I had a grey hair incident a month or so ago. I was meeting a friend for lunch, and I hadn’t seen her for about 18 months. I arrived at the restaurant first, and sat upstairs. When my friend arrived, I could hear her downstairs, talking to the waiter.

“Hi,” she said, “I’m meeting a friend, long dark hair, is she here yet?”

“I’m not sure,” said the waiter, “there’s a woman upstairs with long grey hair, might that be her?”

Hmmm.

I had a similar grey hair themed happening a few months ago after I’d met one of the young women fiancé worked with.

“Your girlfriend is really cool isn’t she?” she apparently said to him afterwards.

“Is she?” he said. (I can understand his confusion.)

“Yes,” she said. “I know a lot of celebrities are doing that grey hair thing, but you have to be really brave to dye your own hair grey.”

I laughed a lot at that one.

So, back to the question, should I dye my grey hair?

No. 

That’s my simple answer.

If you’re wondering why I wouldn’t dye my hair if it’s grey at 37, answer me this – why should I dye it? Why on earth would I spend time and money, and probably damage my hair in the process, just to change its colour artificially? Seriously, give me one good reason.

Apart from anything else, I quite like the confusion on people’s faces when they see my grey hair against my smooth, chubby baby face. When I drop in that my oldest daughter is graduating this year, they really don’t know what to do. It’s like I’ve told them I make a career as an international ballet dancer. (That would be less believable.)

Plus, I want to look like this when I grow up, I think it’s an ace colour:

should I dye my grey hair?

Sure, some people are going to say that it’s about how you feel about yourself, and that dying your hair makes you feel younger and more confident, but I tend to think that if your confidence comes down to the colour of your hair, that there are bigger issues at stake.

What do you think? Should I dye my grey hair?

Image – Volt Collection/shutterstock

Follow:

I’m going to recount a short conversation I had with my boyfriend this weekend. He claims he didn’t say it but I am stating here for the record that he did. I didn’t mind him saying it, he tells me how beautiful I am all the time, it’s fine, but he did say it. Fact.

It went something like this:

Him: “What have you done to your eyebrows?”

Me: “Nothing. What do you mean?”

Him (laughing): “Yes, you have! What have you done? They look weird?”

Me (paranoid): “Nothing!!”

Him (looking more closely): “Oh, maybe you haven’t, I think it’s just that they’re going grey.” View Post

Follow:

I got out of the shower, wrapped my hair up in a towel, and looked in the mirror.

(No, that wasn’t the horrible thing.)

I had some of yesterday’s mascara smudged under my left eye so I got a tissue and rubbed gently from the outer corner of my eye to my nose.

(The horrible thing is coming now.) View Post

Follow:

Last week, sorting through some piles of crap in preparation for another house move, I came across my first ten-year passport. (The one I had to report lost, after it found its way into said pile of crap).

I was 18 years old, and sporting a boyish crop. I’m smiling, my cheeks are rosy, and despite the fact that I already have a one-year-old child, I look fresh. The world is my oyster and I am ready to explore.

"passport photo"

I took out my current passport to compare, where I’m 32 years old. Good grief, I wish I hadn’t. In this one I definitely look like I need a holiday, but that I probably don’t have the energy to pack a suitcase. What has happened?? I know I don’t photograph well, but this is ridiculous. You can almost see me sighing wearily.

"new passport photo"

Well dur, you might say, you’re 14 years older, of course you look worse, but it’s not even that. I could slap on any amount of anti-aging products and I’m not sure it would help – it’s the difference in the expression that concerns me more than any wrinkles. 14 years down the line and I look tired, like I can’t even be bothered to smile for the camera.It’s pretty scary.

A couple of days after I found this, I had to have my driver’s licence renewed, and I wasn’t going to be caught out in the same way again. As I stepped into the photo booth I tried to remember how it felt to be 18. Not much different I didn’t think. So I smiled anyway, and attempted to ooze youthful innocence and joy. (Not easy when you have a woman from the Post Office squawking ‘you can look pleased, but no teeth!’)

Hopefully this one will turn out a little better. Otherwise I think I’d better stock up on my anti-aging, Q10, plumping, firming creams. And maybe some prozac.

Don’t you just love getting older?

Follow:

As the wrinkles spread and the boobs head south, we still feel likes teenagers inside don’t we? Today I have a guest post from The Undercover Granny, on getting old, grey hair, and staying positive…

…

When I was young and heard old ladies saying they still felt 18, I used to snort with derision. How could this possibly be true? Surely there is some kind of old person’s switch that flicks the moment you reach 50 and thoughts of music, clothes and romance are replaced by a desire to knit, grow lavender and tut loudly at anyone having even the tiniest bit of fun.

Now 52 and a granny myself, I realise this is, of course, complete nonsense. I still feel as if I’m in my early twenties and it’s only the odd creak of my bones and the strands of grey in my hair that remind me I am no longer a mere slip of a girl.

When my son was small he embarrassed me hugely in a queue in a shop by asking loudly why old ladies all had the same haircut and if they all went to the same hairdresser. It is perhaps this alone that has left me determined to keep my hair longish forever and not succumb to the pressure to have it teased into a white helmet.

In most respects I feel no different now to how I did in my younger years. But it is undeniable that growing older brings with it a sense of peace.

In your teens and early twenties there’s a real immediacy to every problem. If you might have to miss a party it can feel like the end of the world. If a boyfriend is drifting away it feels, momentarily at least, as if your life is over.

With age, however, you learn that you won’t die if you don’t buy that gorgeous yellow mini skirt and, in fact, having some money in the bank or not running up an overdraft is a lot better for your emotional wellbeing.

In essence, I believe you are the age you feel – as long as you look after your body and mind – and that it can be really freeing to leave behind the tiring drama of youth. Just make sure you retain a sense of optimism and the feeling that anything is possible.

I’d love to hear how you feel on the subject.

Follow: