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Mary Elisabeth Brooks

Updated Jun 26, 2025
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Mary Elisabeth Brooks
Mary Elisabeth Brooks, b. 3/6/1851 Fisherville, TN. m. Andrew Jackson Fletcher "AJ" (d. 12/30/1881). She d. 9/1/1920, Memphis. Parents: James M. Brooks (1818-1876) b. NC and Mary Ann Kingston (Nov 1824), b. England. Issue: Kingston, Mattie Daisy, Maggie, Patrick, Andrew Jay.
Date & Place: in Eads, Shelby Co County, Tennessee USA
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Molly was born in 1851 so she was a child during the Civil War. This 1872 photo vividly shows the fashion of her time.
Photo of Joan Pasquarelli Joan Pasquarelli
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10/04/2017
I would guess no longer than when I was young . We washed and rolled our hair wet with scraps of cloth or clean old socks
Photo of AncientFaces AncientFaces
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10/04/2017
And left them in while you slept? And did you use hairspray to hold the curl?
Photo of Joan Pasquarelli Joan Pasquarelli
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10/04/2017
Yes while we slept and no hairspray
Photo of Sue Keeley Hicks Sue Keeley Hicks
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10/04/2017
I loved it when my grandma would do this to my hair when I was little girl.!
Photo of Joan Pasquarelli Joan Pasquarelli
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10/04/2017
Sue Keeley Hicks I didn't for a long time there was any other way. When I was around eight years old I'd help out by doing my younger sisters hair at night
Photo of Kelly Ann Careless Kelly Ann Careless
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10/04/2017
My Mom, born in 1927 said they would always do their hair in rags for special times like Christmas Eve.
Photo of Joan Pasquarelli Joan Pasquarelli
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10/04/2017
Kelly Ann Careless and it works great
Photo of Lucy Raubertas Lucy Raubertas
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10/04/2017
Also braiding damp hair makes volume and waves
I am thinking she rolled her damp hair in scraps of fabric and slept in them. My mom rolled my Shirley Temple curls like that for years until there were too many kids to put to bed. Curls held all day no spray needed. She also may have used a curling iron heated on the cook stove.
Lastly, adding a little salt to the water solution when you are setting will give the curls staying power.
Photo of Elina Saari Elina Saari
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10/04/2017
They're called rag curls and they hold very well 😁
Photo of AncientFaces AncientFaces
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10/04/2017
April Williams Homemade beach spray! :)
Photo of Connie Kerner Connie Kerner
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10/04/2017
Sue Keeley Hicks I used strips of old cotton sheet to curl one of my daughters hair. She will soon be 53
Photo of Lori Clinton-Holmquist Lori Clinton-Holmquist
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10/04/2017
My mom would roll cloth into my hair for those curls, and then I'd pull them so they wouldn't be too tight.
Photo of Judy Marxer Judy Marxer
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10/04/2017
Rags, yes, I remember those too.
Photo of Sue Keeley Hicks Sue Keeley Hicks
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10/04/2017
Connie Kerner, I am almost 75! :)
Photo of Dianne Roethler Dianne Roethler
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10/08/2017
My mom used to heat up a curling iron on the stove. Whenever my sister and I saw her coming at us with that curling iron, we would start to cry because we knew that she was going to burn us. And she did! Such torture. This was in the late 40's, early 50's.
Photo of Lisa Riley Hickman Lisa Riley Hickman
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10/04/2017
I'm sure they used a metal rod. Whoever did her hair would've had to heat it on a stove and hold the rod with a towel while curling the hair. To get her hair that precise, maybe one or two hours.
Photo of AncientFaces AncientFaces
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10/04/2017
Wow! That would leave a lot of split ends - and burnt hair!! :)
Photo of Lisa Riley Hickman Lisa Riley Hickman
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10/04/2017
Yes, the hairdresser would have to be very skilled.
