Going Gray ~ Getting down to the root of it all

Let your true self shine through your Body Window by going gray and declaring that you have the ultimate in self-confidence!

Gray hair is a crown of splendor; it is attained by a righteous life. ~ Proverbs 16:31 (NIV)

Going gray is something I have been thinking about for quite a while now. Several times in the past several years I have actually made a feeble attempt at it. But when the salt and pepper roots became about an inch long, I would look at myself in the mirror and think, "This looks terrible." I would color my hair immediately. I had no desire to know how to age gracefully.

Turning gray is troublesome for me because I have always had warm tones to my skin, and have added warm tones to my hair. The gray hair, without pigment as it grew in, looked terrible against my brown, warm-toned color.

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In my article on spiritual fasting, I discuss how we can learn about ourselves when we give up something that we desire to cling to. This spiritual fasting can be an amazing exercise in self-awareness. Going gray is similar, but the ‘giving up’ is permanent. Not as easy. What exactly is being given up when you choose to go gray?

If we get down to the root of it all, the obvious answer is that hiding gray hair is all about clinging to some smidgen of youth, some ego-based desire to be eternally young.

The brainwashing by the media, our peers and family doesn’t help. I was always told, ‘you are too young to be gray!’ The shame of growing old seemed too big a burden to bear. Especially when I started to have gray hair in my 30’s.

About ten years ago I remember discussing going gray with a friend much older than I. Her response was, ‘But you have such a nice husband!’ What? I didn’t get it and asked her to explain further.

She stated that she didn’t want to see me lose my husband! Her belief was that if I let my hair go gray that my husband would no longer see me as attractive and would leave me! Talk about being trapped in sexist thinking!

The desire for eternal youth is ubiquitous in clothing styles, diets, skin products, hair products and just about everything we long to buy. Advertising is all about making us long for something we don’t have, instead of loving what we have and who we are despite our gray hair, wrinkled skin and cellulite! We must be nipped, tucked, and injected to perfection. (Don’t get me started on this one!)

The Winds of Change

But fortunately, the winds of change are in the air. More and more women are breaking the 'rules' of beauty.

More and more women are defining beauty instead of being defined by it. Going gray is now the 'new black' I read in an article. Wow! Now I can go gray and even become fashionable!

Emmy Lou Harris Sporting Gray

Even Hollywood is changing. There are many celebrity women who sport gray hair, Jamie Lee Curtis, Meryl Streep, Joan Baez and Emmy Lou Harris to name a few. All you need to do is Google their names to see their impressive and extremely attractive styles.

Just look at the photo here that I found of Emmylou Harris. She is absolutely gorgeous with gray hair. Ten years ago celebrity women would not have been caught dead with gray hair. What does this all mean?

Since my original writing of this article, I have been told by one of my readers that the first photo of Emmylou was taken for her album in 2003, "Stumble Into Grace." Here she is a much younger, 56 year old and definitely photoshopped.

Next is another photo of her in 2011, as a 64 year old, live, in concert at the Newport Folk Festival. Doesn't look like the same person, does it? Is she still beautiful?

Emmy Lou Harris Without Photoshop

As my reader pointed out to me, "She is a very beautiful 64-year-old woman who seems to be comfortable with being her age, and I think there is a lesson there that would be worth sharing with your readers." I wholeheartedly agree! (Incidentally, my informative reader is a 62 y.o. male!)

As each year goes by, more and more women are daring to go gray. I had a hair stylist from NYC tell me in 2017 that people pay hundreds of dollars to color their hair gray, and to get streaks of gray through their hair like mine!

Could it be that I am fashionable and trendy? In my 60's?

Hmm, it might be trendy to have colored gray hair if you are young, but what about an older fogey like me?

Going gray means aging gracefully by aging naturally, especially when it comes to hair color. Besides, all those chemicals going into your body every 6-8 weeks just can’t be good for you! Trend or no trend, I did not want to color my hair any longer.

Yet why did I in particular have such a hard time arriving at this decision for going gray? Was it because I always took such pride in my youthful and petite appearance? Was it a fear of aging? Was it because I needed to cling to my own image of myself?

