In honor of my 42nd birthday: a post about hair

I turn 42 today. Happy birthday to me!!! I’m cool with 42. Or any age really. Being alive is pretty cool even if life isn’t perfect. There is always something to learn and once I am no longer enthused about learning something new and interesting (other than common core math, which is not interesting and rather like torture) , then I will be ready for heaven. Until then, hello world!

So, about my hair. A while ago I had decided not to dye it. This was around the time I got a pixie cut and wanted low key hair but the pixie ended up not being all that low key because it required taming every morning and requires you to acknowledge and accept every flaw that is now glaringly revealed on your face, (double) chin, and neck. Ugh. As I grew out the pixie I started noticing more “natural highlights” and finally broke down and had my hairdresser color it. I follow this up a couple of months later by dying myself a couple of times then switched last month to a glaze. Well, the glaze didn’t do much for the “highlights” and once again I am left to face them. Well, then.

Amazingly, “naturally highlighted” hair is now apparently all the rage and even young women without their own “highlights” are coloring their hair this magical color. It’s become cool. Well, blow me down!

Of course, it has always been cool for men (totally unfair and sexist but whatever). Who hasn’t swooned at a nice looking guy with silver streaks? Have you seen George Clooney these days????!!! There is also biblical “natural highlightedness” being revered and equated with wisdom and respect. Somewhere along the way, women decided that it was bad and we should cover the shame of our natural glory. We took it a little too far and even started surgically altering ourselves into oblivion. Jocelyn Wildenstein, anyone? Yikes!

Now I am not against a bit of beautifying but I draw the line at making myself into “cat woman” (see Jocelyn above) or anything remotely like it. It would be nice, however, if they come up with a non-invasive procedure to blast away the double chin/jowl thing and lift other stuff back up where it belongs. It’s really a drag, ya know… 😉

But lets get back to hair. I have been every color under the sun since I was in high school. Mostly varying shades of auburn, crayon red highlights, blonde, caramel, etc. Most recent has been chocolate brown which is fairly close to nature. I’ve tried every brand known to man it seems and even had a go at henna (which ended up with my laughing my head off while holding said head under the faucet in my tub trying to get the damned stuff out of my hair! Don’t try this at  home if you have really long hair. Actually, just don’t try this at home. It’s a MESS…) I learned to trust my hairdresser above all others and she never let me down. Salon color is the bomb.

However. Lately I have been struggling with wanting to embrace what I have naturally and decrease the expense of having my hair done. I’ve also been growing out my pixie which seems to be taking its own sweet time to grow. I have somehow reduced the frequency of washing my hair to once a week (this will likely change as summer approaches) and I rarely use hairspray or any other styling products. My last haircut was 2 months ago and that was only to cut my bangs. I save $45+ tip for every month that goes by with a cut and $85+ for every time I skip color. I used to go every 8 weeks for color and cut which is about $650 per year plus the special shampoo and conditioner that colored hair requires for upkeep. If I let it grow and only go 3 times a year for a trim (My hairdresser is excellent and her cuts grow out beautifully) I would only spend roughly $165 per year. I’d also spend less on shampoo and conditioner since I could theoretically use just about anything that works.  Hello Suave! Or perhaps Tresseme if you want to get all fancy 😉

The decision is made then. No more dying my hair. Well, at least for now. I’m not swearing off color correcting shampoo or conditioner though. Unfortunately my hair is a strange mix of dark brown, ash brown, warm brown and the “highlights” at the moment. I doubt the sun is going to do much good for it this summer. I see a lot of hat wearing this summer to prevent too much fading. Hats are chic, aren’t they? At least with big sunglasses they might be!

I am weirdly excited to see how this turns out. I’ve pinned pictures for inspiration although I have a long way to get to this point. And if I hate it? Maybe I’ll just go LAVENDER! Hey, it’s just hair…

Now go, enjoy my birthday won’t you?

Liz