Risking the wrath, visible or not, of ageism can make going gray a dangerous proposition. However, thinking about how and why you’re trying to maintain your youthful image for as long as possible can give you important insights into understanding yourself and your feelings about life changes. Source
Welcome to Part 2 of Thoughts About Going Gray. The above quote is enough to get me (or you) contemplating why the decision to go gray seems so difficult. I have a couple of competing emotions. First, I want to be seen as youthful. Youthful, in my eyes, would equate to being relevant. Having admitted that, it seems a lot less important to me today than it was about a decade or more ago. (Not to be relevant, but associating the two.) Back then I was all about looking younger, younger, younger! (I've got to believe that being Mom for so many years influenced how I felt about aging. I was overweight pretty much the entire time and back-burnered myself.) Now, I'm more settled and am willing to accept Me.
Changing hair color, changes one of the first things people see, so I've been giving some thought to what modifications I might want to make for appearances sake. I've mentioned before that I follow Dressing Your Truth. For my type (Type 3), the suggestion is to wear your hair short as the clothing colors are associated with "Autumn," so as to not interfere with those colors. Fortunately, my "seasonal" coloring is Winter, so those tones will look better with both my skin and hair. This was always true, but I wantonly and gleefully ignored it! My hair no longer harmonizing, means colors with cool undertones will all-around work better for me: Blue-teal, denim and chambray(!) and Red-pink. Same goes for makeup. The makeup thing isn't an issue other than buying new lip colors, which I've been wanting to do, anyway (a bolder burgundy and pink). For the record, I've seen silver ladies completely ignore this and look great!
Changing hair color, changes one of the first things people see, so I've been giving some thought to what modifications I might want to make for appearances sake. I've mentioned before that I follow Dressing Your Truth. For my type (Type 3), the suggestion is to wear your hair short as the clothing colors are associated with "Autumn," so as to not interfere with those colors. Fortunately, my "seasonal" coloring is Winter, so those tones will look better with both my skin and hair. This was always true, but I wantonly and gleefully ignored it! My hair no longer harmonizing, means colors with cool undertones will all-around work better for me: Blue-teal, denim and chambray(!) and Red-pink. Same goes for makeup. The makeup thing isn't an issue other than buying new lip colors, which I've been wanting to do, anyway (a bolder burgundy and pink). For the record, I've seen silver ladies completely ignore this and look great!
Another consideration is jewelry. That's right. How many times do you see women with gray/silver hair rocking silver jewelry or accessories of any sort? A Lot! But, but, but, I've always loved gold! What I've already discovered in my teeny, tiny trial and error forays is: 1) Blackened/antiqued gold harmonizes well with the silvers (silver hair). 2) Gold combined with abalone shells which have silver/gray depth to their coloring also works well (my favorite). 3) Full-on color with feathers, leather, beads bypasses the issue altogether. (I tried to clip my hair up to maximize the amount of gray hair that is visible in my earring trials.)
I'm still not sure how this experiment is going to play out. I may end up going back to getting my hair colored. I don't mind, however, giving some serious thought to embracing the aging process through hair color.
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There are lots of gray-hair-supporting articles and resources. Katie Goes Platinum is one of my favorite blogs on this subject. Here is a selection of posts:The Surprising Truth About Transitioning to Gray Hair
It's Time to Bust These Tired Myths About Gray Hair
Facebook Gray Hair Support Groups
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Have you given any thought to how your clothing or makeup will change when you decide (or have already) to let your hair go gray? "Frumpy is a choice, not a side effect." Katie Goes Platinum.
[P.S. There is an entire set of hair care considerations when deciding to go gray, too, which I've decided not to address at this point. Some of them include how best to go gray, using blue or purple shampoo to cut down on brassiness and toner (if I understand correctly) does the same thing. It takes awhile for your new growth to stabilize, so you could have short "frizzies" of new growth. What your hair looks like at the beginning of your grow out, may not be what it looks like at the end.]
[P.S. There is an entire set of hair care considerations when deciding to go gray, too, which I've decided not to address at this point. Some of them include how best to go gray, using blue or purple shampoo to cut down on brassiness and toner (if I understand correctly) does the same thing. It takes awhile for your new growth to stabilize, so you could have short "frizzies" of new growth. What your hair looks like at the beginning of your grow out, may not be what it looks like at the end.]
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