It takes a woman in grey

Can't describe how thrilled I was to see Christine Lagarde plastered on the front page of the great white north's national newspaper. Thrilled to see a woman in l'age this commanding. Thrilled to find that she beat out a whack of perfectly competent men - which means, of course, that she is utterly brilliant. Thrilled to find her always perfectly and elegantly composed sporting her luscious and lioness grey locks.

As is so often the case, this exceptional woman is following in the wake of a man who exploited his privileges while purportedly right-balancing a world economy ravaged by a whole bunch of men (Wall St., the City, Corporate everywhere) who robbed the financial system of value to fill their own greedy pockets. I know that's a bit strong but who're we kidding here?

Let us just sit back and marvel in the power of female sensibility when it t last it has the opportunity to dazzle in a spectacular package.

The grey advantage

Any excuse to lighten a Monday with a little DV. But I do have a point ...DV began her illustrious career at Vogue at the tender age of 58. Yeah! Can you believe it? And she was revolutionary so pshaw to all those who say style, daring, wit and avant garde is solely within the purview of the young.

And finally there might be some solid employment news to support the notion that a little grey might actually work to one's advantage. Read this article.

Now DV never showed a hair's breadth of grey and, of course, I admire and adore her for that - even though she had the highly coiffed appearance of a woman who only lunches (and I wouldn't mind that either) she was a risk-taker and a visionary and must have been an absolutely compelling (and terrifying) person to work for. But wouldn't you rather work for someone who was compelling and challenging, chic and worldly, slightly crazy and hugely generous. I would. Although, funny, smart, warm, friendly, generous would be great too - but an even rarer bird I think.

Here's a fun little post about just such an eccentric by the lovely, talented and very funny, Christina over at Fashion's Most Wanted. And her name is Bubbles, I mean, beat that!

Vain AND Lazy - Going Grey

Here's where my transitioning began. First things first, got the root touch-up stuff for dark blonde, used it on the front and, over the course of a few months moved down a notch to light brown. Blonde was successfully defeated. Light brown much better with skin tone. Back to dark brown at the back. Having fully accepted I am no Daphne Guinness, have since embarked on a long-term strategy (yes, maybe vain and lazy, but also patient) to grow in the grey letting the front transition without colour (a couple of months of weirdness but not so bad), and switching to an ammonia free home based colouring product (L'Oreal Healthy Look) to cover the grey until it's long enough leave off with the colouring altogether. Of course, I've chosen to keep my hair longish because I'm more comfortable with hair around my face and neck. Super short hair on my pin head just accentuates my smallness and I can't stand that. Vain - you see.

In the midst of this process(midst being the next 2 years at the rate things are going)I read in comments on the lovely blog, Hostess of the Humble Bungalow, a referral to Going Grey, Looking Great. My salvation. A whole website (and book) devoted to going grey. Transition case studies galore. And more importantly, a site with fabulous looking women with grey hair. Where can you find images in the media of women who are firmly in l'age - certainly not on TV unless it's a medication for bone loss. Important, yes. The only reason to present grey-haired women dans l'age? No.

Going Gray Looking Great! features photos of women in l'age (and even younger) who are grey and gorgeous. They don't look old, they don't look like they've thrown in the proverbial towel. They look gorgeous. They look real. They are unapologetic.



And so, this summer I will be pulling the grey front back over the burgeoning roots and allowing a stream of grey to grow in along my part. Yes, I will camouflage because I'm vain. And yes, I will stop colouring because I'm lazy. And then we'll see what happens next.

Vain AND Lazy - Going awry

Doesn't she look fine? See how she got there. Shereen.

At least 6 years ago at the tender age of 44 (seems so young now) I started to get this chunk of grey coming in at my hairline. The rest remained pretty much dark, and my colour is a really dark brown (not a hint of red, more on that later). I rather liked it and found a young, totally punk hair stylist who liked it too. She played it up by colouring everying (except the grey streak in front) a really solid dark brown. I loved it - in addition to drama, the thing that colour does so well for fine hair is to give it texture and weight. I loved the grey on brown. Then I moved to a new city.