Photo of Sara Simon Sara Simon
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10/04/2017
They did it in the Little Women movie... burned their hair off but that's what they used. :p
Photo of Lisa Riley Hickman Lisa Riley Hickman
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10/04/2017
I love that movie! Jo heated her sister's hair for too long on that one.
Photo of Feelings of life Feelings of life
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10/04/2017
“Be grateful for what you have now. As you begin to think about all the things in your life you are grateful for, you will be amazed at the never ending thoughts that come back to you of more things to be grateful for. You have to make a start, and then the law of attraction will receive those grateful thoughts and give you more just like them.”
Photo of Sarah Shell Sarah Shell
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10/04/2017
Have you seen Little Women? A fire heated curling tong.... Jo burns off Megs fringe curl 🙄
Photo of Angel Lewis Angel Lewis
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10/04/2017
Roll them in scraps of materials
Photo of Beverly Barnt Beverly Barnt
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10/04/2017
TWO WAYS. HAIR ROLLED ON STRIPS OF CLOTH OR THE METAL CURLER HEATED OVER A KEROSENE LAMP LIKE WAS USED ON MY HAIR BEFORE ELECTRICITY.
Photo of AncientFaces AncientFaces
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10/04/2017
And here's an 1895 photo of her daughter - also stylish! Mattie Daisy Fletcher Hinson, 1895
Photo of Laurie Wolfschlag Laurie Wolfschlag
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10/04/2017
These look more like tamed natural curls.
Photo of AncientFaces AncientFaces
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10/04/2017
Really? Wish I'd have known how to tame my curls like that!! :)
Photo of Laurie Wolfschlag Laurie Wolfschlag
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10/04/2017
AncientFaces 😊. Think oil and sleep caps. People wore hats a lot back then and didnt wash their hair but a few times a year.
Photo of Sarah Elizabeth Flood Sarah Elizabeth Flood
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10/04/2017
Um, I'm pretty sure those are done with a curling iron. They had curling irons you heated in the fireplace or on a hot stove, basically a poker for hair. My hair wouldn't do that without product and heat.

And people then washed their hair once a week in general, on Saturday night before church.
Photo of Janet Tobin Janet Tobin
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10/04/2017
My mother used to do this to our hair as children. They were called "pin curls". She would put some "Dippity Do" (now called styling gel) on our wet hair and then wrap each bunch of hair with tissue paper, then twist each "tube" of hair into a spiral and pin it to our heads. We slept with it in and then she unrolled it the next morning.
Photo of AncientFaces AncientFaces
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10/04/2017
I remember doing that! And then came the big, big curlers - sometimes juice cans!! :)
Photo of Joan Pasquarelli Joan Pasquarelli
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10/04/2017
I remember this also
Photo of Helen Bosch Helen Bosch
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10/04/2017
My mom did this too
Photo of Mary Gerlach Griffith Mary Gerlach Griffith
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10/04/2017
Grandma did this only she set her curls with beer.
Photo of AncientFaces AncientFaces
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10/04/2017
Mary Gerlach Griffith I forgot about beer - for volume!
Photo of Mary Gerlach Griffith Mary Gerlach Griffith
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10/04/2017
Yeah she’d pour some in a dish and drink the rest 😂
Photo of Joan Pasquarelli Joan Pasquarelli
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10/04/2017
AncientFaces I remember that too , jeepers I’m now older than dirt . Giggling
Photo of AncientFaces AncientFaces
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10/04/2017
Joan Pasquarelli Me too! :)
Photo of Joan Pasquarelli Joan Pasquarelli
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10/04/2017
AncientFaces so glad to have great company
Photo of Kris LaBelle Kris LaBelle
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10/04/2017
I do this now! Heating tools don't work when you live in humidity. Haha. Rollers pull my hair too much. Pin curls work wonderfully
Photo of Gwen Saylor Gwen Saylor
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10/04/2017
I remember this, too! And we later used mini beer cans to help smooth and straighten our hair. Following that we ironed our hair with a scarf on top of it.
Photo of Dorothy Laird Dorothy Laird
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10/04/2017
We didn't use the tissue paper.
