2026, animals, History, home, pets, Stories, Uncategorized

All Fluffed Up

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Today we brought our pups to Brandon. SD to be groomed. Our Cesky Terriers have a very specific hair cut, leaving them with a shaved back, tail, head, and ears, with a fluffy beard, eyebrows, chest, and ballerina skirt on their front and sides

Their longer fur is very curly and prone to matting. Last night I noticed lots of mats on Mitzi’s legs, so I grabbed my bottle of corn starch and the grooming comb I got from the breeder. The cornstarch really helps with detangling. I was able to get most of the mats out, so I hope today’s grooming won’t be so traumatic for her. She was so good and patient during my combing. The only problem with squirting the dog with cornstarch is that you can’t let them get wet afterwards.

My first haircuts were by Kay Aanenson, a rather flamboyantly gay barber on Luverne’s main street. I don’t remember this, but I was told that I cried the whole time, and Kay just stuffed chewing gum in my mouth to keep me quiet. Kay was a noted dancer of the Charleston, worked as a dancer on Atlantic cruise ships in the 1920’s and 1930’s, and wore very gaudy, colorful suits to our Lutheran church. He came to church every Sunday until he passed. I remember those suits.

I really need to brush out our dogs on a more regular basis. Mitzi loves to plunge in the water feature in our backyard, and I think that leads to more matting. I need to invest in more cornstarch.

Where was your first haircut? Have you had dogs who needed grooming? What is your favorite production of Anything Goes?

38 thoughts on “All Fluffed Up”

  2. I was born in Inglewood, California (a suburb of Los Angeles) in 1951, and, until age 7, lived in South Central LA, a short walk from the intersection of Florence and Normandie ( a central location in the 1992 riots). I recall being taken to a barber shop on Florence Avenue, very near Normandie, for haircuts. One day when I was 6 or 7, I was sent to the barber by myself. Of course, I didn’t want to go alone. It wasn’t crossing the street or having my hair cut, it was that I didn’t know what to say to the barber. I was told to ask for “a regular boy’s haircut,” and sent off with coins in my hand. Since then, I remember the phrase whenever haircut time looms ahead.

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  3. Anything Goes was my thesis show at Madison, so I’ve always had a soft spot for it.

    I do remember getting a pixie cut as a child and for some reason my parents thought it merited a special portrait (not a school picture). I loved the dress I was wearing, but how I loathed that cut!

    Never had hair that short again and agreed to sleeping in curlers so I wouldn’t have to! I have a lot of hair, so it was an ordeal.

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  4. My first haircut was from the only barber in Hills, Dave’s on main street. Dave was a crabby, old codger who probably didn’t like kids. No “regular boys hair cut” from him. You only got Dave’s haircut and be happy about it. 25¢ got a kid a stupid buzz cut from a non-smiling, gruff old man. And yet, the place would be full of older men who didn’t come for a haircut but for the gossip.
    We had a Cocker spaniel Gracie, who needed to be groomed. We had a lady in a big van with all her grooming supplies inside. It was called ‘Wag-on wheels’. If Gracie heard her voice before we could catch her she would run for her life.
    I only saw the play Anything Goes at Carlton college when my cousin’s daughter was the lead. The show was wonderful and Amy was terrific.
    Paul

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  5. My mother cut my sister’s and my hair when we were little. She had neither the skills, the proper tools, nor the patience to do a decent job. It didn’t help that my strawberry blonde hair was thin and fine, making any “mistakes” obvious for all to see. Despite this, I have no recollection of bad haircuts being the source of any teasing. I suspect that most of my playmates in those early post-war (WWII) years sported similar haircuts.

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    1. My experience with haircuts in the 60’s was similar. From the pictures I have of classmates in those elementary school years suggest that many parents were doing home haircuts. The girls had those straight-across short bangs.

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  6. I’m sure Mom must have cut our hair for a while, and I don’t remember my fist haircut away from home. What I do remember is getting the Toni home perms – for those of us with the stick-straight hair! Seemed to take hours, and that smell! And then you were ultra-curly for a few weeks before things settled down.

