Tuesday, June 23, 2009

I'm Caught in a Trap

Good morning, and thank you for stopping by for your daily dose of Elvis lyrics.

Today's dilemma: how do I get out of coloring my hair? Oh, how I wish someone had mentioned to me back in 1985 that the highlights I got to camouflage my premature gray would suck me into a swirling vortex of hair swatches and 40 volume developer. Now, at 41, the color of my hair changes slightly (or drastically, depending on the emotional state of my hairdresser) about every 6 weeks or so. For the last few years, I've been applying the root touch-up stuff from the grocery store between visits to Madame Mercurial because my WHITE grow-out line is more than I can take.

Which brings me back to the question of how to get off this merry-go-round. All I can come up with is to skip a couple of visits to the salon and then put a #4 guard on the Wahl clippers and go all GI Jane. Except without all the buffness. When I try to imagine what that will look like, visions of a stubbly Stay-Puf Marshmallow Mom dance in my head. So I consider just going low-maintenance and growing the whole mess all the way out, so that I have 6 or 8 inches of mostly gray, then a little brownish "transition" hair, followed by dried-out streaks of blonde. I'll braid it. It'll be fine. What?

As you can see, I need to harness the power of the Internet to solve this besetting problem. You have the floor.

22 comments:

  1. Do you want to keep on coloring or you're just tired of having to do it all the time? How thick is your hair?

    I ask because my hair has gone grey early AND whacked out hormones has caused my hair to giddy up and leave. Thus leaving me with a bald spot and grey hair. (It's a miracle I haven't dove off a cliff.) But the miracle of a pull thru wig has done wonders. Gives me volume AND I don't have to get my hair dyed every 6 weeks. Google it and see what all you come up with. Whole new world out there.

    Although I have a feeling you have thick hair and you live down south where sweating your brains out is a requirement. Shave it all off and go for a full wig? Um, gosh, I'm no help at all am I? :}

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  2. I'm going to be watching this one as I find myself in the same type dilemma. Seems I skipped gray all together and just have lily white hair creeping through. Keep us posted on this hair crisis. You are not alone.

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  3. I don't know, the GI Jane look could be fun for the summer. Just tell everybody you wanted something cooler in the hot weather.

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  4. Scarves? Fundanas?


    G.I. Jane and then move to a new location where no one knows you?

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  5. Hm...I'm no help at all, but I also think it depends on whether you want to just be gray and love the one you're with. Sounds like that's where you're headed. No pun intended. I have a couple of 40ish friends who have gone completely gray/white, and have embraced it with shorter, kicky haircuts. Perhaps a gloss or glace (whatever) would enhance the gray, too and make it more soft/silky looking. Good luck to you!

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  6. Are you like me and have a reputation as a crazy lady who's liable to come unhinged at any moment? That could work in your favor with the wild and wiry, half gray look. I say go for it!

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  7. I just went through this...I "used" to have dark brown hair..ahem. Never mind the fact that it was Loreal #34 - I was worth it. But after ten years of coloring, like you, I was ready to hop off the old colortrain. But I couldn't stand the thought of having hair that looked like a Brach's Neopolitan candy. My stylist suggested I get some temporary lowlights as my *white* hair (yes, it's white..not grey) grows back in..I've been doing that for 6 months now and have been able to chop off almost ALL the old hair that was dark. Of course, I had two inches of white growth before I started that process (I wore a LOT of hats)...but it's coming along quite nicely.

    Let us know what you decide...if there's a better way...I'm all ears. :)

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  8. This has nothing to do with hair.... I'm just writing b/c I'm so thrilled to check in with you and find two whole posts I hadn't read yet!! It took me 5 whole minutes to decide if I should read one and save one for later. (I didn't!) Love you! (Will follow the hair saga with great interest.)

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  9. Oh gosh sister. I think you are too young to look grey. Sorry to all who go for it. I color my own and do it every month! You could choose an all over darker color (I'm scared of the blondes) and do it yourself. I get to clean the kitchen while my color sets. It's fab, and only $7 a box. I've tried them all and loreal excellence is the best for the price.

    However, I will love you know matter what color your hair is or if you just shave it all off.

