Comfort, Comments, and Compliments

This last month—month five—of growing out the gray has brought a few firsts. I’ve begun to feel comfortable with both my multicolored locks and their length. I still am pretty obsessed with my hair, but I do sometimes forget what it must look like to other people when I’m out and about. Just today at the gym, I chatted with an exercise instructor I hadn’t seen in several months. The last time she saw me my hair was chocolate brown, root to tip. Today I had the front clipped back off of my face. I’ve got about two and a half inches of pure white going on all along my hairline now. She couldn’t miss it, but she didn’t say a word about it! I get that. It’s kind of like asking someone when the baby’s due because she really looks pregnant, but then again, maybe she just had a big lunch. Why risk it? I was wondering what she was thinking though. Maybe something like this?

On the other hand, I received my first compliment last week about my hair from a total stranger. I was checking out at a store and the cashier, a young woman I would guess to be in her late twenties, maybe early thirties, said, “I really like your hair color.” With surprise I said, “Thank you! I’ve got a long way to go, though, before it’s finished.” She replied, “I know, but I really like it!” Well, I’ll be. Totally made my day!

Just yesterday, I had a new friend ask me about my hair. We’ve only known each other for a few months. As a matter of fact, the first time we met I had only been growing out the natural color for a couple of weeks. It was barely noticeable, but to me, it felt like I had a neon sign flashing over my head that said, “Look at me! Look at me!” with an arrow pointing at my roots. I felt compelled to explain to her what I was doing with my hair. This was our first time meeting each other, and there I am trying to make myself feel more comfortable with my decision by explaining it to someone who probably didn’t even notice it. All that to say, yesterday she asked me, “So, how are you doing with growing out your gray?”

“I’m getting used to it. I actually kind of like all these different colors.”

“Are you going to keep the length or cut it short to get rid of the dyed hair?”

Ahhh, the good old blorange, I thought to myself. So we had a little discussion about the fact that, odd as it probably seems to others, I’m determined to grow the length as much as I’m determined to grow the gray. She liked the length and the wavy/curly way I’m wearing my hair these days. She was quite surprised when I told her my styling technique was to simply scrunch up my wet hair with my hands and let it air dry. Can’t get much easier than that. I do use a few products specifically for wavy hair. I use the DevaCurl line: Low Poo Delight Shampoo, One Condition Delight, and their fabulous WaveMaker Touchable Texture Whip. I’ve been curious to know if my hair would be curlier (which I’d love) if I used DevaCurl’s Styling Crème for curly hair instead. So I purchased a bottle of that the other day. I wish I hadn’t wasted the money. It’s too heavy for my waves and weighed them down instead of bouncing them up. Live and learn! I also use DevaCurl’s microfiber towel for curly hair. That is definitely worth the investment if you have wavy or curly hair. I love it so much I even take it when I travel.

And I had one other comment this month. I haven’t mentioned Joe in a while; so let me tell you what his most recent hair comment was. Once again we were in the kitchen. That night I had the front of my hair (basically my growing out bangs) pinned straight back with a couple of bobby pins. So if you can picture this: the brassy/orangey four or five inches were pulled back and laying over the couple inches of salt and pepper roots at my crown. I had no idea what it looked like since it was on the back of my head. Apparently, it didn’t look great.

Joe: “What’s going on with your head?”

Me: “What are you talking about?”

Joe: “You’ve got this orange stuff spread on top of this dark and gray stuff and not quite covering it up. Kind of looks like some weird come over.”

Me: “Oh well….”

Joe: “Okay, but if you want to make a good impression on somebody, don’t let them see the back of your head. Just sayin’.”

Oh, how I love this man!

And here’s what five months of gray looks like! Until next time….