Hi! Here I am at 21 weeks. Welcome back to my update ongoing gray journey. Last week I went in for my hair appointment to get a trim.
What an emotional roller coaster. Why?
It is weird to be sitting in the waiting area watching other people get their hair colored and knowing that you don’t intend to do the same. I felt like a rebel.
But then my mind wandered…I wonder if they noticed me and are thinking, “Whew…good thing she’s here and ready to fix that look?”
If you’re a shaky person, going to the salon at this stage of going gray may be a bit like an alcoholic going into a bar for the first time after giving up the drink. The plethora of hair options, the excitement from the people who “look beautiful” or say, “Wow, I love this color, it covers the gray completely,” is a bit intimidating.
The temptation to just give up crossed my mind…but only slightly. Coloring my hair was a habit for a really long time. Just being back in the environment where “everybody’s doing it” is peer pressure.
I wasn’t worried so much about going back to coloring. I was really struggling with how much to cut off or just go short? Cutting off the colored hair is the easiest and quickest way to going gray.
Ugh…but that’s not a good plan for me. I remember vividly not enjoy the stages of growing my hair out long. I don’t want to do that again if I don’t have to.
As I sat there having my hair trimmed and shaped a bit differently, among all the people getting their hair “done”, perhaps I appeared less confident than I had hoped?
My hairdresser is awesome, supportive and sensitive to my feelings. She likely tuned into my shaking confidence. After trimming my hair and seeing all the gray glory spreading atop my head, she suggested a couple of alternatives for this stage in the “18-24 month period, since hair only grows about a ½ inch a month”:
- Color it with temporary coloring. It would eventually just wash out and no one will know the stages as it happens. After 18 months, just stop the temporary coloring and the hair under will be gray. When I started coloring, I tried the semi-permanent coloring, and it faded so quickly. I remember it didn’t seem to work for me. And…oh yeah, that’s what suckered me into the permanent coloring. NOPE, not going there.
- Use WOW hair cover-up. She even had a sample to show me what it does. Since I have 6 inches of gray to cover the top of my head, a solid application of this stuff would be quite the ordeal. She just dusted it in to show me how it could help lessen the contrast of the demarcation line.
WOW…it does exactly what it says it does. It definitely made my gray look less evident. Ah…a drink of the past…a long lost friend…a moment of solidarity for my hair…a temptation to run right out and buy a lot of WOW.
But it is powder. Sticky powder. It stayed in my hair until the next washing. It didn’t come off on my pillowcase like I thought it would. While it was on my hair, it made it hard to style. The stickiness was yucky feeling. Every time I itched my head, my fingernails dusted brown. I do think it would be perfect for someone just starting out on the gray journey and/or to add another week in between coloring. But for 21 weeks into the journey, I don’t know about you, but ewe…it is not for me.
With the WOW in my hair, I left the appointment feeling a bit more confident. Next day though, it turns out my trim wasn’t quite the style I wanted. I’m so damn picky! I went back the following Monday for reshaping. Again, my hairstylist is so awesome. She wants to make sure I’m happy.
We talked a bit about the WOW stuff. Since that’s not for me, she suggested the next option. Stripping the darker hair, blending in tones of gray/ash so that the rest of the journey is more even-toned. Not coloring the new hair, but toning down the contrast between the old colored hair and the new gray.
Again…the coloring addict in me tempted. I listened while several of the stylists gave their opinions on options. They discussed how it could be done and how my hair would look awesome. Just a short 3 hours in the chair and I’d be lighter and closer to my new gray hair color. “No, it won’t fry your hair, no it won’t be brassy looking and you will love it.”
Book it, Dano. I made an appointment to head back there in a couple of weeks for a 3-hour journey to a new stage. I left the salon with a new-found excitement about this crazy journey to gray…(Oy…18 – 24 months…really?! That’s a long time…just a short 13 months to go!)
When I got back to my car, I had a message to call my tax accountant. Yay, it might just be a call about a huge refund. You know, big enough to pay for my 3-hour hair appointment. The excitement got to me so I pulled over and returned the call just in case tax papers were ready to be picked up.
After talking with the accountant and finding out how much the tax bill will be…
Call it divine intervention or a reality check about how much I don’t want to dip back into the coloring abyss? Priorities…priorities…nope, there’s no cash going to my hairdresser after all. I chose to cancel the appointment, no extra fun money to spend now.
Good graycious, I’m so glad I’m thrilled with the new trim. I’m going to tough it out, go gray (slowly) naturally and that suits the rebel in me just fine (for now)! See you next update!
PS – Have you ever tried WOW hair powder? How about hair stripping? I’d love to hear your thoughts? Since I have time to research…is it a good idea? What horror stories do you have? What success stories? Do tell!
