Friday, September 16, 2005

Family Curse

It effects all the women through my maternal line. It happened to my mom, her older and younger sister, and their mom. I believe its also happening to a few of my cousins (at least one I know for sure.) I truly hoped that it would miss me, but alas, I have also been hit by the curse. Want to know what the curse is?

The dreaded curse of going gray early!!!

For as long as I can remember my mom had been dying her hair. If it started to grow out I remember my brothers and I pointing out her gray. Her younger sister has it really bad too. They both have had a red hair (thats not their own) for many, many years. Their older sister, (I can't remember if she dyed her hair or not) is now completely gray.

It started happening to me when I was 19. Before that I would dye my hair just for fun. It started with the wash in color shampoo. Then it was the 28 washes color. Then I got a little bit more brave and started going for the permanent color. When I got to college, I realized that my hair coloring wasn't just for fun anymore. It became a requirement! When my hair would grow out and you could see my roots there would always be a few more gray hairs show up then the last time. I had finally received the curse. My dad's genes weren't going to protect me from the family curse of early gray. So since the age of 19 I have been coloring my hair to hide my grays. A few months after our marriage my husband asked why I colored my hair. I showed him. He gasped. He asked, "does this mean you're gonna color your hair for the rest of your life?" I said, "Are you kidding? Of Course!"

A year after our marriage we drove up to Lake Powell for a family vacation. My husbands younger sister and their cousin rode up with us. As my sister-in-law was putting my hair into a million braids for the week she gasped and started to laugh. She saw my gray hair. I was only 22. She found this quite funny at the time. And still does. (Shes a hair stylist now).

That was 4 years ago. Before the birth of my first child. It has only gotten worse since then. My husband doesn't think its that bad. Just a few flecks around the face, he says. No one will even notice, he says. I say HA! Your sister noticed!
As I'm sitting here writing about my hair coloring neccessity, I wonder. I go to church on Sundays and I see these older women with their saintly white or gray hair. I think, can I ever be brave enough to stop coloring my hair and let the gray show through? My mom and my aunts are fully gray now. The oldest of the three has let her gray become a part of who she is. My mom and her younger sister are still trying to deny the inevitable. Still trying to pretend that they still have color left in their hair.

Am I fooling myself? Do I stop dying my hair and be proud of the family curse that has left me with salt and pepper hair? Do I continue to hide the truth? Deny that theres a single gray hair on my head? I'm only 3 months away from my 27th birthday. Is that too young to admit to gray hair? What should I do? What would you do if you were me? I feel my hair has grown out enough that its time for the next color job. Those gray hairs are mocking and taunting me! Do I go to the store and pick up a bottle of my favorite shade?
Posted by ABQ Mom :: 9/16/2005 02:47:00 PM :: 6 Comments:

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