Is it "grey" or "gray"? I know they're both correct, but which one is the preferred spelling? In spite of referring to the dictionary, I still don't know which spelling is preferred, so I'm sticking with "gray" for this blog post. ;-)
So. Gray vs. brown. Brown being my hair color. Gray being the color that is starting to grow in. Yikes. About 3 or 4 months ago I decided to stop pulling out the stray gray hairs because there were too many coming in to pluck! So far I haven't colored my hair. I haven't really decided what I want to do.
I've been pulling out random gray hairs since I was 22. Every so often I would look in the mirror and be shocked to see one long gray hair, so of course I would pull it out!
The hair that is growing in "gray" isn't really gray. It's more like clear white. Goodness me. They glisten. LOL
I told Kevin I'm going to dye my hair pink. He doesn't believe that I'll ever do it. But I will show him, one of these days I really will go pink. Hehe.
I am torn. I don't want to start spending the money to color my hair yet I don't really want to go gray either (I have QUITE a while till I'm gray, I probably have 15-20 gray hairs at this point. I give you permission to laugh at my consternation. ;-) ). I don't want the chemical exposure, the endless coloring. And yet those sparkly hairs mock me when I look in the mirror. For now I'm doing - nothing. What to do...what to do...
11 comments:
use Claiirol natural instincts. It's semi-permanantt.
I always feel that it is better to go natural and gradually turn gray/white since at some point one would probably stop coloring their hair and when they stopped, it would suddenly be really gray! I don't really have many gray hairs but I figure at almost 39, it isn't too far off!
I agree with Becky, you've earned the right to have every one of those gray hairs of wisdom! Plus if you have clear, white, glistening "gray" hairs it sounds like your hair will be BEAUTIFUL someday, like my mother-in-law who has the most beautiful, elegant snow white hair! All this coming from a 25 year old who only has one gray hair :-) Though to my frustration it's right on my part and always visible!
I say go natural, especially if it's coming in more white than gray ("grey"? I'm also at a loss). My grandmother had gorgeous white hair and I always told myself I'd skip coloring if I was so blessed. I think it even looks good in the salt & pepper stage. But I'm not quite there yet, so I can't vouch for what I'll actually do when the rubber meets the road!
I know I thought about this too. I've been leaning towards going natural as I start graying. We'll see once I start getting a lot of gray hairs. :)
Hi Tammy ~ interesting post! My answer will be a scriptural one: Proverbs 16:31 which says, "Long life is the reward of the righteous; gray hair is a glorious crown."
A friend of mine copied that verse on a small memory verse sized card 30+ years ago when I started getting gray hair. It really meant a lot to me, and I've kept it stuck on my dresser mirror all these years. It's yellowed and grayed (like me!), but I always see it and remember that the world may see just plain ol' gray hair but the Lord sees a glorious crown.
I love to see a lady with silvery hair glistening in the sun. My sister who's 4 years younger than I am has all white hair, and she's always getting compliments, and I've actually gotten them, too (from the deli lady behind the counter in the grocery store one day--those kind words linger!). :)
Does your husband have an opinion on it? Mine did...no color! :)
Thanks for all the thoughts! At this time I'm leaning towards not coloring and just letting them be. I'm not super anxious to start coloring my hair every 6 weeks.
Deb, my husband thinks his gray hairs are cool, and what he specifically told me about coloring is that if it is something I really want to do he doesn't have a problem with it. He likes my hair the way it is/will be if I don't dye it.
I bet nobody notices them but you. They probably just look like highlights. I wouldn't succumb to dying. Once you start, it just never ever ends unless you want that awful area along your part that's growing out. Or you can dye your hair every 3 weeks so that doesn't occur. I speak from experience. And there's the chemical factor, expense, etc.
I decided to go grey. I will match my husband who has been grey for some time.
It is a hard transition. I look in the mirror and second guess my decision often. So guess what. I don't look.
Ageing is such a confused subject for our culture, maybe if a few more of us embraced the process it would help us all accept the process.
Hi Tammy! Hope you don't mind my commenting on your dilemma because I have the same one! I decided years ago that I wouldn't colour my hair because of others who did and they went grey so much faster than I did. I'm like you with those pesky white hairs growing through, but I do have a lot more than you!
And I have also decided to grow my hair long again! It used to be quite long - to my waist - and now it's to my shoulder blades. But I'm not going to dye it because of the expense as much as the chemical smells. Dyeing can also cause your hair to start to fall out, which I think is even worse than being grey.
I am someone who has grayed early in life and I've always colored my hair back to my natural brown and no one can tell unless I tell them.
However I am now to a point that I'd like to possibly stop coloring, but it is HARD because now after all these years, I'm *significantly* gray underneath the brown hair color. I sometimes think it would have been much easier and less of a shock if I would have just let my gray come in gradually and naturally.
I am still undecided and have switched to a hair color that gradually fades so that I can change if/when I choose to. I think the hardest thing is what other people say. As another commenter pointed out aging is such a complicated subject in our modern age. It seems like we're all supposed to look 20 or 30 for our entire lives which gets harder and more expensive to maintain the older we get.
Anyway, sorry to have written such a long comment. As you can probably tell this is something I'm trying to work out in my own life. (o:
THIS POST had some interesting thoughts on the subject.
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