when i was a redhead

right after college, before grad school, in a rebellious fit of finding myself while adjusting to the cold hard reality of adult life, i got short hair.

was working in a newsroom then, weird hours. i had no social life to speak of, living at home with my parents in jerz. i was making $23,ooo/year with no benefits.  i wasn’t paying rent, tho, and it was the first real paycheck i ever got (my job at marcy’s ristorante and various babysitting gigs always paid my hourly wages in cash, off the books, at the end of the night.) so i felt flush.

decided to go to the fancy place in ridgewood, panico, to get my hair done. and i decided to pay up for the master stylist. her name was tabatha. instantly, i liked her. she was funny. she had an australian accent. she was very interesting to talk with. tabatha convinced me that my hair would look good short. and red.

it was a bold move but i trusted her. she just seemed so damned cool. her hair was stripped platinum. she had a tiny sparkle stud in her nose. she had HUGE boobs. she talked loud and said (and did) whatever she wanted. all the other stylists came up to ask her questions and consult.

when she spun me around and i had that shortish red ‘do, i was pumped. i cannot find any pictures from back then … but i do remember liking it. i remember it as sort of a kate goesslin cut … stacked in the back and longer in the front. sounds horrible now but it was the 90’s. the hard part was the upkeep … making sure i went back every few weeks to have it touched up. i loved going there, too. it was a treat to be around such a badass woman doing her thing.

one time, i got a call canceling my appointment with tabatha. the next time i saw her she said that her breast implant had popped out … broke through the skin while she was in the shower and she ended up in the hospital for a week. maybe i am remembering that wrong. i know it was a breast implant mishap that sounded uber painful. i was amazed by the candor with which she shared her predicament. it blew my good little repressed irish catholic girl mind.

so, the world’s different now. eventually i left the nest in bergen county, NJ. changed jobs, got a master’s degree, moved to the city. and after searching around a bit for a few years, i’m now in a long-term committed relationship with my stylist david whom i’ve been seeing since 2005. the rebellion’s over. now i just want to be a pretty girl with long blond hair. it’s probably what i wanted then too, tho i was too stubborn to admit it.

today whilst having a real housewives (orange county) marathon with my mama, i saw countless promos for a show called tabatha’s salon takeover. i was almost positive it was the same lass who gave me those memorable locks back in the day. her bio on bravo’s web site confirmed it. from what i can see she ditched the implants. and she got real skinny for tv.

alas, i will be watching via dvr, remembering fondly the days of my red do and the crazy cool chick who gave it to me. am glad she has had so much success. she was a good egg, that tabatha.