'Pow' day"

1900

"POW" DAY

For many crowded, mixed families in the small "house and chamber" cottages on Buckley Mountain, haircutting was a home affair. Mam emerged with scissors and discarded bed sheet, placed a chair outside the overcrowded dwelling, and, enveloping their victim with sheet, proceeded to trim and cut the family's hair. A colloquial term was to have a "pow", i.e. poll. After the hair cut, the boys would often playfully tap each other's shaven poll (head) and give them a "pow-smack".

Powling = Shearing

Author: Bentley, James

'Pow' day"

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