Prom Prep is a Family Affair in Alana Fish's House

Bobby pins, a hairbrush and a curling iron sat on the table, ready for a stylist to do a young woman’s hair for the prom.

But Alana Fish didn’t have her hair done for the WMHS senior prom at a salon. 

She had it done by a professional hairstylist, Debra Nadeau, who’s also her sister, at Alana’s home. Debra has done Alana’s hair for special occasions since eighth grade, Alana explained when she arrived home from having her makeup done at a salon. That was unusual.  Another sister would usually do her makeup, but she’s out of town.

 “What to do” with your hair? Debra asked Alana.

Alana wasn’t sure.  “I like big hair,” she said. 

“Alana is laid back about her hair,” Debra said. And “She has good hair.”

The style now is curls, but soft curls, instead of the tight curls of the ‘80s, Debra said.

Prom day was a perfect hair day, Debra noted, because it wasn’t too humid.

Debra began to comb, bobby-pin and spray Alana’s hair into place around 2:15 p.m. Debra’s 3 ½-year-old daughter, Jillian, sat for a while in Alana’s lap and talked about going to the prom with Alana. A 3 ½-year-old doesn’t usually sit on a customer’s lap in a salon, Debra observed. Jillian had to have a curl in her hair for the prom, her mother said.

While Debra worked, Alana answered questions about where she plans to go to school in the fall. Worcester State University, she said, to learn to teach high school English. Why that major? “Because of my teachers,” she said.  At WMHS, Alana was a member of the Activities Committee, a school resource officer mentor and, she said, a member of the indoor and outdoor track teams. She is one of the captains of both track teams this year.

Alana’s pink “princess dress,” as she described it, hung in the next room. She bought her dress early, before any of her friends, she said – in January or February.  Alana’s mother, Charlene, found the dress online. Then they searched area stores for the Tony Bowls creation. She described the style as “poofy.”

Jillian wore a sparkly pink dress.

Around 3:15 p.m., Debra finished Alana’s hair.

 “Now you can check it out,” Debra told her sister. Alana headed for a mirror and her first look at Debra’s work.

“I love it!” Alana exclaimed.

She went upstairs and stepped into her gown. Cameras flashed as she came downstairs to her mother, her grandmother, Mary Kenney; her sister, Elyse; and her hairdresser and niece.  Her mother helped her with her earrings.

More cameras would flash when her boyfriend, Corey Morrison, arrived. They planned to go to a friend’s for more pictures. Then to the picture-taking at the high school.

 Jillian was happy because she had her picture taken with Corey at Alana's house.

Only then would Alana and Corey drive, in their coach – her grandmother’s car with air conditioning – to the prom. No limo, Alana said, since she’d spent so much, already.

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