Grey/White/Silver

I stopped colouring my hair a few months ago.

It all started when my stylist went a little crazy and cut the back and sides of my hair so short that the scalp showed through.  Not my favourite look.  I like short, but I don't like scalp, at least not my own, which is a pasty greyish-white.

Hair that short is too short to colour.  I would have basically ended up staining my scalp dark red, which would probably have looked pretty awful.  So I skipped my colour date.  Next time I returned to have my hair cut, I had every intention of going home to colour it the next day, but then my stylist complimented my natural colour.  He didn't wax poetic or anything, he just said it was "good" or "nice" or something like that.  So the next day, since I was feeling lazy, I skipped the colour again.

Then I talked to Ken.  He seemed not to be at all concerned about whether or not I coloured my hair.  I said "but I have greys!" and he said "where?" and I dug around to find the bunch that are congregated right at the front and centre of my head.  At that time the silver roots were still hiding under a thatch of coloured ends.  He made a dismissive hand-flopping gesture and said "mmnnyeeeh" and "whatever!".

Colouring one's own hair is not a horrifying task when it's as short as mine, but it's not fun either.  It's a hassle.  First, cover the bathroom counter with scrap paper so that falling drips won't stain it.  Next, put on latex gloves and cover the arms of your glasses in tin foil.  Then a layer of conditioner goes around your hairline so that dripping colour won't stain your skin (hopefully).  (There's nothing better than finding out too late that you've dyed the tip of your left ear a rich shade of mahogany.)

Then you mix up the two different types of goop in a bowl, apply liberally all over with a dollar-store pastry brush, massage it down to the roots, and set the timer.  Be careful not to get goop on your clothing/sofa/walls/husband. Twenty-five minutes later you can wash it all out, clean up the bowl and brush, and get on with your life.  Like I said, not terrible, but there's around 45 minutes every five weeks that I could use for other things.

(Cost is not an issue.  I buy my tubes of goo directly from a beauty supply outlet.  Each dose of colour costs around $3.  But I do feel guilty about washing all that crap down the drain.  It can't be good for the water supply.)

Long story short, I stopped colouring.  Those white roots are growing longer and longer.  At my next haircut they're going to be revealed for the whole world to see.  I'm hoping that letting my silver flash will make me look badass and sophisticated.  I do not jest: I've seen a handful of super-fashionable women pulling off the no-colour look so well that it left me stunned.

And if not, I still have my tubes of goop and my pastry brush.  It'll only take 45 minutes to banish all those greys once again.