I Should Have Gone Gray!

I didn't let my hair go gray naturally and I'm beginning to regret it. My mother went gray and it was always beautiful. People admired her salt and pepper hair in her fifties and as she aged it turned a gorgeous white, shiny and unique without any rinses or treatments to help make it look it's best. It was just really, really nice.

Why did I start dying my hair? Was I searching for eternal youth? Was I just the kind of person who likes to experiment with hair color? Had I started coloring, streaking, highlighting at such a young age that I was already on a role when the first grays appeared? Did I go gray in my twenties? The answer is no to all of the above.

Little by little those grays hairs started popping up. I didn't mind them at all at first. What I did mind was the dull shade the rest of my dark chestnut locks were taking on. I don't recall that happening to my mother, and I had worked in a hair salon in my twenties for a year or so. I recognized that dull shade, it was the tone hair takes right before going gray. It was easy for me to justify using a temporary rinse to match my natural color, cover the gray and add some shine. I was in my forties.

One thing lead to another and the rinse just wouldn't do any longer. Did I use permanent dye in my basic natural shade? No. I decided on a whim to go blond. Well, actually, light brown with blond highlights. I loved it and the rest is history.

The main problem with all this hair dye is that I've become a slave to it. Every 4-6 weeks I'm sitting in a chair in a hair salon for a couple of hours. It's not relaxing. I do get to catch up on my magazine reading but that's about the only plus I can think of. Honestly, I'm sure that by now my hair is a lovely shade of gray or white and gray which can be very dramatic and appealing. Gray hair is even seen on some actresses of a certain age now, and no one calls it unattractive.

Now, to make matters worse, I've moved across the country. Doesn't seem to be a problem to you? Well it is. I keep putting off the touch up, fooling myself that the blond streaks are hiding the gray. Where do I go? How much should I pay for a total stranger to tackle my hair, and then I may not like the result? All kinds of anxiety producing questions race through my mind each week. All I know is I better do something soon!

The other problem with covering up all this gray is I don't see anyway out. The thought of a skunk stripe down the center of my head getting larger each week doesn't appeal to me. So, in my humble opinion, life would be easier if I had just gone gray naturally, but I didn't. So back to the yellow pages looking for a stylist I go.