For JC
Happy Anniversary to me! The blog is one year old this week. A big THANK YOU to my friends and family for following and for providing encouragement. I have two simpler living topics in progress that I’ve been blocking myself from completing. One is trivial—minimizing the amount of papers and postal mail in my home. The other is anything but trivial: alcohol. So instead, this week I’ll write about hair.
Last week, two friends that I hadn’t seen for a while were noticeably surprised by my hair. It is now free of artificial coloUr and, so, is salt and peppery.
I keep my hair very short, which is an exception already in the Seattle area where women of all ages seem particularly conservative about their hair. With every new stylist, I have to encourage them to go shorter … shorter … shorter. But this is not the shaved-head renunciation of a Buddhist monastic—I think my ego is just as attached to my unusual short and simple hair as most women are to their long, high-maintenance hair.
But the decision to go uncoloUred at age 50 is altogether different.
Hair coloUr seems pretty harmless in the quest to look younger, but my ROI has dwindled. I think it had become a case of at least: as in, my hair may look dull, faded, or brassy (even when paying a salon a bunch of $), but at least it’s not gray.
I know coloUring my hair makes me look younger to others and I know ageism is a challenge in employment (particularly in unemployment). Earlier this year while holding a box of hair coloUr in my hand, I realized I’d come to the moment: I don’t want to do this any more. I like my hair just as much without the coloUr. The only reason I’m still doing this is because of my job. And since I now have an exit plan from work, I can just … stop.
No, it’s not a social indicator that I’ve given up or I don’t care or I can’t be bothered. I AM bothered and I like my hair as is.
A couple weeks ago, a former colleague who is younger (and grayer) than me posted on social media that a teenager had offered him her seat on a crowded public transit bus! I still laugh out loud whenever I think of it. Let’s see if I’m laughing the first time it happens to me, after I sit down.
Note: This wasn’t about saving $ but there are definitely big savings in both $ and time.
References and related links:
- ROI: Return On Investment
- Previous post: anti-anti-aging
- Ageism at work doesn’t just impact women according to the “graybeards” in Silicon Valley’s Brutal Ageism (SOURCE: New Republic).
Claire Haas says
Getting an offer of a seat on the bus (or anywhere) is a bit of a shock the first few times it happens. I personally went gray in my 40’s but I decided not to colour my hair. First of all, I had dark hair and did not want to have to go through deciding what colour to choose: I did not want black and felt my hair was not brown either. I felt it had been a unique colour which could never be matched.
Being a school teacher, I got asked by my students why my hair was gray. My answer: “Each of my gray hairs reminds me of a student that I have had.” As I continued into retirement, there were more and more of those reminders up there.
In this world of long-haired, coloured and highlighted women, I have also kept my hair short. Not so short that the natural wave was lost, but short enough to require cutting every four weeks. It is the best when one can just shower, comb and go. No need for a dryer!
ROI!
back is the new forward says
Thanks for adding your experience Claire – how wonderful you knew you couldn’t match the unique coloUr so never tried. Imagine the ROI on that alone since your 40’s!!! I also love your answer to the students and that you were an example to your students. Thanks for following along on the adventure here : – )