To Gray or Not To Gray

That is the question. I can't decide if it's nobler to go au natural with silvery streaks or keep up the facade of faux color. Do I really look younger with no gray? Could I look young and hip with gray? And what the heck is my natural color anyway???

I have been streaking, tinting, highlighting and plain old coloring my hair since college. Honestly, I am not sure what my "natural" color really is anymore. Chestnut? Black? Basic brown? Tawny? Taupe? I'll bet even my hairdresser doesn't know for sure! All I do for sure is that there sure is a lot of silver (which sounds better than gray).

Those women I see who look great gray are the ones with a cute cut and updated clothes. Face it, you cannot be shlumpy and have gray hair. Especially if you have young kids like I do. Shlumpy with fleece mom clothes and gray hair = being mistaken for you kid's grammy. However, chic clothes, tres chic hairstyle, and a trim, toned body = Meryl Streep in The Devil Wears Prada. Meryl Streep looked fabulous in that movie. That's the right hair right there.

I don't know but women of a certain age who tint their tresses and get the color too even or too dark...well, it doesn't look right. No one's hair is totally monotone. Gotta have highlights and low lights to look right. And too brassy ... also not so good. It's a fine line to walk when you start pushing the half century mark.

And what about all that maintenance? Can't swim in chlorine because it will mess up the color. Can't use any old shampoo because it will mess up the color. Can't go to long without touching up the color or you look like a reverse skunk with a streak of white down the middle. I don't want to think about my hair that much any more...which isn't to say that I don't want to think about how I look. With the financial meltdown and global warming and the plastics poisoning and everything else, I guess obsessing about hair seems minor. Thank God my husband thinks I look good either way.