To Dye For

Staring at my gray (white) roots in the mirror, I decide it is time once again to dye my hair. There is always that pause, however, when I think about what it would be like if I let the gray just keep growing and not dye it back to its more youthful shade of dark brown. There are plenty of women my age who only have a few random gray (white) hairs, but I unfortunately have more gray than not. (Actually it’s white, but just looks gray next to the brown.) If I let my roots go for more than six weeks, I look like a skunk.

I start to wonder, ‘Would it be so bad?’ It could be cool, like Emmylou Harris gray, right? No, it would really be more like Indira Gandhi gray, or “Have fun storming the Castle” gray, or most likely Tired Haus Frau Gray — certainly nothing that would be attractive. But more than that, what would it do to my job prospects? I am already worried about ageism in the work place, and even if it’s not blatant, I know it exists. You could argue that gray makes a person look wise or distinguished, but even I don’t buy that. It really boils down to how does it make me feel… and the answer for me is old and getting older, fast.

And so I trudge down to the beauty supply store where I get my special mix of Ash Brown Dark #7, and breathe a sigh of relief until the next six weeks pass and I go through the argument all over again. Usually I just wear a jaunty hat to extend my time between dye jobs. What, you thought it was just my personal fashion statement?