Little Dab'll Do It

Long time ago, there was a hair gel in the days when men did ducktails with their longer locks. A certain product that had a catchy "little dab'll do yah" radio ad theme, was popular amongst the chaps.Very cool thing ducktails. To keep man hair where they wanted it, the guys had tail combs sticking out of the back pockets of their strides in those days, very dangerous looking they thought, and would whip them out to display their talents at ducktail artistry. It was accompanied by Elvis hip gyrating and come-on smoky eye looks and then like a cool cowboy, the Elvis wannabe slung his comb back into the hip pocket and swaggered off.  Ooh, so cool. But that little dab of hair product, isn't the one I speak of, even though nostalgia is hard to put down. The dab I think of today, is from one of the tiny bottles of paint you see in the local drug store nail cosmetic section. These days of salon nails that could scare even the tiger and its claws, the old nerve nibbled digits of my highschool days are no longer to be seen. A good thing. They disappeared with circle skirts, petticoat crinolines and bobby socks. The bottles of colour that festoon the drug store aisles in all colours you can think of, and more, are what I speak of.  A household hint I stumbled on happened when my bevy of watch straps, mostly purchased on cruise ships in the ten dollar shop, began losing their colour in the "genuine leather" that I think was actually tanned chicken skin, began to lose its gloss. My collection of cheap watches put rainbows to shame and instead of throwing them out when their edge shades wore down, I hied off to the local pharmacy and matched up their tones with what I could garner from the nail polish shelves. Suddenly, the old tatty watches took on new life. Chicken skin or not, they looked dandy with a new coat of nail polish paint. This conjured up other ways of using my find: nail polish as paint. While you can't do an entire wall with it due to cost, the paint is strong and stores well and if you are clever, can be mixed to match any shade you please. When I scuffed my favorite handbag, I took it shopping with me and matched up the colour with what I found you-know-where. Yes. On the nail polish shelf. So, you're tired of those old sneakers or maybe new ones need a cool look, try nail colour. You can do dots or flowers or name its. When my keyboard letters in white, the popular letters wore off first, out came the white nail polish. What I re-did doesn't look perfect, but it works. No new keyboard necessary. You might scoff and say, pretty expensive paint, my dear. But if all you need is a little dab, it'll do yah. Black and white, readily available at your corner drug mart is the handiest. My baseboards that the robot vac loves to take its revenge out upon, no more has its paint scraped from the whiteness of its corners. My black pasta bowls that somehow have chips around their bottoms, don't any longer, thanks to my nail polish discovery. When I wanted earrings to match something, and couldn't find the colour I needed, off I went to the nail polish shelf at the supermarket and chose the right shade. After, a short session of painting over a pair of earrings I no longer liked, I had a new pair in the perfect colour. And when the door in the house got chipped, guess what? Right! The chips are no longer to be seen.  A little dab'll do yah!