Why Are Your Legs Dirty Mummy?
By Jabo
@jaboUK (64361)
United Kingdom
April 28, 2016 9:42am CST
As a child in the 1940s I remember watching in disbelief as my mother made her legs dirty. I couldn't understand it as she was so fussy about me and my sisters being clean.
Material of any kind was in short supply during World War 2 and for some years afterwards, and that included stockings. They just weren't available.
These were the days before trousers (pants) on women came to be the norm, in fact the only women who wore them were the ones doing men's work in the factories, whilst the men were at the war.
It wasn't the done thing to be seen to be bare-legged, so my mother made a liquid from gravy browning and painted it on her legs.
When the stain was dry she would draw a line down the back with a pencil or crayon to resemble the seam of the stocking. Who was fooled by this procedure I do not know, but most of the women in our neighbourhood did it.
Did you ever see your mother doing something you couldn't understand?
Photo is my mother.
57 people like this
62 responses
@PainsOnSlate (21854)
• Canada
28 Apr 16
I never saw my mother do that but by the time I would notice, the war was over and life was good in the USA. Now that I think about it I never saw my mother without hose unless she was in a bathing suit or shorts or pants...and she did wear pants in the 30's and 40's. I have photos of her...
7 people like this
@jaboUK (64361)
• United Kingdom
28 Apr 16
@PainsOnSlate Regarding the pants thing - America has always been ahead of us in the fashion thing, we usually catch on a few years later. Interesting photo of your mom and dad - did they shoot a lot?
4 people like this
@PainsOnSlate (21854)
• Canada
29 Apr 16
@jaboUK Mom was a farm girl with a college education (a teacher), My dad loved to hunt so yes, before children, they would go out with friends and hunt turkeys and deer. With motherhood, mom let the men hunt and she stayed home with babies.I believe this photo was late 30's or early 40's.
5 people like this
@RasmaSandra (73602)
• Daytona Beach, Florida
28 Apr 16
@jaboUK very interesting and I could say innovative. As a little child I guess there were quite a few things I couldn't understand why mom did them. I do remember she had excellent balance because those high-heels with the spiked nails wow and she managed to walk normally.
5 people like this
@allknowing (130063)
• India
28 Apr 16
Not that there was anything odd about my mother but I admired the way she managed with those meagre rupees that my father gave her to take care of the household.
5 people like this
@allknowing (130063)
• India
29 Apr 16
@jaboUK Even the nuns at school did not know we were hard pressed that they would ask for donations. (lol)
5 people like this
@jaboUK (64361)
• United Kingdom
28 Apr 16
@allknowing Women used to have to know how to manage with very little, didn't they?
4 people like this
@jaboUK (64361)
• United Kingdom
29 Apr 16
@allknowing Did your father not have the money, or was he just mean?
4 people like this
@crazyhorseladycx (39515)
• United States
28 Apr 16
what a strikin' woman yer momma was :D i played caretaker to a lady who finally passed when she was 103 yrs young. she used to tell me'f the times durin' the depression - not far from this story'f yer mum. lots'f stories came from her 'n i delighted'n each'n e'ery one. they'd draw lines'n each others legs actually where she was from - 'n hopes'f 'em bein' straighter, lol.
's far's my momma? she still does/says schtuff i don't comprehend. i love'er jest the same.
5 people like this
@jaboUK (64361)
• United Kingdom
28 Apr 16
@crazyhorseladycx Thanks Crazy, my mother was a lovely person inside and out.
Yes I imagine that there were similar stories from the depression era.
Lol about your momma
4 people like this
@crazyhorseladycx (39515)
• United States
28 Apr 16
@jaboUK yer welcome :) she raised some lovely daughters's well.
3 people like this
@Daljinder (23233)
• Bangalore, India
28 Apr 16
Funny you brought the fact up @JaboUK Yesterday only I was going through some historical photos and came upon one such picture. The one showing how the women painted their legs since stockings weren't there. I think I will post all those pictures in a discussion.
6 people like this
@jaboUK (64361)
• United Kingdom
28 Apr 16
@Daljinder How coincidental is that?. I'd love to see a photo of a woman painting her legs. At least it shows that I don't make my stories up!
. I'd love to see a photo of a woman painting her legs. At least it shows that I don't make my stories up!3 people like this
@jaboUK (64361)
• United Kingdom
28 Apr 16
@Daljinder Yes I've just seen your pictures, thanks for posting them. They were really interesting, not just the leg painting one.
3 people like this
@Daljinder (23233)
• Bangalore, India
28 Apr 16
@jaboUK LOL No, your story is not made up. I just posted all the pictures. They are really messed up pictures too... 
3 people like this
@rebelann (111236)
• El Paso, Texas
28 Apr 16
I call that innovative. I've never seen anyone do that but then I was born in 1949 and being in the USA things were probably much different.
As for what unusual things mom did I can only say she is the only woman I knew (1960s) who did all her own yard work including mowing the grass. I'm not sure why the other moms didn't do anything outside but I am supposing that it had to do with the various cultures they originated from .... the lady of the house next door was Japanese and on the other side the lady of the house was Puerto Rican and there were a variety of other countries the other moms were from.
3 people like this
@BelleStarr (61047)
• United States
29 Apr 16
When I was a child my mom put bobby pins in her hair to make it curly since her natural hair is straight. I used to watch her twist the hair and pin it and wonder why she was doing that. Much later out would pop all the curls. My hair is naturally wavy so I have never had to do that. And your mother is indeed a lovely woman and I like the dog too!!
