Yes… less dyed hair, and lots of eyeglasses since fewer contacts too (and no lasik surgery).
But… also I feel like whenever I see an old (1960s/1970s) photo with 60-something people, it reminds me of my grandparents …. who to me at the time seemed ancient. So they definitely look old.
LOL - thinking about how black and white photos play into it. When our daughter was little, she often asked us to put “history” shows on. Eventually we realized she just wanted Oldies shows…. like “I Love Lucy” and “Bewitched” (black and white in its early years).
As I remember, our curler torture was just one day a week on Saturday, and my mom would have us lie on the kitchen counter where she’d wash our hair in the sink and then put it up in curlers. Then we’d have to wear them all day since we had long hair and it took a long time for our hair to dry. Then we’d wear these little house on the prairie hair nets to bed to try to preserve the curls.
When my girls were little, I’d curl their hair with a curling iron every day before I took them to day care/school to carry on the tradition although they went through a phase in middle school where they looked liked minimally decomposed zombies because they “didn’t need my help anymore.” They regret that apparently as they cringe whenever they see any of their middle school pics! One won’t even look at hers, lol.
My mother pulled the ironing board up to the kitchen sink, laid me on it, and washed my hair on Saturdays. I definitely wore the brush curlers, too, with the pink plastic picks that dug into your scalp; if they felt comfortable, they weren’t in securely enough. But the brush curlers were for fancy ‘dos. We had a bonnet dryer, and I had to wear that thing until my scalp was well done. As my mom always said, “It takes pains to be beautiful.” The curling iron saved my life.
I’ve got two bugs in my driveway and about 5 buses across the street. My brother collects (and drives) them. They aren’t shiny like this one but one is white.
Yep. I don’t think it’s just hair dye. I was watching Barefoot in the Park the other day. Jane Fonda is just remarkably timeless. She could literally wear most of her clothes today and you wouldn’t think she looked out of place. Her mother in the movie, however, is supposed to be in her mid 50’s but youd peg her as 75+ based on today’s look.
All this talk about curlers reminded me…
I had very curly/wavy hair, and when I was a young teen I would use orange juice cans or those BIG pink curlers to try and get my hair straight.
Hopefully there are no pictures of me like that floating around :).
@1214mom : Same here, until I learned I could use my own head as one giant curler. Much more comfortable to sleep and actually achieved straight hair! (for a few hours at least). Tried ironing only a few times. Too awkward.
Most of my friends pulled their long hair up into a high pony tail and wrapped the hair around a single curler for easy sleeping. My hair was never long enough to do that, just shoulder length.
We did the long ponytail on top of the head with the giant roller. We didn’t use a hair elastic for the pony tail because it would leave a mark. Instead we used a knee sock with the ends tied.
It’s funny and nostalgic reading about everyone’s familiar furniture, cars, hair, cigarettes and drinks, etc…
Weirdly, my immediate thoughts about old photos were:
how many photos were out of focus or slightly blurry. There’s that slight haze on all old photos. They just look old.
how many photos are tilted or off center. Could none of us hold the camera steady?
how many shots were unusable. So many dull, boring snaps of a door, half of a person’s face, a sunset that just looks flat and one dimensional, a random shot of someone’s back, and so on. I still have an old box of photos and I am certain that at least 3/4 are terrible and useless. Digital tech is a boon for the amateur photographer! Thank goodness we don’t have to pay for film anymore.
Not only out of focus but also posed. Very few candids or fun shots of groups piled on top of each other. No selfie angles.
Two tiny little ants standing in front of a mountain, half hidden by a horse, waving from a boat a million miles away. Most of the pics of me have me holding my baby brother as the 3 ‘big kids’ were in the back row (I was third) and the 3 little boys in the front (he was third, so I held him). Heaven forbid we’d mix up the order every 5 years or so.
One won’t even look at hers, lol.
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