For years, I have been watching that oh-so-dreaded gray hair creep into my beautiful brunette hair.

Well, I am not really a brunette anymore.

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

Over the years, highlights weren’t enough; I also needed lowlights, then a base color, as the gray 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, since they didn’t 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 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. 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 couldn’t 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 brunette (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 it 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 it wouldn’t 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.