Carolyn J.
Rose
Twenty years ago I
passed in front of a mirror in a poorly lit room and saw my
mother.
Actually, I saw
myself, but in the dim light with short mousy brown hair sprinkled with gray and
a blouse resembling one she owned, the resemblance was
uncanny.
The next day I
streaked my hair and vowed to let it grow.
Don’t get me wrong,
my mother was an attractive woman and I admired her. But my gut reaction was
that I was too young to look like that—“like that” meaning
“old.”
Now I’m about the age
she was when I glanced into that mirror. My husband’s hair and beard are
gray-white and the wrinkles in my face are telling me I’m not kidding
anyone—least of all myself—with the golden-brown dye job I have now. It’s time
to stop the cover-up.
I tried out the idea
on some friends at the pool—some a little older and some a little younger.
Comments ranged from “You seem to have lots of silvery white in there so I think
it will look good” to “It’s your life” to “You can’t. You’ll look so
old.”
My response?
I am old. I’m started-on-Medicare-last-year old. Old enough
that I don’t need to explain or defend a decision as minor as
this.
Still, after two
decades of dyeing, going gray won’t be easy. And it won’t be pretty. There will
be growing pains. There will be moments when I reach for the phone to dial my
hairdresser. There may even be tears.
But if I avoid
mirrors, I think I can make it.
Root for
me.
(Pun
intended.)
Think of the shwarma you can buy now that you're not spending bucks on hair color!
ReplyDeleteEEEeeeeeek. The rest of us won't have to join you, will we?
ReplyDeleteNo, Melanie, you can keep your green and orange locks. LOL
ReplyDeleteHi Carolyn,
ReplyDeleteIt is purely coincidence that I read this post, just a couple of days after listening to a 'Woman's Hour' radio programme, whilst driving home from work.
The interviewer was talking with two female television presenters, one who assiduously dies her hair and would never dream of letting the grey show through.
The second presenter had decided that the time had come for her to stop subjecting her hair and scalp to all the chemical treatments and had allowed her hair to revert to its natural 'silver highlights' state. No problem you might think, until she was hauled into the Director's office, where she was told in no uncertain terms that she had 'let herself go' and was therefore unable to be front of camera anymore!
If choosing to be what you are naturally meant to be is now classed as 'letting yourself go', then bring it on! We'll have a 'silver locks' photo comparison, once all your dye has grown out.
Yvonne