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Duchess Meghan was connected to celebrity colorist Kadi Lee in 2020, after Meghan had underwhelming results when trying out boxed dye during lockdown. She can make jam, keep bees, and has mastered the art of calligraphy, but the boxed dye stymied Mrs. Sussex. Hey, we can’t be good at everything! Anyway, we learned this whole backstory last November when Meghan celebrated the launch of Kadi’s Highbrow Hippie haircare line, another woman-run business Meghan invested in. At the time, Meghan said of Kadi: “I am so proud to invest in her as a friend and as a female founder.” That was well before we knew that Meghan’s Lemonada podcast would be released in April and called Confessions of a Female Founder, or that Kadi would appear on the pod. During that April 22 episode, Meghan again brought up her inglorious brush with boxed dye, calling her coloring attempt “very inky, almost Elvira-esque black.” Well, it’s taken a month, but Cassandra Peterson, the real Elvira herself, caught wind of the comment and issued a response to Meg on Instagram:
Cassandra Peterson, the actress behind the iconic Elvira character, playfully weighed in after Meghan joked about an at-home dye fail that left her looking “almost Elvira-esque” during the pandemic.
The Duchess of Sussex shared the anecdote on a recent episode of her podcast Confessions of a Female Founder, recalling how a DIY hair job in 2020 turned her locks “very inky, almost Elvira-esque black.”
“Hey princess, if you ever need beauty advice from a queen just let me know,” Peterson wrote in a post on Instagram under the handle @therealelvira.
Peterson, 73, posted a screenshot of the article to her Instagram alongside a signature glam shot of her in full character as the Mistress of the Dark.
On her podcast, Meghan said that the hair mishap ultimately led her to connect with her current colorist — and close friend — Kadi Lee.
The Duchess of Sussex shared that she met Lee through hair stylist Serge Normant, who styled her tresses for her 2018 royal wedding to Prince Harry.
“He and I became friends after he did my hair for my wedding,” Meghan said about Normant. “So my family had just moved to California. We were staying in our friend’s home. And because it was the pandemic, I kept ordering boxed hair dye. And I thought, ‘I’m gonna look just like she does on the box.’”
However, the DIY style didn’t quite turn out like she imagined!
“Instead, it was this very inky, almost Elvira-esque black hair,” Meghan said in a relatable revelation. “And I texted Serge, and he said ‘You need to see Kadi.’ And you came over. I mean, we were masked and all the things. It was such an interesting time, but I remember that day so well.”
People will read this clapback from Cassandra in all sorts of ways (and they certainly are in the comments to the post), but my take is that it is all playful and in good faith. Cassandra saw an opening and took it! What’s the worst that could happen? Either Cassandra continues her life as someone who has never had any direct contact with Meghan Sussex. Or, what I think would be the smarter move, Meghan reaches out in some way. Sends her a jar of honey, some bewitching bath salts, or invites her over to make a snazzy video of unloading a Tesla. There’s opportunity here for a moment that would be PR gold for both ladies, is what I’m saying! Kind of like the way Meg and Gwyneth Paltrow deftly quashed those feud rumors.
As for tress maintenance, I’m trying to think back into the murky void of that first year of the pandemic, to remember when I started getting my hair cut/colored again. I definitely stretched out the visits longer than usual, and went to a hole-in-the-wall, struggling salon I had stumbled upon near my friend’s apartment, where I was staying to take care of his rabbit (and no, that isn’t a euphemism for anything). Everyone was masked the whole time (including myself), and the place was always sparsely attended (I was usually the only client there). I felt we were all taking safety precautions, and my heart went out to the small business. Happy to report that the salon is still open. The rabbit, sadly, is no longer with us.
Photos credit: IMAGO/Moritz Mueller/Avalon, IMAGO/Kadir Ilboga/Avalon, IMAGO/Christoph Hardt/Avalon, Getty and via Instagram
