Women of The World, You Owe Me Bigtime

I gotta tell ya, I am a little disappointed in the female gender today.

I had thought as women, we told each other stuff.  We prepared each other.... we warned each other of the inevitable. 

Apparently, that is not the case.

Last night I stood in front of my mirror and just looked at myself.  I don't normally do that.  But something was.... off.

I looked at my eyes, my nose, my skin... was there a new freckle?  A new wrinkle?  No....

As my eyes wandered up they rested on my hairline.  Was it receding?  Really?  I am only 32! 

But no, that wasn't it either.

I looked a bit closer.

And my jaw dropped.

No one warned me.

Not ONE SINGLE person in my life ever thought to mention this might happen.

I have a gray hair.

And not just any old gray hair...a bright white 'grey' hair.

I am not prepared for this.  Tears welled up in my eyes as I realized that I am getting old... only to dry up immediately as my shock was replaced with denial.

Surely that was a rogue hair and a fluke of some sort and I am not really going gray at 32.  Surely that does not happen to women.  I have a 8 month old.  I can't possibly be turning into an old blue haired ninny.

I wanted to call up someone and cry and complain and hear those familiar words, "Oh honey, that happened to me too!  It'll be just fine!"

But I don't know anyone that happened too. 

Well.

That I know of.  If you know what I mean.

So here I was, standing in my bathroom, holding a 'bright white' gray hair, realizing that life was all downhill from here, and that according to my body, I was officially old.

I made a mental checklist of the lifestyle changes that would be taking place. 

1.  People would start asking me how old my 'grandkids' were.

2.  When out with my hubby, other women would mentally classify me as a cougar.

3. Men would rush to help me cross the street.

4.  My dinners at restaurants would now have a 'discount'.

5. If ever out with my mom (not gray BTW) people would think we were sisters.

 

I brought the lone hair that forever changed my outlook on life into the bedroom and showed my husband.  I held it up and asked him very calmly,

"Do you know what this is?"

He looked at my hand and said, "No."

"Its a gray hair.  I am old.  And dried up and pruney."

This was it!  The day I realized that I couldn't ever wear mini skirts again,  that my personalized license plate wasn't cool, that I admitted that I didn't recognize one single song on MTV, that Zima is not a hip drink, and that I would never again be considered pretty by my husband!

 

 

"Well, I still think your hot."

Praise God  there was never a more important time for my husband to have the exactly right words to say to me!  And he so came though.

Goodbye carefree days of no maintenance hair and hello Nice n' Easy.

Heres what I just have to know...is this like a big secret?  Do women just not talk about it?  Am I going to be visited in the night by the National Association of Women's police force? 

Comments

[Amanda L.]

OMG!!! I am laughing. :) I am going to be 28 in Dec and have been stressing about it since my last birthday. So I am lauging because I know that if I'm 32 and finding a grey hair I am also having a nervous breakdown. Thanks for the laugh Amanda.

[Sarah]

Heh, I'm 25 and have found them for the past year or two. And nope, never heard anyone talk about it/warn me either!

Yay for your hubby. Smart man. ;-)

[He & Me + 3]

Girl I have been coloring my hair for years. I am 38 & I am almost completely gray. It is so sad to me. One hair is nothing. A whole head that you have to color every month...that is problems. ARRRR. Don't even get me started. You are beautiful & your hair is gorgeous!

[Bethany]

I may be the odd ball here. BUT, I think grey hair is gorgeous. I'm so hoping for my papaw's white hair. Although that may have been the result of a WW II, Army experiment. The jury is still out...

But seriously, I found them last year. And I'm a wee bit younger than you. A nice bright whitey sticking straight up from my part when my father-in-law was over for dinner. It just happened to catch the light right as I looked into a decorative mirror. Needless to say, a sprint down the hall to the bathroom for a date with the tweezers was next on my agenda. Maybe I just love grey hair on other people.

And your hubby has to be the smartest man alive.

[katie]

it was the stress of writing all those e's and r's!

[Janmary, N Ireland]

Welcome to my world :)

(ps - my mum went gray at 21! - She colored her hair for years)

[Kami Rude]

My natural hair color is a very mousy shade of gray ... and I'm 25 years old. No worries, dear friend :)

Love you!

[Amanda Jo]

OOoh friend! I am 26 years old and I've been finding grays since I was in my teens - and I have BLACK hair! They are SO easily seen!!!

You're a beautiful woman with or without them!!!

[Kimi]

I am 29 and the last time I got my hair trimmed my stylist found two grey hairs. It was a hard day. You are not alone.

