Tuesday, January 7, 2014

Gray Diaries of 2013

This journey isn't over.  I'm nine months in.  I'm not sure I love it, but I don't absolutely hate it either.  I guess that means, I'm trudging on.

As I was unloading my phone's photos yesterday, I decided to document this graying process through collages. 
That top picture was the color job that helped push me over the edge.  I hated it.  And the morning after I had it done, the hair around my temples was already white at the roots.  The hair wouldn't take color any more.   So I went to a Tiny Town hair salon in mid April and talked a hairdresser into taking me gray.  She added highlights, knowing that would help the gray roots blend in.  

So then this experiment began...
In May, I went in to have her trim and highlight it again. The gray was becoming a lot more noticeable.  My hairdresser thought that she would add low lights in June, but I changed her mind.  She put highlights in again, and my hair was almost blonde this time.  I haven't touched it since.  I guess I thought that if I kept adding highlights and then low lights, I would never get to my natural gray/silver color.  
By July, I knew I was going to have to go shorter.  In August, she cut layers into my hair and shortened it.  I'm not a fan of short hair on me, but it makes sense in the growing out process.  New glasses, new haircut, somewhat strange blonde, silver, brown hair is how I started the school year.  

By October, I liked the length in back, but hated how short the hair is around my face. (I still do.)  And now my biggest challenge is finding clothes and makeup in colors that look good with the changing hair color.  (I'm not there yet!  Still looking. Maybe if my hair would decide what it is doing, I could decide what I am doing about colors.)
Nine months in, I am more concerned about the style and length of my hair than the color.  It is darker (more pepper than salt) in the back than I thought it would be.  My temples are quite silver; in fact, ear to ear forward I am very gray.  It is an interesting look. (Well, that's what I'm calling it.)

It's kind of a relief not to have to color my hair.  I save a lot of time and money (2 1/2 hours and $85 every six weeks), though I am spending quite a bit on trims to keep myself from absolutely hating the process.  (Actually, I pay $10 a trim in Tiny Town every six weeks.  And that is a bargain!)  I will probably splurge on an awesome haircut one of these days, but for now I am just riding it out.  

This hasn't been as bad as I thought it would be. Before I started the process, I read a lot of articles about women doing this.  Most were not that encouraging.  Some were downright frightening.  Now, that I've gone this far, I'd say it really is easier that I thought it would be.  And my hairdresser says the same thing.  She wasn't sure it would be this easy either.    

So that is the first nine months of this graying process.  It's hard to get great pictures that show the color, but I will keep posting from time to time.  Eventually, all those blonde ends will be gone, and I'll know the color of my natural hair once again!

3 comments:

margie said...

i wish!! such a pain to colour my hair.

Softie said...

Its really hard to see the "pepper" back you describe. I think your hair looks nice in every photo! Actually I think the glasses were a more drastic change than the hair. So far so good. I am really interested in these updates. Thanks!

A said...

Gosh I hope I look as good as you when I go gray!!! :) Love seeing the transition and change over the year!