Sunday 2 June 2013

Pick your precious

I was trying to figure out what to pick for my precious this month and then when I was writing the post for Cate's Baby Shower, I suddenly knew what to choose.  I'm sure everyone knows that this is part of the monthly project organised by Sian, but just in case - pop over here and see who else is taking part!





This is a silver locket that used to be in my mum's jewellery box.  I never saw her wear it, and there is no chain attached but it was something that I loved to look at when I was little and was allowed to rummage through her jewellery.


In it you will see a photo of little Deb and little Gillian.  There's also a lock of hair.   Now, I don't know whose hair it is or why there is only one person's curl but the detective in me has looked at the evidence and has come to the conclusion that it's my sister's.  You see my hair was as straight as the proverbial poker, hers had a slight curl at the ends.  At that age my hair was horrible  ginger and my sister's was brown and clearly mine isn't the sample found in the locket.  I wonder if somewhere along the line, my lock of hair got lost or if an inquisitive young girl may have removed the evidence of just how ginger she was.
You see my mum would always tell me that I had lovely coloured hair (well she would, wouldn't she? a) she was my mum and b) she had the same colour!  But I just wanted to be the same as everyone else.  I didn't want people commenting on how lovely it shone in the sunshine or how glossy it was.  I wanted to be mousey brown.  She told me that as years went by, it would change and darken and she was right.  By the time I was a teenager it was what you call auburn.  I still wanted to colour it.  But my mum told me (and I think she was stretching the truth somewhat) that ginger hair did not take hair dye well and it may end up orange.  Orange?!  I didn't want to risk that so I kept my auburn hair and as I matured I grew into liking being different to everyone else.  So what did mother nature do to get her own back on me for moaning about it for years on end?  Just as I grew proud of it, she started to turn some of those auburn hairs grey.  I shouldn't have complained should I?  Thank goodness for highlights!

23 comments:

Lou said...

My sister always said she was "strawberry blond". Not sure who she was trying to kid lol!! I have always loved red hair!

A great story and I like your theory on removing the evidence. A lovely precious keepsake locket! xx

Unknown said...

I always wanted auburn hair and so when I was about 13 my mom let me get it dyed from blonde to auburn. But something went wrong and it turned ORANGE! So maybe some part of what your mom said was right :-) I did not like it being orange but I was stuck with it for a while LOL

Jo said...

A great post and a lovely precious.

Kirsty.A said...

we always want what we don't have. I'm willing to bet Gillian spent her teenage years trying to straighten out that curl!

Sian said...

How lovely this is! Auburn is my favourite kind..it reminds me of my beloved Grandma who kept most of the colour until she died in her 90's. My brother and sister are both sandy, strawberry blonde, ginger, call it what you will, and mine is a bit browner - and chemically enhanced to an auburn because it suits me better that way!

Jane said...

I've always wanted to have auburn hair.

jeanie g said...

I had auburn hair too. Now its just white which my daughter insists is fashionable.

That little locket is so precious.

Unknown said...

Auburn hair is gorgeous, a friend from school has it and it still looks stunning now. Great story, I really enjoyed it.

scrappyjacky said...

I doubt there are many women who are happy with their hair!!

Sheena said...

As a "strawberry Blond" myself I can totally relate & I've grown happy with my colour over the years & would rather keep it in favour of the grey thats now appearing!!
many thanks for sharing x

Missus Wookie said...

I had brightly coloured hair as a child too, it faded to Strawberry Blond and then more blond.

What a pretty locket and photos too :)

Melissa said...

What a great locket & a wonderful story about the one lock of hair! When I was little, everyone in my family had brown hair . . . except me, blond as could be. I hated it and thought I was ugly until I went to Kindergarten & had the most beautiful blond haired teacher. I knew then everything would be ok, even if I was different! LOL

Anonymous said...

I love ginger hair and for a while Gracia was dark auburn and I so wanted her hair to stay that colour.

Susanne said...

Oh I can so relate to tales of girl's and their worries over their hair - be it cut or color, or whatever. Enjoyed your story.

Jen said...

Oh that locket is beautiful - - I wonder why we always want to have a different colour hair to that we are born with? My mum had auburn hair - which is now pure white - and I always wanted to have the same colour - but was a nondescript mousy brown. It has faded over the years and is much lighter now - and now I do all I can to help it along!!!! Thanks for sharing. J x

Deb @ PaperTurtle said...

Such a beautiful locket and fun story to go along with it. Funny, I think that no matter what the color or texture, no woman is ever totally happy with the hair they were born with. And as far as the gray? Join the club, my friend!

ComfyMom~Stacey said...

my hair was auburn when I was young. It's mousy brown with red gold highlights now.
And grey. Plenty of grey.

dogmatix said...

I decided to try going blonde when I was at uni...I am naturally dark brown/black ....and to say it was a disaster is an understatement lol. I don't mess with it now as I definitely consider it my best feature :-)
I love that there is a lock of hair in the locket :-)

Maria Ontiveros said...

What a treasure!
Rinda

Alison said...

Lovely story Deb...and hooray for chemicals!
Alison xx

Becky said...

A lovely locket Deb and a super story to go with it :)

Anonymous said...

Your locket is a treasure for sure. I'm glad you've accepted your hair color--it's probably as much "you" as anything else.

As for me--I'm OK with my color (dark brown, now streaked with lots of gray), but I would love curls instead of the stick-straight, baby fine hair that I struggle with each day.

Fiona@staring at the sea said...

What a beautiful locket :o) Reading about your hair woes has reminded me of Anne of Green Gables and how much she wanted people to say that her hair was auburn!