Wednesday, August 28, 2013

Wistful Wednesday : 1958

We are having a heat wave.  Thanks goodness for air conditioning at home.  I would surely sweat to death without it this week.

Recently I was asked if those old rubber swim caps worked.  I remember that they did, but you couldn’t hear worth beans and sometimes they leaked and your hair still got wet.  Remember we had no blow dryers back then and once your hair was done up it was good for a week.

This is my baby brother and me in 1958 in the lake near Atwater Minnesota.

Connie add Carey at Atwater MN 1958 (2)

I was almost seven and my baby brother was four years old.  Apparently he needed nose plugs…I hated those things.  The inner tubes were great fun on the water.  If I recall correctly, this was at a lake place of a shirttail relative..but I am getting older and my memory is not what it used to be.  (Some people let us swim off of their lakeshore.)

Back to the swim cap.  They were a bugger to squeeze onto your head, sometimes you pulled some hair out, sometimes you got it on your head but your hair wasn’t all tucked in so you had to start all over again, sometimes you sweat so much under the cap that your hair was all wet anyway, sometimes the cap sprung a leak and  half your hair would be wet and half would be dry.   Did you ever wear a swim cap? :)

25 comments:

Pauline Persing said...

Had to wear them when a friend and I took swimming lessons at the YWCA. Talk about ugly!!

Marty said...

Oh yes, swim caps! I remember having one that was bright yellow with plastic flower petals all over it. Neither it nor I were attractive.

linda m said...

Oh boy, did I ever. My high school had a pool so part of our gym class was swimming. Swim caps were mandatory (long hair plus pool filters don't mix). My hair was never the same after wearing one of those for 45 minutes. I remember swimming at some friends lake cottage and we always swam off the pier.

Nancy said...

I remember the swim caps but never wore one because I rarely had the opportunity to get in the water. Never did learn how to swim - one thing I regret.

Beth said...

I do remember the swim caps but I never wore one.

Unknown said...

I remember those swim caps and hated them. I never did learn to swim either because no lakes nearby and there was not yet a pool in the nearby park. There was a small kind of wading pool there but I was not allowed to use it because of my mother's fear of my getting a skin disease impetigo (spelling?) I never did learn to swim and always have been sorry but got afraid of water probably because of being "ducked" by some mean kid. I made sure my daughter took swimming lessons.
Shirley H.

Anonymous said...

I hated wearing one also. Had too until after high school. We swam mostly in pools and you couldn't go in without a cap. I remember that my mom was always looking for one with flowers on it, but us kids had ugly plain ones! Most of the time they didn't keep you hair dry anyway. Haha--funny the things you bring up. I really enjoy your posts.

Karen said...

I think I wore those swim caps a bit in the early years. My mother became quite a swimmer, right up until she had her stroke a couple of years ago, and I think she always wore a swim cap.
As kids, my sister and I took swimming lessons in the ocean. First off the beach, the instructor would stand on a chair in the water. We hated it when the tide was way out, because that put us in the seaweed zone.
Later we graduated to taking lessons off the end of the pier, where a square shaped dock surrounded our ocean pool.

Intense Guy said...

I find all this fascinating - one of the things that makes the "I'm glad I'm a guy" list. :)

Gail said...

Love this picture.

I tried a swim cap once and when it felt like all my hair pulled out I never wore it again.

Rae said...

Oh my goodness - I hated those swim caps with a passion. I'd go under water and remove mine every chance I got just to let the water in and relieve the skull cap pressure. I didn't give two hoots about keeping my hair dry or 'fixed'. My hair was stick straight all the time anyway - not a bit of curl to worry about. I was always envious of the boys who never had to wear a swim cap.

Primitive Stars said...

Ahhh, so darn cute, I enjoy your family pictures Connie, Blessings Francine.

Travels with Emma said...

I was on the synchronized swim team in high school, so I wore one almost every day. Hated them.

Harriet said...

Boy did I ever wear swim caps...ugh!!! I also wore a wool, yes you read that right, wool swim suit. Talk about itchy and stinky...and no I am not "that old", old yes. I swam in a city pool and in order to get into the pool area, we had to walk through a pan that held disinfectant...probably pure chlorine. Every word about swim caps that you wrote is true. Sometimes, the good old days are simply old days. Stay cool.

Red said...

I never wore a swim cap but I'll bet they were just as hard to get off.

Dreaming said...

As soon as you mentioned swim caps, I had a strong recollection of the smell - bleech!
I went to a camp that used different colored swim caps to denote swimming ability: red camp = non swimmer. Yellow, beginner. Blue, intermediate and white was a senior swimmer. You couldn't use the diving board until you had your blue cap.
I wanted to have the racing swim cap - but when I did get one, it ripped pretty quickly trying to get it on.

DJan said...

Swimming at the Y, swim caps are required for long hair, but I wear one to minimize the effect of the chlorine on my white hair. I wet my head down with water in the shower and then pull on the swim cap. It's not so hard to do when you hair is already wet. Some women put conditioner on their hair before pulling on the cap, saying it makes their hair much nicer when they are finished swimming. I sure know my head heats up when I'm swimming...

Anonymous said...

I never wore one, I don't swim!!!, but I remember them very well. Back during the 70's, an old great aunt still wore one and we laughed like crazy at her!!!

RURAL said...

Gives me shivers just thinking about it...the hair being pulled out and tweaked.

So my answer is nope.

Jen

Willow said...

I remember my mom squeezing one on my head many many moons ago ...you describe the whole ordeal well !

Linda Reeder said...

I never learned to swim, but I have worn a swim cap. Eventually I just didn't bother going into the water. Gotta' save that hair do.

Jacqi Stevens said...

Been there, done that...wet-hair-despite-swim-cap and all. Besides, had to add ear plugs because the cap didn't help that any, either. Of course, it would have helped some if I didn't insist on always swimming underwater...

Cynthia said...

Oh, yes, I do remember those! I had long, thick hair and I remember how it pulled when my mom kept stuffing it up there. And oh the relief when it came off, leaving a deep red band across your forehead for hours after!

Just one more item of torture we endured, along with girdles, garter belts, home permanents, and cars with no air conditioning. Loved reading all the comments.

thecrazysheeplady said...

I have no idea why I had to, but I do remember trying to pull it on. Awful!

Rita said...

I can't remember why I ever had to wear a borrowed one. But I do remember them being hard to get on and not being able to hear or turn my head easily. Maybe we were at a swimming pool when we were visiting down in Florida. First thing to go, right? I hated it! Up in Minnesota we were swimming in lakes with cut-offs and t-shirts...and no bathing caps. ;)