I was on a field trip in middle school and seated by the window on the school bus, next to my locker partner Kristen. I was looking out the window and from behind me she asked, “Did you know you have two gray hairs on the back of your head?”
I did not.
She asked if I wanted her to pull them.
I did not.
They were just a couple of gray hairs. Or so I thought. Turns out, they were a sign of things to come – and sooner rather than later.
Fast-forward to sophomore year of college. I was talking to a professor who was also an advisor for a club I was in. He was quite a bit taller than me, and as we stood there chatting, he stopped and said, “Wow, Lea, I think you’re going gray.”
Yes. I most definitely was.
I started dying my hair around the time I went to college – just for fun mostly. It wasn’t something I did regularly or felt I had to do. But by the time I hit graduation, I had a fairly regular date with, well, whatever brand of drugstore dye was on sale. I had a glaring patch of gray right on my part line. If I’d let it grow out, it would’ve resembled Stacy London from What Not to Wear.
My grandmothers, who both sported beautiful gray hair and both went gray young, tried to convince me I didn’t have anything to worry about. They said their gray started in a patch right along their parts. So, I did have something to worry about.
All through my twenties, I dyed. And dyed and dyed as my naturally dark brown hair went from having a patch of gray to patches to eventually swaths. Yet dye on I must. Because I was prematurely gray.
But wait… here I am in my mid-thirties (DEAR GOD WHEN DID THAT HAPPEN?! WHY DOES 35 sound SO MUCH MORE than 34?!). Am I still :::gulp::: prematurely gray? Or just supposed to be gray now? Is it time for me to just face reality? Am I becoming that “who is she kidding?” lady?
I’m just not ready, though! My mom’s not even gray! Even my grandfather who passed away at age 90 last year had JUST started going gray.
I mean, sure, I have hair. For that I certainly am thankful. But oh has this escalated quickly! Those patches near my temples are really fighting back. I’ve gone from chic Stacy London to, like, Paulie Walnuts from The Sopranos.
So now I call on you – I need your love and support and words of wisdom. Who’s taken the plunge and grown the gray out? When and how did you know it was the right time? I’m clearly not ready, but I’d like to be ready for when I am ready.Save
I’m growing mine out! Oddly I’m dying my ends pink 😉 the hardest part is living through when they just come in all wirey!!!
Never started dying. I am 40 and growing gray. I started about 5 years ago. I figure I’ve earned my age. However I am not against those who do dye. You gotta feel comfortable in your own skin (or hair in this case)
I can totally relate! I started going gray at 18 and have been regularly covering it up ever since! I am 32 and have been asking friends their opinions since my stylist casually mentioned that I am 25% gray. People like to tell you to embrace the gray but I have found that my friends have mostly told me to keep up the dye. For now I plan to dye until I am 40, then I will reevaluate.
I also started going gray in high school and by the time I was out of college has some serious “highlights.” I watched my mom go every four weeks to the salon and I just couldn’t do it. My whites were sprinkled throughout my hair, so until I was in my early thirties, most people just thought they were cool highlights. Two kids later … much more white and getting ready to turn 36 – most days I’m happy with my decision not to dye … but I do have some days when I’m feeling particularly “old” that I wonder how much younger dying could make me look!
Whatever/whenever you choose, it has to be the right time for you.
I’m waiting to go gray until I have grandkids. 🙂 I’m only 35 now, so it will be a while! (My oldest is 8).
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