Don’t Say G(r)ay, January 1st

I think I was the last of my age group to start coloring my hair. I purposely got into the game as late as possible for a few reasons. Most importantly because it’s expensive, and once you start, you’re on the ol’ perpetual hamster wheel, a slave to the process every X number of weeks. (My “X” started at ten weeks and now I’m down to eight but debating changing that to go every six. Ugh.)

Also, sitting there for two hours while your ‘do is done is excruciatingly taxing on a busy person like me who likes to run around and cross things off her list. But I was told, in a not so gentle way by my beloved haircutter of ten plus years, that my one color, medium brown helmet could certainly use a little spark. And he more than subtly suggested that I start with highlights. So I gave up and gave in.

My first few years in the foiling chair were simply to wake up my boring brunette. Fast forward into my 50s and now, gasp, I don’t just want to color my hair, I need to color my hair. When the old, dark roots of yesteryear start sprouting, I race to the salon desperate for some richness, a little brightness, and some dimension. I like my colored hair. I identify as a Mixed Blonde Autumn. (Yep, just made that up.) What I don’t see a lot of is gray.

Gray is a word never spoken in a salon! When you arrive for your color appointment they gingerly ask if you’re there to “cover your roots,” or to “touch up the base.” “Just a single process today?” they will confirm. But never a gray word is spoken! They Never Say Gray. I inquire of my colorist each time, “Do you see a lot of grays?” “Meh,” is usually the answer. They never repeat the taboo word. It must be superstition. I have some, I’m told, but not too many.

I envy the Andie McDowell types that go gray gracefully or the Jane Fonda rebels that vocally and publicly ditch the color and sport that au naturale look. I have a few friends who’ve done it and they look fabulous. I just don’t have that option. I don’t think I can pull off the brown with a few wiry strands of silver look and I have no interest in stripping the layers of Indian Summer off of my hair to find out.