Gray hair
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Gray hair
| Thu, 04-05-2012 - 11:04am |
Do you have gray hair? Do you dye it? If so, is because of external pressures or because you prefer to not see gray when you look in the mirror?
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Sue
Well, as the "Old Lady of this board"-I have to say...I can not be bothered going through the hassle of colouring away the gray. I admit that I am retired now-so my workplace isn't an issue (& I don't think it would have been anyway). And I also admit that there is a certain amount of pride in knowing that of my 5 siblings, all younger, 4 of them have much more gray than I do. And I admit that when we are out together, my heart gives a little 'ping' when the clerk says "So obviously you are looking for this for your grandchild" & I think "Well, damn, we look as old as we are"-though the latest time was when we were discussing a new computer for Adam.(I took great pride in saying "Actually no-it is for our son"-not admitting that Adam is 27)
I used to tease our kids & say that each gray hair had a name & a reason for being there-this one when they were late getting home, or this one when another was overseas & out of touch. But they've come in too quickly lately to name-they are just there & I can't be bothered to change them.
I feel as if I should stand up tall in a meeting & say "My name is Nora, I'm going gray & I'm proud of it"...:womantongue:
Nora
Well, I have gray roots, lol.
I have often found that salt and pepper effect of gray hair growing in looks good on shorter hair.
Recently, I came home from the hairdresser & said to Mike "She wondered if I wanted to dye over the gray, what do you think?" He looked me over & said "What gray? I don't see any gray"(&btw-this is a guy who makes a point of noticing-& making Adam notice-every time I get my hair trimmed & styled). So I kept him & I kept the gray!
Nora
itea, by "here" do you mean in your workplace, or your profession in general, or your city or region?
I do have a fair amount of gray hair although I still have more that's not gray. I think the first strands appeared about 10 years ago and have been gradually increasing. I usually don't notice just how much/where it is, besides at the temples which I cannot miss. When recently in a hotel bathroom with a big mirror and lots of fluorescent lighting I noticed more gray on top than I had realized...Its probably no coincidence that nature has our eyesight getting worse at the same time as our hair goes gray and our skin gets more wrinkles!
I have never dyed my hair, not even a one time wash out color for fun. I always liked my natural color, while the underlying brown isn't that great I have lots of blond and reddish streaks/highlights that get more pronounced during the summer when I'm in the sun a lot. To recreate those streaks from a bottle--and look natural--would be very time consuming and expensive. Those blond highlights have allowed the gray to slip in less noticably than if I had very dark or all brown hair.
Back when the gray was just starting I said I would age gracefully and accept gray hair as the normal occurence that it is. Now that its becoming a much more obvious reality I'm not sure how gracefully I can do this! The rest of the "package" is showing its age too and I'm not happy about it. But I have little tolerance for maintaining a beauty routine and I'm kind of a tightwad so its not looking good for high-end hair coloring. Maybe I will opt for the highlights method, or maybe I'll just do nothing which is a decision in itself.
Since I work at home the workplace issue doesn't apply. My boss/husband has a lot more gray than I do, and he seems to like me fine in a natural state, so no pressure there. When I last worked in an office (a medical practice) most of my co-workers were too young to have gray hair, but of those that did one dyed her hair and two were natural. In the medical field experience is worth a lot, and one needs to have spent years accumulating experience so gray hair could be reassuring. In some other fields like sales and marketing years of experience figure less in how well one can do the job, and many customers and clients may prefer someone who fits society's idea of attractive today, which is young and slim. I can see why women in those sort of fields would feel a need to try to look younger for as long as possible.
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