How Rapunzel’s Hair Became Our School Mornings’ Nightmare

My older sister also had long hair that would go past her fanny. Her hair was brown with a tint of auburn. Her hair was thick and untamable, like the tail of a horse. Her hair wasn’t blonde like Rapunzel’s, but surely it was as long as the fairy tale character’s. The diameter of her ponytail was easily the diameter of a silver dollar! So, untangling her hair was not an easy task. For those unfamiliar with caring for long hair, one of the things not to do is to sleep with your hair tied. So, the three of us would go to bed with our hair all nicely brushed and loose, only to awaken the next day with a tangled nest of hair. I’m uncertain why my hair was always less tangled than my older sister’s. Perhaps, I didn’t wrestle at night in bed while asleep. Or maybe because my hair was not as thick as my sister’s. Or possibly because she did not brush her hair one hundred times as you were supposed to before going to bed. I suspect it was because of all these reasons.

So, as we got ready for school, I managed to get my long hair presentable. Good enough to pass the school nuns’ daily uniform inspection. The same could not be said for my sister. She would somehow manage to put her hair in a ponytail, but as I said earlier, the ponytail looked like the tail of a knight-errant’s horse galloping all night through endless rolling hills.

Every morning, my mom’s primary concern was to get breakfast in our stomachs. Dealing with our hair was secondary. I have plenty of breakfast stories to tell you, but for now, I can tell you that when we were lucky, we had floating raisins in our oatmeal. Yikes! I am digressing. Sorry, let me focus back on the topic at hand, the untamable hair. Once Mom determined that all siblings had ingested sufficient breakfast, we would all climb in Mom’s car to be dropped off at school. To this day, I never know how Mom determined what was an adequate amount of breakfast. I guess I’ll never know.

We spent the car ride reciting addition, subtraction, and multiplication tables, or naming the states’ capitals, rivers, and mountain peaks of Venezuela. Whatever the homework was, or the test we had, those would be the words that filled the morning air, as mom’s car would zig-zagged through the streets among school buses and station wagons. Indeed, there was not much wasted time for us. The first stop was my brother Carlos’ school. Thus, he never experienced my mom’s wrestling matches with my sister’s hair.

A few blocks before getting to our school, mom would park the car on a side street and brush my sister’s ponytail. Hopefully, one of us remembered to bring the brush or the big teeth comb along. This task always seemed to take forever. Once mom had managed to untangle the hair, she would braid it. Our uniform rules were strict, so you could not have an exposed elastic ponytail. So, to complete the hairdo, mom would tie two burgundy bows on my sister’s hair. One at the beginning and one at the end of the braid. Finally, she would use hairpins to secure a burgundy beret with our school seal.

Once mom was done, my sister had nothing to be jealous of Rapunzel’s braid. Usually, we would get to school in the nick of time, just before the bell rang. On occasions, time was against us. So, we would blame my sister’s Rapunzel braid for the tardy demerits we accumulated over time. There were days when we would forget our beret in the rush to get to school. If lucky that day, we would find some spare ones at the lost-and-found before heading to the nuns’ uniform inspection. Such were the tribulations we had to undergo to get my sister’s Rapunzel hair neatly braided for school. And so, the same routine would take place every school morning until my sister was old enough to wrangle her hair herself. I wonder if Rapunzel had a similar experience wrestling with her hair, every time she would let down hers when hearing the words “Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let thy your hair.”

How the Charming Rapunzel Ornament Was Carefully Crafted from Recycled Materials

A few years ago, I came across a beautiful black and chartreuse ribbon at a sale rack at my local craft store. Most of the materials I use for my ornaments are recycled and repurposed, but occasionally, I find some unique ones on the sale racks. This was the case with this gorgeous grosgrain ribbon. Someone had opened it, and part of it had been soiled. It was like the ugly duckling of the ribbons on sale. Who would buy that damaged ribbon? Well, I did. When I decided to create the Rapunzel ornament, I remembered that special ribbon I had once bought. The ribbon had a romantic and regal air. I think its floral print gave it that Arthurian Legend dreamy essence. So that ribbon became the anchor for my color palette.

To make the dress long enough, I added trim to the edge of the ribbon. To trim the dress, I used two different types of notions. I trimmed some dresses with an olive satin and velvet ribbon from an old present’s bow. I edged the other ones with a black ribbon from an old dress. I decorated the edge of the skirt with a pale cream ribbon rose. I added silk ribbons streaming from her waist and a plastic light-yellow jewel. I added a petticoat which I made from white tulle.

I used a golden yarn found at a garage sale for their hair. Thus, just like the Grimm Brothers described Rapunzel’s hair, this Rapunzel ornament has “magnificent long hair, fine as spun gold.” To accentuate the gold tone, I weaved her hair with threads of gold. I found this golden thread at Volunteers of America, one of my favorite thrift stores. I used that same thread to give Rapunzel a tiara. To complete the outfit, I gave Rapunzel a regal cape. Given that I am always limited by the materials I have sourced through thrift stores and friends, some capes are olive green, and others are mustard yellow.

So, I made Rapunzel inspired by the little treasures I found during my thrifting, bargains hunting, and garage sales adventures, but most of all, by my memories of Mom wrangling my sister Laura’s hair every school day.

Frequently Asked Questions about CELIStial Art products