Behold, the Bangs.
Posted on October 15, 2009
Filed Under Daily, Little Sabreen | 24 Comments
As a child, I grew up idolizing my mom’s sense of style — from her wardrobe, and accessories, to how she did her makeup, and even the way she styled her hair. I used to stand on my knees on top of the hamper right next to her vanity, and watch her get ready. I learned how to braid my own hair by watching her, and she was the one who taught me that you’re supposed to apply lip liner after you apply lipstick way before I ever knew who Bobbi Brown or Carmindy were.
My mom was my style icon, and because style is all-encompassing, her bangs were also a focal point for me. She’d section the hair off into tiny portions, the way you divide a chocolate bar evenly among children. She’d wrap small bundles of hair around the half-inch barrel of the curling iron, and then gently brush the curls together, making sure they blended evenly to form the perfect Bang. Then, with a giant can of Rave, or sometimes Jhirmack hairspray in one hand, she’d squeeze the mouth of the bottle with one finger, gliding her hand from side to side in a sweeping motion, while the other hand covered her forehead.
I wanted so badly to copy that hairstyle as a kid, but since my sister and I weren’t allowed to use curling irons or hairspray at such a young age, there was little I could do except for wait for one of two very special occasions during the year: Eid, or Picture Day.
Enter Picture Day, 1992.
After I got dressed, I went into my mom’s room where the curling iron was already on. I faced her, and closed my eyes. My girlish bangs that normally fell onto my forehead were being swept toward the sky hair by hair, and as the heat from the iron warmed my hairline, the excitement was building inside.
Next came the brush.
I knew the routine well.
I reached for the can of hairspray and handed it to my mom. She put her hand over my forehead, I covered the rest of my face, and held my breath.
I could feel the tiny specs of hairspray fall onto my finger tips.
“Okay, I’m done,” my mom said.
I turned to see myself in the mirror.
Perfect, I thought to myself, and headed to school for Picture Day.
This is my yearbook picture from fourth grade.
I’m 9 years old.
I’m missing teeth, and wearing an olive green-colored hair scrunchy.
This was the ’90s, and that scrunchy was only the beginning of a decade of interesting fashion statements. In addition to my turtleneck-sweater combo (that specific one was one of my faves as a kid) I also wore stirrup pants with long sweaters, I pegged my jeans, rolled my socks, tucked in my shirts, and rocked the heck outta some high-top Chucks.
Ahh, those were the days.
The days when all you needed to know where the 23 Be verbs, and you were on your way to success…and recess.
AM, IS, ARE, WAS, WERE, BE, BEING, BEEN, HAVE, HAS, HAD, MAY, MIGHT, CAN, COULD, WOULD, MUST, WILL, SHALL, WOULD, SHOULD, DO, DID, DOES.
Yup, still got ‘em down pat.
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24 Responses to “Behold, the Bangs.”
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I wish there was a like button, like in facebook
This post deserves a ‘like!’ … wait let me rephrase, that picture deserved a ‘like’ :p you were a total fashionista at that age, i on the other hand have only pictures from those years that need to be burned and shown to children on Halloween.
ok there not that bad. but its still bad.
what the flip are the “23 Be verbs”? I mean i can see them so I obviously know what they are, but was that like, a ‘thing’ you learn in elementary school? silly americans.
I’m 45, we were in sixth grade when we had to memorize those verbs – in the mid-70s. The order was a little different, we didn’t count how many there were, but I still remember them: am is are was were be (being?) been have has had do does did done may can must might would could should shall will… Hmm. First of all, I missed out ‘have has had’ until after counting them and coming up with a few missing. Secondly, there was always the question of whether or not to include ‘being’.
But even then, we were fortunate. I have heard of kids having to memorize the states and their capitals! I mean, sure, I can probably list all the states – not necessarily in alphabetical order – but honestly I don’t know if I know all of their capitals
I also remember programs for assembly which involved memorizing and singing such texts as ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, that among these rights are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, as well as texts from the Psalms.
By the time we got to high school though, the atmosphere had gotten much more charged and when our French teacher wanted us to sing French Christmas carols at assembly, one of the students’ parents complained: we’re Jewish, we don’t think this is appropriate. And the teacher said, ‘Guess what? This is just French culture – I am Jewish too!’ And indeed – the woman was at least observant enough to take off work for Jewish holidays.
When I got to twelfth grade, a friend and I even used to sub for her in the seventh-grade classes. I remember one time the ‘official’ sub, who oddly didn’t even know French, showed up, saw that Peter and I had things under control, and promptly disappeared to have a cup of coffee.
We ended up getting through the material so quickly that we accidentally did their homework during class. So we looked at the lesson plan, announced our error and told the kids, ‘Just write up neatly what we just did and hand it in to Madame G tomorrow!’ She was more than satisfied with their preparation when she returned…
But Madame G was probably Reformed. The family in question were so conservative that when it came time for the girl’s bat mitzvah, she didn’t have a party. She just invited kids from school to the religious ceremony – to witness her reading the Scriptures publicly in the traditional manner for the first time. More or less traditional – if they’d been really Orthodox, she wouldn’t have been doing that in mixed company.
