It begins. You spot an interloper among the soft shiny tresses. It is wiry, long and totally devoid of color. The dreaded gray hair! And you're only 26 years old!
It happens to many of us. Heck I knew a guy in high school that was already graying. It begins so incredibly slow and sneaky, one or two gray hairs among the dark. Dark hair has it the worst because it shows up faster than in blond. And to be honest, I've never seen a red head with a gray streak, but I'm sure they are out there.
God loves your gray hair. He gave the gray to us to make us concentrate on not worrying. Because that's what causes gray hair you know. Oh science says it's something to do with DNA and hair follicles, but we all know the more you worry the grayer you get.
I am a very good worrier. God tries to distract us from our worries by the gray because maybe we'll just work on disguising the gray hair and leave the worrying to him. Luke 12:7 "Even the hairs of your head are all counted."
After several years of denial with hair colors of all sorts, (remind me to tell you the story of a really bad dye job I gave myself once that had kids in the school I worked in terrified of me.) I finally give up. Coloring was expensive even when I did it at home. It was a pain because my hair grew fast (unlike my fingernails) so I was constantly having to touch it up or go with a totally different color. One year, I tried to match my two daughters who had beautiful natural blond highlights in their hair. Mine wasn't natural, at all, by any means. It turned red. That's another story.
So several years ago I gave up the dyeing and let the gray come out. I am blessed to have some very beautiful white and silver highlights in my graying hair so I was lucky. I let it grow long as a rebel against all the "cut it short when you are old' advice I read about in fashion magazines. While I didn't personally know anyone else who had long gray/silver hair, I did see people like country singer, Emmy Lou Harris who wore her silver hair long. I loved that. So that was going to be me.
So I am now the sportier of long, gray and silver hair, except for one spot. For some reason there is a long original dark brown area of my hair that continues to grow, right in the middle of the back of my head, but it is hidden under the rest of my hair. The only way you can see it is when I wear my hair up. One day I was at the hairdressers for a haircut. I don't usually go to get my hair cut professionally. Another rebel side of me is I like the way I cut and style my own hair. But this time I wanted to indulge myself in a professionally cut style, so I made an appointment and went to see a really sweet young stylist. As she began pulling up my hair complimenting me on the color she suddenly gasped. "Oh, that is really odd, did you color that brown?" I had no idea what she was talking about since I don't see the back of my hair very often. "You have a long brown streak of hair in the back. Kind of like a skunk stripe."
I gave her a tip when we were finished but I never went back.
So me and my silver, gray, white and skunk stripe hair try to make due at home with me cutting and styling my hair myself. It is just a little too traumatizing to see anyone else. I find it funny that no one, not even my own family has ever commented on the skunk stripe. Go figure. But lest I get too proud of my long silver hair, I have a continual reminder that things can turn smelly if you don't watch your ego.
I do have to laugh, because lest I do forget, skunk strip or not, I have a granddaughter who insists on calling me Gaga, (pronounced just like Lady Gaga) who loves to point out any picture of a grandma looking women with white hair, pulled up in a bun and wearing readers and call them Gaga pointing to me.
I of course, am seen by her a lot wearing my hair up out of my face and wearing readers, at least that's what my daughter tries to explain of her insistence. But, my daughter so lovingly adds, you don't have the wrinkles that the gagas in the pictures do!
So last Christmas my granddaughter spotted an ornament on our Christmas tree of a Hawaiian themed Santa in a hula skirt and Mrs. Claus in a muumuu. Another long story about my parents love of Hawaii. But she excitedly pointed to Mrs. Claus and declared it was Gaga. For some reason she didn't see Santa as Grandpa but whatever. Granted Mrs. Claus with her muumuu and white hair look just like the Disney Moana's grandmother who dances on the sand in muumuu with long gray hair and my granddaughter and I do that hula dancing from that movie together too. So I could see the connection she was making.
But the other day in the fabric store she pointed to a bottle of glue at the fabric cutting table. On the bottle was a cartoon of a grandma wearing her white hair in a bun and readers. "Gaga!" she pointed. My daughter couldn't help but begin laughing. I stood there pointing out that it didn't look at all like me, but my granddaughter insisted. By this time the clerk cutting our fabric started laughing and I was beat. I guess if I'm going to insist on wearing long gray hair I'm going to look like the proverbial granny of old who wore their hair in buns. But there is a twinkle in my eye and I act out Disney movies with my granddaughters all I want and I can laugh and have fun. Thank you God for letting me have that, gray hair or not, the laughter helps me worry less about everything.
