As I sat there in silence, watching each inch of brown curls drop to the cape, I thought I would be sad. But I wasn’t sad, I was happy. Those small moments of reflection made me realize I was letting go of a time in my life I’m ready to be done with.
Yesterday, I had my appointment to get rid of the old remains of colored hair. I decided, enough is enough, I’m done with the old and what it represented in my life.
I watched the reflection in the mirror as my salt and pepper hair, all free from the brown curls, appeared. It was like seeing an old friend I hadn’t seen in a long time. I had forgotten how dark my black color was. I remember the color it was when I started to gray.
Good graycious, I missed my old color and didn’t realize how much.
Wow…my brownish color was wrong for me in a way. It was a color that didn’t really fit me, but I had just grown into it over time. But there was always something about it that didn’t seem quite right. I can now see the mismatch the color was when I look in the mirror and see just the gray.
Time to forgive myself for all the time spent coloring my hair. It is time to catch up with my salt and pepper friends. We’ve been evolving through the changing hair all of these years. The feelings of remorse for spending time coloring quickly faded and replaced with excitement.
It is truly liberating and freeing. I’m so freaking excited to be done with coloring and the brown colored hair.
When she was done cutting the curls off, she handed me a mirror to see the back. We both admired our handy work resembling all the months of patience it took to get to this moment of all gray. I’m free from the past!
I got up out of the chair and walked to the checkout desk. On the way, I strolled by and glanced at all the women there getting their hair colored. I didn’t feel one bit of remorse, shakiness or desire to cave and color again. I wondered if they know what they are missing?
As I wrote out the check to pay for the cut, it was a perfect moment to give a high-five hand slap to my hairdresser. She had helped me and supported me through the past 9 months.
We did it, we made it to the finish line of another milestone in life.
If you’re trying to decide when is the best time to dump the old, 9 months and 8 days is a good time. I’d tell you 9 months and 8 days is a perfect time, but that would be lying. I can’t, nor can any other person tell you the perfect time to cut, color, or do whatever to your hair. You know why? Because it is YOUR hair. You have to decide what is right for YOU.
If you spend time worrying about what others will think, or asking for their opinion, you’ll be trapped in the cycle of trying to decide instead of doing what is right for you.
Good graycious, just decide, do it, and move on. Period. It’s that simple. Now, it is time to let it grow and find another area of my life to go lighter.
OH, I LOVE the end result! This post fully resonates with me, Shelley.
My last dye was December 3oth, 2016. In February, my hairdresser bleached out 50% of the dyed ends using foils to soften the regrowth line and purple shampoo was the regular toner. Two days ago, I went to the same hairdresser who has been helping me transition to my natural silvers and I had her take off the dyed ends. I’m now sporting a pixie cut! Apart from a few wispy ends in my fringe that still retain a little of the dyed ends, I am fully natural and I couldn’t be happier. The pixie cut will take some getting used to as I’ve never had my hair this short but I’m loving it so far.
My only regret is that I started dyeing my hair in the first place.
Rock on, Silver Sister! 🙂
Serena,
Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts and the journey to gray! You’re lucky like me to have a supportive hairdresser. Way to be brave and cut it to a pixie cut! I LOVE being free from the dyed ends too, and am excited you’ve found the freedom in it as well. There are moments when I’m not loving the growing out process as I suspected, but then out of the blue I’ll receive random compliments like yours and feel energized again in the process. I have the same regret, wishing I had never started dyeing my hair either. But then, I wouldn’t have met or heard from wonderful Silver Sisters like you! Thank you for stopping by! Don’t be a stranger – can’t wait to hear how you’re loving your grays as they grow out!