Platinum Princess

In honor of Mother's Day we have a guest blog from our Mom. She is darling, funny, spunky and full of good advice. I got my first gray hair when I was about 29. I started coloring at about 32. I have been flirting with going natural, but don't have the guts yet. So I asked mom to give us some advice and share her experience on going Gorgeous! - robin

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• More than 40% of Americans have some gray by their 40th birthday
• Over 70,000,000 women are now over 40 years old
• Fully 1/3 of the population will be age 50 or older next year

GOING GRAY?

No, you’re not. And you don’t have any friends with yellow hair. They’re Blonde.

Your hair might be going silver, pewter, platinum, ice, pearl, or sterling. Never gray. With America’s 1/3 population of baby-boomers, the word “gray” for hair color has become politically incorrect.

All my life I was a dark Brunette. I wasn’t brown, or black.

I think I look like Lily Tomlin in this picture.

In my mid 40’s Clairol, Aveda, Wella, and similar brands, dubbed my color Dark Coffee, Sable, or Love Potion# 9. I thought I would transition to silver gracefully by coloring only my bangs, & about 1“ either side of my part. That worked fairly well for a number of years.

But when predictable & increasingly itchy scalp after using any brand of color turned into a full blown allergic reaction my hair stylist, Odell (the same one that Robin, Emily, Kristen, Sally and Hannah love), said PPD (paraphenylenediamine), in virtually all hair color was the culprit. He told me that letting your roots show was the new thing in hair fashion & encouraged me to let it grow out. Maybe he was thinking of this:

Vogue calls it “showing your stripe.” Imagine reverse coloring, very fine hair, cut short, with no photographer’s fan giving it that sexy mussed up look. Oh yes, very important: change the 18 yr old model’s face to that of a mature woman. On me, after 4 months with no color I looked like a balding skunk.

A toddler at Walmart, pointing to me informed her mommy, “look, she has 2 hairs.”

Then a week or so later when I was checking out at my dentist’s office there were 3 children who must have been waiting for their parent, because none was present. When I turned around with a big smile & asked them why they were giggling like crazy, the 2 year old said, “because your hair is 2 colors.” I just laughed with them & said, “Yep, it’s pretty crazy, isn’t it!” Then I drove straight to the wig shop. This is what I bought:

Actually, I had to order it & wait a week. The wig shop called as I was leaving for the airport. Alan stopped on the way so I could wear it on the plane. Alan thought I looked like a fox & threatened to head back home instead of letting me leave him for a week in Calif. I thought it looked fake, but I guess it looked pretty good:

• The 45-ish flight ticket agent flirted with me.
  
• The young woman ISA employee who had to go through my carry on told me how much she loved my hair & that she had been watching me since I entered the security area. She wanted to know if it was my natural color (I told her yes, which was technically true) & asked if I lived in Boise (yes) & finally, who cut it. I told her the wig lady did. She didn’t believe me.
• I’d told my sister ‘d be wearing my new gray wig at LAX, but she & her husband looked straight at me & were going to drive right by until I wildly waved both arms at them.
• My mother, who wasn’t expecting me (it was my 89^th birthday present to her), didn’t know who I was, even when I said, “hi, Mom.” She thought I was Kris, until I got 2 inches from her face & hugged her (she’s legally blind, so she was easy to fool.)
• My niece, Kaitlin, looked me in the face & walked right past me.
• My sister, Kathy, & brother’s wife, Dyan, both did a serious double take when I sat down at their table in the restaurant where we all met for lunch & until I told them otherwise, they thought it was my real hair, not a wig. In fact they had to touch it to make sure I wasn’t kidding.

It was so much fun that I got a blonde one:

Then a pewter one:

I took Alan to the wig shop with me when I picked up the 3^rd wig and while I there I tried on a dozen different styles & colors. He picked the red one. It his favorite:

These got me through 10 months of really, seriously bad-hair days. They’re made of wonderful new synthetics & are easy to care for, light weight & very easy to wear—not like those awful ones some of us wore in the 60’s-70’s. They shortened my morning “Indian-paint & headdress” getting-ready routine by 20 minutes, at least.

And it’s fun: My bishop told me there was a betting pool going on among those sitting on the stand & on the back row of the chapel, “to see what color Linda’s hair is going to be today.”

It took about 14 months & a few color “low lights,” (not touching the scalp because of my allergy), but I finally have color I can live with. This is me:

I haven’t worn my wigs for 6 months. I’m not brave enough. “Why?” you may ask. They looked great, like perfect hair, much thicker, shinier & healthier looking than my own. Still, unless I’m on a trip, I won’t wear one because I’m afraid if I do I’ll have someone who knows me say, “Wow, Linda, you look terrific,” before they realize it’s not my own hair. Then they’ll be embarrassed.

I read when hair becomes 50% gray you have no choice and have to transition from dyed to natural. I don’t agree. I think in our world we can choose whatever color we want. But if you find white hair on your head & are trying to decide whether to color or not, consider a wig. Choose a good synthetic one, from a wig salon, not some magazine ad. If it is good it will probably cost $80 - $150, but that’s less than a year of visits to the hair salon.

Love,
Linda
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For fun pictures of my mom's wigs, but not on her darling little head, go Here.
This is a link to a great web page on going gray. There are some young beautiful gray haired women.