Conviction
Had I known that what I was about to hear on the radio was going to impact my life in such a way, I wouldn’t have turned it on.
Convictions, or perhaps it is better said ‘personal values’, are very inconvenient things at times.
I was listening to the local news talk personality. He does fairly light, harmless banter. Just what a person needs in the afternoon. But as I turned on the car radio, he was in the middle of an interview with a lady, who I think was a journalist. Don’t know. Anyway, the topic was hair colouring. And since I am a hair colourer, of course I listened with interest.
I won’t bore you with the details, but here’s what I heard loud and clear.
Please note: The following observations apply only to myself and not to anyone else. No judgments, okay?
Right, here’s what I heard…
1. Dyeing your hair can be potentially carcinogenic.
2. Repeatedly rinsing hair dye down the drain certainly can’t be good for the environment.
So, on the one hand I’m trying to live an eco-friendly lifestyle, reducing our family’s impact on the earth. And on the other hand, I’m regularly dyeing my hair……chemically. Hmmm…….
Okay, in the balance lie conviction and vanity. But hey, I live in a culture where gray hair on a ‘younger middle aged’ person is unheard of. Just not done. I have gray hair. I would like to consider myself youthfully-not-quite-middle-aged. What to do?
First, ask my hairdresser…..the shock in her eyes speaks volumes. Not gonna get much support there.
Second, take informal poll among friends…..responses reach across the spectrum from polite disbelief to avid support.
Third, ask Husband-Will…..he’s been after me for years to stop colouring my hair, so admittedly he’s not overly objective.
Fourth, ask Very-Hip-And-With-It-For-Being-Ten-Daughter-Kate…..she definitely doesn’t want an elderly looking mother. Thinks that somehow it’ll be a reflection on her I figure.
Fifth, ask myself…..would love to stop doing the dye thing, but will probably have to go to a shorter, stylish cut which is nice and quick but requires more frequent cuttings which equals more money.
So what did I decide as the current dye job is quickly revealing tell-tale gray roots?
I’ve decided to land on the side of personal conviction and if I tell enough of my friends what’s going to happen, I won’t chicken out. And so….get a short, sassy, artsy-fartsy hair style……don bright lipstick….find bright scarves to add some contrast….leave behind my autumnal clothing colours……go back to ‘winter’ colours with a dash of flash……perhaps get some eccentric dangly earrings……and enjoy being what God’s made me…..which includes gray hair.
Good for you - can’t wait to see what you pick. I have been fortunate enough to have pale enough hair anyway that the large pieces of white coming in look like I spend a lot of money on highlights - but if I had dark hair, I would look a lot older than I am with those streaks!
23 Oct 2006 at 9:41 pm
Hey, I just scooted over from Aileen’s blog and found this post. Good luck with going silver and distinguished - it sounds like you have a fabulous look all worked out. But just in case you want to go back to being autumnal, remember good old henna. I’ve been going red with henna for ten years now, and it’s completely plant-based and dirt cheap to boot - one euro per dye lot. Admittedly, it looks like baby poo and is very messy to apply, but it’s amazing for your hair and ecologically, as far as I know, completely sound. Good luck!
24 Oct 2006 at 5:17 pm
Oh, you brave woman, I’m dying(!)to see the new look. Hear what you are saying with the chemicals etc. but I’ll be wimping out and continuing to dye.
24 Oct 2006 at 7:18 pm
Go, you! Since you published your picture the other day, I can say your face is pretty enough that the grey hair doesn’t have to make you look old. Grey can be so striking (in a good way) on some women. I have a sister who is very prematurely grey, and when she’s sans hair color I swear I don’t even notice it because it’s just part of her and it works with her sweet face.
I’ve given hair coloring a lot of thought this year and decided to keep coloring mine, because my hair is so dark the grey really shows (I’m 31!) and I look sooo tired. I’m inspired by your stance though. I’m at least going to continue to limit my hair coloring to 3 or 4 times a year, instead of upping it to every 6 weeks like I had been considering. If I don’t feel I can stop, less is a little better right?
24 Oct 2006 at 7:40 pm
I have not dyed my hair - going gray but it’s okay. My mom finally quit dyeing her hair a couple years ago (she’s mid 70s) and her hair is this gorgeous silvery…wait. I bet she does something to get that effect.
29 Oct 2006 at 3:09 pm
[...] began right before my 44th birthday. The conviction about colouring my hair and then the commitment to follow through on what I’d started. And so [...]
09 Mar 2007 at 7:29 pm
You look great with your grey hair. I love my greys, every time I got to the hairdresser they try to suggest that I need colouring and I usually reply:
No, thanks, I am quite happy with my greys. I read many years ago in a health magazine about the potential dangers of chemicals put into hair dyes. After the 1950’s (when the perm was on fashion) there has been an increased of certain type of cancers, probably related to the chemicals in dyes or perms.
15 May 2007 at 1:02 pm
Here’s another very late comment. (Can you tell I am reading your archives?) I really love the gray hair. It really caught my eye on the Knitty pattern and I think you look lovely. I made the stop dyeing decision about three years ago and I hope the end result looks a little like you.
10 Dec 2007 at 7:25 pm
I know this is a super-delayed comment, but I just discovered your blog today (love what I see), and this entry caught my eye because I just made the decision a few weeks ago to stop attempting to color my hair. Much as everyone else, I feel too young to be having gray hair yet — only 35 and still having babies — but it was annoying and messy at home and way too expensive for me at the salon. And the thought of doing this for the next 40 years until I was “old enough” to be gray finally made me snap and decide that if this is my lot in life, so be it! Add to that the whole hypocrite factor of me dyeing my hair while trying to teach my kids that they are perfect just as God made them. So, thanks for sharing your reasons and experiences!
02 Feb 2008 at 2:25 am