Grey, Part Two

Today I'm dealing with a completely different kind of grey than the one I spoke about yesterday, yet it's no less frustrating.  It's the grey in my hair.  I'm 50 now, and one of the things I have to show for it is a mane of hair that would, if left to its own devices, look like the first light snowfall of the season -- half white, half slushy mud -- that is, if I let my natural color show.


Yes, I am a homesteader, and yes, I'm all about eco-friendly back-to-basics.  But the one area where I am most definitely not green is in the hair department.  If you could strip off the color and see my real hair color right now, you would see almost completely white hair on the right side of my head, while the left side still is mainly the light brown color it's always been.  Let it all grow out and not only would I not have the white or even the salt-and-pepper coloring I think really does look good on a woman my age, but I would (gasp!) start to look a lot like my mother, who had the exact same greying pattern.  So at this point I have two options:


1.  Use harsh chemicals to restore my hair to what looks like the normal color of my youth.


2.  Become Mom.

The bane of my existence

The thing is, I remember looking at my mother when she was in her early 50's and wishing she'd do something about her hair.  Coloring her hair would have taken ten years off her apparent age, improved her skin tone and made her look healthier and more vibrant, and, frankly, added a little more pep to her look.  (Did I just totally date myself by saying the word, "pep?")


So it was one of those things I told myself I would do:  If my hair needed some color to perk me up a bit once I got to middle age, I'd go for it.  And now I'm here, having to put goop on my hair about once every month or so, and sometimes I consider just stopping.  But then my inner 12 year-old cocks her head and snarks, "but you SAID you wouldn't do that."  And she's right.  I said I'd never let my hair get like my mom's. 


So as much as I'd love to go all Earth Mother and let my hair change color naturally, I just can't bring myself to adopt a look which I know won't make me feel good when I look in the mirror. So nasty-smelling, chemical-ridden hair color it is, for now.


My friend Hal has told me that even the greenest among us has at least one area where they are decidedly un-green.  And this is mine.  Sign me up for the 12-step program. My name is Diane, and my current hair color is Loreal 8.  Help me.