Photo of Frances Luther Frances Luther
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10/04/2017
My grandma told me also that they used peices of cloth.....wrapped it tightly, and made curls.
Photo of Linda Eaton Linda Eaton
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10/04/2017
I think they did have non electric curling wands in the late 1800s early 1900s; they put on a heat source. But before then, I also read they used strips of cloth and then twisted and rolled their hair up that way. You can see it sometimes in historical movie dramas.
Photo of Roslyn McLendon Roslyn McLendon
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10/04/2017
The kitchen stove, heat your iron or curling iron.
Saw a girl use one to iron her hair, very interesting cause her hair was na turally curling and she hated it.
Photo of Jackie Lobenthal Jackie Lobenthal
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10/04/2017
Yes
Photo of Sarah Elizabeth Flood Sarah Elizabeth Flood
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10/04/2017
Yep. If you've read Little Women there's a part where Jo is curling Meg's hair with an iron and she leaves it too long and scorches her hair. The book was set in the 1860s.
Photo of Jennifer Heyser Jennifer Heyser
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10/04/2017
As a young girl, my mother would have to sit while my grandmother wrapped her hair in rags; she did that a few times to my hair when I was young to show me what it was like. Time consuming and tedious but the curls were gorgeous and they lasted a long time.
Photo of Melanie Clarke Melanie Clarke
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10/04/2017
Pipe cleaners or rags were sometimes used..
Photo of Elizabeth Parish Elizabeth Parish
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10/04/2017
It's a hair piece...
Photo of Sonja Skirka-Harwood Sonja Skirka-Harwood
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10/04/2017
Lots of rag curls, hair insets and to finish the pile off- the coal heated curling iron.
Photo of Lucy Raubertas Lucy Raubertas
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10/04/2017
Yes hair pieces heavily used then
Photo of Sharon Burns Sharon Burns
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10/04/2017
Rag curls maybe? Sometimes they held with sugar water, or they did have pomades.
Whatever it was you weren't washing it too often, so...
Photo of Susie Stoddard Susie Stoddard
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10/04/2017
OH yes. We made curls like that in the 30s and 40s with rags. Bit of a skill to get them the way you wanted them.
Photo of Madeline Gunderson Bregman Madeline Gunderson Bregman
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10/04/2017
She might have had very curly hair to begin with and it was only a matter of "taming" the curls.
Photo of Sheridan Fenwick Sheridan Fenwick
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10/04/2017
Put the iron in the fire ..heat it then curl
Photo of Laura Harmon Vickers Laura Harmon Vickers
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10/04/2017
Rag curls I betcha . That's how I curled my stick straight hair and it would stay curly a very long time .
Photo of Nancee Hardcastle Gray Nancee Hardcastle Gray
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10/04/2017
Don't you remember "Little House on the Prairie" where they tied rags in the hair to curl it? The little rich girl had them in.
Ladies,,,curling before Bedtime! Tear pieces of material into 6"by 2",,,wrap a piece of paper,,usually brown sack paper,, around each String! Pick up the end of a of strand hair, dampen it a bit with water,, roll to where you want curls to start!, Tie the string...go to bed..curls will be ready when you get UP, ladies went to a lot of effort to look good!, wonder what they would say,,,looking at all these awful heads of methsusa no styles today's world!
Photo of Linda Virtue Linda Virtue
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10/04/2017
They had curling irons. Heated on the wood-burning stove. They had several so they didn't have to wait for one to heat.
Photo of Esther Evans Esther Evans
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10/04/2017
They had curling irons, they just weren't electric......you heated them on the stove just like you did the iron for pressing clothes (which weren't wrinkle-free, either)....haha
Photo of Janet Klees Miller Gore Janet Klees Miller Gore
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10/04/2017
My daughter has her great-grandmother’s curling iron ... heated using a coal stove.
Photo of Esther Evans Esther Evans
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10/04/2017
I have one of the old irons for pressing clothes....I have no idea who it belonged to...it just showed up in the basement of the old house...
