Embracing the grey, an update

I believe embracing the grey is working.

On Sunday, I met with C, my friend and running coach. We didn't run. Instead, we shopped for running clothes. When I got into her car, she immediately asked me about my hair.

C: What have you done with your hair? It looks different.

Me: Nothing. Nothing at all.

C: Did you get it coloured lately? It seems reddish.

Me: Nope.

I explained to C that I haven't coloured my hair since sometime in late 2009. It was a waste, I told her, since the dye wouldn't adhere to my grey hair. Two weeks after a dye job, I'd need another dye job. I could no longer justify going to the salon every six weeks just to get my hair coloured.

I think C was a bit impressed. I don't expect everyone to embrace the grey. (And I highly doubt if C has one teeny tiny grey hair on her head. Lucky girl!) But since I've embraced the grey, I feel a bit better about myself. No more worries about budgeting colouring sessions. No more worries about fitting colouring sessions into my schedule. And no more fretting if my grey was showing through my latest colour job. I know my grey is showing and I'm okay with that.

Embracing the grey

This is me. This is me and my grey hair.

I'm not even close to 40 and I've already got grey hair. The first grey hairs started to show up soon after my twentieth birthday. I'd like to tell you this photo was taken after darling daughter and I started our potty training journey, but sadly, this self portrait was taken the week before we got rid of the diapers. This is my au naturel hair colour.

I stopped getting my hair coloured since before the new year. There were two reasons behind my decision: cost and time.

It costs money to get your hair coloured. It would cost me a good $100 or more to get rid of the grey. (Once I spent $200 on a horrible highlight job at a high end salon, but I strictly blame that on pregnancy hormones as I was less than a month away from my due date). In my experience, colour doesn't really stick to grey. About two to three weeks after my dye job, the grey roots slowly return. Since it costs $100 or more for a dye job, I couldn't afford to run back to my stylist's salon every three weeks to hide the grey.

Where do I find the time? Regardless of cost, I just don't have the time to get my hair dyed every three weeks. I'm soon in need of a hair cut and I'm trying to find the time to fit in that task in my schedule.

After looking at my options and seeing more grey hairs popping up, I decided to embrace the grey, so to speak, and stop dyeing my hair. I'm not really thrilled that I have a streak of grey running down my part, but every time I visit my nurse practitioner, she tells me people pay good money to add streaks of grey to their hair. I don't get it. Just like I don't get why people want curls.

Until a money tree decides to take root in my back yard, I'll be embracing the grey. If Stacy London can get away with a streak of grey in her hair, I guess I can, too.