Another thing about Mme G: she was American, but her French was truly excellent. She recounted to us hair-raising tales of studying abroad in France and getting stopped on the street and carded by the police. This was back in the days of unrest in the North African colonies. But being American, she didn’t take seriously the necessity of having her documents on her at all times. And so she ended up getting arrested as a supposedly undocumented alien. Due to her appearance and her facility with the language, see, they were sure she was really Algerian. Somehow, though, she managed to convince them to let her return to her accommodation and get her documents to show them…
By the time we got to twelfth grade, the atmosphere had gotten so unpleasant at school that although we studied two books of the Bible every year in English – just for literary purposes – our devoutly Catholic English teacher lamented that he felt unable to speak freely during class about the text. He expressed the hope that if something did slip out, that no one would run home and complain to Mommy and Daddy about it…
Gee… I ought to write a novel myself
Sabrina, the picture link doesn’t work.
But otherwise, what a lovely story!
We don’t have states in Finland for school kids to memorize, but of course my teachers didn’t give us the easy way out on geography lessons. We had to memorize the countries and their capitals on each continent! And then we had a test with the maps of the continents and the borderlines of the countries and on the countries we had to write their names and capitals. Oh, those golden days of elementary school…
Oh, cute picture, by the way!
I, on the other hand, looked like Peter Pan in a red velvet dress on my school pictures. When I entered 3rd grade as a new pupil in a new school in my boy-cut blond hair, my fellow pupils actually thought at first that I was a boy. One of the pupils (nowadays my BFF) even had a boy name ready for me.
Lovely post mashaAllah
Really cute story from your childhood! I donned the big jumper and scrunchie thing to, a real 90’s kid thing! Hah!
Haha oh my I remember those scrunchies too. They would sit on your head like a tower.
I think I started experimenting with make up first rather than hair. The first thing I ever used was eye shadow after watching my mom or my sisters apply it – can’t remember
Lil Sabreen is so adorable, missing teeth or not!!!
Hahah precious! You totally still beam like that by the way. I’m liking the olive green & purple- new color combo for Fall 2009! Any why do you say scrunchie like it’s a bad thing? I STILL rock those under my hijab
(the covered elastic doesn’t get tangled up in my hair like a regular hair tie after 10 hours in a bun)
Bahhaha.
We had to learn a song in 3rd grade that went to the same tune as Jingle Bells but those verbs were sung instead of the verses.
I mean looking back it made total sense at the time, but now i’m not certain.
Scrunchies and Stirrup Pants 4 LIFE!
I never learned the names of all the states, much less the capitals! In fact, when I went to a new school in tenth grade, and the teacher asked us to write down the names of all 50 states, I missed more than a quarter of them. Luckily, those other kids must’ve forgotten stuff, too, because I wasn’t the only one who scored terribly there.
Love this post! And I also really enjoyed reading your comment, carboska, about that French teacher. Do you have your own blog?
“The days when all you needed to know where the 23 Be verbs, and you were on your way to success…and recess.”
Ah, I miss those days … especially this semester, with all the stuff I have to know for organic chem.
Jhirmack bounce back beautiful hair!
Now I’m reveling in neon colors, splash paint pants and tv jingles.
Louli, Muahahahah my folks are organic chemists! (Retired, but nonetheless
). No, don’t have a blog, but everyone is saying I should start one. Just don’t quite have a concept yet. No doubt it is just a matter of time. I promise I’ll post an invitation to join the party when it gets launched 
How adorableeeeee!
Scrunchies were so cool back then, i havent used them in so long!
sad I sat here and counted out the 23 Be verbs to make sure you had 23 ’cause I couldnt believe there were 23, LOL
I wish I had a cute grade school picture!! First grade had to be the least bad for me… but people as the years went by it was too painful to look!! But as for yours LOVE IT!!! Very cute!
Adorable!
Really cute picture of young-you. I noticed 2 things you don’t have a mole in the picture and your eyes look dark brown whereas they look green now — sooo… gotta ask – is the mole drawn in and do you wear colored contacts? Curiosity
Hi Emily. I’ve always had that little freckle on my face, except I’ve also always had really deep laugh lines. When I smile it “disappears,” which is probably why you can’t see it in the picture. I still have brown eyes, maybe sometimes they look green in the light? No contacts here, although if you were to see my baby pictures (ages 1-3) I had dirty blonde hair, super fair skin, and really light eyes, which only furthers my belief that I was abducted by aliens at various points throughout my childhood.
hahaha^. I was wondering the same thing about the eyes! very cute pic by the way!
Ah yes, those were definitely the days! I don’t remember that specific pic, but I def remember the hair
haha u were such a gorgeous lil girl mashAllah,so very feminine ;-thanks for sharing!