Photo of Melissa Herman Melissa Herman
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10/04/2017
They could be papillote curls, hair would be rolled in low pin~curls and tissue paper would be folded over them a special heated iron would be clamped on for a few seconds when cooled you would pull the tissue off and you would have tight long lasting coils.
Photo of Cathy Barker Kerr Cathy Barker Kerr
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10/04/2017
They did have curling irons. They were long metal rods that they put in a fire to heat up. I saw one during a tour of a Georgia plantation house. I'm guessing it did take a good while to do it and that all methods mentioned were used.
Photo of Myrna Morrison Myrna Morrison
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10/04/2017
My grandmother did her hair this way. Just laid the curling iron on the top of the stove.
Photo of Myrna Morrison Myrna Morrison
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10/04/2017
Her curls are very tight. Probably curling iron not fabric rolled.
Photo of Jennie Marxer Pak Jennie Marxer Pak
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10/04/2017
They also used hair pieces like today's extensions etc. Just pin them in place
Photo of Jenni Tibbett Kellar Jenni Tibbett Kellar
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10/04/2017
There was a "Marcel" curling iron even back then. Curling irons have apparently been around since Babylonian times (that history lesson was for free😬). Where there's a will there's a way...
Photo of Cora Mae Ofstie Cora Mae Ofstie
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10/04/2017
My mother had a curling iron that she put in the kerosene lamp chimney. Early 1920's. She said you had to take care not to burn your hair!
Photo of Roslyn McLendon Roslyn McLendon
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10/04/2017
Rags, strips of fabric make great fat curls
Photo of MaryJo Heibel Regier MaryJo Heibel Regier
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10/04/2017
Rag curls. For ringlets that hold. Strips of torn bedsheets are rolled into damp hair and slept on. Learned from my grandmother.
Photo of Megan Topping Walker Megan Topping Walker
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10/04/2017
Rag curls! Tie wet hair up with strips of rags overnight and VOILA!
Photo of Judy Marxer Judy Marxer
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10/04/2017
Just keep several curling irons heating in the kerosene lamps. Easy peasy!
Photo of Scilla Webb Robison Scilla Webb Robison
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10/04/2017
Rags
Photo of Suzanne Artley Suzanne Artley
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10/04/2017
rag curls.
Photo of Joan Brown Joan Brown
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10/04/2017
They had curling irons...only they put them in the fire either in the fireplace or on the stove.
Photo of Brenda Goorhouse Brenda Goorhouse
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10/04/2017
There were curling irons then. They put them right in the fire, or on a stove.
Photo of Leah Roediger Torrez Leah Roediger Torrez
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10/04/2017
The curling iron were actually heated on a coal or wood burning stove, just like the old clothing irons. Must've been so damaging to the hair.
Photo of Gina Kingsbury Gina Kingsbury
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10/04/2017
They had curling irons they heated on wood stoves, like pressing irons.
Photo of Beryl Albertus Beryl Albertus
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10/04/2017
Also curling irons that look very much like the electric ones we have now, they were heated by placing the blades down the neck of an oil lamp. They got the hair a little smoky but did the trick.
Photo of Gina Kingsbury Gina Kingsbury
via Facebook
10/04/2017
Beryl Albertus remember what happened to Jo's bangs in Little Women?
Photo of Gina Kingsbury Gina Kingsbury
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10/04/2017
Maybe it was Meg's bangs...
Photo of Lynn Day Lynn Day
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10/04/2017
She had natural curly hair
Photo of Peggy Evans Peggy Evans
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10/04/2017
She probably tried to sleep with iron rods of hair wrapped around them every night to achieve this look. Women have suffered far too long in the name of beauty. I have always loved a clean, natural look.
Photo of Carol Line Carol Line
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10/04/2017
They used curling irons made out of iron and heated in a fire, I believe.
