About the time I got interested in girls; I started to let my
hair grow out. The duck tail was cool, but my crew cut, stood upright
in defiance of all my efforts and tubes of Brylcreem, to look cool.
The porcupine look was hard for me to deal with while my hair was
growing out.
Larry was the first one in our group to have a duck tail, then
Dick. The dirty water blond hair, was not to Dicks liking, so he use
to comb his hair with lemon juice. Out in the sun the lemon juice was
supposed to bleach the hair to a more natural blond. I never noticed a
change, but Dick smelled like a large lemon.
At last my hair got down
pass by ears and with a lot of combing and tubes of Brylcreem, I was
able to comb my hair into a ducktail.
Most boys with duck tails, carried a comb in the waist band of
their swimming suits, when you came up out of the water, your hair
hung down over your eyes, lips and chin. The Brylcreem was still in
the hair, so all you had to do was comb it as you walked out of the
lake or pool. Hollywood movies never showed any one cool with a
ducktail coming out of the water.
One summer after the hit song by Harry Bellefonte called "Day
O" a new style of pants called "Beach Comber" came out. The pants were
cut about four inches below the knee and they were white. I felt very
uncomfortable with these pants; they looked very much like the Capri
pants the girls were wearing at the time. The style died out by the
end of summer.
The desert boot was a light tan and came up, just over the
ankles. There was another name for them, "Fruit Boots" When the light
tan got dirty we would dust them them with baby powder then shake the
boot to get the extra powder off. Boys started cutting the belt loops
off of their Levi's. We would cut the thread from the inside of the
pants to each loop. Once all the belt loops were off,we would fold the
two-inch section over to the out side, it was cool, not having to wear
a belt and daring.
After fact: I dropped the ducktail, about the time I entered high
School. I got fed up with the Brylcreem all over my face in the
mornings from the pillow case.
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