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I want to tell you a story about a dear friend of mine who joined the faithful departed- my hair dryer. Now before you blow this off or judge me, let me explain. This was no ordinary hair dryer. It was a red Son of a Gun by Clairol. It was compact. It was effective and efficient. It was over 25 years old! Yes an appliance that faithful deserves a moment of recognition. Oh sure, over time it had developed some issues. It overheated if anyone with long hair borrowed it, so much so that it would a burnt odor would emit and it would shut off. (I have a short hairstyle and only used it for about 5 minutes per blow dry.) The wattage label had worn off and the cord was permanently twisted. But I cleaned the vents on occasion and stored it properly. I did the best I could to preserve it. It was faithful with a few minor inconveniences. I loved that blow dryer. I thought my blow dryer and I would be together for many more years to come. That is, until,
recently.
I continued in my regular morning routine as I exited the shower. Wrapped in my robe, moisturizers on my face, I pulled my trusted friend out of the cabinet. After applying my recipe of hair product I plugged it in and was ready for a fresh fluffy do. I picked up my hair dryer and that’s when it happened. BAM! It literally fell apart in my hands. Spilt right in two! I was filled with panic and fear. It was incredulous. What had just happened? I took a deep breath, looked inside and realized the plastic parts connecting the two halves had broken. (WARNING! DO NOT TRY THE FOLLOWING!) So, I simply held the two halves together and turned it on. I figured if it still worked, I get some tape later and secure it. What I didn’t think about was that I could possibly get ELECTROCUTED. I didn’t but that’s not the point. After I turned on the hair dryer, I heard a noise from inside the dryer. Perhaps a plastic piece had broken off and had fallen into the motor. I separated the halves again, gave it a shake and nothing fell out. It was at that point, I realized it was over, all those years of hairstyles, all that coiffing, done, no more, over forever.
Then it dawned on me, my hair dryer represented more than good looking hair in life. It was a symbol for my habits over the years. It was something I was used to and knew how it would perform. I overlooked the flaws and made due. The comfort I got from the predictable had a certain peace. Yes, I put up with inconveniences and had to make compromises. I was okay it with. It was something I could control and rely on, so I thought.
What dawned on me as I stood there wide eyed, damp haired with one half of my Son of a Gun in each hand was that it literally had to fall apart in my hands for me to make a change. Even then I was reluctant. Come on. I could’ve been electrocuted. HELLO! Can you say denial? Cry for help? When something in my life no longer serves a healthy purpose, it’s time to let it go. I want to be someone who doesn’t need to have parts of my life literally fall apart before I change my ways. What has to change in order for me to change? My road to recovery, stepping out of the darkness of denial and into the light of healing has got to be filled with letting go. I can no longer carry all the hurts, habits and hang ups of my past and live free!
I have a choice, remain anchored to the past or call on my Savior for strength and courage to move forward. I choose to move forward. Son of a Gun, I think there’s hope for me yet.
Dear Daphne,
As I sit here at my computer at 5:00 AM searching Google in the hopes that just perhaps somewhere out there there is a working replacement for my Son of a Gun dryer I found your comments. My dryer is taped together and the cord has been cut and spliced back together and I know it’s end is near.
I feel all of your thoughts about the dryer but now see the bigger picture, I don’t like change. I’ll take your comments to heart and hopefully become a better person, but I’m sure now and then I will do another Google search.
Dennis
Dennis, I have one if you are still interested.
I still have my son of a gun it’s still works great, look brand new my use it sometime but not often. I had it sensed 1979 I won it from my brother playing cards. I just kept it my draw all these year’s.
You may want to have it checked. Seems like there may be a reason they’re no longer available.
My wife and I were married in 1982. She bought the little red Son-of-a-gun because it was the cheapest hair dryer she could find. She has had others since but keeps going back to her old favorite. 38 years later, I dropped it and it broke. She used a hair tie to put it back together and still uses it. The plug is not grounded but she is smart enough to use it safely.
When you find something that works be it an appliance or relationship, care and respect make them last longer.
the cardboard in these was asbestos – airborne right into your face.
WOW! I had no idea. I guess it’s a good thing I never got another one. Thank you for the information.
I just bought one, brand new, never used from an estate sale. They had 2 new ones. I don’t see any cardboard in it. I can’t really find info online for some odd reason.
Hi Vicki,
From what I have learned the main reason they discontinued them was actually because the plug was not grounded. They reintroduced them with a safety plug. I’m excited for you find. Enjoy!
