with these memories and questions!! I remember trying to come up with other things other than a bobby pin to hold on my veil...my hair was so thin and silky nothing worked.

Also the caps....this made me laugh out loud at the memory of my first protest. I was about 8, or maybe 10, was waaayyy too cool to wear a rubber bathing cap, so using the same argument as you (boys hair was MUCH longer than mine), I wrote my first petition to allow women to go without them in our complex's pool. The board of directors thought I was "cute" but didn't budge for YEARS.

Formerly known as Frau said...

When we were in Southern Germany there were women wearing lace like veils before entering the Catholic church. Now days it is thought to be rude to wear a hat indoors. Bathing cap Katelyn used to wear for swim meets but I think it was for speed not filter problems. Love the pictures did you steal them when you were home?

Susan said...

Great memories...I remember hearing the hair in the filter nonsense too... and some really hideous looking bathing caps that hurt so badly to put on! Remember we were not allowed to swim for 30 minutes after we ate, incase we got a "cramp"? I think our folks needed a legitimate sounding "time out" and it was a rule we would not break!
Gene had to wear one for swim meets, that and the Speedo did him in... Love these AND the adorable Easter outfits, little white gloves every Easter!

Joyce said...

Very good questions. Another that I always wonder is hair nets for kitchen help. Maybe their hair doesn't fall out anymore. Great photos. xo