Friday, March 25, 2011

Letting my freak flag fly


I have white hair. LOTS of it. Tons more than my spouse, and he's five years older. Do I have cool white hair? Not so much (someday, hopefully). Do I have a writing audience that may be creeped out by someone with white hair ("eeew, she's trying to act like she's young like us!")? I hope not, but who knows?

So--what to do? The cultural answer is obvious---COLOR THAT SHIT UNTIL YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT COLOR YOUR HAIR IS. But I don't like maintenance (evidence here) and I don't like dark roots. I do like my blonde streaks, however--they remind me of the natural ones I used to have. The salad days are over, honey. Get used to it. That's the voice of realism. Not like a fiction writer lives in the real world, but I should try.

SO--I've decided not to color anymore, at least until my resolve dies. : \ I may be back at the salon by next week. But this public pronouncement may help me keep my promise. Why not be honest about who I am? If I end up with hair like this picture, I will have done the right thing.

Picture stolen from here.

4 comments:

  1. bravo!! come take a look at me close up...lots and lots of silver-gray hair. and i refuse to color it. i'm going to be classy and gray and gorgeous...and i don't care what others think. btw, i get the "you need to color your hair" comments all the time. i'm not going to be pressured into having some weird color on my head that doesn't look natural and every two weeks some 'skunk' stripe down the middle of my head that everyone stares at.

    bisous!

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  2. I'll have to come and sneak a look. : ) You make me laugh!

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  3. I've waged this battle for a few years now...and just recently decided to embrace the gray. It's hard -- I am definitely wooed by the look of the other, younger-looking moms with the dyed hair in the school drop-off line. But I am cheap...and lazy -- and I figure we are all headed in the same direction anyway, so why fight it? Still, I think I'd rather have it go all white then be stuck in this dirty-grey in-between stage.

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  4. Dyed it pure platinum white like me!

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