For Better or For Worse by Lynn Johnston for March 30, 2018

well, a stylist has to regain her energy whether it’s by a sandwich and coke or a yakisoba and a ramune after all that work

A few comments:

1. Bambi? Do all these hair stylists have stripper names? I wonder if Elly’s stylist’s name is Cherry or Tawny.

2. The way this is going, I think this was not actually an endorsement of Coke products.

3. It appears that sometime between Panel 2 and Panel 3, the hair stylist changed her shirt back to the one that bared her midriff, telling us readers that it took a really long time for Elly to get to the point where she would say, “Well…OK” to the perm.

Perms rarely go well, Elly. At least not in movies or comics, where it’s always funny to have the character suffer a “perm mishap”.

I still remember this era quite well. I swear every female I knew during the 1980s had a perm at one point. And none of them EVER looked good in it. What on Earth convinced women and girls to look like giant brillo-pads? I know everyone had dumb fashions back then, but YIKES.

Just wanted to say thanks for some of the nice comments on my post yesterday. :)

And while I appreciate the thought from a couple of you….. I’m in Northern California.

If you live within 10 miles of me, let me know… LOL…

 

Also…. wanted to take a sec to defend that young hairstylist….

I did say she put Elly off… but it’s not that she’s bad at her job, or that her habits would lose her many clients, as some suggest.

 

It’s the late 80’s, I believe, and Elly probably didn’t know where to go…

She’s going to head for the nearest mall. and walk into some brightly lit salon with a cute pun for a name…

or more likely, an inexpensive chain… the Canadian equivalent of Supercuts….

maybe with a coupon clipped from the newspaper (remember those?) in her purse.

 

The stylist used to be an 80’s teen, probably hanging out in the mall, obsessed with makeup and big hair.

She went to beauty school, not college.

Her world is hair…. hers is a different color every few weeks.

I’ve known these girls… some are very nice… some are excellent stylists.

Her trendy teen clients know all the words, too… layers and fades and spikes, cellophanes and gels are second nature.

 

It doesn’t even occur to her that Elly doesn’t.

Hopefully, as she matures, she’ll learn to gauge her customers better… but right now, it’s all about the latest cuts and products.

 

It’s just the classic “Failure to communicate”,

not incompetence and certainly not malice.

Don’t do it, Elly! Those of us with stick-straight, baby-fine hair are NOT perm candidates. It will be nothing but frizz. Been there, done that. Embrace your sleek hair.

Yep, Bambi is a very tolerable name for a stylist

This does not look like Elly will be considering repeat business with this place.

She might get a “body perm” which isn’t supposed to be an afro or frizzy. In the 70’s and 80’s they were popular. Some women who got them loved them and are still getting them. Some like me, chalk it up to one of life’s miserable experiences and never get talked into it again.

Trivia. When will people realize the original Bambi was a male?

Elly’s next stop will be the hat store!

Tried to straighten my curly hair once back in the 70s. My aunt did the deed. It lasted about 3 days and then the natural order reasserted itself. My hair looked amazingly hilarious when straight.

Well, I had perms often when I was younger because I hated my straight hair. My perms were always body perm meaning just wavy and they were all good perms except one – waited too long and I came out looking like a poodle. Right before my wedding! I had it cut short – my first short hair.

So many otherwise attractive girls ruined their looks with stupid Jennifer Grey poodle perms back when I was in high school.

I remember back in the 80s; my wife, who I always trusted when it came to fashion for both of us wanted me to get a tight perm. A lot of men were doing it in those days. I absolutely refused to do it. I would have looked like a freak. She finally forgave me.

Re changing styles: Some years back, road building crews dug up a mass of bustles! Research found that a company nearby once made them, but had a large inventory when they went out of style, so they just buried them. (Wonder if chastity belts will ever come back in style?)

I 80 years old saw the first round of for better or worse byLynn Johnson enjoying the second round even more I remember when April was born also when John got into trainAlso pet Rabbit when grandma died when Farley died however age catch up so I don’t think I’ll see ending of second round but this was the best cartoon that used a real life family from there beginning to there golden year

If Elly was smart, she would go to Connie’s stylist.

About the perm: when my daughter was 4 or 5 she got an Annie perm, just like her very best friend at the time. They said they were twins, until their perms grew out…I have a picture of them jumping around and having fun and singing “tomorrow, tomorrow”….

Will Ell’y take up Pole – dancing as a means to loose weight next?

I’ve often been told to “work through”…

But that means you eat in the back room while the perm is processing, not over your client’s head!

It can be your only chance to eat.

 

Often ignored or at least circumvented is the law that you get a certain amount of time for lunch… In California 25 minutes.

It’s followed in beauty school, but real world salons want to make money, and clients are far more demanding.

I’ve had salons count the 15 to 30 minutes perm processing time as your only lunch break,

even if you have no time to eat or clock out….

Or if you have to abandon your sandwich every five minutes to come out and check her curls, and leave it till your next break, or till quitting time, if her perm is ready to rinse, and you can cut her hair.

 

State law usually prohibits food in the working area, and you’d be fired (or get the salon shut down by the health department) for touching hair and food without washing your hands in between.

Technically, that includes gum and breath mints, but that’s often ignored.

 

I have to admit I’ve never heard anybody say “bring me a sandwich.”

I don’t know where it would come from… the salon doesn’t provide lunch.

Maybe there’s a deli next door, and the other girl has free time and is such a good friend she’ll go buy her a sandwich and Coke.

More likely, Lynn doesn’t know how that works, and it’s artistic license…

That’s ok, it’s a comic strip.

RUN!