Nanny Pauline had calf length hair that she wore in a coronet (braid wrapped around her head) almost every day. Her hair was shiny and amazingly healthy until she died. Some of my fondest memories are of watching her brush and braid her hair.
Nanny Pauline was an incredible lady. She was a voracious learner and a wonderful teacher. I didn’t really go to school much until high school because we traveled a lot. So Nanny cared for me and handled my education. She took care of me from when I was 3 weeks old until I was grown. (My siblings are all MUCH younger than I am and by that time we didn’t travel so much so I went to a conventional high school.)
I'm going to try put some of her recipes and haircare techniques in this thread. Many of you have read some of my posts about Nanny, she was an extraordinary lady.
I have her journals and recipe books. She kept two main recipe books which she called "receipt" books. These were large leather bound books that were kept at her desk. One was her mother's and she just continued to add to it and continued to write her own opinions and modifications inside. The other was her own that she started as a young girl, learning to cook and take care of a household.
Nanny NEVER took her receipt books into the kitchen. She would transcribe a "receipt" on a separate piece of paper and take it to where she was working. Notations and new recipes were added throughout her lifetime. The last recipe in her book is for a Chicken Casserole that was Richard Nixon's favorite, she tried it from the newspaper and it was good enough to add to the book. The first recipe in her own book is for a sweet oil hair pomade, made with Macassar Oil and Sweet Olive Oil.
Nanny's sister, Mary has helped me decipher some of the things. Many of these techniques are born of the 19th century idea of beauty . . . creamy clear skin and long thick healthy hair.
I will only place things here that I have tried. I welcome your experiences and comments. If you try a recipe and find some worthwhile alteration, please feel free to put it here, that would be entirely in keeping with her tradition. She would have LOVED the Longhaircommunity--she was well known for her hair concoctions and turning the kitchen into her own little laboratory.
Links to recipts:
Nanny Pauline's Washing Technique
Nanny Pauline's Airing Powder Recipe (Dry Shampoo)
(Archive Airing Powder Thread)
Nanny's Coronet
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