Embracing the Sparkles

Our hair is part of our identity. I know for myself, a good hair day means I feel pretty. A bad hair day requires a messy bun or a hat. I can't be alone in this mindset.

This morning while I was drying my hair straight, I tried to remember the first time I altered my hair color. I think it was the summer between 8th and 9th grade that I discovered Sun-in. I'm getting chills just thinking about how awful and brassy my hair ended up from it. Thankfully, I was not alone. A lot of girls played with Sun-in, lemon juice or peroxide. All very bad ideas. But that was when the eternal quest for just the right look began.

I honestly don't even know when I got my first gray hair, but I think I was about 28. That was when I switched from highlights to just covering the gray. I actually loved getting my hair done. It was a couple hours to myself. It was fun adding a bright splashes of color. I felt pretty when I left the salon. The only down side was the cost. Let's face it, a trip to the hair salon is not cheap. I don't want to even consider how much I've spent over the years.

I've spent years trying to cover my grays. I hated to have my picture taken if it was between salon visits and my roots were showing, I felt self conscious and began feeling like I had to "fix" my hair. It was a never ending cycle of going to the salon, spending lots of money just to repeat it again in a month.

When the pandemic hit and salons closed, I joked about my skunk line saying that it was the latest hair trend. I actually didn't hate the color growing in. I just hated the thought of growing it out. Something about that half grown out look just didn't appeal to me at all. I didn't want to look like I had just let myself go. Let's face it, no one wants to look old.

Thankfully my hair magician (that's what I call her) understood and supported my goal of embracing my natural hair. It has taken two full years and countless highlight foils. Sometime last fall we stopped covering the roots and let my natural hair blend with

the highlighted hair. Two full years later and my hair is all natural.

Recently, I saw a quote that said "Those aren't gray hairs. They are strands of glitter." So here I am at 53 years old, embracing all my glitter and it's sparkles!