Going Pewter

GOING GRAY? Maybe you’re not, but I sure am! For the past, oh I don't even know how many years, I've been coloring my hair once-a-month because it grows so darn fast, and then when the silver roots start to show, the contrast is not too dissimilar to that of a skunk in all of her glory! I've been watching as both my brother's hair turns gray, thinking that it looks nice, distinguished even, and envying them somewhat, wishing, at times, that I didn't have to spend the money or take the time to deal with this whole "hair thing" and just chuck it all and go natural! Maybe the color will be platinum. Or pewter! Maybe I will look like Jay Leno. It won't look like my natural birth color anymore, but it will be my natural color now, and it will be easy, honest and truly me!

I read once that, "If we change the way we think about gray, about the fading, the aging, and think about it as a viable color choice, it changes our way of thinking about gray hair."

So, when we got our orders to come to Italy, I took the plunge.  The first thing I did was cut off my hair into a very short hair cut. The next step was to put blond highlights in so that when the gray hairs started to show it wouldn't be such a "skunk stripe" and I'd be able to deal with that for awhile. The third step is where I am now . . .
It's a good thing too!  From what I've been told, and what we're now experiencing, this water over here is the worst water - ever! Basically it's volcano water! From Mt. Vesuvius. Very high in mineral deposits which wreak havoc on your hair. Even Papa's super short hair is brittle and unmanageable.  Imagine what it's doing to my colored hair. It feels like a Brillo pad.
My mom gave me a pair of these really cool scissors called queeving (sp) sheers. They have big chunks missing evenly between the blades as you cut, so only part of the hair is removed, but the other part stays just as it is. The effect (hopefully), is a similar haircut with shorter pieces toward the root and spikier hair sticking out toward the top.  Well, I figure after 13 years as a manicurist (in another life), and watching stylists cut hair, for a little while anyway, I'm going to cut my own hair! So far so good! I've cut my hair twice, and it doesn't look too bad yet!

I'm surviving my transitioning process so far, but my true test is coming up!!  Dun-dun-dun! The "Balls" - The Chaplain Corps Ball, The Navy Ball, The Marine Corps Ball, etc.  And of course I have to go . . . yukky mid-transitioning hair and all! It's all I can do to not make an appointment and get a "little touch up" for those pretty pictures we'll be taking at the balls! And Papa being the Command Chaplain and everything too!! Oh well! I'll just have to do my best and use lots of gel.

I'm just at the stage now, I'm noticing, where people are taking an extra long gaze at the roots of my hair to figure out why on earth would she be letting her hair "look like that?" "Can't she find a hair stylist!!! No doubt . . . I would be wondering that myself.  It's all I can do to not say something every time I see that look. Ugh!  Torture!
But, only 6 or so more months to go, and it will all be over.  I can cut it short enough to get down to all that gray!



Transitioning . . .



 "Just as we don't say “yellow” for blond hair, we don't have to say gray. Giving your gray a new name is more than semantics. It implies an attitude about gray, an acceptance of its natural beauty. Its pure, yes, color. It's time for the way we perceive gray to change. When people compliment my “gray” hair, I say “Thank you, but it’s really pewter with ice highlights.” Try it."

I like the sound of this, don't you?

Ciao, Bella!  Mimi