I love my hair.

It was very cliché.

My heart smashed into a million little pieces, I walked into the salon and told my stylist, "I'm done. We're cutting it off." I wanted to be done with this time. I wanted to feel shorn.

She looked at it dry first to see where the line was. Then wet, she cut it about an inch down from that and blew it dry. I frowned at myself in the mirror, seeing only that last reddish inch on the bottom.

But then she chopped it. She coarse cut into the bottom inch to maintain as much length as possible, and when she was done, my hair was one color. Well, no; my hair was rich, purple-y brown and white and various other shades of beautiful.

It was natural. It was all mine.

It wasn't even *that* short.

And 1 year, 3 months, and 15 days after the last time I dyed my hair one solid color to cover my grays, I was free.

 

More pics on Flickr.

Comments

[leesepea]

FINALLY - Hair pics!

And it is NOT short.

:P

[Shrew]

See, when you said "short", I thought you meant "short". That isn't short at all! You look fantastic. :)

[Susan]

Lovely!

I used to dye my hair because I love dark hair and mine's just a medium-blah colour. Now that I've got grey hairs over my ears and scattered 'round, I stopped dyeing it, because somehow I feel as if the grey says 'I've arrived' somehow, so grown up now. LOL

Congratulations on loving your hair!

[Liz]

Leesepea - Yeah, it's actually not *that* short. My stylist did a great job keeping as much length as possible. Still, I'll be happy when it's a bit longer. :)

Shrew - Thank you!

Susan - Yeah, I find that I really like the touch of gray. It's still difficult when other people think it's weird or unattractive, though. But! *I* love it!

[kazari]

That's beautiful! And it's an awesome picture.

[Liz]

Kazari - Thank you! :)

[Mommy Bee]

I was looking for pictures of long grey hair for a blog post I am writing (it will post later this week) and so stumbled across your blog. I have poured over every post on your 'shades of gray' series and I just want to applaud you--first for taking the plunge, and second for blogging about it! I am linking your blog from my post, I hope that's ok (let me know if it's not!)
Your own hair is beautiful--I think natural hair is almost always better than dyed. I've been growing mine out for almost three years now (it's about to my hips) and I hope to keep it long even as it greys.

[Liz]

Hi Mommy Bee and Thank You! Of course, link away. I'm hoping to do an update with pics next month after I get a haircut. I am still loving my hair! :)

[Emery]

I just had to comment this. I've read down this blog to this point and after reading about you cutting off the last of your old dyed hair- I find inspiration. I am 21 years old. I just found my first gray hair today (I had grays from stress 5 years ago that went away... but this time, I think this silver beauty is here to stay) And I've always thought women with gray hair of any age could wear it just as well as any fake color. Now that I am faced with an early gray, I had to take a step back for a second just to re-evaluate how I felt about the gray look. My conclusion? I need to stop dying my hair and let it be natural. I never dyed my hair to cover gray, it was just to change things up. But now, it is like something is telling me "It's time to grow up and embrace yourself" So somehow I came across this blog. And I wanted to thank you for reassuring me that I am making the right decision for myself. I need to mark on my calendar the last time I dyed it.... and here is to natural hair! Your hair is beautiful by the way.

[Daniel L. Phillips]

Lizza--

It's going to take a while for the

General perception

to change.. I see lots of people everywhere

today in natural shades. It took a while

in the dress era to give way to jeans and

more casual approach to style. Once friends

and loved ones start going au natural..

Someone will say-- Hey we're ourselves now.

the last vintages of obssession are gone..Daniel

[lizriz]

Thank you, Emery and Daniel! You are both very inspiring to me.