Finding a stylist who accepts grey is not easy. It just goes against their grain as professionals, and as people who want to eat and possibly save for retirement. I understand that, yet thought, since I'm so comfortable with it, surely this lovely stylist (firmly in l'age) will come around. And so we began our relationship. She worked around the grey. Always asked if I still liked it. I did. And as time wore on inevitably more grey came through and I found myself having to engage in root touch-up activity in what had previously been securely brown territory.

I began by going back to my stylist for the touch-ups but that was a pain in the butt. Then I started with the stuff you use at home. But the grey was coming in fast and furious. So I concluded, enough is enough, time to let the grey come in full force. As a transition phase, I thought ... grey highlights (I had Shereen's look in mind - not that I'd seen Shereen yet). This poor stylist worked for 2.5 hours trying to get grey to take in my hair. Not easy on coloured dark hair. It was a nightmare. She finally got the right combo (can you imagine the chemicals that were poured on my head?) and after all that effort it lasted for about a week ... then turned light brown. And looked like crap.

I put up with it for a couple of months (remember, lazy), then finally had enough and went back to my stylist. She agreed on the overall effect (bad). And said, let's just return to the dark solid and lighten it up at the front. I thought, "What the heck? Let's do it."

So when the colouring was done and she removed the towel, I took one look at my hair in the mirror and gasped. I mean a full-on intake of horror. It was shocking. A rare moment when I was actually rendered speechless. After I calmed down, it occurred to me that now was my opportunity to go full-on high maintenance. If not in l'age, then when? That's it, new leaf. Possibly the real me was fully emerging.

The first person I ran into (at the grocery store) was completely appalled and had a hard time rummaging up any enthusiasm for the new look. Not a promising start.

Anyway, I tried to carry off my new look with aplomb. It was difficult. I grew to hate it. Hated it when the greyish roots started to grow in. Realized what a nightmare I had on my hands to both touch up the dark roots at the top, sides and back, while dealing with the blond at the front. I wouldn't be able to use the home root touch-up stuff at the front because the home-colourist cannot go from grey to blonde with success. And remember, I am both vain and lazy, so I looked awful and it was a lot of work.



Just to prove a point ....


And so my lazy fate was sealed. I would just harden my resolve ... and go grey.

Next up - Going Grey - the movement.

Vain AND Lazy

It's a bad combination. I am so vain it's ridiculous - I might have thought vanity would have peaked in my teens but, frankly, I'm probably more vain now - I mean, there's so much more to be vain about:

effects of gravity;
adult acne (totally unfair);
lines;
veins;
skin which appears to be thinning;
reduction in hair volume;
flapping arms

...you get the picture

And despite the photos you find in this blog - I love a high maintenance look. I absolutely adore the whole nine yards: Makeup, nails, high heels, and most of all I love high maintenance hair. I just adore it when a women in l'age has beautifully coloured hair - lots of colour and/or lots of highlights - love it. Plus I love lots of styling, spray, mousse, whatever, the more the better.

So why is my hair such a savage mess? Cause I am so lazy. Root maintenance alone drives me crazy. My hair grows fast (that's my excuse) so I'm constantly using that root touch up stuff. As for styling, can't even be bothered to blow it dry. Generally, I wash it at night and sleep on it.

Now, I have tried. If you scroll back far enough you'll see my "Decisive Move" post. That was my Daphne Guinness phase. I have since come to my senses. Daphne is nothing if not a worshipper at the shrine of the high maintenance goddess, and I in turn, worship at her feet. Unfortunately, my own dance with a big bold blond streak was a result of a breakdown in communication between stylist and client.

Bear with me while I tell the tale of how it all went awry. Friday.