“If youth was sold in a bottle of hair dye, we would all get in line.”
― Jan Rogers
Let’s get back to our roots – or rather – let’s NOT!
Okay. In fairness, it’s not the WHOLE nation. It’s just my regular-trips-to-the-salon-for-root-touch-ups nation. If you’re part of it, you know what I mean.
Is it weird that this is the biggest thing stressing me out right now?
That and sorely missing the gym!
I can adjust to all the rest of it, but the roots…Whatever you do, don’t take me back to my roots! Don’t make me face how much of my hair is actually grey.
We’ve had a lovely relationship of denial, my roots and I. I go see my beloved Anthony (hair colorist extraordinaire!) and he works his magic. He is an integral part of my dance of denial. He is my fountain of youth. He is my anti-aging Svengali.
It’s somehow worse that he’s also four hours away from me. If I were closer, you’d find me face pressed against his salon window, hair tied in a scarf, whimpering softly with big tears in my eyes.
My trips to him were a beloved part of my every-other-month routine. A quick drive up, touch up to take several years off my appearance, and then a weekend of shenanigans in New York City.
Now…no drive. No New York City. No Anthony!!
I’m despondent.
In desperation I reached out to him to ask what I could do (I cannot stress this part enough!) to cover my greys without totally screwing up my hair. I know he feels my pain. I could feel his sympathy through every word he typed back to me.
“I know this is tough, but I really don’t have any color that I can stand behind and give advice on. Obviously stay away from box color…” “…all in all the best option is waiting if you can, although I know this is hard for everyone especially with the amount of time that it has been. You can call me if you need me or have questions. Miss you and love you, hope this is over soon.” “…it is always easier to fix a lot of roots than a bad color mishap.”
At least I feel understood – but no amount of temporary “grey away” spray or powder is going to cut it.
I should mention that I think grey hair is lovely. I follow a bunch of IG accounts where the women are fully grey. It’s beautiful…on them. It doesn’t suit my coloring and more importantly I’m not fully grey, so I’m going to have to wait to see if I can embrace that trend. Besides, when I do go grey – I’m immediately fulfilling a lifelong dream and coloring it a deep navy – but that’s for another time.
The only thing that’s helping me keep it together right now is that I know I’m not alone. EVERY. SINGLE. ONE. OF. US. is facing this same horror each time we look in the mirror. I’m vain. I’m fairly high maintenance in the anti-aging world too. I’ll admit it. I’ll even crow it from the rooftop…if I can have my roots colored!!
This global pandemic thing – handling it like a champ. My greys on the other hand – are about to lay me low.
I’m moving on to hats and wigs and photo filters. Who’s with me?!
What are YOUR strategies for dealing with your daily onslaught of advancing greys? Are you flaunting your hair stylist’s advice? Have you always been do-it-yourself? Are you in denial about your denial?
Time to go invest in some turbans…
