Sunday, August 26, 2012

Going Gray


I've decided to no longer color my hair. This may sound trivial but is a BIG step for me. Since I've colored my hair various shades of auburn, red, and strawberry blonde all of my adult life, it's going to feel a bit weird being gray or silver.

Growing it out will be the real pain. I'll probably end up with very long atrocious roots. But I figure that since so many people in our society have multi-colored hair, that if I pick this time to grow my hair out, it may not be as noticeable as in times past, where it was a strict "no no" in grooming terms for a woman to have noticeable roots.

Actually, it's exciting to see what my "real" color will be now. Seeing my real hair color grow in will be exciting and a bit scary at the same time. But since I'm in sales, I may not be able to have really long unsightly roots, so I may eventually have to go with a stylish wig for a while. Not thrilled about that prospect, but heh, a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do.

There is a "Growing Gray" group on Ravelry which is really supportive for those who want to ween themselves off the bottle (the haircolor bottle) that is!

My Mom, Emmy and Bob are all turning "thumbs down" on the idea of me letting my hair grow out, but I hope they change their mind once the ugly growing in part is finished. Who knows, I may not even like it myself. Not sure yet. But if I hate it, I can always go back to coloring it whenever I get the urge to do so.

Since I've over 50 now, I just feel that it's about time I got a glimpse of my hair as it really is . . . . I'm downright curious. How does the real hair I've been hiding all these years look with the face which is starting to show some age. What would the "real me" look like? Does that make sense?

I don't want to be one of those 80 year old ladies that still has carrot top hair. And I'm noticing that many women those faces are showing more mileage than their artificially pristine hair . . . that sometimes that can be more aging than gray/silver. So this is my personal experiment and to show you that right now, I'm just at the beginning phase - here is the current photo I snapped from angle at the top of my head.

8 comments:

Rebecca said...

<3
love your reasoning - great idea actually. ive toyed around with the idea, but my real hair color is kind of blah and needs a little pick me up...
looking forward to seeing your new real you ;D

Ellen Bloom said...

Your hair is going to look just fine, Chelle! I did it and I know you can too!. You may want to go with a shorter haircut, just to get rid of the reddish tones quicker. My hair has so much more body now than when I was dying it brown! Good luck!

Teri said...

Chelle, good luck with your new hair. If you get discouraged and can't take it anymore, you could always get temporary color to help with the transition. I did that once when I was growing out some really bad color. It kept me from shaving my head! :-)

Christine said...

I'll be following the going gray with interest.......I'm tempted

Elle said...

I say "Be Natural" and quit being a slave to the bottle. Yes, do go for a short haircut, it's more becoming for a woman of "our" age and there's really a lot you can do with a short 'do. Luckily, I never used the bottle and I've got lots of gray intermingled with the dark hair but what I like about being gray, is the stiffer gray hair has actually added body to my hair. I have flyaway thin hair and the gray has added oomf. So go for it and be proud to be over 50!!!!!!!!

Phyllis Bourne said...

I think gray can work, but everything else about your style, make-up, clothing, grooming, etc...has to be on-point so you don't look dowdy.

My mom let her color grow out. Her 'gray' is stark white. She looks like Granny Clampett from the Beverly Hillbillies.

HattieMae said...

You go girl ! I too have stopped the madness! The last haircut that I had finally cut all the color out. Its all me now! Enjoy it and have fun with it! I did decide that a shorter cut seemed to make it not so bad for me.

Woofgangpug said...

I went gray-- white, if I'm honest-- this year and it's taken me awhile to get used to it. Now I like it but it wasn't immediate. Have fun with it!