Friday, January 28, 2011

Midlife Hair Crisis

It's been coming for some time, but this week my midlife hair crisis hit me like a ton of bricks. Perhaps it was seeing that picture I posted of me and Dad where you could see how red my hair used to be. Perhaps it was the acquaintance who yesterday leaned over and said, "You have a lot of gray hair." Perhaps it was even the cute, stylish woman at church who had two little pink extensions clipped into her adorable blonde bob. I don't know all the reasons behind it, but I know it's real.

So, what does a woman do, but turn to her friends. She turns to her sisters, her nieces, her vast readership of blog followers [even lurkers like you, Emmalee (wink, wink)]. I am taking suggestions for what to do.

Do I let it grow longer? Do I cut it shorter? Do I leave it the same and continue to appreciate my 'instant' hair straight out of the shower that many women envy? Do I go more blonde? Do I dye it purple just because I can? Do I go darker with more highlights? The options are endless, right?

Truth is, when I think of the women who read this blog, I have way more faith in your fashion sense than in my own. Please help me! And for you couple of men who read along for fun, I'm definitely open to a male opinion as well.

I can handle it. Be honest. After all, the acquaintance already broke the news about the gray. Daniel has already suggested letting the gray roots grow out longer, then dyeing just the roots dark so it would have black and blonde striped look. I can take it. Let me have it.

I have an appointment scheduled with my hairdresser next Thursday. I'll be taking any and all suggestions until then. In advance, I thank you from the bottom of my follicles.

12 comments:

Heather said...

You could go longer. I'm always jealous of long, wavy hair. Or you could cut bangs. And I would definitely not rule out purple streaks. But I'm not really the one to ask. I spent the whole day with my bad hair day stuffed into a beanie. (A cute beanie though, thanks to Katelyn.) I've been having a hankering to go dark lately, but I am too cheap to do it. I'm excited to see what you choose.

ColleenDown said...

As I stared at my gray roots and made a note to myself that it was time to fork out another hundred bucks, I was tempted for one minute to "go gray." Then I remembered that I still must be an "Alta High Mom" for the next six years--women in Sandy Utah do not go gray no matter how "out of the box" the rest of their life may appear. When I chose to have children later in live, I guess I chose to be a mother long after I had become a grandmother. We stay young a lot longer than our mother and grandmothers generation in every other aspect of our life--I guess our hair must reflect that reality despite the cost--besides it is essential that i read "O" magazine cover to cover every eight weeks or I wouldn't be able to deal with the other aspects of my midlife crisis. Hang in there and find a hairdresser you enjoy spending time with every six to eight weeks!

ColleenDown said...

That last paragraph is like one of the "starters" Jacob gets in English class where the teacher says, "Circle the fifteen grammatical errors." Have at it everyone!

cathyg said...

I am all about color! In fact, I am going in for more tomorrow! What color? If you like your red heritage, take her a picture and ask her to match it! The one thing about color is if you get the wrong one, it can be fixed. Ok, you may spend a little extra money finding the right color, but it's worth it. I agree with Colleen, we can't let our hair color give our age away! If we are going to exercise and work to stay healthy and active, then keep our hair color alive and vibrant too! Derby Girls color their hair! Go for it!

Cheryl said...

I appreciate everyone's sentiments to color it. I definitely am planning to do that. For all of the reasons stated above, I am not going to "go gray." However, Cathy and Colleen, you are not being bold enough to say if you have a style opinion. I'm not feeling very creative about it right now, so I'm open.

By the way, Mom offered a comment, off the blog record, to say she thought I should frost it with red highlights.

Romney said...

I think a medium to dark brown with red highlights would be very stylish! I think you could grow it out a little, but get some long layers in it. You have thick hair like me too so I always have my hair dresser thin it out and that helps a lot! Hope my suggestions help! I'm excited to see what it looks like so make sure you post a picture of before and after on the blog!

Dave said...

All these comments remind of when I married Heather. Colleen told me she wanted her sons-in-law to be: a Doctor, Dentist (I think, can'r really remember this one), or a hairdresser. Those give her the most stress and cost her the most money in her life, so if I could be one of those it would be great. Since John and I are neither I hope Katelyn married a Dentist (DMD) who likes to style hair on the side.

J Shepherd Family said...

I love your current length. I would suggest a nice chestnut brown color to cover the grey and a few layers. After your appointment I can show you how easy it is to do it yourself and maintain what the hairdresser did! Can't wait to see the results!

Beckstrand7 said...

A friend of mine decided to go blonde, since hiding the grey between sessions is easier - it looks good on her. You could do a strawberry blonde and still get that red...I like Julie's idea of a few layers, a few wispy bangs... Gee, just thinking about this, I'm ready to get mine done again - I'm thinking SHORT!

Judy said...

It's shocking when you realize you're turning into your mother. The women in my family go prematurely gray, so I had to cross over that bridge a very long time ago! I'm just glad I wasn't born during the pioneer days, because they would have called me Grandma waaaay too young! Hair dye- one of the greatest inventions ever known to man... or should I say wo-man! ;)

jessica&john.com said...

I love this! I have the dear Abbey dilemma every time I am about to go to the hair dresser. And don't even get me started on my fro. Yours is really quite tame compared to Katelyn and mine.
I love your hair. Growing it longer has totally helped me tame mine because it weighs down the curliness. Then you could get some clip on pink extensions for when you are feeling crazy. Good luck with the hairapy. You will have to post pics.

Unknown said...

Funny that I read this today, the day I am wearing a hat to cover my own depressing gray. Chad's suggestion today was to 'pluck' the grays...um are you serious? I don't want to be bald for hecks sake! So Cheryl my advice to you would be a warm brown with some nice blonde highlights. Red would be fun too, problem with red is it tends to fade quicker. I am sure you will look fabulous whatever you decide. Have fun!