A quick update on my decision to stop coloring my hair on November 9th, and the highlights I got in January to ease the process.
I regret it! It's horrible, I hate it and I wish I never did it.
The highlights that is, I wish I never did the highlights.
The decision to go grey? I'm so happy! Why didn't I do this years ago? I'm "only" grey around the front, mostly the sideburn area. And yet I've been dying my hair a very warm color for many years, only to discover that the hair coming out of my head isn't warm at all. I'm so excited for this new color that's coming in, it's like I'm going to the salon every week to get a new look, I don't know quite where it's all headed, and it's completely free. The highlights I got in January just delayed the whole process and I wish I could undo what I did. Getting my money back would be cool too, but oh well. Now I'm just out the money and the hair breakage that resulted. Sorry wallet, sorry hair.
My advice if you want to ditch the dye? Grow it out using all the tricks in the book for covering grey, for as long as you can stand it. Use hats, scarves, grey cover spray, strategic parting, berets, headbands and anything else that gets you thru the first two months. It's super amazing to find out what color your hair is. Are you silver? Grey? White? Salt and pepper? All of the above?
Then make the decision if you want to try some highlights or lowlights or maybe some color fading if you've been using a very dark color. Find a colorist who supports you. As much as I would not want to be a blond, if I was going from super red or black hair to grey, I think going blond first would be way easier. This takes so long, I'm only four months in and I'm growing so impatient.
A stylist at Ulta who was working the register said her clients who go grey say it's the worst year of their life. Really? I think the worst years of my life were the years my parents died and this past summer when I had my head surgery so I could wear my Baha hearing device. Going grey the worst year of my life? Bring it on, this is so fun!
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| After the highlights. |
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| Humor during this time is super important. |
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| I've questioned my decision, for several seconds at a time. |
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| I've played with filters to imagine the end results. Can I color my eyes grey too? |
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| Realized my 28th anniversary picture is going to be very different. |
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| Made peace with my past. |
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| I know I'll be the only grey haired one in many photos. |
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| Yikes, look at that red hair! If I can go thru getting a magnet put in my skull... |
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| ...and waiting for this to grow out, I can do this! |
A young friend of mine showed me an app on her phone called Show AI. It's designed for blind people to get a verbal readout of a photo or barcode. You can take a selfie and it tells you how old you look, what color your hair is and what mood you are displaying. It didn't see all my grey hairs under the brown, and it tagged me as more than a decade younger than I really am. I'm not using the app ever again, I'm going with this!
45 (?) year old woman with brown hair (going grey) looking happy.
That about sums it up for this year.
