Sabi ni Mama 'wag daw akong matutulog na basa ang buhok, unless I want to get blind! What?! Did she say blind, or just cross-eyed? Of course, I don't want to get blind or anything bad to happen to my eyes. If I'm not mistaken they say that the "eyes are the windows to one's soul." My 9-year old mind panicked upon hearing it for the first time. Thus, it became my secret mission to really take care of my eyesight. Aside from that what would have happened to me if I'd get blind, unseeing or without one of the five senses... I couldn't imagine. Pano na yung mga komiks na kinukupit ko sa Tita ko dati at yung mga libro na gusto kong basahin? Not to mention my budding love for visual art, as I was often seen with my Guitar Watercolor na tig-sais pesos sa tindahan ni Mama Tiling, I can't imagine. She would often warn me about it then that I had developed a lot of my life habits from there...
First, I would avoid bathing beyond 6 P.M. for fear that my long and thick hair would not dry in time for bedtime which was before 8 P.M. I would force my skinny, yes (at walang kokontra), my then skinny body to take a very cold bath so early in the morning in our deep-well, which, basically, became everybody's deep-well in the barrio (you see, ours was the only successful deep-well digging then in our area so instead of having a private source of water, we eventually shared it with practically the whole barangay!). Anyway, Mama said it's okay to share your blessings especially water to those who wouldn't want to pay for their own digging. :-)
Secondly, if I have been playing outside in the afternoons or just before dusk, I would tie my hair way all up my head so it won't get wet when I had to take a "half-bath" ( read: bathing but not getting the hair wet) to clean up before dinnertime. Sidetrack to half-bath, it's my Papa's favorite word when he feels not so in the mood to taking "full bath." L.O.L. There were also times when my ears would get flooded with water or the soap suds get to my eyes because I was tilting my head to one side to avoid the water getting water to my hair.
Finally, because I can't always follow my mother's sacred rule on wet hair and sleeping, more often than not, I would stuff my mouth with so very hepatitic kalabasa and Bugs Bunny food, the carrot.
OF COURSE, what Mama said was not true at all. I know she meant well when she said that a million times to me and even to my sisters. I think she was just trying to pass on to us some beliefs she got from her own Mom which seemed to have worked for her. Or who knows, maybe she just wanted us to keep our hair healthy and beautiful for our own sakes. Sleeping on your wet hair will make your hair dry and messy, now that's a fact! Although, this one belief of my mother I would never dare mention to my Julianne. Hahaha! But, whatever Mama's reasons were for inculcating that belief into our heads, here are my own twenty-five-cent conclusions about this topic:
1. one could die not because of getting blind but because of pneumonia or other severe lung-related diseases when taking a bath in a private-turned-public deep-well sooo early in the morning...
2. one could go blind or have ear infections by taking "half-baths" (warning: head-tilting not so high!)
3. for a long time, say more than 10 years, one can't look at or eat kalabasa without having bad tummy feeling solely because she had a whole year of eating kalabasa everyday from ginataang kalabasa and other main dishes using the said vegetable up to minatamis na kalabasa for dessert - my Lola had a very healthy garden full of kalabasa and I think I should make a blog of my kalabasa recipes some day, ugh!
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Writing this makes me cry and laugh a little remembering how my mom combed my hair a little too forceful yet full of love knowing she only wanted what's best for me. Sniff.
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Just for a few laughs, here are some silly answers to this queston posted by someone in Health Forum Advice site :
A: Ummmmmmm yeah that is why you should sleep with your hair away from your eyes and if you can't do that then just allow one side of your face to be touched by your hair so you can atleast see out of one eye......................ARE YOU SERIOUS??? No the wort it can do is cause you to get a cold.
A: If that were true we'd all go extinct!
A: Yes it absolutely can. You see your wet hair will continually drip into your eyes causing temporary blindness. Of course once you dry your eyes, you will be able to see again.
That was a superb question, matched with a magnificent answer.A:NO. It actually damages the hearing as the wet hair is closer to the ears. ... Kidding!
Wow. How ever did you reach this sophisticated & scientificly based conclusion?But just to be on the safe side never go to bed with wet hair. Are you natural blonde?
A:What does your question say? I can't quite see it. I just washed my hair.
A: No, period. LOL!
