Sugar on top
As far back as I can remember, my mother had gorgeous hair. She developed a swath of white in the front that contrasted with her black-blue hair when she was pregnant with me.
At least half her strands had turned when I was a preschooler, and by the time I reached middle school, it was completely white. Like a mound of sugar in sunlight. More glittery than a blingee.
Everyone raved about her hair, and she wore it proudly. Not once did I hear her contemplate coloring it. With all that white, she looked at least a decade younger than her chronological age.
I will always remember the Tibetan nursing assistant who was the last person to wash her snowy cap of hair, just days before she died. Somehow the act seemed reverent and fitting.
All said, my mother was the quintessential role model for going "gray."
So it puzzles me why I haven't done the same.
If I'm lucky (and my roots give me every reason to believe so) I appear to be keeping under the wraps of sepia and golden highlights a show of cool steeliness.
Each month, as I watch the march of white push back the pretend brown, I ask myself:
Is it time?
Image: Artic wolf "seeker" by Mike Lentz
Comments
Yes, I have hair envy.
Consider this: it's only paint. If you hate it, you can paint over the result. The amount I save is huge and allows me to spend that money on things more enduring. I keep it cut in a stylish short do and put my makeup on every day. I don't look old and decrepit. Yet.
Here was the piece I wrote when I took the plunge:
( http://nursingpurls.blogspot.com/search?q=boldly+going ) Jump on in, the water is fine.
Having said that, if I were to go grey, I think I would just leave it to do its thing. I'm not one for fuss. (Easy for me to say, right?)
Kat
Coloring my hair is something I've never done and I just can't imagine starting now.
I think the biggest reason is that I'm just too cheap.
I envy you mother however. White would be oh so lovely.
Glittery as a blingee?
My strands of gray don't bother me so much for the change of color but for the odd texture. It just "boings" out of my head with a mind of its own.
Because many ladies get used to colouring their hair well before there's any grey to cover up, I think it simply becomes part of the routine. But natural hair can be every bit as attractive and, as Rudee says, you can always cover it up again if you don't like the look!
Thank you SO much for all those wonderful comments. I feel so inspired to go for it now. Besides, I can always change my mind, as you've convinced me!
Woo-hoooo!!!!
Thank you--
Kathleen
Great post!!