New style...short short short!!!

Last month, I had a bad skunk stripe.  

After this picture was taken, I decided that I needed to do something different with my hair.

I went to my hairdresser with a picture of what I thought I wanted.  I really tried to be happy with it, but I wasn't. Three days later I went for a visit to California to see my son and grandson and my brothers.  At the end of a visit with my oldest older brother, he made a comment about my hair.  You see, my brother used to be a hairdresser in the heyday "Shampoo" (think Warren Beatty, 1975) days.  Anyway, his leaving comment to me was, "It looks like shit."  It really hurt my feelings.  He thinks that I should color my hair.  My brother really needs to censor his comments.

So, with his words in my head, I took a good long look at my hair and decided that I had to do something because the colored hair is getting brassy and just not looking good.  I still didn't want to color it though.  

My son's friend (here in California) is a hair stylist and he said she was really good, so off I went to see her this past Monday. 

I showed her some pictures, but basically said to do what she thought would look good.  She blew it out when she was done.  

The gray really shines when it's straight...

This is the curly version, but I'm still learning.  I've not had short hair since 1998.  The grey isn't as apparent wearing it this way. 

here's the back...

I'm still getting used to it and at times really miss my long hair.  It was only six months ago that I had it long.  This was me in June after I last colored my hair. 

Four months of grow out...Vote on my next haircut...

It's been Four months since I decided to let my color grow out.  I wasn't sure what to expect by now, but I was thinking my roots would be longer by now.  Summer is over and my hair may grow even slower, but time will tell.  I'm strongly considering a shorter haircut.  

Here's my hair today...

This is the side that has less white... more of a sprinkle of salt

The other side has more of a marbling of white....

So, I part my hair depending on my mood.  So far, people have been supportive although a few women friends say that they wouldn't do it.  Some say they'll wait and see what mine will look like first.  

Here are some styles that I'm sort of considering...Feel free to vote for your favorite..

This one would be the longer option...but layered...I found this one last and I'm thinking of going with this one...

I like the messy look...

This is seems a little longer than the one above...

I found that I like most of Sharon Stones short styles. 

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.....