Convertibles and gray hair

As the summer turns to Fall, the temperature is perfect for driving with my ragtop down.  Today, driving home from work, I glanced at my hair.  My hair shimmers in the sun!  I am still embracing my gray, or rather my white, hair, but there is a lot!!! 

Today's part was in my normal dyed hair spot on the right side.  This is where most my white shines.  It's much more noticeable when I part it there and I find I part my hair more lately on the left.  Although I'm okay with the white, I still find I want it less noticeable.  Little by little I'm making the shift from being 'okay with the white' to 'loving the white'...day by day.

My plan is to keep it cut as it is now.  My second cut since my decision was about an inch shorter than the first time.  I wonder, though, will I go really short?  It crosses my mind.  Funny, last year I was growing it long long long.  I do miss being able to twist it up with a stick, but I'll be able to do that next summer...if I don't chop it all off that is.  I can't wait for my natural colored curls!!!

Curly or straight

Yesterday I decided to blow my curly hair straight.  Since it's shorter now, it was a breeze.  I received complements throughout the day.  Curly does hide the skunk line better than straight, but I'm at about 75% don't care mode.  There is still some vanity when it comes to my roots though.  

I'm loving the colors that are coming in.  I was concerned that there would just be white sprinkled throughout, but I see chunks of white.  I think it's going to look like a frosting once it's all in.  I'm loving the shorter hair too.  I miss my long hair, but there will be time for it.  It's been nice running with shorter hair too...especially in the summer.

I still have a long way to go though.  

Notice the frosted look?

The other side has less white and I find myself parting it there with a zigzaggy part.  

Anyway...even though I am loving the colors that are coming in, I still worry about looking older.  I have always been proud of looking younger than I am.  I'm hoping I'm still happy with the colors when all the dye is cut off.

Till the next inch...or sooner...

August 12 - Still holding strong

Wow...it's been since July 21 since I've posted here.  My gray is coming in nicely.  I vary my part from side to side to mask the skunk line, although lately, it's been blending into my curls.  I drove home with my convertible top down and noticed how brassy my hair is.  This is the part that I'm not excited about.  What I am happy about is how my gray looks around my face.  It looks like I have a weaving.  I have more white on the top, but it's marbled with dark.  I really am looking forward to my natural color.  Next time I'll post pictures.  It's bed time...we are running a 10K Mud Run in the morning...night. 

July 21, 2011 -- slowly but surely....

The gray is coming in slowly but surely.  I find that I'm noticing more and more gray heads.  I even noticed a man that stopped dying his hair recently and he admitted it when I asked.  Lucky for him, though, he keeps his hair short so his grow-out was a haircut or two. 

I saw two women in the hall at work as I was walking by.  They each had a different shade of gray.  On my way back to my desk these women were still there talking, so I politely interrupted them.  Not that interrupting is ever really polite....but as soon as I stated that the reason for the interruption was to ask them about their hair, their expression lit up.  They were happy to share their experience with me.  It's like I've recently joined a new club.  

I sing with a Sweet Adaline's chorus, The Virginia Coast Chorus.  There are women in my chorus that have went through this transition too.  It's fun to hear other women share their gray experience.  

I've found that some partings show more gray (or white) than others.  A middle part would show a lot of white, if I parted my hair in the middle, as would some left and right partings.  At slightly lower left or right partings, there is more dark than white.  I had one woman tell me that my hair seems less white this week than it did a couple weeks ago.  It must be the way I parted it that day. 

Maybe I'm not as gray as I'm expecting.  Here's today's part..sort of zig zaggy...

 This would be the center...there is a lot more white there...

Not much at the hairline there.

Next time, I'll have better light for pictures.

Tricks....

I'm ready for the tricks to graying gracefully.  I read about the zig zag part, so I did that yesterday.  I ordered a book that has more tricks...Going Gray, Looking Great.  I found it on a website of the same name...http://goinggraylookinggreat.com/

My gray...it hasn't grown much in the last week...but it's showing more.

It really depends on where I part my hair....here it shows a lot more gray...

and here, not as much.

I have some gray around my hairline and I'm finding that I like it...so far.  I'm hoping that I'll go all the way with this process.  There are times when I waiver, but I have strong will power though.  I want to see this through.  I read about adding white streaks to your grown out gray and it looks great in the pictures, but you can never be sure that the hairdresser you go to can do the same.  I'd be worried about it coming out yellow.  I'm happy that my gray is white and would like to keep it that way. 

So far, this seems like a long process...it's only been a short month since I decided to stop coloring, though! Oh well...the journey continues.....

my gray....

As I continue to grow my gray out, I find myself ultra sensitive when someone casts a judgement on a woman that they see from afar as old because of their gray or white hair.  Gets me thinking...will they see me as old?  I'll only be 54 when this grow out is complete. I have always felt pride about my youthfulness.  Maybe such pride is what it is...pride.  Aren't we taught that being too proud can verge on being boastful? With whatever else that I'll go through during this process, this will also be a lesson in humility for me. 

I'm still journeying....I'm still not sure how my hair will be. Will I have dark with a sprinkling of white...with some streaks of white?  Will it be more white that I think....or less?  Time will tell...

New Haircut

I decided over the weekend that I wanted my hair cut.  Not a trim, a cut. But, it was Sunday and my stylist doesn't work on Sundays.  I had to wait.  After lunch today, I got the haircut bug again and made my appointment.  I really didn't know exactly what I wanted, but I wanted something a little more drastic than my usual.  My roots are growing in and, according to my stylist, where the gray is the most is about 50% gray.  Other areas, less and in some areas, much less.  I have no idea what mix of color it will turn out to be, but I'm excited about it.  I cut my hair because I know that the dark ends will need cutting sooner than later.  That, and I was really ready for a change, but the gray isn't changing me fast enough!  I needed an instant change.  I couldn't change my color, so it had to be the cut

Here's me at the start...

Tammy was conservative at first and only took four inches and then fluffed it up some so I could see where it would be curly.  I asked for another inch...then another.  Here's the wet version..

You can really see the gray there in my part now!!

My husband tells me my new cut is "sassy!"  He loves it.

Here's the cut now completely dry now...I'm loving it!!!

My gray today...I love that it's white like my mom's was.  I'm also happy that the last color I did matches the darker natural color.

till next time....