Hi Everyone,

First, let me say that I was really excited to find this group on Yahoo!  I've been searching for answers to my 'graying hair' issue for a little while and just needed to know that I wasn't alone in my quest to just let me be me.  You don't find many pictures of women with graying hair - especially celebrities.  In my search, I ran across photos of Nicole Kidman and a lot of the comments about her were negative because it appears that she is letting her hair gray a bit.  I think she looks fabulous and so does Stacy London even though people ask why she just won't color that little wisp of gray.

 

About me -

1.  What country/State are you from? 

      I am currently living in Texas.

 

2.  Are you considering showing your gray, are in the process, or already displaying a gray mane.

     I am in the process of showing my gray.  I've started before and decided to color it again and again.  This time, I plan to stick with it.  I can't keep up with the grays and immediately afterwards I hate seeing the color line.  I've been color free since about June.  I really don't want to color my hair every 3 weeks because of the chemicals, time and money.  About two weeks ago, my hair stylist told me that she would color my hair for free.  I declined. Then I started to worry - does it look that bad that she's offering to do it for free?  She then told me that she colors her hair every two weeks.  That was enough for me to know that I'm making the right choice.   

 

3.  What kind of reception have you received from family and friends?

      My husband has been trying to convince me that I shouldn't color my hair for a few years now.  My 7-year old daughter can't seem to keep her hands off of my 'sparkling' temples and my 12-year old son doesn't seem to notice at all.  My immediate family has been pretty easy. 

     My mom, on the other hand, colors her hair and is always telling me about the new color she's gotten and how wonderful it looks.  Both of her sisters (my aunts) are about the same and color their hair regularly.  And, my older sister has colored her hair for as long as I can remember.  Recently, she's been wearing a wig and freaked out when she realized that she's going gray.  She called my mom last week in a state of panic because, 'those wigs are doing something weird to my hair - it's gray.'  After my mother told her that it's not the wig causing problems, she colored it the same day.  My mom thinks that I should continue to color my hair but she's not extreme about it.  (I turned 44 in November). 

     My friends don't say anything about my hair but whenever hair coloring comes up, I sometimes get a few looks like I may have forgotten to do something.  Some of them are older and still color their hair but haven't said anything.  Another friend is letting her hair go for now but said she will eventually color it again.  Another who is one year older had the most beautiful silver/brown hair color but she dyed it this summer.  She said she felt old.  At the same time, I've had a stranger tell me that I could knock ten years off my age if I would just color the gray.  I didn't know her so it wasn't a big issue. 

 

 4.  What are my reasons?  Fears?

     My only fear is that I will look older than my mother and my older sister!  :)  Luckily, they live in Indiana so the pressure isn't that great.  I just hope that I don't cave right before I see them again.

 

5.  What support would you like to get from this group?

      Just hearing the stories along the way and knowing that I am not alone in my journey is great! 

 

6.  Do you feel voluntary member pictures would be helpful?

     Yes.  All of the fashion and style websites say that you had better not go cold turkey with hair color.  You should wait until you are at least 40% gray, get lowlights, opt for a great short haircut, change your makeup and color palette etc.  ARRRRGGGHH!  I've seen women who are leaving the bottle behind without all of the advice and they look perfectly fine.  I just wish they were all made to feel that gray is truly okay.  This time, I'm feeling better about it. 

 

Thanks to all of you who are taking the plunge and writing about it.  I truly look forward to reading the posts from this group!

 

Warmest regards,

Karen