All About the Fork!


Okay, I admit it! I was one of those big hair girls that stockpiled a year’s supply of Aquanet. You remember the hairstyle. It wasn’t enough to have mile-high bangs. They had to be stiff enough to be able to stand up and walk by themselves. (See the picture above. Nuff said...) I recently received a Facebook message from an old high school friend that got me thinking about an experience I had with a fork. Now, what does a fork have to do with hair, you might ask. Well, I’ll tell you.

Most girls had to get the spiral perms to get those ringlet curls that would give Shirley Temple a run for her money, but my hair is naturally curly. I often refer to myself as “a curly-haired girl in a straight-haired world.”

Don’t ask me why, but for some reason that I can’t remember, I decided to use a fork as a pick. I know what you’re thinking—that’s the most ridiculous thing you’ve ever heard. Maybe I lost my pick; maybe I didn’t want to take time to go to the store to get another one; or maybe I thought I was just cool enough to start a new trend. Anyway, I was carrying this fork around in my purse when Teresa (my friend) saw me. When I explained that I was using it as a pick (I wasn’t witty enough to come up with an alternate explanation), she laughed until she cried. Then she kidded me about it for days and told all of our friends about it. I did the only logical thing I could—fiercely denied it. The conversation went something like this:

“You really carry a fork around in your purse and use it as a pick?”

I rolled my eyes. “Of course not, why would I be stupid enough to carry around a fork? What kind of person do you take me for? Teresa must be delusional.”

I was very convincing—so convincing that no one believed Teresa. I almost got away with it until I dropped my purse one day by my locker, and the contents spilled out. Teresa went nuts, and I knew the jig was up. We all had a good laugh about it, and I finally ditched the fork and then broke down and bought a pick.

Hey all of you budding entrepreneurs, here’s a new idea for you: combination fork and hair pick—the two-for-one combo. Hmm…which department would you put that in? the kitchen or health and beauty?