Monday, November 14, 2011

secret 15 of 100

My secret is when I was fifteen I acquired the nickname "Whiskers" for about a year.

Back then, I sometimes felt like this applied to me:


One particular morning, after a late night hanging with friends, I had the hardest time waking up. Shocking, I know. When I managed to get up and walk into the bathroom, I looked like DEATH. Kind of like my example pic.
No time to shower, I hurried and washed my face, put on some makeup . . . and when that didn't help the look much, I curled my hair.

While curling my bangs, the iron slipped from tired fingers and landed on my cheek. Basically, curling iron plus tired me, meant complete and total humiliation. I went to school that day with a 1 inch curling iron barrel roll across my right cheek. Nothing I did with my hair hid that hideous purple-brown mark.

My snarky history teacher had to say something. "Erin, whoever you've been making out with needs to shave, because that's a nasty whisker burn."

People laughed. I wanted to die.

Hence, the nickname whiskers.

29 SPLURTS:

Cassie Mae said...

Oh my gosh, ouchy! And I'm sorry I giggled at what your teacher said too. :)

Javid Suleymanli said...

OMG the picture is so funny :) And your story is kinda sad... :D I understand it. This awkward moment... :)

Cynthia DiFilippo Elomaa said...

So sorry. The good news is you can laugh about it now. :-)

JoMamma said...

I did that on my neck in high school. People thought I had been making out also.

Emily R. King said...

Ha! I'm the girl that actually got whisker burn from making out. No, I didn't get the nickname.
My mom always called make-up her war paint. : )

Julianne Donaldson said...

I can't believe that teacher! That is a terrible story. And it made me laugh.

Cristina said...

OUCH! for the burn and the nickname.. although, at leas,t people might have thought you were busy making out... which, mmm, is not so bad....

A. said...

AHAHAHAHAH!!! That is HILARIOUS!!!!!!!!

Not the burn. That pretty much just sucks.

Peggy Eddleman said...

Hahahaha! I never knew that! I'm calling you whiskers from now on. Even if it does make me think "old man."

holmesfam.blogspot.com said...

That's awesome! (And I totally relate to the picturs!) I did the same thing a few months after I got married. When I saw my mother-in-law a few days later, I jokingly told her that Nate had hit me. She came unglued! I thought she would shred him to pieces! That joke didn't last long ;-)

prerna pickett said...

poor 15 year old you. Curling irons are the bane of my existence, they never get my hair to match the vision I have in my head for how glorious it should look.

Maggie said...

Wow, Ouch!!!

Iain said...

That third picture reminded me of my first girlfriend. Her name was Betty Swollocks :o|

Jessie Humphries said...

I thought that you were going to say you had a mustache or something you needed waxed!

Charlie N. Holmberg said...

Oh man, I can't believe a teacher said that! How sad! XD

I totally burned my face at WorldCon, but I know for a fact it wasn't that bad...

Kristine said...

Hahaha! Sometimes I wish I lived your life just to have all the fun times in my past that you've had. But, then I think that maybe to you they weren't as funny as I think they are. :)

Abby Fowers said...

OH man, I shouldn't laugh, but that's great! Darn those teachers!

Jenny S. Morris said...

How do you always make me feel bad for you, whilst I'm laughing at you? Curling iron burns are the worst.

Alleged Author said...

Now that's a bad teacher! I ordered your stuff, and it should be to you soon. :)

David P. King said...

You just earned some serious points with the Walking Dead picture. :)

Alexis Bass said...

Oh no! So funny. :) I had a curling iron burn mistaken for a hickey when I was younger so I totally feel your pain.

Jessica G. said...

Hey, at least you didn't get the name because you had a lot of visible hair on your upper lip!

And I think burning your face with a curling iron is a rite of passage for a lot of girls.

Melissa Sugar said...

I love when you share your secrets. We've all had those mornings. Mine were so long ago I cannot remember anything quite as painful or sad happening. I know I had them in college

Sarah Tokeley said...

It's funny now, but what is it about teachers? They make one off-hand remark to get a laugh and the poor student pays for it.

Jennie Bennett said...

That is awful! I had the same thing happen to me only on my neck. I was at a bot/girl summer camp and you can bet I got quite a bit of ridicule there :)

BECKY said...

OMG,that HAD to hurt so much! I've just barely touched my forehead with a curling or flat iron, and Zoweee! Very funny post, Erin!

Karen said...

Ouch. I've never done that. But I can't tell you how many times my husband's grabbed my curling iron by the barrel (thinking it was off, I guess) to move it out of his way and burned the heck out of his hand. You'd think he'd learn to grab it by the handle.

Stacy Henrie said...

LOL! This story is awesome, Erin. Totally made me laugh.

Nikki said...

HAHAHAHAHA!!!! That third picture had me cracking up!

So sad about your teacher. I had a butt-head history teacher when I was a freshman who totally mocked me for like half the class period when I accidentally burned my arm with an iron. Before school I had ironed my shirt and forgot the sleeves. Not realizing it until I was wearing it, I ironed them while wearing it. Thus the burn.

The public humiliation was hard to live down.