Damage Control: The Perfect Beach Read for all Social Divas

We love them and we hate them; we revere them and we fear them; we need them and… jeez, we wish we didn't. They roll up their sleeves, snap on the gloves, sharpen the scissors, warm up the oil, set the timer, and calmly, blithely, ever-so-conspiratorially reassure us with promises of womanly perfection. We wait in their lobbies interminably, read their magazines, sip their organic teas, and bow to them. They're only doing their jobs, but for what we pay them in a single year, we could jet to Cabo for a week-long margarita fest. Who ARE these people?

They're the hairstylists, trainers, manicurists, waxers, nutritionists, masseurs, healers, and sundry other pain/pleasure purveyors whose phone numbers are on the top of every modern woman's speed dial. And in DAMAGE CONTROL (AVON A/An Imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers ) novelist, journalist, and now editor, Emma Forrest brings them to us on a skewer in an eclectic, colorful collection of essays and interviews by women in, around, and behind the spotlight.

In the opening piece, "You Have to Understand My Hair," Minnie Driver
reveals the details of a long-standing and very complex relationship she has had since childhood… with her hair, and how one fateful cut in her teen years shaped that relationship for years to come…

Rose McGowan, known for the TV hit Charmed and currently starring in the highly anticipated new film from Quentin Tarantino, advocates a middle ground as she considers the feminist rebuke of the beauty industry in "It Takes A Village": “I don't think people have to be glamour pusses all the time…but the bottom-line is: it's harder to be depressed with hot pink lipstick on.”

Emma Forrest herself contributes to the collection in "A Fixed Ideal," discussing her tattoo obsession and the Buddhist tattoo artist she falls in love with who helps her understand it…

The pieces cover the trivial to the sublime, touching on subjects ranging from cat haircuts, gossip, clean feet, and nose jobs to heartbreak, divorce, virginity, sexual abuse, cancer, and parental suicide. As Forrest writes: "It's real women writing about real things with raw honesty and courage and balls. And hope." We know you'll love it, Divas.

So, now you know you want it! Click here to buy the book.

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