For years, I have been keeping an eye on that oh-so-dreaded gray hair growing into my beautiful brunette hair.

Well, I am not really a brunette anymore.

For the past 10 years, I have colored my hair to a beautiful sun-kissed blond hairdo with golden highlights. My hairstylist made sure that I would not look old and washed out but continued to look young and fresh. She would always say: “Nobody can guess how old you are with that body and that hair”!

Over the years the high lights were not enough, I also needed low lights, and then a base color, as the gray just kept creeping in.

I have been in Menopause for the past five years. When I look in the mirror, I see myself with my California girl look, but it just does not seem right anymore. I see a face that is much rounder and more mature. I debated back and forth on what to do with my hair: go gray or keep coloring.

I asked some of my clients, friends, and my husband what they would think if I went gray. As you can imagine, NO ONE was giving me a straight answer. How smart of them, as they did not want to take the blame if I hated it.

Then the sneaky GRAY came back and off to the salon; I went to make sure that it was gone and forgotten. This debate has been going on for a while, and just this past week, I went for it, or at least as close as I get to going GRAY (gasp)

The Dreaded Gray Hair: Grow It Out or Is It Menopause?

I used Pinterest to find pictures of ladies with long, gray hair. Going for a short haircut was out of the question.

Some articles suggested the frightening GROWING IT OUT procedure. NO WAY! That would look so washed out and – well – “gray”. Some of my friends went cold turkey and let their hair grow out until they were completely gray, and THEY looked beautiful. I could not see myself going that route.

My hairstylist had to sit down when I told her about my plan, and could not believe what I wanted. She explained to me that we could bleach some of my hair as white as we could, leave some of my natural brunettes (yep, it’s still there on the back of my head), and then color the white into several shades of gray.

She warned me that would look VERY different if I went for it.

Sounds easy enough, right?

5-hours later, and, my brain is smoking from all the treatments, my hair is now partially platinum blond. My hairstylist told me that it would not be gray after only 2 treatments.

It’s a cool and interesting look, and I wonder what MY gray hair will look like when it grows. I will update you on my “gray hair status” in a few months.

In the meantime, check back with me on my blog to see what other cool stuff I have to share with you.