Break, Gray Hair, and Catching Up On Sleep

I started this morning with a manicure and a pedicure.  Thirty minutes in that massage chair for my pedicure was pretty near heaven!  

After that the Mr. took me out to lunch and a movie, something we haven't done for awhile.  The Lunch Place featured a drink called a Pimms Cup.  I didn't try it, but I'm pretty sure that Little Big Brother will put that on his list of places to visit.  (I thought I'd save it for a trip with him.)  After the movie (Focus, which was so-so), we drove past the U town football stadium.  There is major work happening there.

Tomorrow, I am looking forward to meeting up with L for lunch and some shopping. I think I am the delivery girl for quite a few things that K needs for the baby. L is returning some things she used for E, and probably sending a few things he has outgrown, too.

Did I mention that I slept in until 7:00 this morning?  Yes, I have skipped walking and Zumba almost every day this week, which means I have averaged eight hours of sleep a night. (Improved from the 4-5 hours a night during play rehearsals.) AND...I finally feel rested.

Almost forgot.  K took pictures of the Bug and me at Cinderella yesterday.  It isn't a great picture, but if I crop it you can see the gray hair.

Nothing like the photos of a 3 year old.  Uncooperative is an understatement. 

Gray Hair, March 2015

(In desperate need of a trim version.)

So far, this break has been just what I needed.

Today's Hair

Update: This is the gray hair today.  (It took forever to grow to this length, and now it needs a trim.)

And then, this is my ear.  Really, my ears aren't terribly interesting.  They don't even work particularly well, which is why I posted this picture.  If you look really carefully, you will spot the newest and most expensive things I have purchased to wear in my ENTIRE life!  Unfortunately, it isn't earrings.  Do you see that little clear wire?  That is the hearing aid.  It mixes really well with gray hair, don't you think??  *sigh!

I shouldn't complain.  The new technology makes hearing aids much more effective than they would have been twenty years ago.

But...
I still can't hear when more than one student is talking at a time.  (Nothing like having three students trying to answer or ask questions at the same time.)
AND...
I really would prefer diamond earrings!

Welcome to the 2015 version of Mrs. E. 
(I'm not getting older, I'm getting better.  I'm not getting older, I'm getting better.  Repeat, repeat, REPEAT!)

Gray Hair Update

I haven't posted about the hair for awhile.

Seeing some of my aunts and relatives yesterday at the reunion reminds me that one day I could have really pretty silver hair.  (They all do.)

My hair is pretty much salt and pepper.  However, the growing pains I've experienced  have more to do with the short length than the color.  I have tried really hard to embrace this length. It still isn't my favorite, but I am getting used to it. (Three months later.)

So here goes the hair selfies:  my natural hair color at last.

Like I said, still pretty short for me.

Maybe one of these days I'll have a cut that I really love.

So, there you have it: just another day of Mrs. E's hair diaries.

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!

Hair Updates

I haven't posted pictures lately.  I don't see much of a change most of the time. And then I caught a glimpse of myself on a high school news video.  OK. I might be a bit more gray than I realized.

I haven't had any color added to my hair since June 4th, but I have it cut about every three weeks--nothing worse than bad color and a bad hair cut.  My stylist keeps the cut looking good and convinced me to add some layers so the two tone Cadillac look wasn't so noticeable.  She's a smart girl.

So, I cabbaged onto some photos from the family reunion and edited them so that you could see the hair.

So there you have it. I definitely have the salt and pepper thing going on, but the blonde highlights are still pretty prevalent, too.

Now, on to cuter faces...

Papa and his Buggy

Ahhh...the weekend

Audition week is over.  The cast list has been posted.  Forty+ littles auditioned to be munchkins.  Forty!  We are casting about 15, who will join the high school kids on stage.

I'd take a huge break from last week, but the first rehearsal is tomorrow night.  I have quite a bit to do between now and then.

We went to see the U town team win their 2nd home game.  (So sad that they lost the first.) AND it was 100+ again.  (But this week there was a little wind.  Thank goodness.)

Hot, sweaty fans! (My hair says it all here.)

K was able to join us for this one.  Buggy and Daddy were visiting the other grandparents. K had some school things this weekend.  We were trying to imagine the Bug sitting through a game.  We might feel brave enough to try it when it cools down a bit!

Church, grocery shopping, buying paint and wood for the play, and lesson planning are all on tap for today.  I hate starting a week unprepared, but I also hate when my Sundays are crammed packed. I think that might be the story of this fall.

Oh, and one of these days I'll get you a picture of this hair so you can see the gray a bit better.  (You might as well enjoy the loveliness!)  It is a look.  Not necessarily a good look, but a look!

Time for one more cup of coffee before this day really begins!

Happy Sunday!

Gray Diaries- First of June

June 4th--  I returned to my stylist who put highlights in my hair for the 2nd time since I started this process.  I'm pretty light now, so she said this was the last time.  From now on, she will add dark or low lights.  She was pretty impressed by my silver gray growth.

So here is what it looked like when she finished.  Very blonde for me, but it breaks up the darker brown and will make it easier to grow out now. 

 We'll see. 

 

And that is more pictures of me than one blog post needs!

 

Going Gray Diary for May

So here is the progress by dates.

March 13th- My last hair appointment where my hair was colored a medium brown.  I left that appointment, knowing that I probably wasn't doing that again.  The color was too dark and all wrong.  Three days later confirmed that when the hair around my face wasn't holding color at all.  Time for a change.  Here was a photo taken shortly after that appointment.

April 18th-  I started with a new stylist.  She cut layers in my hair and added a lot of colored highlights.  This was a great cut and color to end school with.

May 24th-  I had my stylist touch up the cut.  And made an appointment for new highlights the first week of June before we go to L and CB's wedding in Las Vegas.

And this is what my wet hair looks like right now:

I can tell I need the touch up, but during the summer I can afford to wait a bit.

I'm estimating about an inch of gray at 10 weeks.

My stylist figures that she will be able to add the highlights a couple more times, then she will switch to adding in just a few low lights (dark hair) until my gray hair is chin length.  (Short, short hair is NOT my friend.  Well, it is if I want to look like a guy. Not exactly in my plan.)  Eventually, she will do fewer and fewer low lights.

So far, it has been painless. Of course, I'm not the one looking at it most of the time. 

We'll see how bad this looks by August.  The Gray Diaries may be dead by that time!  Of course, there could be a new diary--the "I'll be coloring my hair until I'm dead" diary.  Stay tuned. 

Probably About Time

I think I am ready to take a really big step. 

For me, it is huge. 

I never thought I'd do this until after I quit teaching, but....

the time has come.

I'm going gray.  A hair dresser foil highlighted me to make the 1/2 inch of gray I am currently sporting less noticeable.  That will take me through the end of school.

It is likely to be a long summer--and possibly fall.  Hats may become my new best friend.  (Well, if I can find one to fit this enormous noggin.)  I will keep highlighting to mix in with the gray.

You might be wondering, why?  My hair started turning gray when I was 32.  I've colored it fairly regularly since then. 

For the the last year, my hair hasn't been holding the color very well.  The hair around my face was especially quick to fade, sometimes within days. 

And for the last few months, the color of my hair was washing out the color in my face.  The hairdresser tells me that as your hair lightens (grays), your skin color changes, too.  If you don't lighten your hair color, you're going against what your skin is doing naturally.  So...

We'll see.  Time will tell.

Look for updates.  I'll keep you posted. 

Let the painfulness begin.