Sneaky Silvers

It has been awhile since I've been out here touting the benefits of going Grayt.  Its been awhile since I've felt the benefits of going gray.

Don't get me wrong, I'm in LOVE with my new silver locks.  I wouldn't change one strand.

Here is the thing.  Its a long process.  Its much longer than I anticipated.  In my mind it would take a year.  In about 30 days I will reach the 365 days with out color mark.  I still harbor about 3 inches of dried out, old color that I'm not willing to sacrifice because I love my long hair.

Its a long process.

For the last several months I've only been able to focus on the chemically induced, faded, dyed remnants of my former self.  Its all I see.  Take a photo of me and ask me what I see.  My friends say great hair, great smile, you look so darn happy.  I see straw.  Dried out, faded straw ends that need to go.

I won't turn back.  I won't color again.  These are facts deeply ingrained.  I'm on a mission but the mission has hit a block I hadn't prepared to encounter.  I was bored.

I was bored.  Very, very bored.  Until tonight.

Without forethought I nabbed my husband this evening to help me video our adorable chickens.  "Honey, I'll hold the peach and you get it on video!  Catch them going nuts"

My husband caught the chickens eating a peach.  He also caught his wife's sparkly silver hair.  Suddenly I think I can wait another few months.  Suddenly I'm over the hump.  Suddenly I have these cool silver streaks that would cost a fortune in the salon.

Its a process.  Its a long process.  Thankfully its no longer a chemically induced process.

A Ray of Sunshine

As mentioned earlier, the ninth month, for whatever reason, has been the most impatient.  My hair seems boring to me.  My hair doesn't seem to be growing out.  Nothing, in my view, is changing.  Until yesterday.

Yesterday was a beach day with friends.  Friends keenly aware and supportive of my transition.  One commented on my reaching the half-way-there mark.  Really?  I hadn't noticed!  One commented that a female co-worker had made the decision to go gray.  My friend gave her my blog info.  The gesture was a nice boost to my ego.

Then came the big ray of sunshine on my transition slump.  Someone I hadn't seen in several years happened to be at the beach and didn't recognize me at first.  When they did, the comment:  What SEXY hair!!!

Wow!  Someone thought my natural silver hair was SEXY!!!  I wish this glorious feeling on all my lovely Silver Sisters!!!  We should all be told our natural color is the most sexy.

 This photo is not from the beach outing but taken the same day.

Ninth Month Milestone - update

Here it is, the Ninth Month Milestone.  While I could have given birth to a baby in this time frame, it seems I can't quite give birth to a full head of silver locks.

Hey, I've made it this far.  There is NO STOPPING now.

5/16/2012
Addendum to my ninth month milestone.  For most the difficult period seems to be somewhere around month four or five of the transition.  Why, I don't know, but I seemed to sail through those months with a swift tail wind.

For the last two weeks I have have been at level 10 frustration with my hair.  There is zero intent to go back to coloring but I'm feeling SO OVER IT!  This morning I found myself pulling my hair straight up and out from my head to see if I could handle a chop of the old color.  Although I have about 4 inches of out-growth, I know chopping off the old color and going short would be a huge mistake for me.  My hair is just too fine and my patience to thin to spend hours a day styling and I know the end result would never make me happy.

It seems my only current options are to pull the hair back and hide the old color from my vantage point.  Looks like (for at least the next few weeks) I will be sporting a lot of ponies, braids and up-dos.

I've gotta just hang in...

Long Forgotten Thrill of Baby Steps

This week I have entered month 9 of my transition.  Hard to believe I'm this far along.  Hard to believe how much farther I have to go to reach my goal.

The last two weeks or so I've been in a slump of sorts and I didn't know why.  I hate every new picture of myself.  Even after a nice fresh haircut I hate looking in the mirror.  I've been happy with my hair up until now and I sailed through what was to be the difficult months (4 and 5 btw) of the transition period.  Its caused me to reflect back to the beginning.  Why was it so much easier when I started this journey?

This morning it came to me.  Its the baby steps.

