Sunday, September 30, 2012

Not THAT Fifty Shades of Gray...

No, no, no  I mean my HAIR which is now at least fifty shades of gray. From charcoal to dove to silvery to white, finally  after a rocky period of growing it out  it now looks pretty damn good.

Eighteen months ago I decided I had to stop coloring my hair.  It took time, it was expensive, it was a lot of chemicals seeping into my head through my scalp. I knew what it was doing to my schedule and my bank account  who knew what it was doing to my brain?  It took me about two months to hesitantly bring it up with my hair colorist (a lovely guy named Mark who gave great color).  Gently I told him that I LOVED my color but I just didn't want to spend the money or the time any longer.

He looked in the mirror, stared straight at me and said, "WELL, you know it'll take about a year and we'll have to highlight it while it's growing out, which is more expensive because it's a more time-consuming process, BUT we can do it." 

More time?  More expense?  GEEZ  no thank you. I decided to go cold turkey.  For awhile it looked awful, but I was determined to ride it out.  Then after a few months in the no-color-zone, a crazy coincidence happened.  Through email and then phone, I "met" a woman who lives in California and was connected through my work.  We graduated college the same year, both had boy-girl twins, and hit it off almost immediately.  Susan shared with me her blog and when I started reading it  lo and behold  there was the post Time To Kick the Habit  all about not coloring your hair!  

Even Katie Couric recently did a show just about hair  and talked about how she did "a day in gray" and what that felt like. (You do feel you look "older" because we women have been coloring our hair so long we don't have a true image of what our age really looks like.)


Susan has written far more eloquently about this than I could (read her post!) but I'll quote her here: 

"Society’s views of aging women have not been kind to those of us who yearn to live more authentically."

Well  fifty shades of gray and all  I'm living more authentically and (regardless of what society thinks)  I'm lovin' it!

4 comments:

  1. Congratulations Denise! Looks like it grew out very nicely indeed. I grayed very early and never had the energy (or the money really) to color it. Although over 20 years of no color, sometimes I am tempted...:) but have decided to put my energy in other directions for now. Best part is to hear you are LIVING more authentically... keep inspiring us, ok?

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  2. And keep inspiring ME with your thoughtful comments and way of living YOUR life authentically Teri...

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  3. Your hair looks great and the different shades make it more interesting.

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    1. Thank you very much--I really am happy with it---and from some of the email feedback, I guess I'm lucky with how it grew out!

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