my gray is here to stay

I'm going gray. I mean I've gone gray. Way gray. But when I look around, I see a lot of beautiful dye jobs on women my age, and a lot of gray roots, too.

"I'm gonna wash that gray right outta my hair." This peppy little jingle from 1985 seemed to turn 'gray' into a four-letter word. Clairol told us that gray was terribly, obviously undesirable. See a few strands? Wash them out!

In the last forty years, it seems to me, our culture became one of youth-is-best, advertisers instructing us to reverse the natural progression of aging. I remember an advertising class in college, impressed by "bandwagon" advertising in which the advertiser convinces consumers that "everyone's doing it, so you should, too."

I was amused at an article in the paper the other day: "Wash away touch of gray? No way!" Apparently the young and chic are showing off "gray lights" and "skunk streaks" as the hippest of fashion statements and breaking a fashion taboo. The likes of Kate Moss, Daphne Guinness (an apparent trend-setter), Pink, and American Idol's Siobhan Mangus have all caused a sensation by going gray.

Well, maybe I'm chic after all. Whew, what a relief!

I think what really drives my gray-all-the-way attitude is laziness. Had I begun covering the gray when the first ones appeared 20 years ago, well, the investment of time and money would be staggering. And had I decided mid-stream to cease with the dye, I can only imagine the weird patchwork of colors as it all grew out. The notion of regular dye jobs seems so ... tiresome.

Ok, I'm a rebel. And gray. My gray is here to stay.

Gray hair is a crown of splendor; it is attained by a righteous life.

Proverbs 16:31