The process is complete!
It has been a year since I decided to stop coloring my hair. Even though I have been told by several hairdressers ( I fear that term dates me more than my gray hair does!) that my hair grows incredibly fast, it has taken the full year to grow completely out. The last of the colored ends were cut off this past week.
It turns out I am sporting nearly as much white as gray. There may still be more brunette strands than either white or gray, but not very many more. My new look is kind of retro, like “frosting” from the 1970s.
I don’t actually think much about it anymore except to note the difference in my hair and the locks of people I know to be my age or older who are showing not a single trace of gray. I mean back in our teens Valerie Bertinelli and I used to be the same age!
Alternating strands of brown, gray and white, signs of a life in progress. I figure I have earned every one. Each strand represents a life experience to me, each strand as important as the next, each contributing to who I am today.
Finally, I am quite comfortable in my own skin, or more accurately in my own hair. The little curly haired girl who self-consciously grew up in the land of Marcia Brady and Peggy Lipton has grown into the woman who can embrace not only her curls but her gray curls. Just as I declare my independence from the style police who have set the standards for what hair type is fashionable always leaving me outside the in-crowd, I discover that gray hair is the latest trend of 2012.
You’ve got to be kidding! Maybe I will dye mine red.
It was very liberating when I determined to let my hair be its natural color (silver with some white streaks). Not only did I go silver, I grew it long and really like it that way. I am positive that you look lovely (picture? maybe?).
Yes, liberating. Wish I had thought of that word. I don’t think there are any pictures of my gray locks. Its hard to get me out from behind the lens.
Well, from my Hairstylist point-of-view….I like a well-seasoned Gray. Sometimes, it’s just the perfect frame for the beautiful person who is the picture within. It might be bad for my industry but there are just people who blossom when they come out from under the imprisonment of Lady Clairol.
I have clients who are predominately white-haired and I often paint in dark low-lights to give them an intense “salt & pepper” color.
Wear your color proudly, a badge of honor and distinction!
I didn’t realize you’re a stylist. Wish we were closer. I would turn you loose with this mop of unruly curls just to see what you would come up with!
Well, isn’t this interesting! My husband (who never comments on hair, clothes etc.) has suggested that I highlight my hair (just a little)….I am just starting to have a small handful of gray hair (which I think is kinda cool!) I will probably try a VERY few highlights for a while…just cause he never asks for anything along these lines. We’ll see how I like it!
And…the “trend” looks slightly more purple than gray…so I think your independence is safe!!
So, no danger of people confusing me with Rhianna and her lavender look?! lol
So interesting that you’d post this. I just got home from a surprise 80th birthday party for my mother that my sister’s and I organized – and saw a woman at the spa where we spent a day together that had beautiful, bobbed gray hair – and I told her so. She said she’d just let it go. My favorite Aunt had let her hair go gray and had it cut very short – she looked so good! Much better than when she’d colored it. And I saw another woman walking out of Target with long, long gray/white hair, pulled up in a tortoise shell butterfly clip – she was stunning. Go grey girls, go! It’s so classic. And I’m with Lina – I’d love to see a photo of you sportin the look.
It needs a good cut rather than one from my quick in-and-out stop gap shop. Once I get that done I will see what I can do about a photo.
Was your mom delighted by the party? What a great milestone!