Photo of Karen Frazer Foreman Karen Frazer Foreman
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10/04/2017
The inventor of the curling iron remains unknown, but the first known patent for the improvement of the design was given to Sir Hiram Maxim on August 21, 1866 (Mottelay). While the curling iron was first patented in the 19th Century, the practice of hairstyling has been dated back to 2,000 BC ....(Stevenson 138). I had no idea :P
Photo of Dorothy Laird Dorothy Laird
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10/04/2017
The curling iron was heated on a stove, just like the flat iron was.
Photo of Bee Kerr Bee Kerr
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10/04/2017
She may have used an iron of some sort (steam). But most likely cloth rags that were twisted round lengths of hair whilst damp
Photo of Sally Roffey Ivison Sally Roffey Ivison
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10/05/2017
Beautiful young lady x
Photo of Diana Bish Hill Diana Bish Hill
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10/05/2017
Dipity Do and wrapped in rags before bed. Having naturally curly hair helped!
Photo of Lisa Wilie Lisa Wilie
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10/05/2017
My mother wrapped my hair in rags for that effect, like her mother and her mother before her .
Photo of Lavera Potter Lavera Potter
via Facebook
10/05/2017
Not that long my grandmother could do it. She took strips of cloth and wrapped wet hair around it.
Photo of Jacqueline Foley-Bowen Jacqueline Foley-Bowen
via Facebook
10/05/2017
Probably rag curls
Photo of Patricia Shreeve Patricia Shreeve
via Facebook
10/05/2017
They could have been waxed.
Photo of Elizabeth Dykstra-Erickson Elizabeth Dykstra-Erickson
via Facebook
10/05/2017
Curling irons. Here's a portable version for travel.
Photo of Jane Thompson Gurley Jane Thompson Gurley
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10/05/2017
Rolled on rags or pieces of leather ( later called "kidd" curlers) and slept on.
Photo of Cheryl Allen Cheryl Allen
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10/05/2017
As personal service (servants and slaves) became more expensive, personal care became more simplified. Women were frequently required to dress and coif themselves without help.
Photo of David Lincoln Brooks David Lincoln Brooks
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10/05/2017
They DID have curling irons back then! They were placed in the fireplace to get them hot.
Photo of Linda S. Campbell-Fuller Linda S. Campbell-Fuller
via Facebook
10/05/2017
They had a metal roller that you heated on the stove. Took a while just like ironing.
Photo of Judy Schroeder Bingham Judy Schroeder Bingham
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10/05/2017
Yup! I'd guess sugar water. . .
Photo of Kate Steele Kate Steele
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10/06/2017
They heated curling irons over an open fire!
Photo of Patricia L Parcel Patricia L Parcel
via Facebook
10/06/2017
They had curling irons that were heated on the stove.
Photo of EdrieAnne Broughton EdrieAnne Broughton
via Facebook
10/06/2017
They had curling irons and other hair implements...they were heated on the stove like irons for ironing clothes.
Photo of Ann Parker Ann Parker
via Facebook
10/09/2017
And a maid to do it for them
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Mary Elizabeth "Molly" (Fletcher) Brooks
Mary Elizabeth (Fletcher) Brooks was born on March 6, 1851, and died at age 69 years old on September 1, 1920. Family, friend, or fan, this family history biography is for you to remember Mary Elizabeth "Molly" (Fletcher) Brooks.
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Brenda Watson
The Black (Scots-Irish & English) and Howe (English) families originate from the southeast and northeast US. Surnames include: Black, Beardsley, Bent, Black, Brigham, Brooks, Bull, Carter, Clark, Conklin, Cooper, Curtis, Damon, Fletcher, Fullenwider/Vollenweider, Giddings, Goddard, Hart, Hicklin, Hinson, How, Howe, Kerfoot, Lee, Lockridge, Lockwood, Louthan, Mallory, McCoy, Meloan, Miller, Moore, Northrup / Northrop, Penfield, Peyton, Rice, Smith, Terrell, Trowbridge, Ward, Warner, Wetherbee, & Wright. See my database at
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