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lizard

i swear to you, this is my first time

by lizard at 09:53 PM on November 15, 2001

First of all, I dye my hair, have for years and years and... never mind how long, ok? From my distant memories, and occasional glimpses of the roots, I know that it is a golden, reddish brown, a nondescript and unremarkable color (in my opinion, which is generally fairly harsh when applied to myself). I use color that brings out the reddish tones, and people tend to think it's real (well, with freshly done roots), because my skin tone definitely suggests redhead. I should have been born a redhead, that was definitely an oversight on Someone's part, if you know what I mean.

It's been a month, or maybe closer to two, since I've done the color. The roots aren't that different, so it's not a big problem, but it's gotten around the time that I start to stress on them. I was in the bathroom, peering intently at my scalp, when I saw it. First I thought it might be a trick of the light, or, well, anything but what it was. It was a red hair with a very, very light colored root. The root, well, it was, uh, kind of not-quite-white. I'm not saying it was grey - it had more of a golden undertone. It did! I swear! So I'm not going grey, I'm just finally turning blonde, which means my airbrained scatterhead tendencies will fit me better.

And that was a a fairly silly thing to say, wasn't it? I was trying to be clever, and falling flat, because I'm freaking out. I'm going grey. I tried to make jokes about it, but not funny ones. Truth is, right now, as I write this, extremely light colored hairs are sprouting out of my head, most of them probably sneakily growing where I can't see them, but as soon as I need to put my hair up, people are going to look at the back of my head and think, oh, look, she's old.

You're thinking, what's the big deal? I mean, it's only roots we're talking about. But let me assure you, it's a whole different deal. Having slightly darker roots is normal. You see a lot of it (especially around where I live, in Southern California, where the sun tends to make blondes of us all, if we play in it enough). But then you see people with really dark hair, and a good outgrowth of white roots and it's just... disturbing. It seems for some reason wrong, or am I equating wrong with old? What's wrong with getting old? It just means I'm not dead yet, right? I've survived! Yay me.

If anyone needs me, I'll be in the corner, sobbing hysterically.

comments (14)

It's ok. White/grey hair is beautiful, and I'm proud to say that I've been adding white hairs a few at a time since I was around 14.

by ethereal at November 15, 2001 10:20 PM


Yeah, I've got one or two white hairs, too. Of course, I can't pretend it's the same thing for men. It isn't.

by space at November 15, 2001 10:34 PM


I dunno. If I didn't dye my hair every couple months, I'm sure I'd be findign greys by now. Actually, I've always wanted to dye my hair silver/grey/white, but everyone has always talked me out of it.

by mg at November 15, 2001 10:45 PM


What's a few grey hairs? Aren't you, like, 60 now any way?

by Charles at November 16, 2001 12:11 AM


Charles, you are SO lucky you live far, far away. I didn't know you were so mean.

*sob*

by kd at November 16, 2001 12:19 AM


Aww kd, my uhh, ex, was half grey at 26 years old. He'll be completely grey by 35. Personally, I think it has little to do with age.

Like Nancy in Nightmare on Elmstreet Part I starting going grey by the end of the movie. And you may have all attributed this to extreme trauma, but I tell ye I have seen and dated much scarier men than Freddy Krueger ... must have been a natural process if you ask me.

by melly at November 16, 2001 1:56 AM


I started going grey at the age of seven, so it was never really an age thing for me. Until I started finding the grey hairs elsewhere on my body.

by Miguel at November 16, 2001 10:24 AM


it could be worse. you could be losing your hair. besides, in cases of special people, grey = wiser (not older).

by miss b at November 16, 2001 11:16 AM


I always thought that it would be cool to dye my hair silver/ grey/ white too. I think that it would look better on me than black or a color. Although, I am Irish-ish looking so a natural red or orange may be ok

by MrBlank at November 16, 2001 12:08 PM


I was going to mention this in my original comment, but I thought I'd look like a big dork and no one would know what I was talking about. But since Mr Blank looks to be as big a comic book nerd as I am, maybe he can guess what short-lived Marvel comics super-hero is the inspiration for my almost life-long desire for silver-white hair?

Anyone else can answer too, if they think they know who it is.

by mg at November 16, 2001 12:26 PM


Who? Storm?

by MrBlank at November 16, 2001 2:37 PM


Hey I was just kidding! Who is it? I’m drawing a blank.

I always thought that Warlock from the New Mutants was the coolest super hero.

by MrBlank at November 16, 2001 6:08 PM


Heh.. beleive it or not. But, I'm actually trying to find a dye that will dye my hair color to grey.. ^_^ It's been something I been wanting to do for a long time now. And I wanted to do it before I go to Japan. The thing is I do Anime and Comic onventions all over America and now I'm going to be working over in Japan and California. So if any of you know where I can find some grey hair dye. If you find anything email it to me at synbelarus@aol.com Thanks all! Bye-

by Syn Belarus at April 7, 2005 2:42 PM


Not sure how late this is, Syn, but last summer I went to talk to the neighborhood stylist about dyeing my hair silver, and this is what she told me: it would be at least a double process affair - you'd have to bleach out all color from your hair (and I mean all), and then add a silver tone to it. I know they sell silver tones for older people who want to stay grey, but want their color to be even...although I'm not sure I'd do this one at home. Another caveat - if your hair is reddish/if you have red tones in your hair, these are the hardest tones to remove, even with bleach. The stylist told me I shouldn't even bother, because all the red in my hair would never completely come out, and I'd end up with a really light pink instead.....anyway, that's just what I was told, and my hair is so long I didn't want to make a mistake and end up having to cut it all off - but if you find success, let me know...I'm definitely still interested in having silver hair...

by mac at June 1, 2005 10:33 PM