Wednesday, October 01, 2008

Blogging and Bloodletting

First things first. There are a million amazing writers blogging out there! I have had this account for a few years, but really just starting to take in, or rather get sucked into this whole blogging culture. I for one do not consider myself to be an amazing writer. And in my heart o' hearts do not believe that anyone besides my friends or family will read my blog. However I also do not believe there is anything wrong with imagining that I am the most amazing writer and I should absolutely put these skills to use in a blog!

If there are a handful of you that did check out my blog in the past week you will notice it has changed a bit. While playing pretend writer is very amusing and entertaining for me, I feel that there should be some useful information here as well. Being that I am in the developing stages of my very real hairdressing career it seemed logical to somehow Integrate those topics I am learning into the writing. Afterall, this will surely help to learn it, no? I cannot justify having a blog and typing thoughts and opinions that no one reads, but I can justify blogging for the purpose of learning. YES! That's it, I'm doing this to learn!!!! Thus the new title of my blog. It has a purpose now, and I think my blog feels a lot better having a purpose in its' life. But I will continue posting pictures and it won't be ALL about hair, so hopefully my friends and family will keep visiting.


So, Now I am right in the middle of a testing phase for school. The nice thing is that during these testing phases we do not have to go to school for the week. The bad part is that all of the testing is done on-line so I am stuck in front of the computer for hours on end, feeling a little bit like a graphic designer again.

This struck me as very interesting, and something I think many people may not know about the hair industry. Up until the 19th century barbers were also known to perform minor surgeries and other medical procedures. The woman I worked for in the mountains was full-blooded Native American. Her grandmother was a hairdresser and it was not uncommon for her to work with the tribe's medicine man.

Bloodletting was a procedure that was once thought to strengthen the immune system. The traditional barber surgeon pole represents the staff that the patient would hold onto tightly in order to make their veins protrude. The bottom end cap represents the basin used to catch the blood. After the procedure was done, white bandages were used to stop the bleeding. The bandages were then hung outside on the pole to dry. As these bandages blew in the wind and twisted around the pole they formed the red and white candy-cane-like pattern. Funny that the pole stuck even though the procedure didn't. (I don't know about anyone else but I am glad it didn't)The modern pole has three colors: white symbolizing the towels, red symbolizing the blood, and the blue symbolizing the veins.

2 comments:

YoYo said...

There is nothing wrong with being the most amazing writer and best blogger out there. At least that is what I tell myself, and I don't want to a liar. Keep on the amazing blogging, and I will keep on reading! GL with the hairdressing, I did that for a bit, just wasn't my nitch.

Mandy said...

Just now catching up from a few weeks ago. Love your blog! :-) I didnt think anyone would read mine either, but low and behold, they do. keep writing and I'll be back!