Hey there, Daphne. I don’t know about the asbestos claim, or even if it would be a concern if it were there (asbestos is still safely used in many products). The early models of the Clairol Son of a Gun were recalled because they didn’t have ground fault interrupt safety plug, but the later models have this safety feature. I have one with the safety plug that I’m looking to sell. If you’re interested, I assume you see my email address. Just let me know before I list it elsewhere.
I’m not sure how I missed your message. I appreciate your offer. I hope you’ve been able to sell it. Thank you for reaching out.
My Son of gun is now 35 years old and still working. My wife was amazed that it was that old.
WOW! That’s longer than many marriages last. Thanks for sharing.
Daphne. I just had my trusty Son Of A Gun die today. It’s outlast two marriages and hundreds of hair styles. I went to google the darn thing and came across your message and literally started to cry. I’m am adult gay man and I seen from all the comments that we are more and more alike in so many ways. We’re human and some of us hang on to memories and great products that work. I had used mine 2-3 times a day from 88-94. Then in 2003 I had a FUR Baby and she used in til her last bath in Jan/2019. Today sitting her newly divorced, I can say your word struck a cord (no Pun Intended) in my heart. Being gay it was hard to talk my parents into buying me a hair dryer. So Granma did. I told my Mom it was for MEN, that’s why it called Son Of A Gun. It my dryer could talk! Before pagers, cell phones and social media selfies!! WE HAD HAIRSPRAY AND BLOWDRYERS AND MIRRIOS!!most of all we were confident we looked good! Anything that we invested time into meant so much. I’ll move on too! I may keep it. It looks BRAND NEW. I appreciate everyone that’s commented! Daphne you’re a ROCK STAR! Tell your husband I said SOO TOO!!
Thank you for sharing, Ricky.
Today is Jan 17 2020. I’be been using my 1981 model son of a gun hair dryer to thaw out my frozen pipes in this old shack I live in in rural Alberta. It’s been minus 38 degrees at nights the pipes froze twice. Amazing hair dryer! Bright red/orange colour. It actually belonged to an early girlfriend. She upgraded to a newer model around 1986. Ha ha. Mine still works great.
just got thru drying winter gloves with our son of a gun. we were trying to figure out how old it is. its the only one i have ever had. know i had it in 1983 for sure, still has paint splatter on it when did the bath room in our house. its dried hair, pets, glue, paint, yes frozen pipes. still going…..
WOW! Talk about built to last.
I did some research on the asbestos turns out there where asbestos recalls for the older models. The list contained the higher wattage models not the 1400 red model thankfully. Mine was my mothers she handed down to our bathroom to use if we liked… she had 2 older model little hairdryers for us that where almost identical one was white and one red. Even when we had nice newer hairdryers the 2 little blow dryers still remained on that bottom drawer untouched for many years. Not sure if both where son of a guns or not but the white one gave out or she gave away finally…..the red one was found years later in a bunch of boxes age had cleaned out her entire house and bathroom and gave me the treasures to either enjoy or yard sale. I luckily kept the old little red blow dryer for traveling only bc of its small size (bad idea) bc it was in mint condition until the airport tossed my luggage too hard and I ended up with a small crack where yours ended up breaking……it started to come apart but not as bad as yours. I have felt small electrical currents on my hand a few times while using it. Stupid I know…I just move my hand further away from the spot and hold it together as I use it. I’m done with it tho. Its been a great blow dryer but I’m ordering a new one right now and chunking it. Thank you for your blog bc we dismiss things way too easily. Our lives are far more important than a stupid piece of earthly junk we dont even really need and we have a King who died to show us how loved we are. Throwing it in the garbage IS freedom you where right and felt GREAT! God bless! Praise to God for our health and healthy children and mostly his great love for us.
Well done, Madeline. If we allow our possessions to become our treasures, we’re worshipping the wrong source.
I don’t know exactly how old my Son-of-a-Gun is, but I seem to remember using it in High School in the late ’60s. By the 1970’s my family had several, and I’ve been using one ever since! I know it’s an older one because the plug isn’t grounded. I don’t care: I’m not going to drop it into a sink full of water anytime soon! (I mean, how stupid do you have to be to let that happen??) Even if I did, the bathroom wall plug is on a GFIC circuit, so I’m protected.
LOVE my Son-of-A-Gun!!
My sister gave me my Son of a Gun as a gift in 1980 and I still use it every day. I have taken it completely apart numerous times to clean out the lint and oil the motor, then I put it back together using polyester tape across the seam (the screws broke on mine also).