Patty’s Reflections {Embracing the Grey}

Over the last few years I have been on the journey with my hair to Embrace the Grey.  The whole Embrace the Grey concept felt trendy and a little bandwagony;  it is easy to add a hashtag to a social media post far more difficult to actually do it.  As I am definitely not a bandwagon jumper it has taken me a while to decide to share my thoughts and story with you.

It first began in my 20’s with colouring my hair.  When the first few grey streaks arrived I welcomed them.  I loved playing and experimenting with my hair colour.  The colours and tones that I would choose reflected what I was feeling at the moment.  I felt joyous, sparkling and it was fun.    Sometimes I was feeling red or added some stripes of pink, sometimes a little blonde,  usually in winters a little more chestnut would creep in but it was always fun.  Get the drift – FUN.  Somewhere along the lines it stopped being fun.  I am not sure when that happened; when it went from Fun to Work,  joyous to disguising.  There was a sad moment for me when I was getting ready for the day doing my hair and I actually paused and listened to my inner voice.

That inner voice conversation went something like this:

My inner voice –  “it is time to get back to the hairstylist to hide the grey”

Me – For the first time actually hearing that word HIDE.  I paused (and Yes I frequently have long conversations with myself 😉  then responded:

• “Why am I hiding?”
• “What am I hiding?”
• “WTF?”
• “When did I go from fun to hiding?”
• “When did I give myself permission to be camouflaged”
• “This is never the way I intended to be”
• “WTF?”
• “When did I get that old?”
• “WTF?”
• “I am not old”
• “What does hair colour have to do with age, my hair started going grey in my 20’s and that is young”
• “WT Serious F?!!!”
• ?
• ?
• !
• !
• “I am going let the grey come in”

Honestly the verbal diarrhea in my conversation was reeling!  I can still feel the emotions of the exact moment when I recognized that I was hiding and no longer having fun.   I do know that my inner voice can be a real nasty b@#*h sometimes.  She and I have a long running adversarial relationship ….. but that will be saved for a different blog post 😉   Shortly after this conversation Covid provided the opportunity to grow out the colour and really see myself with my original hair.

I love the curls and the colour.  Don’t get me wrong it is still work.  I always had wave and curl to my hair but now my curls have a mind of their own.  Did you know that grey hair has a different texture then your other hair? Leave-in conditioner has become my best friend!! I swear that my curls can predict the weather better then any forecasting equipment invented!  Colour is still a bit of a battle as even though we have a state of the art water purification system our well water consistently wants my hair to have a brassy tone to it.

I wholly support anyone who wants to give it a try, it is easier if you do it with the helpful guidance of a hair stylist/colourist that supports your wishes. They will hold your hand and guide you through the process and yes I needed my hand held.  (Thank you Jody 🙂   Know that it has not been easy and my battle of fighting the “grey is old” voice in my head continues however what I love is that I am having fun again.  No more Disguising and hiding.  Colour your hair or going natural it is all wonderful!

embracing the grey hair