October 10, 2005

Is Frosting Only for Cake?

My hair started turning gray the minute The Boy popped out of that special place from whence babies pop. And yes, he did pop. I had a nice short labor, only cursed once or twice, and truly do not remember any of the what certainly must have been extraordinary pain and discomfort whilst said popping occurred.

But back to my hair. I was 23 when The Boy was born. Slowly but surely over the years since, it's gone grayer and grayer at a steady pace. I used to like it. Really. When one is young, gray hair is more of a novelty than anything else. At least it was to me. But now. Now that I'm of the age to have honestly earned my gray hair, it irritates me.

Nevermind that folks tell me "Oh it's such a lovely shade of silver!" Silver my ass. I look in the mirror and see gray old gray old gray old gray.

Wendy nods patiently as I often say with complete conviction that I'm absolutely positively going to have it colored. I talk about it endlessly, but take action? Ummm. Not yet. I so adore change, after all.

I'm afraid of the ongoing effort dyed hair requires. I prefer to remain a low maintenance kinda girl. I've seen too many women who color their hair and have roots showing that scream to the world "I color my hair and don't care enough to maintain it properly." Plus I am loathe to make a change that every person who knows me will immediately notice. There is nothing subtle about a sudden switch from gray hair to something else.

Which brings up another problem. How does on go about choosing a color to dye their hair? It's been gray for so long I don't really remember what color it started out as. It was blonde when I was a child but morphed into a blondish-brown briefly before it betrayed me by turning gray.

I've considered compromising and having it frosted. Or reversed-frosted as the case may be. Less drastic, less margin for error, less obvious need for maintenance. It'll be a fun trip back to the 1970s! My mother always had her hair frosted back then.

Egad. I'm considering doing to my hair something my mother used to do to her own?! That's quite a sobering thought, isn't it?

.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Take my advice, if you decide to change your hair color, let a stylist do it! You'll spare yourself a lot of missteps. :)

SassyFemme said...

Fran was very much at the same point as you, with her hair. She recently just decided to go for it, and have it colored. Now, keep in mind she's the total no-fuss kind of girl; no makeup, no fancy-shmancy anything, just blow dry the hair and go. She wanted to go back to her natural color, though, and did, and it came out great. She goes in to get hers retouched about every 4-5 weeks, when it needs to be trimmed anyway.

A co-worker who's hair was almost completely gray did it a little differently. She slowly brought color into her hair, a little at a time. I think she started by doing something like highlights, and then slowly adding more and more color, until she's now a light brown. It seemed very natural, and unless you hadn't seen her for a while, you didn't really notice it much as it was happening.

You can always go with a rinse that'll wash out over a few weeks, and see if you like it.

maxine said...

Rule 1. See a professional.
Rule 2. Yes, frosting is only for cake. Do not use the word in association with your hair. It is just passe. If you were so unfortuinate as to get an old school stylist who knew frosting in its prime, the resulting do would have you looking more gray.

I would suggest you caramelize. Thay is a foiling process where more than one color is applied in a patterned fashion. I would suggest a 2:1 ratio of your natural color and a subtle hilite. At JCP it starts at about 80 bucks and maintenance, if done properly, is about every three months.

Maybe it is time for you to visit Houston and get it done correctly the first time and umm...for free.

Melodee said...

Too bad you don't have a colorist who would come to your house, listen to talk radio in an earpiece while she transforms you and charge you $50 for the New You.

Francesca said...

Go for it!

I agree with the rest of the ladies. Find a great stylist you are comfortable with and have him or her do it. It will be a nice change just doing something different.

Anonymous said...

I'm in the same place as you on this very topic. The gray is slowly, but most definitely, overtaking the brown. But I don't want the regular routine and expense of coloring my hair to keep up appearances for the next forty or fifty years.

It's a maddening turning point.

And one more reason why I'd shave my head clean bald if I only had the guts.

weese said...

Listen to Max...she knows.

my wife colored for awhile (she turned gray young) but then finally let it go. she revels in her gray now.
my hair is salt and pepper...but i keep it so short (i use a #4 on the clipper max) that color is a non issue.

Eyes for Lies said...

No frosting, please!! I agree with other poster that it is ONLY FOR CAKE!

Just find old photos, and dye it close to that color -- but go a shade lighter -- for a younger look :)

Ha! I don't dye my hair. I'm approaching 40, but only have a few stray whites ;)

Suzanne said...

Ah, thank you ladies. It was never in my head to try and do it myself.

Maxine you are the queen! The queen of hair in addition to other things! Thanks for the generous invite to haul my sorry gray ass down to Houston. I so wish I could take you up on it. Thanks also for the carmelization suggestion. I've never heard of such a thing. Guess I'll see if the lady who does my hair has... I swear I'm ready to take action!

Suzanne