The Color of My Hair

This isn't my real hair color. Well, let me back up...it was, when I was like three. I was born with kind of a light brown hue that looked golden in the sun and I loved it. Then when middle school hit it slowly began turning darker and darker until it had transformed into a drab brown specimen that had exactly zero awesomeness included. Is there a receipt that comes with this? Can I take it back?

Then when I was about 20 I looked in the mirror one day and thought there was something in my hair. Upon closer inspection, I gasped at the knowledge that strands of gray were slowly taking over. A wave of nausea hit and I called my mother at work crying. I'M TOO YOUNG FOR THIS! THANKS DAD!!! The genetic betrayal that was my legacy had finally taken hold.

How to best describe my natural hair color?? I like to explain it like this.....

Imagine Ireland, around 1787. There's a woman in a field. The wind is blustering around her. The baby strapped to her back is weighing heavily upon her as she bends down to retrieve rocks from the ground, hoping in vain to grow some potatoes. She hasn't seen her husband in three days. Most likely he's at the pub. The English have oppressed her people for generations, her dress is five years old, the roof on their house is falling in and oh by the way she's pregnant with number four. As she stands up and surveys the sea, she wonders how far she'd get before she succumbed to the waves......

Sort of Angela's Ashes meets Raising Arizona....that's the color of my hair....

I don't explain it like this to be morose. I actually think it's funny. People are fighting cancer, I just don't like my gray hair. That being said a woman's hair is a big deal. She wears it every day, she often changes it when a major life event happens and it can pick up her spirits like nothing else. We have so much to take care of and deal with each day, so I say why the hell not. When it's all said and done I'll probably have spent China's daily food budget on mine, but that's ok. It makes me happy.

As much of a feminist as I am and as much as I'd like to say I don't care, I do. I like for my hair to look nice. I don't like the gray. If I were a man I could age gracefully to a spectacular salt-n-pepper ratio a la Richard Gere while I was told how distinguished I looked, but this just isn't the case for women. Sure I could take a stand and go completely natural, but frankly, I like highlights. I like going to the salon. Maybe one day I'll go for it but not until I've tried some pink highlights. Definitely want to get the nerve up to do that one one day.

I say there's nothing wrong with helping God along a little bit. At least I don't use the box dye anymore. That's a whole other post in itself!