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To Gray or Not to Gray
It’s not an simple question
I’ve decided to stop dying my gray. Right before I went to Costa Rica last month, my hairdresser called and said she was sick, which means I’d have to wait at least another two weeks to get an appointment. For years I’ve deferred to whomever is doing my hair at the time to tell me whether it’s my time to “go gray.”
“Do you think it’s time?,” I ask, “Am I ready?”
And, as if they know me better than I know myself, they always say something caged in neutrality like: ““You’ll look great whatever you do,” or “You don’t have to make that big decision today. You can wait til next time.”
But I always clearly heard, “No, you’re not ready.” It’s so obvious to me now that clearly I wasn’t ready but I was too disconnected from or in denial of my own inner workings to understand that.
Being as frugal as I am, I have always pushed my hair dye appointments to the very edge, so I was already two weeks overdue to dye my hair. After my vacation to Costa Rica, I would be more than a month past root-showing time.
When I got back from my trip, my hair had grown out significantly but I was distracted by my tan. Though I was clearly more gray, with my tan, I felt a little like a budding Georgia O’Keeffe. I was kind of into my hair being gray, and when I…