[carma]

I've got 3 or 4 of 'em -- and the boys like to stand behind me while I am at the computer and pluck them out -- meanies!! I am way too skeered to dye my hair since when I look on the packages there are all those warnings about not getting the dye in your eyes or you may go blind etc. so I am hoping to stave off any further greys by de-stressing my life :D

BTW, you look incredibly young even with your grey hair. (I think you may have meant rogue? unless maybe it was a reddish gray)

[Kristin]

I have bunches of them. I started getting them when I was 16 or so. I am 34 now. No worries. My mom dyes her hair because she also has a lot of grey. My grandmother used to dye her hair but now is a gorgeous grey.

I personally don't have a lot of female friends, I don't like the drama or backstabbing that is usually associated with it...along with other hurdles. Those female friends I do have, the subject has not come up. It has come up with my sisters and my mother though.

Deep breaths, it will be okay! lol...I don't dye my hair because then you have to keep up with it and it becomes expensive, so I embrace my greyness!

[Julie in WA]

Are you kidding?!!!! I found my first grey hair at age 21, or was it 22? Just pull it out and be done with it already!

Actually, I have very dark hair, and those grey hairs really stand out. For a few years, in my late 30's, I kept it colored professionally; it got so costly, and I had concerns with health issues tied with hair color, I finally quit. I now wear my air super short, and I feel young, chic, and even a little (can I say it) sexy!

My advice is to just pull those stray greys until there are too many, then find a hairstyle that will make you look like a million bucks, even with those greys!

Your husband is a treasure; mine has said the same thing. He is the only one that matters. As for other women, we talk of grey all the time...we laugh about it, and life goes on!

Have a great day, Amanda!

[Kristin]

No gray yet, but I have declared NEVER to dye my hair. I'm determined to go with the flow and be natural. We'll see if I change my mind when I actually see a gray hair! And be thankful we have red hair. It certainly blends in better than if we had, say, black hair!

[Heidi]

Good call hubby....

[Trenches of Mommyhood]

Hate those grays - Clairol is my BFF!

You are welcome to join us in the September Shred! Please shoot me your e-mail at sarahviz@yahoo.com and I will send you more info!

[Jessica]

You know, you'll only have to worry about the discount if you go before 4:00...
Hope you don't like early dinners...I do, which means I might end up getting 15% off without even asking...and before Im even OF AGE...

That'll be a sad day. I'll probably want to crawl into a hole...with my free slice of pie, of course.

[angie]

well sis, i would like to say i have found grey hairs but since i color my hair ALL the time and because karene is such a sweetheart, i will never know if i have grey hairs. I will just live blissfully ignorant.

[Sarah]

I've gotten so used to mine, that I've almost forgotten that my hair color comes from a box. We really dropped the ball on this one... But to make up for that, just wait until you get your first random hair growing somewhere it shouldn't! Mine appeared on my chin after the birth of my youngest child. I was all, WHAT??? but now I just pluck it as soon as I feel it sprouting.

[stacy Ness]

You are very Beautiful Amanda!!

FYI: I have always been told that hair genes come from your mothers side. So since you Mom is NOT and gray and Grandma is NOT gray. You should be just fine and have one little weak hair that was so scared to be on a pretty head like your that all the color just drained right out of it. :)

I hope that helps :) Love ya

[Christy]

Honey we're the same age and I've been getting finding grey hairs for 4 years now! You're beautiful and they're a sign of maturity! :) lol

[ElizaBeth]

Proverbs 16:31 Gray hair is a crown of splendor; it is attained by a righteous life.

I'm 34 and have a few grey and white rabbits(hares) roaming my head myself. I don't hide them under dye. God calls them a "crown of spendor." Who am I to reject a crown from Him?

[tracie]

I just reported you : )
That was a really sweet thing for your husband to say.
I have random gray hairs all the time. And, it stinks!

[Leann]

I've had gray hair since I was 16. no lie. Luckily at the time, my hair was blonde, and it sorta blended in. But now that my hair is getting darker, the grey ones are standing out more and more. not cool. i'm only 29.

[Amy Lynn Hunt]

I wish mine had only hit at 32! I was sitting cross-legged on my sink, plucking them out when i was 19. It is soooo strong in the DNA in my family, i knew it was coming, but wow, it does feel like you just wake up one day and there it is! :) I'm 42 now and have streaks that defy hair dye and i am embarrassed to feel so vain about it, but have really changed the texture of my hair (it's no longer just easy wash and go), the grays break and stick out - if you haven't encountered that yet, it's coming. You've been warned :) My Mom's is so gorgeous, people think she has it silvered professionally, but she's 63... i'm still just not ready! Wah! :)