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  10. For what it's worth, I think you're too young to go grey, too. But the short "kicky" style is another idea. Please do not become a long-haired grey lady!

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  12. OK, this is my first visit to your blog (via Antique Mommy), and I can't believe that I feel compelled to comment when I hardly know you yet . . . BUT why is it in the hair coloring ads, they DO NOT EVER mention that this dilemma is in your future, once you are suckered onto this merry-go-round? I am pushing 60 (ugh, now that I've actually typed it, it sounds sooooo . . . harsh, I guess), and I am dealing with this same crisis. I have opted to continue on the merry-go-round, at least for now. I second Robin's motion - Loreal Excellence, user applied, is the best choice if you, too, choose to continue pursuing eternal youth through haircolor. (However, I find that reading a good book enhances the process for me much more that cleaning my kitchen does. You'll have to experiment to see which works best for you.)

    Love your blog - I will be back!

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  13. I am 41, also, and started coloring my hair when I was 29. I refused to be grey before 30! Well, I have always colored it myself, with some shade of brown. I have only once done a bad job (it was a shade of burgundy- although my kids kept calling it purple!) and I plan on continuing for several years at least. I have an 11 1/2 month old, and I just don't want to be called his gramma! I can make it stretch to 3 months at times, but it looks best if I do it everyb other month. So, if you continue, you will have some company!

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  14. I found you through Fiddle Dee Dee! OH GIRLFRIEND! We could be kindred spirits. I have to add you to my list of favorite blogs!

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  15. I'm in the same hair coloring boat myself. My hair skipped right over that gray thing and went straight to snow white. I colored mine a couple of months ago, intending to match my natural color and cover the white hair. Instead, mine turned auburn instead of medium brown so now I have dark roots and white hair as well as the auburn that's growing off. I look like a calico cat. :-/

    Good luck deciding what to do. I'm going to go all GI Jane with mine as soon as Jessica can cut it for me. I'm still going to try to match my natural color and try again, but I won't be using Garnier Nutrisse's Brown
    Sugar this time.

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  16. Well, I don't have any sage advice for the hair issue--God has seen fit not to give me any gray yet, but that's only fair because my sister, who's had gray since she was 20, is 4 inches taller and weighs 20 pounds less than I do. See? God is just.

    But--thank you for YOUR sage nasal irrigation advice :) I don't have any cotton in my nose, but I still can't breathe yet. No pain, just very swollen! I'll step up my irrigation and see if that helps--I won't tie for your Best Irrigator Ever, but maybe I'll be able to breathe soon! ;)

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  17. I'm right there with you - sick of coloring it, and considered growing it out. Mine is even shortish but I hate the idea of it looking awful for months. Esp when I go to Walmart and see women in the throes of what I'm considering. So I was novel and asked my husband and his answer was 'why should we both look like old farts?" Just my opinion here but when I took the marriage enrichment thing, they pointed out that in the top five needs of a man is that his wife be attractive, while it was not even in the top 10 for women. (Dont ask where S*X fell for each gender). So I realized he likes me to look attractive and I can continue to color it til he feels like I dont need to.

    So I switched to a hairdresser who would color it at a reasonable cost and cut the budget elsewhere, because what I really hated was the process, not the result. So just my thoughts, hopefully it'll help you work through it yourself. (BTW there is NO painless, attractive way thru the process according to my hairdresser, and I believe her.)

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  18. hello... hapi blogging... have a nice day! just visiting here....

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  19. You could try reverse highlighting until it grows out. (Make the highlights brown instead of blonde.) I have several friends who were young when their hair turned white, some wear it to their shoulders and others short. They also wear bright colors and all are lovely!

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  20. I'm just starting the coloring train. I've really been debating it because I've heard this before - once you start you can't stop very easily. I'm just tired of people commenting on my grey! My hair cut lady/stylist/whatever says I really don't have a lot of grey, but I see them every time I look in a mirror! Plus they are wiry and curly and stick out! My next appointment I asked for some color. Do I need to rethink this?

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  21. Noticed this is many months down the track but what about a temporary color to tone things down a bit and layers ....?

    Looks like we are about the same age and I've just grown out my permanent color ... took a good year although my hair is just below my shoulders.

    Rinses are my friends now ....:}

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