No matter what else was going on the farm, Friday was the official day for royal crown, blue magic and hold your head still. I can still hear my mother saying, “Girl hold your ear and do not move, hold your head still, this straightening comb is hot”.
All I needed to get me through this day was a nickels worth of ginger snaps and a Pepsi. I would count them out and put them on the table where I could reach them when needed. It was all mapped out in my head how Momma was going to straighten my long wild hair. First, she was going to undue the braid on the left backside of my head. She was going to grease the scalp with some royal crown, then she was going to apply some blue magic onto my hair. Mother would then proceed to meticulously use the extremely hot comb to first straighten upward, then downward, then whirl the hair around once, repeat the same process on that side. When she flipped that piece of hair twice and nodded her head I knew she was finished with that particular piece of hair. And I would be one ginger snap short.
Just a Farmer's Daughter 