50 Shades Of Grey (hair)

NOVEMBER 2017, SPRINGVILLE UTAH

Should I color my hair or let it go grey(er)?

I ask myself this question every time I look in the mirror.

Currently I’ve got more grey than I’ve ever had and I’m not covering it or masking it on purpose. I do wear ball caps and a headband but their jobs are to keep my hair out of my face and/or the sun out of my eyes.

Notably it does make me look older.  I don’t have a lot of wrinkles on my face and I FEEL younger than 50.

LEAVING SIMI VALLEY

When I broke the news to my friend Mary (who happens to be my stylist) she was concerned about my hair! WHO would be the boss of my hair? I decided for financial reasons I would be the boss of my hair (and the hair of all of the family).

I didn’t know much about style and frankly I didn’t really CARE too much about it either. If my hair was growing, I was good with it. If it was in my face then I wanted to cut it off. ALL OF IT. Randy, on the other hand, wasn’t keen with me and my “just buzz it off” carefree attitude. Mary wouldn’t let me do it either. So, I agreed to not cut it…but I knew how much work was involved in “upkeep” and I just wasn’t interested in that nor would I have the resources (we were living on a mountain far from a trustworthy solution.)

I believe my last appointment was Week 2 of our last boot camp session #78. That would be the beginning of May (Mary? Want to confirm this?). That’s roughly 180 days.

So here I am, major WIZARD-GREY action happening (the photo above is not the latest…that’s in August 2017).

We are also in civilization again. The bustling city of Provo Utah.

People here seem to care about their appearance! CRAP.

Now I am with one foot on the “go grey” boat and the “girl you can wait to be 100% grey” boat.

We are also contemplating our next move: where where where do we want to go?

It’s nice enough here to stop for a while and consider getting a job (maybe I’ll finally get to be a waitress!). The previous towns: not so much.

Part of our plan to adventure became visiting places we might actually want to LIVE in. Should we stop here and live or should we carry onward into an unplanned and completely UNKNOWN path of living?

GETTING PRETTIER

I stopped wearing make-up and doing my hair.

In the past I thought it was remarkable how much time women spent (not me) on preparing for the day. If we were invited out to an event or party I KNEW I’d have to stand in front of the mirror and do SOMETHING. I really hated it because, well, I’m untrained (to begin with) and I also don’t really like looking in the mirror.

Since I turned 50 I think a little differently about my appearance.

Along our travels I’m meeting men and women “my age” and much older. I see how BEAUTIFUL they are immediately. Some are packed with creases and lines across their skin revealing they laugh and smile a lot, some have skin hanging from their chins, there are extremely thin women and extremely large. Why am I worried about what I look like? What other people see?

About a month ago I decided to start giving a little more of a shit about it! I put mascara on even when we weren’t going out to an event. Then I admitted to myself that I needed to do something with my hair! It’s getting pretty long. So I began to put time into curling it (using my buff) every other night.

IS IT OK TO TRY TO LOOK PRETTIER

Yes. It is ok to care about what you look like IN YOUR OPINION OF YOURSELF.

Like it or not, people judge you for all sorts of reasons. They compare you to themselves or to what they feel is “good”. This has varying levels too, I know.

Recently, and I don’t think it is going away any time soon, men (and women!) are being outed for sexual harassment and disgusting behavior toward another human. This is never “asked for” no matter how you dress or look. It’s disturbing HOW MANY new names are added to the lists every single day.

Soon we’ll need to just know who ISN’T on the freaking list! A Pledge Of Honesty or some sort of badge so we know who we can trust. I know I’ve never sexually assaulted any one so I’ll go first.

I SWEAR I HAVE NEVER SEXUALLY ASSAULTED ANOTHER HUMAN (OR ANIMAL!)

I have VERY OFTEN thought that women were dressing to scantily and revealing. I wondered WHY would they dress this way? Is it all about being sexy and trying to entice the opposite sex? I would say yeah, that might be on the agenda. But I’ve got to believe that is isn’t THE MAJORITY reason.

“If these women are so opposed to being hit on, why are they going to all that trouble to look so enticing? Men are just supposed to pretend they don’t notice?”

WHY DO WOMEN MAKE THEMSELVES ATTRACTIVE? GLAD YOU ASKED

Read this article and you’ll see a completely awesome point of view on this topic.

IN CLOSING

The way we see ourselves is important.  Like it or not we judge other people by their appearance and behavior.  Why not put a little effort into seeing the beauty you have and letting it show?  Do it for the way it makes you feel inside (and maybe ask your Spouse what they like…I did and I always appreciate Randy’s honest answers – after all he looks at me more than anyone else on earth and it may as well be pleasant!)

DECEMBER UPDATE:

I did it.  I finally got the nerve together to “do my hair”.

I still need to get a trim but overall I’m happy with the results.   Thanks Mary!