A baby's first steps are so miraculous.  One little step is a celebration.  Two little steps amazing.  Walking the length of the coffee table without falling a feat.  The beginning is new, exciting and each step a momentous occasion.  And then eventually, the thrill wears off.  Walking across the floor is the expected, the norm.

The first baby steps of letting go of the color in a box was amazing.  Every we check the hairline.  We check for new growth.  A quarter inch is a feat. The next month we are at 1/2 inch of gray and its a celebration.  Each new quarter inch becomes an amazing, unexpected journey.

And here I am today.  The thrill has worn off.  I still love the new color of my hair but no longer is each quarter inch of growth exciting.  Its expected.  Its expected and its not happening fast enough.  I am growing impatient. Imagine that.  Me, Mrs I want it NOW, impatient.

It will pass.  I know it will.  A new form of baby step thrill will find its way into this journey and I will again embrace it.  But for now I'll just keep plugging along.

The start of month 9

Helping others is no gray area

I am humbled by those willing to go out on a limb, those willing to sacrifice for others.

In roughly one week a courageous, lovely, thoughtful woman is going to shave her head in the name of childhood cancer.  There are not many people willing to go bald for a cause, even a good cause such as this.

When I started this blog it was about being natural, being real, being authentic.  I don't think it gets much more real and authentic than the willingness to shave your head in the name of childhood cancer.

Jean Rabenhorst, my dear, caring cousin, needs all of our support in her effort to raise money and awareness for childhood cancer.  Please, please help in her efforts and make a contribution, whatever size, to St Baldricks - Jean Rabenhorst

Love you Jean!  We are all behind you, girl!

A funny thing happened on the way to going gray...

Last year in the Spring, I made the "radical" decision to go naturally gray and stop dying cold turkey.  I was tired of the fight and more importantly, ready to see what was under all those years of color in a box.  The only thing stopping me at the time was my upcoming wedding in July.  I wasn't ready to look like a skunk walking down the isle.  It would have to wait until August for the transition to begin.

It is now eight months into my transition.

Looking back, I see that much more than I expected has come out of this transition.  No longer is this just about my hair.  This transition has become about a lifestyle, a more natural, back to nature, real life.

In August I sold my cute little car and I now travel by a more fuel efficient scooter.  (In the 8 months I've had the scooter I've spent about $60 in gas.  Not too shabby).  The scooter was not intended to be my primary mode of transportation.  It JUST happened.

Last summer I began a hydroponic garden.  This is Florida and you can't grow jack in the sand.  Suddenly I'm overwhelmed with basil, oregano, sage and rosemary.

Last summer I started to compost.  Why am I throwing so much away when I can give it back to the earth when I can make my sandy soil more nutrient based?  I don't know how this happened.  It JUST happened.

Last summer I adopted a feral cat colony living behind my office.  When I say adopted, I didn't bring them home.  I've just made a pledge to get them spayed and neutered and see to it they have food and water.  This little group of silly strays adopted me and it JUST happened.


I've talked about it for 8 months and now another thing has happened.  Last week, how appropriately for Easter, I came home with four baby chicks.  Four little Easter peeps.  I am an organic chicken farmer.  It JUST happened.

Its time to embrace who I am and I have and I will continue to do so.  Gray is the new me.  Authentic is the new me.  Real is the new me.  I am the new me.

Ad NONsense

When I began this blog several months ago I was completely new to the seen.  I had never blogged, I wasn't completely sure just exactly what blogging was, although I had read one blog from an old grade school friend.

As I worked my way through the process of setting up the blog and understanding its workings and intricacies I found it made quite a bit of sense.  I was up and blogging in no time.

Then I learned of what I now (not so affectionately) call, NONsense.  The Blogger.com powers that be have created a way for us bloggers to make a buck and they call it AdSense.  Allow ads to appear on your blog and when people click through the blogger makes a penny here and there.  I was a sucker.  I wanted that penny.

Here is the nonsense.  The Ad-sense program selects frequent "topical" words appearing in the blog to post what they deem "appropriate" target ads.  Sounds good so far, right?  If the ads are to target MY readers, My readers wanting to go GRAY, why is it that 90% of the ad appearing in the blog are to COVER, DYE and ELIMINATE GRAY?

This isn't AdSense....its pure NONsense.