Talk about timing. After my post yesterday about gray hair, the Time article I mentioned is in the new issue that showed up in today's mail. Turns out the writer is Anne Kreamer, the one and the same as was quoted in yesterday's post and subject of the NY Times article and writer of the book. Maybe this is a one-woman issue. She gets around.The article shows photos of famous people, mostly politicians, where they have given them gray hair so the reader can judge for themselves whether they look more intelligent, attractive, believable and distinguished with or without coloring their gray. For most of them I thought it made little to no difference. I did think Nancy Pelosi looked warmer and more attractive with the gray hair. They also show photos of Emmylou Harris and Toni Morrison with brown hair. No, no, no. That did not seem right at all.
We grayhairs, according to article, are still in the minority and will probably remain so, but it winds down by saying:
"These days choosing not to dye has become a statement rather than a casual stylistic choice. Thus the gray wars are a bit of a grownup replay of the freaks vs. squares and smart kids vs. populars from junior high and high school 40 years ago. The emphasis in the 1960s on being yourself gives women today a cultural grounding that lets them say 'Hell, no' to artificial color."
I'll buy that. I have to admit my gray hair is, at some level, a statement in support of authenticity and maybe it makes me feel less vain than my friends who dye. But I'm not. And Gerrie, your red hair is fabulous!
Besides what I wrote in my lengthy comment to the last post, I think there's a lot of "Hell, no," in my hair attitude too!
ReplyDeleteIf my hair were more gray I think I would let it be. But, alas, the gray I do have is a very dull kind of dirty fog color. I try to re-evaluate at least once a year and then go screaming to the hairdresser.
ReplyDeleteIn the Time article I thought that the gray Hiliary looked OK.
I did try "going brown" when my grays became noticeable a few years back. (Well, actually a lot of years back :o) I couldn't afford a salon job and the home kits just didn't work all that well for me. The grays seemed to be made of polyester and didn't take dye well and my hair grows so fast that I was constantly touching up. After a few months I decided that Mother Nature should win this battle and let it go gray. So, I suppose my statement is: I am too busy, too broke, and too impatient to be anything but gray.
ReplyDelete[BTW, Mother Nature wins most of the battles around here--though I keep taking her on more and more as I get older!]
I'm like you...white in front, not so white in back. But I tried dying it for a while and hated keeping up with the brown roots. So now I'm 'au natural' even if it does make me look older than my husband (who is 6 years older than me!). It's been nice not fussing over hair color anymore!!
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