November 18, 2015

"Along about the time I became a great-grandmother I dyed my white hair blue. Not a wussy 'blue-rinse' blue..."

"... but eye-stabbing, punk-kid blue. At the time, I didn't do any soul-searching. I just thought, What the hell, why not?"

Says Anne Bernays, the 85-year-old writer, who still teaches a writing class at Harvard and who was quite beautiful as a young woman.



(Her husband took that picture in 1957.)

21 comments:

Curious George said...

It's not that blue.

Wince said...

Does the carpet match the... I don't even want to know.

cubanbob said...

A darker blue would have been my preference. Anyway good for her. If I live that long I would love to be that sharp and spunky at 85.

CStanley said...

The most remarkable thing about her youthful photo is that the caption says that her husband took the photo the day after their child was born. I sure wouldn't want to air photos of myself right after childbirth!

CStanley said...

Hallo, she resembles Anne Hathaway in that photo.

Michael K said...

One of my patients who had colon cancer wore a green wig when her hair was gone from chemo. I thought it was cute.

This women sounds odd.

Christy said...

I wanted to dye my hair a royal blue, a particularly good color for me, a couple of months ago. Stylist wouldn't do it, insisted the color wouldn't hold and I'd be unhappy. From the pic, I see she was right. Did I already share that story here? Sorry, you know how forgetful white haired ladies can be. I did like the look when my 5 year old niece used her blue crayola hair color on me.

Etienne said...

Her husband died last year after she came into the room with her new blue hair. OK, he said, this is a good time to check-out... Adios...

Sebastian said...

"old folks are invisible"

For certain people, nothing matters more than to be "visible."

Female people more than male people, but not exclusively.

Temujin said...

She's great.

madAsHell said...

As a kid growing up in 1960's Seattle, I seem to remember a lot of blue haired elderly women. I think I used to sell hair bluing in my Dad's drug store.

A quick google search, and my memory is correct. I did sell hair bluing.

Pink was probably the next most popular color, but we didn't sell it in the drug store.

Paco Wové said...

Meh. I was expecting bluer.

Drew W said...

I read Anne Bernays' Professor Romeo, which was very funny. And I went to college with her daughter, who was quite charming.

Curious George said...

"madAsHell said...
As a kid growing up in 1960's Seattle, I seem to remember a lot of blue haired elderly women. I think I used to sell hair bluing in my Dad's drug store.

A quick google search, and my memory is correct. I did sell hair bluing.

Pink was probably the next most popular color, but we didn't sell it in the drug store."

Hair bluing turns hair white, not blue.

Valentine Smith said...

Ain't she special

Guildofcannonballs said...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sanpaku

I endorse nothing.

Sanpaku can be useful or not, here or elsewhere or otherwise.

Or not.

There is disinformation as ideology, which the French showcase by their green energy that walks the walk, as only nuclear power can in many fundamental ways, in contrast to "green energy" meaning crony tax-draining as soul-saving religion of the devil's highest aspirations of a false nature's apex.

William said...

In the younger photo, she looks like she knows some dirty little secret which she will tell you about at the appropriate time. That's not a matronly smile......Old age sucks, but maybe blue hair can offer some symptomatic relief. For me being invisible is a feature and not a bug, I don't know any upside to arthritis however.

tim maguire said...

That's not punk rock blue, that's crazy lady blue. Maybe if she sprung for a professional job...

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

She looks like Sally Kohn?

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

Or Sally looks...whatever

Rockport Conservative said...

My granddaughter is a freshman at college this year. First time away from home. The first week she dyed her hair crayola blue. I didn't get a chance to tell her before she dyed it back, but my first thought was, "Old ladies have blue hair." Maybe I should dye mine.