"When I was fifteen or sixteen years old, bouffant hair styles were very much the rage. It was almost as if it were a contest to see which girl could rat her hair the highest and pour the most spray on it. One day I went to the beauty shop to have my hair done. My hairdresser told me this story, and she swore that it really happened to a friend of her niece's. There was this girl who had ratted her hair so high, and put so much hair spray on it, that she never took it down and combed it out or washed it. One day a spider fell into her hair. When the baby black widow spiders hatched, they bit her scalp and she died. "

urban legends are often a means of expressing our fears about the dangers that ripple just beneath the surface of our seemingly calm and untroubled world Healthy pride in appearance can easily blossom into vanity, the all-encompassing love affair with oneself.

Primarily a "fatal vanity" type of legend about a young woman who dies because she foolishly allows her pride in having the highest "do" take precedence over basic hygiene.