    I even had a Toni doll that came with the little curlers and everything… I still have the doll, wondering if I could sell it on eBay of something. (tim?)

    I’m not sure I’ve ever seen either of the movies, and I unfortunately missed the Guthrie production in 19__?

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  8. I had a lot of big thick curly hair when I was a kid. Probably into my 20s anyway. Mom would cut my hair a lot but I think even she didn’t know how to manage it eventually. I had a string of different people that cut my hair and I remember one person saying “you have a lot of hair!”
    Later on, maybe in my 30s, I went to an old-fashioned barbershop in Rochester because I wanted to do a flat top. At that point he told me I didn’t really have enough hair for that but he’d do what he could. It looked all right.
    He was probably in his 80s and he had to use two hands to hold the clippers. One arm supported the other arm. The last time I was there he was starting to shake pretty bad and he closed shortly after. I suppose you don’t really want a Barber whose hands are shaking…

    It’s funny, there was a gay hairstylist in Rochester too, I’m sure there were several, but the first one I knew did hair and wigs for the plays.
    When a director wanted my hair to have a tinge of red for a show, he gave me a dye job that I looked like Bozo the Clown for about a week…

    Our dog Bailey has such a thick coat we trim her hair in the spring. And she loves to be brushed.
    I didn’t know about cornstarch getting the curls out. For how long can’t they get wet? I might try that on her but she is always walking through water somewhere

    I have no thoughts on the show ‘anything goes’

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  9. I’m not familiar with the musical Anything Goes, though I know several songs from it. I would not have been able to tell you where they were from until I looked it up this morning.

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  12. I assume the song “Anything Goes” comes from the musical. If it does, that’s all I know about it.

    When I was a kid I used to dread going to the barber. They would always ask me sports questions and I didn’t know anything about sports. Still don’t. It was uncomfortable. Now there are barbershops that style themselves sports barbers. Needless to say, they wouldn’t get my business.

    During Covid, going to a barber seemed unnecessarily risky so I got a clipper and had Robin cut my hair. She does such a satisfactory job I’ve never been back to a barber.

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  14. A disconcerting haircut in 1969 was the first time a barber used shaving cream and a straight razor around my ears and back of the neck.
    As to the shave and a haircut, two bits, the Bo Diddly rhythm and sound perfects it.

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  15. I’ve never liked sitting in a chair and having my hair cut. It’s awkward, and I usually sit there and wonder if I’ll hate the look they’ve given me. The stylists mean well, but their repertoire of questions to ask to get a conversation going is always the same. “Do you have any kids?” Or, “Any big plans for the weekend?” Ugh.

    I’m really not sure who gave me my first haircut. I mean, I think I was pretty young. My mom might have taken a scissors to it once or twice herself, but she was no stylist. She insisted on a pixie cut. I had very short hair and big glasses – quite nerdy looking. I always wanted long hair. It was the 60s! All the girls had long, straight hair, parted in the middle. My hair wasn’t straight, and never will be. Style is rough on girls. Once I was old enough to wash and comb out my hair on my own, I was allowed to grow it.

    I’ve had mostly non-shedding breeds of dogs. Maggie is non-shedding too. I brush her every day. I’ve noticed a few tiny mats on her tummy when I leave her harness on too long. I bring her up on my lap where she can lie on her back. I rub her tummy which calms her, then I just work the mats out with my fingers. I like the cornstarch idea, but how do you get it out of their fur so that they can get wet again?

    Maggie is at the groomer today. She’s going to get a short summer haircut. I had a dermatologist appointment and now I’m covered with bandaids. Five shaved biopsies and two keratoses frozen off… a biopsy on my nose and one on the front of my throat. I look like I’ve been in a fight.

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    1. I try to rub as much cornstarch out as I can after I am done. I also think giving a soapy bath after most of the cornstarch is out would work.

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