New Discovers From the Past: The Country Home Magazine

Click any photo to enlarge.

For my birthday Perry and I went to a local antique shop for some browsing. I hadn't been to this particular antique store since we first moved her almost 3 years ago. Perry however stopped in right before Christmas to find his sisters gifts. I took advantage of it being my birthday and took my time with each and every booth. This is the one time I knew I would not get "The Sigh". I am sure some of you are familiar with "The Sigh". That, "Come on and hurry up, I am done and want to go" sigh you get from the one you are with browsing with. I am glad I had these few extra sigh free moments as it allowed me to flip through a stack of magazines that I would normally have glanced at and moved on.

In this stack, I found about 5 or 6 issues of a magazine I have never heard of before. The Country Home Magazine. They were dated monthly from '37 and '39. The ones from '37 were a smaller magazine about the size of a modern magazine like Time or Life, but only about 50 or so pages thick. The issues from '39 were the larger size, more like vintage issues of Ladies Home Journal and McCalls from the same time. These were about 50 pages as well. After a quick flip through of the lot, I decided to get only one issue and see if I liked it. It appeared to have a similar set up as Ladies Home Journal, but not as fashion and beauty oriented. Being that they were reasonably priced at $5 each I was tempted to get them all, but instead I just settled on June 1939.

Published by The Crowell Publishing Company which also published The American Magazine, Collier's (which I own a couple), and Woman's Home Companion, The Country Home Magazine focuses on rural living or more specifically farm living. The magazine is a fun glimpse into farm life that is beyond just planting and plowing schedules.

The magazine gives a simple look into the lives of the farmers and farmers' wives both on the farm and in the home. I think this magazine is a unisex read that caters to both the men and women of country living. The magazine may lean a little more towards the wives with a wonderful section titled "For Country Homemakers" that  focuses on Entertainment, Foods, Fashion, and Charm. In tradition of Ladies Home Journal, The Country Home has delightful works of fiction, features, and articles. The ads are targeted at both men and women with classic truck advertisements that run right along with adverts for the latest in washing machines!

Most interesting to me was reading the Forum on the last page, where reader wrote in expressing their opinions on various topics I have realized that in the 75 years since this magazine was published, "the more things change, the more they stay the same."

Two readers with opposing opinions on communism reminds me of the recent Duck Dynasty scandal when Phil Robertson made anti-gay comments.

Rights For Reds

COMMUNISTS have no right to plead their cause in America. 

If we grant them freedom of speech and press, 

we will soon be engaged in a civil war. --H. P., Kansas

IF DEMOCRACY cannot withstand the distorted banter

of Communism and fascism, we deserve to be swayed

by their arguments. God forbid that we should deny them

the right to think and speak for themselves. Remember, 

the hand that turns the dial rules the air. --Mrs. E. C.

Murray, Jr., Texas

How many times have we heard this argument about domestic and foreign affairs?

Mind Your Business

IF EVER America needed to mind its own business, it's 

now. We haven't begun to solve domestic problems of 

labor and capital, industry and farming, yet some of our 

nationally syndicated columnists are trying to solve the problems 

of Europe and Asia through an involved series of childish emotional 

tantrums that have no connection with intelligence or 

even fairness. Wouldn't it be better if they held their fire on 

foreign affairs until they'd at least made suggestions to help our 

own unfortunates first? --C. R. G., Washington

There are a handful more of letters that are insightful into the lives of the people of 1939 even though they could be letters from 2014!

While The Country Home Magazine was a joy to read and from which I picked up a tip or two, over all I am happy I stuck with my gut and bought only one. I did enjoy it very much, however I couldn't relate to it enough to have to have another. I much prefer the superficial glamor ads and articles one finds in Ladies Home Journal. I am a bit too Sex and the City for the The Country Home. I do recommend the magazine to any vintage readers that live a rural life or even a farm life. Those of you that prefer the great outdoors and have neighbors a drive away may better enjoy this magazine as it was intended to be enjoyed!

Have any of you heard of The Country Home Magazine?

As always your comments are loved and appreciated!

From Waves to Ridges

Hah! See what I did there with the title? No... ah well. I never claimed to be funny...

The last few nights I have been practicing finger waves. Now that I have a somewhat hold on the pin curl, the only other  classic style technique that has evaded my mastering has been the finger wave. A lot of it has to do with the thickness of my hair, however I am not about to let that stop me from successfully learning the technique after a few fails.

Before heading to bed, I set my hair the best I could using duck bill clips to set the wave. I knew before I went to sleep that the waves were going to be too big for what I wanted. However I wanted to see what the results would be and use that as a jumping off point to improve.

I was happy enough with the outcome the next morning. Not thrilled or 100% happy, but happy enough. Just as I suspected my waves were waves and not the tighter waves of the finger wave.

Attempt 1. Larger sculpted waves. Click to enlarge.

That night I hoped in the shower and washed out the waves just to try a new technique. I am not saying just yet what that technique is because I want to improve upon it and create a tutorial as well. Improve upon it I do need to do!

The results weren't as nice, however you can see the waves are tighter and have some slight ridging. Recently I had "one of those days" and chopped and chopped and chopped away at my hair. The result was horrible and part of my failing with this technique is due to the super short choppy "layers" I put in my hair.

Attempt 2. Tighter waves and slight ridges. Click to enlarge.

So again last night I showered it out and started all over. The results are...

Attempt 3. Much tighter waves and slightly tighter ridges. Click to enlarge.

Not great, but better-ish. My waves were tighter, more pronounced, and had tighter ridges. However, the style turned out more 20s than the 30s I prefer.

I'll keep on practicing and learn from my mistakes. I do owe a few tutorials before I can get to this one, so it may take a moment. Which is ok by me because these versions are not tutorial ready yet.

The one thing that I don't much care for with finger waves is the amount of product is in my hair to make it behave even this much. The thickness and poofiness of my hair texture requires a bit more caking of the goop! I guess I will just have to get used to it!

How is your 2014 going so far? Any new hair styles you all are trying out?