The Grey: Roots and Tips

Little tip for you if you're thinking of going grey: Be as tall as you can be. This helps in two respects. One, your increasingly pale hairline is visible only to people taller than you. Also, your height makes you slightly intimidating and no one will whisper to you that your roots are showing.

Another tip: Embrace the grey! When we were in Florida last year, the chlorine and sun stripped some of the colour out of my hair and I had to pop into a Walgreens to get some hair dye. Not this year. This year, we sat at a table playing euchre, and we all had to come up with our Card Playing Names. Mine was [pause to run hands through hair, lower voice to exciting whisper] The Silver Streak. I still had strands of tinsel in my hair in Florida too. I guess I could have been The Silver Streaks. The tinsel was a good idea -- it meant I felt festive, sparkly and silly rather than drab and old.

Three: Think about the meaning of the grey. I just came across an old photo taken six years ago when my book came out. That was the summer I had gold highlights put in my hair, to see whether I could allow the grey to grow in by using a variety of tones. (The answer then was no.) The same month my book came out, too, we changed churches. I always thought that was strange, but I don't believe now that it was a coincidence. Though we left relatively happily, I think I was a bit like an animal, seeking a safe place to give birth, an authentic place. So too with this grey experience. I was a bit disappointed with my photo in the newspaper the other week because my hair looked blah -- I wished I had either kept it brown or that I had fully grown out the grey in advance of launching my business. After reflecting, though, I'm more okay with it though. I think I needed another step toward authenticity to accompany this next step on the journey.

Finally: You're not the centre of the universe. And neither am I. While it's been fun to monitor the process, it's also a bit boring. Who really cares what colour my hair is? Those who matter don't mind, and those who mind don't matter -- that's how the saying goes. It reminds me of going to my 20-year high school reunion and how different some of us looked fro mhow we used to -- but ten minutes in, we had reconnected and everything seemed the same. Same here. Designer labels, Value Village, ten more pounds, fifteen fewer pounds. Unless you're a celebrity, your every change is not scrutinized. So -- to all of us -- let's live a little more freely, embracing our flaws and growing pains, looking outward rather than sitting around watching our hair grow.