Although there are products on the market today that resemble the real angel hair, I've read that the original spun glass product is no longer made in the U.S. It can still be found on eBay and Etsy, and I believe it is still manufactured outside this country, but you won't see me buying any of it.
When I was a kid, my parents and grandparents would warn us not to touch it. Of course, that made touching it all the more exciting...till the stinging and itching started. There was no way to handle the stuff without getting tiny filaments of glass in your fingers and all over your hands and arms (and sometimes in your clothing and socks), and you would feel like you had rolled around in cactus.
Angel hair was beautiful. There's no denying that. But sometimes beauty isn't worth the price you have to pay.
 |
| Angel hair with vintage ornaments susiej.com |
 |
| Vintage angel hair (I'm itching just looking at the photo.) ebay.com - aboveindustry |
 |
| Having to use rubber gloves to handle it should have been our first clue. ebay.com - aboveindustry |
We must be the same age because I remember steering clear of that stuff. Do you remember the heavy tinsel? I think it was lead. My brother and I would roll the tinsel up and chuck it or else he would use it as cannon balls for his tanks. That stuff was fun!
ReplyDeleteOMV (Oh my Vintage!) I was just thinking about angel hair and wondering if I had imagined it. I mean who on earth would have that around with kids (or anyone with skin) at Christmas? But yes, I see it DID exist.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was little, probably as young as three, it was my job to spread that stuff under the tree. As I grew older, I was less and less anxious to do that as every year I had tiny cuts covering my hands. Finally, my parents looked at the packaging and discovered it was glass and we didn't use it anymore. But they couldn't figure out why it hurt all that time, maybe 4 or 5 years, and nobody else would do it. Who would have it around kids? Mine would.
DeleteNothing says Christmas like hands full of spun glass shards.
ReplyDeleteYes!!
DeleteI remember this at my grandparents house! Hilarious, thanks for the memory...ouch!
ReplyDeleteOh gosh, that's scary! Life sure was rough for 1950s kids . . . the stories my mom has . . .
ReplyDelete@SusieQT: I had forgotten that tinsel, but your mentioning it brought back memories of playing with it. And, you're right, it probably was lead. Oh, the things we were exposed to back then...lead, asbestos, spun glass. It's a wonder we survived at all.
ReplyDeleteWe were exposed to all that plus the liquid metal .
Delete@Nick: At our house, we sang "I'm Dreaming of a Masochistic Christmas." That's just how we rolled. ;)
ReplyDelete@Jenny: Yes, we can laugh about it now. But I can't remember a Christmas that some kid in the family didn't get into the angel hair and start bawling. LOL
ReplyDelete@Tanya: And, like me, did she have to walk 5 miles to school barefoot in the snow...uphill both ways? :)
ReplyDelete🤣😂🤣😂
DeleteNo shoes? Gosh that was harsh. Didn’t you get frost-bite?
Delete@DearHelenHartman: No, you didn't imagine it. Some evil scientist really did invent it to torture small children.
ReplyDeleteWow I totally forgot about that stuff...I just remember picking it up and OUCH!
ReplyDeleteOh my gosh - Angel Hair! I remember this all around our house when I was growing up. I remember the "hands off" rule. Thanks for the flash back. ;)
ReplyDelete@LeAnn and Rhan: These days we wouldn't even consider having something like this around our kids. What were the adults thinking back then?
ReplyDeleteI can’t blame the adults. It’s what they sold in the stores and I don’t think that most parents even knew what it was made of
Deletelove it! I use it for decorating under snowbabies and lighted houses. There is no reason for the kids to touch it. Nothing is the same as this product.
ReplyDelete