4 people like this
@jaboUK (64361)
• United Kingdom
29 Apr 16
@BelleStarr I expect bobby pins are our curlers. A lot of the women in this era I'm talking about kept their hair in curlers all day and tied a scarf round them. Then they'd take them out in the evenings. My mother's hair had a natural wave, so she didn't do it. My own hair is very straight.
Thanks for your compliment about Mum and Rover.
3 people like this
@LadyDuck (458730)
• Switzerland
28 Apr 16
Nice photo, your mother was a lovely beautiful lady. I have never seen my mother "painting" her legs and I cannot remember anything strange she did when I was a kid. I remember the stocking with the seam on the back, it was a pain to keep the seam straight.
3 people like this
@JamesHxstatic (29256)
• Eugene, Oregon
28 Apr 16
What a great photo of her to have around. That leg staining is a practice that I never heard of. I can't recall that my mother did or did not wear nylons in the 1940s. We were in west Texas, though so who knows what customs were there.
2 people like this
@jaboUK (64361)
• United Kingdom
28 Apr 16
@JamesHxstatic Yes I'm lucky to have that photo - I'm not sure if that was before she was married or not.
I don't suppose war restrictions reached as far as Texas.
1 person likes this
@JamesHxstatic (29256)
• Eugene, Oregon
28 Apr 16
@jaboUK I do recall that we had rationing and remember talk about nylons being unavailable.
2 people like this
@ridingbet (66857)
• Philippines
29 Apr 16
all in can say is... your mother is so beautiful, i bet she was still unmarried when this picture was taken?
2 people like this
@jaboUK (64361)
• United Kingdom
29 Apr 16
@ridingbet I was trying to work out how old she was in the picture. She got married aged 19, and probably this was before then. Thank you for your sweet comment about her.
2 people like this
@jaboUK (64361)
• United Kingdom
29 Apr 16
@ridingbet I would have put her more like 18, but I'm not sure.
2 people like this
@ridingbet (66857)
• Philippines
29 Apr 16
@jaboUK she looks like a sweet sixteen. if sh is still in high school, then probably 15?
1 person likes this
@Jeanniemaries (8237)
• United States
28 Apr 16
That's a great photo, your mom is beautiful!! It's no different really, than a tanning cream we might use today. Way to much trouble for me (I bought some in my youth) but if it makes you feel good, go for it. It's the faux seam that seems strange to me. I wondered myself if people would think they had stockings when drawing a line up the back of their legs? Wouldn't everyone know what was going on when they were so hard to get? Maybe more had them than we realized, and one wanted to part of that handful of people. My mom had three wigs. She didn't need a wig, she just liked them. She had a red wig, a brunette wig and a platinum blonde wig. She worked in a variety store and everyday she chose a different one to wear. Today we wouldn't think a thing but in the 1960's in a small town no one I knew had a mother who had a different color hair every day!
4 people like this
@jaboUK (64361)
• United Kingdom
28 Apr 16
@Jeanniemaries Thanks for being so kind about my mother.
During the war there were quite a lot of GIs about, and they were able to get nylons, which were very fine stockings. Some lucky women were on the receiving end of those (who knows what they did to get them?!)
So there were a few stockings about and the ones who didn't have them resorted to the method I've described in order to emulate them. They hoped they would pass for the real thing, but I shouldn't think there was much chance of that.
Funny about your mom and her wigs
2 people like this
@jaboUK (64361)
• United Kingdom
28 Apr 16
@Jeanniemaries I'm not saying they were all bad girls - a lot of them married GIs so were genuine love stories
3 people like this
@Jeanniemaries (8237)
• United States
28 Apr 16
@jaboUK They probably looked pretty real, it was common to do it even over here. She was probably naive enough also back in the day to no know why some were gifted with nylons! It would have never crossed my mind as a young single woman. I led a very sheltered life.
2 people like this
@zebra2222 (5269)
• United States
29 Apr 16
I can't imagine seeing that done today.
2 people like this
@jaboUK (64361)
• United Kingdom
29 Apr 16
@zebra2222 There aren't any shortages today, my mother would be horrified at the waste nowadays. I chuck away anything that is worn or has a hole in it, but she would have mended everything until it literally fell apart.
1 person likes this
@marguicha (215676)
• Chile
29 Apr 16
@jaboUK I was born in 1045, so I don´t know. Maybe there were food shortages, but not the difficult times that so many people had in Europe.
2 people like this
@jaboUK (64361)
• United Kingdom
29 Apr 16
@marguicha I'm glad it wasn't so bad for you in Chile. I expect there were some effects though?
2 people like this
@MALUSE (69413)
• Germany
29 Apr 16
I know about this but I don't remember seeing it. My mother must have done it, too as in the post-war GDR there was a lack of nearly everything. Women in the American sector had a chance of getting stockings from American soldiers. The Soviet soldiers, however, were 'poor pigs' as the Germans say. They had nothing to offer.
2 people like this
@fishtiger58 (29823)
• Momence, Illinois
29 Apr 16
How interesting I have never heard that this was done because the stockings were in short supply.
2 people like this
@jaboUK (64361)
• United Kingdom
29 Apr 16
@fishtiger58 Because our country is surrounded by sea, the enemy would sink the ships bringing in supplies - that's why there were so many shortages. It wasn't just clothes, but food as well.
1 person likes this
@fishtiger58 (29823)
• Momence, Illinois
29 Apr 16
@jaboUK I wasn't born yet then but my mom used to tell me stories about rationing and such.
1 person likes this
