Erie Giving Haircut

Two years ago I wrote a post about homemade haircuts and in that post I featured my maternal grandmother Myrtle Phenice Bucklin (known to my generation as Grandma).  It was partly an encouragement to people that even if they had to have a homemade haircut during the pandemic, they would survive.  I do my duty when needs call.  The name of that post was “Myrtle Giving Haircut.”  I even followed it up with a photo of myself cutting one of my cousins’ hair.

Last year I was going to write a followup to that post with a photo of my paternal grandmother Germaine Erie Patureau Landry (known to my generation as Mee Maw).  I decided against it at the time because another photo called my name.  But I always planned on posting a photo or two of Mee Maw showing off her scissor skills.  And now I’m following through with that plan.

This is a  photo of Mee Maw cutting the hair of one of her grandchildren.  If I had to guess, I would say this is my cousin Kenny.  He looks pretty young in the photo, so it could be his first haircut.  That would be a particularly photo-worthy event.  And even though it looks like he is the center of attention for this photo, the central figure in this story is our dear sweet Mee Maw. 

The photo was taken in Lake Charles, Louisiana, out the back door at my grandparents’ home.  If you could see a little further to the left on this photo, you’d see the rest of the steps and the corner of the house.  Around that corner you would find a ladder leaning up against the house going up to the second floor.  I’m not sure why it was there, but you can see it in many photos.  I need to post one of those photos soon.  I don’t think I’ve shared one of that ladder yet.

My cousin is sitting in a highchair with some artwork on the back of it.  It looks like a little person with wings, but it doesn’t look like an angel.  I don’t recognize it from anything. Then on the tray part of the highchair is a box or a book with some writing on it.  I’m not sure what that is either.  Oh, wait!  I just found out what it is.  I did an online search for Drene Diapers.  That’s what it looked like to me.  But what came up from the search was Drene Shampoo, which makes much more sense!  It also showed an ad for Drene from 1954 that says that this new synthetic shampoo had silkening magic!  Wow, Mee Maw wanted to make sure her grandchildren had the best!  Silky, shiny hair for everyone.

My Mee Maw was the best!  I think I was her favorite!