Friday, 29 August 2025

Enthusiasm

 

Enthusiasm

We can all get carried away from time to time. A university lecturer I knew a long time ago wanted to follow the trend for extremely curly hair, but didn’t want to have a perm. Somehow, he discovered that washing his hair in laundry powder – I believe it was ‘Persil’ – would create the same effect. I think he overdid it, because eventually his hair started falling out. He had to forego fashion to save his hair. It ruined his love life, too.

Another man of my husband’s acquaintance was taking part in the London Marathon many years ago. He was raising money for charity, as so many competitors do, and, in a moment of patriotic enthusiasm, had a union flag painted onto his hair.

All went well, the race was run, and then he attempted to wash out the colours. Unfortunately, he was unsuccessful. As the CEO of a serious organisation, he was expected to present a sober front at work. Nothing he tried worked, and in desperation he contacted his doctor. The doctor was unable to help, either, so perhaps the poor man had to call in sick for a while.

60 comments:

  1. Oh goodness me - people go to some extremes don't they. I well remember when I was younger & my friend who had very curly hair, sitting down low so her head was level with the ironing board & attempting to iron her curly hair with the iron on the board!!. This was well before the days of hair straighteners of course.

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    1. Ironing your hair sounds extreme and dangerous, though not unheard of. I had long, straight hair and was subjected to curling tongs!

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  2. They could have become a Buddhist monks and shaved their heads, or Sikhs and wrapped their heads in turbans. Silly ideas? No sillier than what they both did.

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    1. Quite so, but we were all young once . . . or younger!

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  3. It been ages since i ran, but I try to get in walk three times a week.

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  4. I still remember back in the late ’80s when I had my hair curled at a local salon in my city. I was a senior high school student at the time, if I’m not mistaken. It looked so cool until I later found out that it wasn’t allowed according to my religious beliefs.

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    1. Oh, dear, what a way to find out! I hope you weren't punished.

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  5. I don't think washing powder of any type will cause hair to curl. The painted hair man could have just had his regular colour painted over the red white and blue.

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    1. Well, the washing powder worked for the man I knew, but who knows what else he was doing!

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  6. I didn't realise men cared so intensively about hair curliness or decoration. As long as the men in my family had hair cuts every few months and didn't go bald, they were happy.

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  7. Short back and sides and a baseball cap was needed there. As a CEO he should have thought about the aftermath beforehand!

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    1. Yes, but being caught up in the moment can happen to anyone!

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  8. He could have worn a hat until the color grew out

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    1. Not a good look for important meetings - bad manners! 😟

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  9. Reminds me of the time when, as a teenager, I wanted to be a blonde. I bought a pack of cheap hair dye and tried it at home in the bathroom. Apart from ruining my mum's towels my hair turned bright orange. My school headmistress was most definitely not amused.

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    1. Bright orange is not a look many people can carry off!

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  10. My daughter at 14 dyed her own hair green in error, too many different colours, my hairdresser was able to correct it, but only after loads of chemicals, she eventually cut it all off as it was so brittle.

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    1. At a similar age, my middle daughter bleached her hair and then developed alopecia. I suggested to the doctor that the hair treatment might be to blame and she just laughed knowingly.

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  11. Such a violation of trust, yet heartening that the community recognised the culprits and rallied around the farm with support

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  12. Oh my, those are both cases of things that didn't go as planned. Wonder what the guy did about his patriotic hair.

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    1. I wonder how long it took to grow out the colour.

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  13. I didn't know that using laundry soap in my hair even if my hair was filthy dirty. That's just weird. And the end result was even weird it sounds like.

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    1. It's not a product I would use, though I gather carpet shampoo is acceptable. I don't think I'd try it, though.

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  14. The world’s #1 tennis player, Carlos Alcaraz, is currently shorn very closely because his brother made some mistakes while cutting his hair.

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  15. I've done lots of different things to my long suffering locks over the years but never washed it in Persil or gone super patriotic....... there are limits 😂
    Alison in Devon x

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  16. I suspect that attitudes towards hair have changed in the past few decades; if the man had told the complete story of the union flag he might very well have been celebrated. (Especially if he had brought in a large amount of money for charity.)

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  17. Union Jack Hair? Sounds pretty cool these days!

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  18. I could do with some enthusiasm.

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  19. The man with the union jack hair could have worn a beanie hat. Better still he could have just prefaced his meetings with an honest apology - explaining what had happened. This would have won him extra respect.

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  20. Replies
    1. Think hard before embarking on wild schemes.

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  21. I have never desired curlier hair than what I have and I certainly wouldn't use laundry soap on my head.
    As for the other guy ... he tried.

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    1. They both tried, in their different ways.

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  22. Oh yes...the crazy things we do from time to time. Funny thing...I've been trying a few things while fixing my hair each day (to decide my hairstyle for my grandsons upcoming big wedding event). I decided last evening to braid my hair in front to achieve a wavy look. When I woke up this morning and looked in the mirror, all I could do was laugh. This will not be the look I'll be wearing to the wedding...

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  23. I've done my fair share of crazy things in my time, but wouldn't go as far as washing my hair with laundry powder. Painting my hair in a crazy colour or pattern, though: been there, done that :-) xxx

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    1. These days there are lots of 'wash in. wash out' colours. Schools often have 'crazy hair' days.

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  24. this reminds me of the ONE time in my 80 years, about 15 years ago, I bought a bottle of dye that said it would only cover the gray hairs, not the brown hairs. it also said it will wash out if you don't like it
    I looked like I had a dark MINK on my head, I bought light brown, it was DARK. it would not wash out. it said the more you wash it the lighter it gets. I washed my hair 5 times in one day, still looked like a MINK on my head. last and first time I ever tried it.

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    1. That's so funny - not for you, of course.

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  25. We've all made bad hair decisions, lol.

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    1. 'It will grow out' takes on a different meaning . . .

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  26. Goodness! The things some folks will do!

    I can think of nothing worse than washing my hair using laundry powder!

    All the best Jan

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    1. I should think it would strip hair of all natural oils.

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  27. We do a lot of stupid things for beauty. in my youth, I remember people sleeping on rollers made from frozen orange juice cans I have no idea how anyone could’ve slept with those bumpy things on their head. Nor have I ever heard of anyone wash their hair and soap powder to get it curly.

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    1. Ordinary rollers were uncomfortable enough. Why did we bother? 😟

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  28. Couldn't he color his hairs ? Men do it too when they become grey !

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    1. I don't think there were so many choices then.

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  29. Those were definitely bad hair days for both individuals. Big on enthusiasm not so much on the practicalities later.

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