Scarf on Head

      I recently found a picture of my roommate and great friend, Jeri, and myself  that was taken in 1976. Or maybe 1977.  We were either at the beach or we had just come home. Our faces were  peeling and we looked quite ugly. So, what do you do when you are looking ugly?  Of course, you put “scarf on head” and head to the mall. We headed right to the photo booth to capture our beauty for all to see. We looked like lepers. I bet neither of us knew that 30+ years later, one of us would be posting our mugs on facebook.

     The “scarf on head” look was very popular on our college campus during the 1970′s. I’m pretty sure that it was like that everywhere. We didn’t wear silky scarves. That would have been silly. And we didn’t tie them in front like a babushka. That was saved for Russian women and Queen Elizabeth.

a British babushka

  No, we wore hankerchief scarves.  We had one of every color known to man, because we wore them all of the time.  We used the phrase, “scarf on head,” in our daily conversations. “Wanna go to the mall?” …..”Sure, I’m scarf on head, though.”

 We wore scarf on head for one reason and one reason only. We were lazy. And sometimes hungover. We would go out in our small college town several times a week. We really only had two bars to frequent: The Pub and the Cabaret. We never went out at night in our scarves. We were looking good in our painter pants and our Earth shoes. We needed “pretty hair” for our nights out. But, in the morning, when class was calling and we slept in until the last possible moment, the only thing you could do was wear “scarf on head.” 

    I remember one time when we defiantly wore “scarf on head.”  We were in Sigma Sigma Sigma, a sorority on campus and we had meetings about every Sunday evening. One evening, we found out that the president of the sorority at the time, who was not fond of  most of us, scheduled a portrait sitting and neglected to tell us. I guess she wanted us to show up looking rough around the edges, while she and her three bff’s wore dresses and looked divine for the picture. Someone tipped us off, so about 8 of us showed up with “scarf on head.”  We knew princess would never let the picture be taken unless we were going to stomp grapes or something, but not for a yearbook and framed photograph. The scarfies won.

  

     I miss the days when I could get up, brush my teeth, throw scarf on head and go to class. And then take your shower when you got back from class. What dirt balls we were. I sometimes can not believe that I ever practiced that, because if I don’t take my shower by 9:00a.m., I fell like my skin is crawling. But, hey,it was the 70′s. And that, seriously, is all we have to say.

“It was the 70′s.”  A little phrase that has so many meanings. It was a great time.

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