Monday 15 March 2021

Originally broadcast on CHED radio - Monday, February 3, 1964

You know doubt have seen these wig hats advertised. They come in a variety of colors ranging from exciting jet black to platinum blonde. You can comb and brush them into all kinds of chic styles and from 10 paces back they look like real hair. I thought they were pretty silly until one day recently. I was sitting waiting for my wife in a department store. Close by, on the table, where the wig hats. As I sat there a pretty young lady approached the table. She could not have been more than 19. Her youthful husband was with her. She was carrying a wee baby. She was shabbily dressed and her own lovely hair hung unkempt to her shoulders. She paused, looked at the wigs, then handed the baby to her husband. On her head she fit a platinum blonde wig and then began to style it. For 10 minutes she was completely oblivious to everyone who passed by as she deftly styled the wig into a most becoming style. In spite of her shabby clothing she looked delightfully excited as she shaped the wig into tight little curls about her face. Her husband, more than a little embarrassed, looked on with the baby in his arms. At last it was correct. She stood back, looked in the mirror, and for a few minutes escaped from the monotony of her drab life. She was a movie star, a debutante, a princess, a femme fatale. And then in the moment, it was over. She removed the wig, ran her hands through her hair, took her child into her arms and was gone. I thought to myself, for a few moments, that silly wig hat made her life an exciting thing. I decided that moment to never again disparage these strange items sold to brighten the lives of ordinary women.

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