Pass the Salt and Pepper, please...
Granny chic? Silver foxes? The Marie Antoinette? Snow on the Roof? The new black?
There are tons of trendy phrases being flung about to describe what is a natural process as old as time: going gray and/or having gray hair.
I've toyed with the idea of letting the gray come in for several years now. I have a distinct 'Lily Munster' patch right at the top of my forehead (my brother has it too...thanks Mom!) that resisted colors even back in my 20's when I was changing hair color just for fun. I even tried to let it come in about 3 years ago, then panicked and dyed it again to my natural dark brownish black.
Earlier this year, around April, I decided to stop dying my hair for good and I'm finally comfortable with it. I'm even excited and slightly impatient when I see more gray streaks. 'Hurry up and fully grow in already!' Ha! Every day I notice a few silver hairs around my face and the hidden ones around the base of my hairline. I've even tell my husband when I have joyfully spotted another strand I didn't notice before. He thinks it's wonderful....and I just wonder why it took me so long to just let them be?
I see all the fuss with the fashion industry lately... Models and celebrities sporting 'silver' hair...bah! Let me be clear that silver hair dye is not the same as natural hair. What they call silver is more of a platinum blonde. I've done that too...bleached out my crazy dark hair and then moaned over the yellow-ish tone that just couldn't go lighter without breaking my poor hair like pieces of dry pasta! All stemming from my desire to have that cool stripe like Bonnie Raitt or the supremely awesome mane of Emmylou Harris. Artificial means damaged my hair over and over....and so I reconditioned and then went back to the dark side.
What was I afraid of? All I had to do was just....let it grow! Was I that vain? Resisting what is commonly accepted as a sign of aging in a youth-obsessed society kept me in a tangled web of my own tresses for quite awhile. I've never been afraid to tell people how old I really am....so why was I afraid to let it SHOW? I think I had to have bought into it...struggled with it....for so long that I finally found my own way. I have argued for years about the wisdom, joy and beauty in older women and at last...at 47...am ready to walk my talk...
Well, I guess I answered my own question! I'm not afraid anymore...so count me in! As proof, I will keep posting pictures occasionally here and on my FB page of my progressive graying... It's something I'm proud of....I've arrived...I've earned it! I have learned to love it....Nature's way of saying...'Lighten Up!.
But I think Mr. Cosby said it best:
If you want to gain the courage...start like I did! Look up pictures of women who have gray hair and see how totally gorgeous they are! Jamie Lee Curtis alone is totally hot, Helen Mirren, Lena Horne, Rita Moreno, gosh...so many more celebrities! It has to happen when you are ready though, that much I know. I wasn't ready when I was 40, either...but at 47, for me, the time has come! Thanks for stopping by!
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