When To Go Gray ...

[10yearplan]

I had been dying my hair for years and knew that when we started sailing, I didn't want to dye my hair so I talked to my stylist and she had a perfect solution. Last year she started lowlighting it and each time I go in she adds a few less lowlights which means that over the last 1 1/2 years my gray has grown out and people didn't really notice it other than saying how much younger I look. It has worked well for me and by the time we get on the water (4 months or so) I should be completely natural.

[carstenb]

There is an old saying, which is true

"Women are like fine wine - they only get better with age"

nothing wrong with grey hair - after all - just think about all the fun you had putting it there

[Gelfling]

Originally Posted by seahag

Well, I suppose I'm weird, but I am attracted to real women, and this means I don't like fake hair, makeup too much, fake breasts ( unless cancer made it necessary) and I happen to like things like varicose veins, stretch marks and crows feet. Gray/ white hair all good. I'm 51 but have felt this way as long back as I can remember. Its natural beauty that counts, and a woman who is not afraid to be herself is an art form. It's about a smile, an attitude...an adventure - not fear or fake.

Well if you are weird.....that makes me weird as well! This is what I was trying to say....you said it better. Not to say I didn't used to be into girls...but that was when I was a boy....

[wingNwing]

Hey!! I earned those grays! Every one of them represents an adventure, something I learned or experienced and proud of it ... why would I want to pretend I'm still young and dumb?

[Mimsy]

I guess I am just awesome because I contain multitudes- I am both down to Earth AND a wee bit vain. My vanity does not prevent me from being awesome, it just means I look good while doing it.

I would let it go gray if I had beautiful Emmy Lou Harris grey but Ijust sport enough weirdly colored gray to be annoying so I color it and yes, I plan on continuing to color it while cruising unless of course, I decide not to.

The color of my hair or the amount of lip gloss I have on does not determine either my self worth or the content of my character. If you don't like the color of my hair or the fact that I color it, that's okay. I'm not doing anything to my appearance to suit you. I do what I do for me.

[Kache Walk]

This thread is very affirming. I hope it inspires you, Robyn, to go grey...or not. It's all good and it happens when you are ready. I thought I was going to have to take six months off from work, cut all my hair off and hike the Appalachian Trail to let it grow out...but I didn't. I just stuck it out. My now 21 year old daughter gave me a gift on my 53rd birthday of a deck of playing cards, each with something she loved about me glued to the center of the card. One read, "You have the confidence to have two-colored hair".

I've attached a photo (at least I think I have) from about a year ago, well into the process.

[Kache Walk]

Hmmm. Okay maybe not.

[Lake-Effect]

We're in our 50's. My wife, a dark brunette, would be mostly gray, and I have got hardly any. Drives her nuts

Anyway, she still colours her hair. Neither of us are stalked by paparazzi for our looks... but both of us work mainly with younger co-workers, she's in the ground floor of a new career, and we're in a large modern city. She has above-average energy, and is routinely pegged as about 10+ years younger than she is. In this circumstance, she's not quite ready to be the "older" one in her group. She is thinking about a good time to transition, though.

We're getting close to being able to go cruising. I agree that this would be an ideal time to get a short, care-free cut and stop colouring.

I think she'll have a silver look with streaks of charcoal colour. It'll be very striking.

[Gelfling]

Originally Posted by Mimsy

I guess I am just awesome because I contain multitudes- I am both down to Earth AND a wee bit vain. My vanity does not prevent me from being awesome, it just means I look good while doing it.

I would let it go gray if I had beautiful Emmy Lou Harris grey but Ijust sport enough weirdly colored gray to be annoying so I color it and yes, I plan on continuing to color it while cruising unless of course, I decide not to.

The color of my hair or the amount of lip gloss I have on does not determine either my self worth or the content of my character. If you don't like the color of my hair or the fact that I color it, that's okay. I'm not doing anything to my appearance to suit you. I do what I do for me.

I agree COMPLETELY that it shouldn't be a determining factor.......I have just seen more cases where it was.

Weird?!?! I have more salt than pepper (no sailing pun intended) with an odd patch of grey on my chin in an otherwise rusty red (thanks mom) beard. But it is who I am......so it is who I will be!

[zeehag]

dying hair is fine...unti. the face belies the hair color, at which time, it is all clown ware......and loooks like clown hair...nothing like an over-dyed wig that is not a wig...
i gave up on the expense of dying mine when i realized my age is deserving of my natural coloring..and it looks a lot better than the colors made to substitute for normalcy and reality.....mine is silver white with some other colors nature added for a joke.....

my decision was only slightly influenced by the lack of places in which to be able to dye it--takes an hour and lots of water.....lots of water..and more water....

[boatman61]

Originally Posted by Strait Shooter

"I'm afraid I will look older and unattractive..."

