Hair Like An Old Woman

Another new “Follower” has joined the group.  Welcome aboard and THANK YOU to JH.  I appreciate the time you give to read this blog about our RV lifestyle!  I hope it will entertain you.

I haven’t hidden myself from the camera lens since starting this blog, although I do take 95% of the pics I put on here, so I am usually behind the camera.  My old-woman-looking white hair is obvious to all who read these posts when I am in a photo.

Donna from over at Cave Dwellings was kind enough to make a comment regarding my hair color that was very nicely worded.  She said she loved the color.  Thank you, Donna, I appreciate those kind words.  I have to say I get a lot of comments out there in the real world (not the blog world) regarding my hair color.  Most people I come across at the store or at a hair salon say things like, “Oh, your hair is so beautiful!”  or “I’d love to have hair like yours” or “It doesn’t make you look old at all”. 

                                                              For better or worse, this is what it is.

I do notice, however, that most of the people I meet face-to-face that say how “beautiful” my hair is do NOT have white hair.  They are still coloring or bleaching their hair to keep it a younger looking color.  In fact, a while back the subject of hair dying was on a couple of the web forums.  The question was posed something like, “when you fulltime RV how do you get your hair dyed?”  The posts that followed gave a wide variety of ways that ladies out there are getting the hair color they desire.

I was in my early 20’s when I started dying my hair a medium brown color to hide that gray hair.  Soon, the gray was winning and overpowering the natural brown that was left and I had to resort to going to a salon for a professional color job.  My hair grows fast so I was off to the salon every 4 weeks in order to keep the hair roots from showing too much.

                                                   Side view of my hair….not a police mug shot.

I remember quite clearly when and where we were when I decided to stop the insanity of constant hair coloring.  It was 1992 and we were in our Pace Arrow motorhome in Estes Park, Colorado.  We were reading the paper and I saw an article about the possible dangers of hair dyes being absorbed into the skin and causing illness.  I began to think about that, but wasn’t really scared at all.  It did get me thinking about the cost and hassle of getting this done frequently. 

We were planning to head out in the fall of 1993 on our first stint as fulltime RVer’s.  Did I want a different person, at a different salon, applying strong chemicals to my hair every 4 weeks?  What if they weren’t really qualified to do the job correctly and my hair fell out in spots, or the color wasn’t right?  How much would this cost in the different cities we’d be traveling to and living in?  The lady I had doing my hair on a regular basis was very good at her job.  Back in those days it cost me $50.00 every time I went.  Those costs would only increase as the years went on.

So, I made the decision to let my hair grow out to it’s natural color…..whatever that was.  Who knew, since I’d been dying it for about 15 years?  I asked Bruce what he thought of that idea.  I knew it would most likely make me look older than my years.  Did he want a wife that looked so much older than him?  (Think Barbara Bush and our former President)  Bruce didn’t give a care one way or the other he said.  Whatever made me happy.  Although, I think he was secretly happy to be able to save that $50 a month.

                                                      White all over!I
It took about 11 months for the old hair dye to be cut off my hair as it grew.  It didn’t look very good during that time as I looked sort of half-and-half.  The process had to take it’s own time.  Since 1993 it has actually gotten whiter in color. 

The big question is probably, “are you happy with the decision now?”  The answer is a definite yes.  In spite of the fact that I do think it makes me look a little older than my 59 years, and older than Bruce, I would never go back to dying my hair again.  Ever.  Even if I don’t love it, I’m content with it and I like the fact that I don’t have to do anything with it.   And I LOVE saving that money every month.  I’m very low maintenance and this makes it easy….and cheap!

Bruce and I both go to those Cheap Charlie places for haircuts….Great Clips, Super Cuts, etc.  Since we find ourselves in a few different places during the year, we just pop into one of those salons and get a cut when we need one.   Works for us.

Until next time…..so long for now!