DREAD LOCKS

No it's not what you think. I'm not getting Dread locks. It's just that my locks dread this time each month when I have to get a haircut. Bottom line, I have always had an uneasy alliance with my hair. Let me put it this way, my hair has a mind all it's own.

I don't think I'm alone. Doing mornings you learn that the real struggles at TV stations begin before the newscast, and they usually involve hair. I've worked with two weather people since I've been at the station. Hillary Howard and Kim Martucci. They have something in common. They each began their morning with a curling iron or some other device, twisting and contorting their hair to do their bidding. In several cases the hair won these struggles and my colleagues would leave the green room in disgust.

I don't really like my hair. I don't like it short, and I don't like it long. I also never can seem to get comfortable with someone chopping my hair. I've had at least 7 or 8 people cut it since we moved here from Tampa. I'm convinced a couple of the folks used machetes and weed whackers to take out some of my locks.

For a time I even went to a guy who charged a fortune, and went by one name. You know if you go by just one name, you are big time. Think Bono, Edge, Cher, and Pele. If you have one name you are the biggest and the best!

Now his haircuts were fine, and you can't knock a guy with a french accent. But if I had my druthers there would be only one person clutching my hair with a scissors in hand. The only problem is I just did a map quest and this person is 2,656 miles away from the station. So naturally it's out of the question. Although I did get my hair cut by her last month.

So who is she? Her name is Kathy Sweigart, and she's my sister. I guess having a beautician as a sister provides insights about her trade that most people should never know. My sister knows everything, she is part hairdresser, part journalist. I'm convinced if you put me in a room to do a one on one interview with Eliot Spitzer I'd probably come away with a lot of defensive answers. I think I'm a pretty good interviewer too. But if Kathy was there with a scissors, Eliot would come away with a really nice haircut and Kathy would have all sorts of exclusive information about his sordid past. Kathy says there's something about holding someones hair in your hands. It just causes people to open up.

My sister has magic hands, but she also has a heart of gold. She did my mom's hair every week for 40 years. Week after week, month after month. When my mother passed away she insisted on going to the mortuary. She wanted to do my mom's hair one last time so that she looked perfect for the rosary. I can't imagine how difficult that must have been. But Kathy just had to do it. it didn't surprise me. Kathy has also provided hair care for chemo patients free of charge for the last 8 years. So you see I'm spoiled, and so is my hair. It's not just that Kathy is a great beautician, it's that she's a great person too. So even if I drop a lot of money to get my hair cut by some french guy with one name, but you can easily see, why in my mind, he can't hold a candle to my sister.