I'm Lucky..... I already am.....
So I don't worry about my hair... at the monent it has not been cut since last Feb when I set of for Oz...
When it was the cropped 1 inch it was white/grey... at the moment its kinda... blondish to my eye.. though the 'bitchy types' claim its still grey...
But as the man says... its about what YOUR comfortable with... not what makes others feel comfortable....
I have a friend who dye's her hair to mood... blue.. red.. green and blends of all occassionally when she's feeling particularly messed up...

[MarkJ]

Originally Posted by JoanK

I'm afraid I will look older and unattractive...

If you think you look old and unatractive you will look old and unatractive!

To who, very shallow people?
Why should you care what very shallow people think?

I tend to agree with that too, but its not shallow to make the best of yourself, either!

Some people look great grey, or greying. My sister doesnt. She looks like she is unkempt and lazy (she is actually trying for the academic look).

Give the grey a try and save some money, but if you dont like it then spend a few dollars and make yourself feel they way you wish: As youthful as possible.

We have all the elements to keep aging at a distance... hair colour, style, clothes, fitness etc... just because we are now cruising it doesnt mean you have to follow some that go grey, get tattoos, short crop hair and forget their body.

Men can fall into some interesting cruising traps too: Gone is the suit and for the first time in his life he's wearing ripped grease covered Tshirts, a beer gut, dirty shorts, and pirate head scarf. Second childhood, or letting the bull go to pasture? Wheres the swave guy the girl fell in love with?

Remember Maslows Hierachy of Needs: The chart is often a bit edited for nice people, but the most basic needs include SEX. Not only sex but self esteem. And if that comes from looking the way you want then its worth the money.

[Kache Walk]

With you completely, Mark J. Self-esteem, no matter how you get it, is the key. Oh, and some of the other important priorities on that bottom row :-)

[salt_miko]

I'm gonna preface this by saying that when all the other little girls were playing tea party with their Barbies, I'm the girl who was climbing trees with the boys and throwing worms at the girls. And, in most of the jobs I've had (firefighter, Coast Guard, mechanic...) it's better to be seen as "one of the guys." Showed up for work one day looking like a girl and the poor guys were stupid for three days afterwards.

That being said, I came to hair coloring rather late in the game, even though I started going silver at 19. On our boat (full-time cruisers), 2 out of 4 hit the dye bottle. I usually have some kind of dark color overlaid with hot pink or purple or blue or whatever happens to be at hand and our 15 year old son generally rocks a neon colored mohawk. My husband couldn't be bothered with the color of his hair and the dog seems generally content with her two-tone color scheme of black and tan.

To be fair, I originally started crazy hair color when I was stuck in a wheelchair for a few years and in the US, you're damn near invisible in a chair and I was tired of people stepping right in front of me while I was out and about. As for our kid, we found that (also in the U.S.) people generally respond better if he's got the colored hawk. By the time they've processed the wild hair, it occurs to them that he's got to be cool with being a dwarf and they don't have to be all awkward and weird. Just, "cool dude! Awesome!"

The biggest reason we keep dying our hair? It's freaking fun, folks!

[zeehag]

Originally Posted by salt_miko

I'm gonna preface this by saying that when all the other little girls were playing tea party with their Barbies, I'm the girl who was climbing trees with the boys and throwing worms at the girls. And, in most of the jobs I've had (firefighter, Coast Guard, mechanic...) it's better to be seen as "one of the guys." Showed up for work one day looking like a girl and the poor guys were stupid for three days afterwards.

That being said, I came to hair coloring rather late in the game, even though I started going silver at 19. On our boat (full-time cruisers), 2 out of 4 hit the dye bottle. I usually have some kind of dark color overlaid with hot pink or purple or blue or whatever happens to be at hand and our 15 year old son generally rocks a neon colored mohawk. My husband couldn't be bothered with the color of his hair and the dog seems generally content with her two-tone color scheme of black and tan.

To be fair, I originally started crazy hair color when I was stuck in a wheelchair for a few years and in the US, you're damn near invisible in a chair and I was tired of people stepping right in front of me while I was out and about. As for our kid, we found that (also in the U.S.) people generally respond better if he's got the colored hawk. By the time they've processed the wild hair, it occurs to them that he's got to be cool with being a dwarf and they don't have to be all awkward and weird. Just, "cool dude! Awesome!"

The biggest reason we keep dying our hair? It's freaking fun, folks!

hello, salt---why didnt i meet ye when i was in la cruz--isnt it a lovely place to be!!! you raised same as i did--tomboy and into real fun instead of barbie...lol

i dyed my hair using henna rinses to blend the silver from age 25 to 50, at which point, i decided to have a perm--that removed the remaining color my hair had, so it was nearly colorless, i added a proper and appropriate color, which immediately became a blonde color, and from age 50 to 2 yrs ago had some shade of golden blonde. now i keep my natural colorless, as it is easier to maintain, at this point in my lifestyle...

is amazing how we individually do not realize that there is a point at which coloring hair makes you look older instead of younger....i didnt feel like looking like a frazzled vegas rejected housewife, or phyllis diller, early on, so i quit dying my hair and look a lil younger for that.....
but it was fun ...