Last nights EIF gathering was awesome––many, many thanks Kim and Jenn for hosting! As a sidenote: my latest ex was the first person Katie Couric dated after her husband died. I’m so curious to know if he’s mentioned in her book.

Enjoyed the Broccoli family article and I’ve never been a Katie Couric fan but her book has gotten so much buzz that I’m going to give it a try.

My grey hair growing out was a lot less complicated than that article describes. My stylist colored my hair with a temporary brown, close to my natural shade of brown and then gradually did that less and less as the grey parts got longer. I now have a pretty rock ‘n roll salt and pepper shag. Very happy with it. I was worried I’d look old. I don’t know about that but I still get plenty of action. It hasn’t held me back on that front. 🙂

I am pleased to say that my daughter was part of the Netflix walkout this week. She made me proud when she landed this big job, and prouder that she’s courageous enough to stand up for her coworkers.

I’ve been coloring to cover grays since I was 29; over the pandemic, at the age of 46-47, I let it grow out because A) not sitting in a salon chair for 2+ hours pre-vaccine, and B) not going anywhere else either, so F that, who’s gonna see it. Late this summer, vaxxed and (sorta) back to life, I nearly made the call in favor of the grays — there were already six inches of roots, it looked pretty good to me — but then I caved, lol. Mostly because my H — who is 48 — has no gray hair at all yet, and I didn’t want to look older than him! 😜 I still might let it go, though; once I’d colored again after all that time, it looked kinda fake to me, and I’m having Complicated Thoughts™️ about feminism and aging and authenticity and all that stuff.

The perfect grey ala Emmylou Harris is beautiful.

Please start a “going gray” support group. I’m considering it myself having been prematurely gray at 27. Now that’s it’s 20 years later, I’m feeling like my colored hair is looking more like a wig than natural.

Starting at age 12, I wore my hair long and straight, trying to look like my best friend (Remember “Long and Silky” shampoo?  It was our hair obsession in the 1970’s.  Thank Cher, Crystal Gale and Marcia Brady.).  I’m a little embarrassed that I kept that basic style (I switched to a side part) until age 50, when 1) I was wearing it pulled back in a thinner and thinner ponytail 100% of the time; and 2) I was quite sick of coloring it (dark hair just looks weird when colored, in my opinion).  So, at age 50, I had my hair diva/therapist cut it into an edgy pixie and have cut it every 4-6 weeks since then.  It’s now a pewter color that looks lighter toward the end of the haircut cycle.  When I get the Q-tip look, it’s time to get it cut again.  And gel the living hell out of it before I get to the salon.  My haircuts are not cheap, but overall it’s cheaper to cut it once a month than trim-and-color-it every couple of months.  I’m in the chair for 30 minutes instead of 2 hours.  And haircolor always smelled toxic to me, so I feel like I’m in a healthier practice.  Does it make me look old?  I don’t know.  I think I look 62, which is what I am.  I think if I colored it and wore it long, I’d look 62.  I was working when I switched to the pixie and it never affected my job opportunities.  In fact, a grey pixie makes me more memorable to others, for what that’s worth.  Lipstick and jewelry prevent me from looking like a old man.  It was astonishing to me how many people asked me what my husband thought when I cut it all off.  I’ll have to ask him sometime.

I admire those who go gray and I think it looks amazing and chic – IF you have the right coloring. I’m a blonde with warm skin undertones and I tried on a gray wig and I looked like a corpse. Not a look I’m going for, so I’ll continue to color. But cheers to those of you who do!

On an unrelated note, I watched “Destination Wedding” on netflix and I enjoyed it. It’s a people movie. No shootings.

Just listened to EIF with Kimberly Harrington. One of your very best, Kim and Jenn! Ms. Harrington is so smart and so honest. Woowzer. (sidenote about couples therapists…when my last break-up occurred my then boyfriend asked me to make an appt for us at our couples therapist––we hadn’t seen her in several years because “everything was fine” and then he broke up with me about half-way through the appt. I had made at his urging––WHICH I PAID FOR––later the therapist told me he had been planning that break-up for a long time––lordy)

Went grey during the pandemic, aged 57. Just wore a hat all last summer and had my hubby cut it short a few times. By October, I had passed the skunk-look stage and was an ombré, so could take off the hat.
I love it. I have no idea if I look much older — dark hair on an increasingly wrinkled face looked old, too. Truth is, I have no idea what people thought about my appearance before, either. We never do; we just imagine what they think. So imagine everyone who encounters you is thinking, “how fabulously interesting that woman must be!” And set yourself free from the constant coloring.

Nothing like an article about growing out gray hair to get the comments buzzing! It’s apparently one of the most radical things a woman can do! 🙂 Mouseburger no more . Check out the recent NYT story on the subject, the comments were wild. Ps. I grew out my gray five years ago and think the only way out is through, but there are many ways to do it and a lot of blogs about it if any are considering a change.