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Hairstylist reflects on time with Rosalynn Carter
For years, Buckhead hair stylist Steve Hightower was the one former first lady Rosalynn Carter trusted to make sure she was camera-ready in the later years of her life.
ATLANTA - Even when they're out of the White House, the public has often been obsessed over the first lady's hairstyle and wardrobe choices.
Few people know that better than Buckhead hair stylist Steve Hightower. For years, he was the one former first lady Rosalynn Carter called to make sure she was camera-ready in the later years of her life.
"She was as wonderful as can be, from the first day I met her. To the very last. She was a wonderful lady," Hightower said while looking at a picture of himself and the former first lady.
Hightower met Carter more than a decade ago when an assistant set up a hair consult, and that first time in his stylist’s chair turned into years of trust. Keeping "Mrs. C" camera-ready for regular appearances at Carter Center events was a responsibility that Hightower took seriously.
"It's amazing what a hairbrush and a can of hairspray can do to get you through Secret Service and security," Hightower said, relaying some of his memories to FOX 5’s Kaitlyn Pratt.
Hightower shared that the former first lady was never keen on having Secret Service shadows and said she once told him a story of how she and her longtime love, President Jimmy Carter, ditched their security team to go to the Symphony.
"'We snuck out of the White House,’ she confided. And I said, ‘How did you sneak out of the White House?’ ‘We went out through a window,’ she continued. ‘Well, how did you get to the Symphony?’" Hightower recalled. "She answered, ‘In a cab.’"
The Buckhead stylist admired Carter's drive, recalling how she would work while getting her hair cut and colored – writing letters and going through stacks and stacks of reading material.
He was surprised to receive his own correspondence on official letterhead, penned in her neat cursive. It is now framed in his Lindbergh Way salon, reading in part: "The color is perfect! Your attention to fine hair has made you a master."
Former President Jimmy Carter (L) and wife Rosalynn Carter arrive at the 2015 MusiCares Person of The Year honoring Bob Dylan at Los Angeles Convention Center on February 6, 2015 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic)
When he learned Carter had entered hospice care, Hightower says he was numb. And when the family contacted him to do Mrs. C’s hair one last time, he got in his car and drove the three hours to Plains.
"I wanted to make sure their last memory of their loved one was as close and as perfect as it used to be. Does that make sense?" Hightower said.