Gray Hair

My gray hair is really starting to get out of control.

I've had gray hairs-- a few, here and there-- since I was eighteen. I have very dark brown hair (nearly black, but if you call it black I'll be very upset). About a year ago, just after my twenty-third birthday, I decided to get low-lights for the first time, to cover the little eruption of silver that was appearing at the top of my forehead. I've since paid the ridiculous amounts of cash required to maintain youth about three times. The last time was eight weeks ago and darling Michelle, my most glorious and amazing hairdresser, painstakingly colored each and every gray strand on my head, often peering into my scalp as though it might contain the Holy Grail. Lord bless her.

Unfortunately, I made the mistake of assuming my shampoo was for color treated hair. Yeah, not so much. I have been traveling constantly for work these past eight weeks and about four weeks into them, Michelle's masterpiece that is my hair began to show signs of wisdom again.

Wisdom is supposed to come with age, but in my case it's come a little early and lately, quite a bit more rapidly. The Bible says "gray hair is the splendor of the old."

HELLLLLLOOOO, I'm not old and I'd really prefer a different type of splendor!

I am exactly six days away from reviving my youth with chemicals and tin foil. Everytime I look in the mirror I feel like Christmas is that sixth day. But maybe I shouldn't. Maybe I really am gaining wisdom more rapidly than before, which at the very least should make me feel better about the fact that my life has been one big fat chunk of a bummer since July.

Sucky life = wisdom? No, I don' t like that at all. It's a more complicated equation than that. It must involve taking what sucks and learning from it, making it meaningful. For me that means writing it down and working it out with the composition of words on a page. So here you have a nice little exploration of the deeper meaning of my gray hair.

Here's a not-so-deep truth: I color my gray hair because I am vain and because I believe society when it tells me that my youth is more beautiful and desirable than my gray hair.

And also I like the way my hair shines after it's colored.

Vanity.