Was it because I needed to feel attractive, and growing old brings about feelings of not being attractive? Why was I unable to take this step in my journey? I never had fear about being different, throughout my whole life. In fact, I sort of liked being a rebel. Why was going gray so difficult for me?

Aging Gracefully?

What is 'aging gracefully' all about? I always hated that expression. What does it mean anyway? Is it about quiet submission to accept our fate? That certainly didn’t fit me. I had no idea how to age gracefully, and I don’t think I know now.

I think going gray represents a lot more than just aging gracefully. When I really ‘get down to the root of it all,’ going gray represents self-confidence of the highest degree. It shows to the world that being beautiful is and MUST be defined by me and only me.

All-in-all I really have not been honest with myself. I really have been clinging to the old, sexist, youth-worship, I-will-lose-my-husband-and-my-attractiveness model that society has brainwashed me to believe! Hallelujah that is now changing!

I have been reading how going gray can be traumatic. There is no way to do it except by letting the gray hair grow out. Some ladies blend in highlights or dye their hair gray to ease the transition to going gray. I just decided to go cold turkey, and let the ugly warm brown tones grow out without tampering with the color.

Many years later, I am not yet totally gray in my 60's. I still wear long hair as you can see by my profile photo on "contact me." I never went out and cut it to a Pixie style to rid myself of the color all at once, as I thought I would. I did, however, keep my hair much shorter until all the gray was the same length.

I do have a nice white skunk stripe on the one side of my head. For my stepson's wedding, I had the stylist sweep my hair to one side to show off the glamorous white stripe. I got more raves about my hair from people of all ages, more than I ever recall receiving.

My choice in colors have totally changed. I have given up browns, olives and khaki, for cooler tones. I can wear gray for the first time in my life, and bright blues and greens. Darker pinks and maroons are also a possibility. It has been a transformation, for which I enjoyed more than I could have imagined. Who doesn't like getting a new wardrobe??

I dare say that I can be who I am and I am proud of my transformation. If life is a journey, then this is one I dared to take, even when it took years. I finally was able to embrace the freedom of not having to go through the time and effort of coloring my hair.

But there is more…

Mount Wilson and El Diente Peaks from the summit of Gladstone Peak, Colorado

The Real Root of Why I am Going Gray

The real root of why I decided that it was time for me to go gray was when my Dad died in the fall of 2010. I colored my hair for the last time, just before flying home to be with him in his final days. I didn’t want to face all the friends and family with ugly hair.

After the funeral, and in the mourning days and months that followed, I came to a quiet decision that I was going to honor my life and honor my aging process. I think, in a weird sort of way, for me, going gray was also a symbol to honor my Father. I really don’t know why that is exactly. It was born out of my depression and mourning, and yet the desire to stay gray has continued.

Maybe going gray has something to do with honoring myself as an adult, a girl grown up, who now respects herself, and the wisdom the years have added to her life. It was a way of saying, “I am now free to be me.” Life is too short to cling to these values that no longer serve me.

Maybe it also had to do with the fact that I no longer care to be identified with people outside my age group. I like mature people and honest conversations about life’s experiences and even about the experience of death. I prefer being with mature people who are not bogged down with issues and ideals that they need to desperately cling to.

I prefer people who are embracing life, and by doing so they also embrace death, an inevitable part of life, part of this journey we were meant to take.

I prefer mature people of any age who keep me young at heart. I still embrace new experiences, like traveling and seeing the world. Going gray represents my ability to do that! Bring it on!

May we all who are in the graying years, no matter how old or how young, stand together and be proud of who we are. Going gray is beautiful, if we make it so. And as the wise sage, Popeye, once said, “I am what I am, and that’s all that I am!”

Let us not cling to the past, the ideals and the values that no longer serve us. Let us have gray hair, be proud and heal our entire body-mind-soul.

Let us allow our true selves to shine through our Body Window to declare that we are the ultimate in self-confidence. Let us be healed of clinging to youth no matter what the cost. May we be healed, through and through, body, mind and soul!

Going Gray ~ Getting down to the root of it all

The Winds of Change

Aging Gracefully?

The Real Root of Why I am Going Gray

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