Ghost Writers in the Sky

It's not screaming red, more auburn. It doesn't even look like it came out of a bottle. That's good. I have to confess that I think red hair looks better when it comes out of a bottle, because you don't have to worry about weird complications like invisible eybrows, and you might even have a little bit of color to your complexion. (I don't, but you might.) Several of my cousins are natural "redheads," but my grandmother always said that I was her red-headed granddaughter. The others had "pink" hair, so she said. I never really understood that.

Mine didn't exactly come from a bottle, I was a henna junkie for many years. Members of my family, and my hairdresser, though my hair grew henna red naturally. snort With that, I am reminded of a quote from Georgette Mosbacher, a socialite who founded and runs La Prairie cosmetics, but is probably best known for being married to former U.S. Department of Commerce Secretary Robert Mosbacher. Don't ask me why, but I picked up her "autobiography" in a bookstore many years ago and opened it to a random page. I read "I was not born a redhead, but I was born to be a redhead." You go, girl, I guess.

Socialites fascinate me. They marry well, they lend their names--and sometimes even their efforts--to the right causes, and they get their pictures in W. They own more than one evening bag and they all seem to wear just a little bit too much makeup. They have big hair and they all know Martha Stewart, but Martha is not one of them because she made her own damned money. (That's about the only thing I can respect the woman for: she knows how to make money. Maybe Martha ought to be secretary of commerce.)

The other bizzare quote that sticks with me after having picked up a random book in a bookstore is this, from a pink-covered paperback "biography" of Mariah Carey. "She's not only Mariah Carey, successful recording artist, she's also Mariah Mottola, devoted wife to Tommy."

I'll wait while you pick yourself up off the floor.

Anyway, I still have red hair. It looks good.

before - after