Return of the Hillary Clinton Hair Watch

As Nora Ephron once said in what The New Yorker described as "an eviscerating profile" of newspaper publisher Dorothy Schiff, I feel bad about what I'm going to do here. But, like Nora, I'm going to do it anyway: Has anyone noticed what's going on with the secretary of state's hair?

Mostly recovered from an elbow injury, Hillary Clinton moved back onto the capital radar screen Wednesday with a foreign-policy speech that got serious coverage. But what I noticed, and this is seriously politically incorrect, is that she seems to be letting her hair grow and going for a softer look.

Clinton's ever-changing hairstyles were the object of way too much attention when she was the first lady. There were headbands and then no headbands. Bangs came and went. There was a long pageboy and a short one, layered looks and sleek ones. Last year she had a short, frosted, sculpted and very consistent look that said "I'm as tough and no-nonsense as my hair, so hire me as your president."

This week, Clinton's hair was longer and less lacquered. Not to read too much into it, but she's not running for anything and she doesn't have to prove anything to anybody. She can look the way she wants and let her position and performance speak for her.

It really was an interesting speech -- she talked about global interdependence and America's role as a leader in forging consensus to solve problems, among other things -- and you can read it here.