Saturday, August 09, 2014

Getting Back to Gray . . . A Slow and Painful Insight

This topic should otherwise be titled “Why???? Why, oh why, did I cave in and dye it again?” Ever since that first trip back to the dye bottle, and the colorist, in January 2014, after having spent 14 L-O-N-G months growing it out, why did I cave into some insecurity within myself and color it?
I could just kick myself. After enduring the natural and frumpy root grow out, I have finally come to the hard-won and sickening conclusion that I really messed up. And now the only thing to do is to do it all again … . yes getting myself back to gray.

So now I start the journey AGAIN from going from this
Chelle_s_August_2014_Portrait_large.jpg

To this (photo taken of me in October 2013 at 14 months grow out RIGHT BEFORE I lost my middle aged mind.
October 25 2013 Right Before and After Haircut 011.jpg
Ironically, I start the journey in August - before I started in August 2012, now I start in August 2014. I swear, it’s so annoying. And it’s going to be awkward at work since I’m in a profession (sales) where I need to maintain a “professional appearance.” Have 3” long roots isn’t going to be pretty OR professional, and I could just kick myself.

But I need to do it. And do it I will. This post is a reminder to myself, and a caveat to others, that if you ever have that insecure moment or period of days, weeks, etc. about your appearance, try to talk yourself out of it, or at least wait a few days, weeks, months, before you pick up the dye bottle again. Unfortunately, there is no easy or fast way back. It’s slow and painstaking, but so worth it.

3 comments:

Elle said...

Chelle, so sorry to hear you went back to the dye bottle. It will be another long road to get back to gray, but you can do it. You could try and go a little outside your comfort zone and get your hair cut really short and that way the gray will be more prominent, very quickly.
Hang in there, you can do it!
Your natural hair color is beautiful.

Anonymous said...

Liana: I'm very bothered by the fact that I dyed my hair again and now have to grow it out. And this time, I'm probably going to get a lot more flack about it where I'm working now because maintaining one's professional appearance is really impt in my field! But I'm going to try to bear up and get through it somehow. I really COULD just kick myself though.

At least, having done it before, I know I'm going to like the results. My husband and coworkers, and some of my close friends, prefer my hair auburn, so it's a challenge, but I need to do what I need to do to feel good in my own skin. I never realized how letting your hair be gray is such a ticklish thing with so many people. Chelle

Teri said...

Something that you might find helpful is to have your hair dyed with temporary dye while growing it out. It will cover grey hair but gradually fade over six weeks.

Also once you've grown it out, if you have a mad fit and want some color agian, you can choose something that won't take forever to grow out.