Hair to Stay

“If you have tears, prepare to shed them now.” Shakespeare

“Don’t cry, baby, don’t cry.” Paul Simon

Bath time has never been the happiest of times for babies or mothers. At least not when it comes to shampooing.

Lola Bromberger recalls all too painfully the screams of her daughter, Nava, as soap inevitably dripped down the infant girl’s forehead and into her eyes. Bromberger’s husband, David, fashioned a small tire intertube to fit snugly around the child’s head--a sort of Michelin sweatband to keep the shampoo away from her face.

That was 20 years ago. Today, the Brombergers are sharing their homemade remedy with the rest of the world. The “Shampoo Water Shed” is a modernized version of that old tire tube, a blue foam-rubber contraption that is meant to help mothers wash their children without the screams and tears.

“It is so hard to bathe a newborn, and in this way you can protect the eyes and ears,” said Jemima Cea, a saleswoman at Baby Motive, one of several Los Angeles infant shops that sell the product. “People like them, and we are selling a lot.”

The Brombergers held onto their secret for about 20 years because they were busy running a Beverly Hills printing business. Last spring, they retired and decided to go right back into business, this time from their Tarzana home.

“This idea was 20 years in our minds,” said Lola Bromberger, 54.

“Shampoo Water Shed” has been available for only a couple months now. The Brombergers said they have sold about 5,000 of the rubber rings at $2.99 each. Soon, the product will be sold in Ralphs supermarkets.

Heather Verdugo, the health and beauty aide buyer for Ralphs, said the foam-rubber ring met with immediate approval from women executives at the grocery chain’s headquarters.

“They went crazy over it,” Verdugo said. “They said, ‘That’s something we’ve been looking for.’ ”