Anti-aging, and also, I'm a big girl now.

First off, I don't mean to brag (yes I do), but......I need a haircut pretty badly, so I called a guy and scheduled an appointment. That was a week ago, and my appointment is still not for another three days. And--brace yourself--I'm waiting. Patiently. I have not hyperventilated, taken scissors to my own head because I think it needs to be done NOW, or begged/bribed a good friend of mine to "just try it, please--seriously it's curly and it'll hide any mistake you make--just please do it". I am just waiting. Like big girls do. After 31.5 years and a LOT of bad self-administered hair cuts, I am finally a big girl. I can wait. Put THAT in your pipe and smoke it. Booyah. 

Secondly, I have decided recently (for the second time actually, but this time I mean it, I swear) to let my hair grow gray. This makes me feel very uncertain and vulnerable, because none of my friends are doing it (ummm...pretty sure the last time I heard that phrase it was from a middle schooler, and also by "my friends" I think I mean "almost all of society"), and because my hair has a substantial amount of gray for a 31-yr old. Like...probably between 10-15% of my hair is white, I think. (I'm a little uncertain about the percentage, because I haven't seen more than a couple inches of my actual hair color in about a decade.) Nonetheless, I am committed. I'm doing it. And here's why:

1. I'm anti-anti-aging. I have serious beef with that phrase..."anti-aging." I don't like it. I wish it wasn't taboo to ask someone's age, in our culture. What's wrong with aging? I don't like that we go to such extremes to look younger than we are. I wish we heralded age and regarded it as something to be celebrated. So...back to hair. I know a lot of people who color their hair because they love it and it's fun. I get that. But I'm not usually one of them. Mostly I've done it to hide my gray. And I'm done doing that. 

2. I'm working on self-acceptance. 

3. My mom grayed young (totally gray by 35) and never dyed it. I loved that, growing up, as did my brother and sister. We loved the way her hair looked and that she wasn't ashamed of it. She also was totally cool going without makeup. She could wear it or not--either way was fine by her. I think it set a great example for me. I want to do that for my kids too.

Seriously? Seriously. Who grays like that?? It's gorgeous. 

4. I don't enjoy getting my hair done. Highlighting is crazy expensive, and you have to keep up with it if you want it to look nice. You have to find someone to watch your kids for three hours while you sit in a chair and make small talk (ugh) for two hours. Frequently, your stylist is checking themselves out in the mirror the whole time. (Has anyone else noticed this? A lot of them talk to themselves in the mirror, not to you...it's...odd.) I really like the way it looks when I'm done, but I always sit there the whole time and think that if I was going to have someone watch my kids for a few hours of "me" time, I'd much rather spend it sipping hot chocolate and reading a book, refinishing something, or going for a long run with no time pressure. Sitting in a salon just isn't my thing. I feel like I'm wasting my time. 

5. Home box-dying isn't much better. I found a box color I really liked, so I thought I would just stick with that for the next ten years. But it turns out that when you have as much gray as I do, you have to dye it every couple of weeks or you have tacky roots. I've been doing the box thing for about four months now, and my stamina is all spent. No way am I lasting ten years doing this.

So...in the interest of my time, money, self-acceptance, and low-maintenance beauty-upkeep preferences, I'm taking the plunge. I'm nervous. I hope I gray nicely. I might not. Either way, though, I think it's going to pay off for me in the long run........ummm....right? Right???

Thoughts, friends?

PS--If, in a month, I post a picture of me with freshly dyed hair, don't hate on me. Just laugh, call me a big anti-aging spaz, and love me anyways please. :)