talk me down off the ledge, please

[emily_in_nc]

I think you look great, GLC. The haircut and color are very becoming with your complexion, glasses, etc. I wonder if the not liking how you look with the gray at times has as much to do with the length of your hair as the color, because I had that short a cut for a very short time when I was in my late 30s (and coloring/highlighting my hair). When I had on earrings, makeup, and a nice blouse, I thought I looked pretty darn good, but when I rolled out of bed on the weekends and went out to do my gardening sans any of the above, I felt like I looked like a boy -- not flattering at all, even though my hair was colored. I grew my hair out because of that -- I just felt that the short cut made me look too masculine if I didn't have makeup/earrings on.

I stopped coloring several years ago, as I've said here before, but I am not really salt and pepper; my natural color now (much to my surprise since I'd been coloring it since age 25) is a mixture of light blonde, medium brown (more in the back), and white (more in the front). From a distance it reads a bit more blonde than gray because there's none of the "steel" color in it that people who have had really dark hair naturally, like you, tend to get. If I had known it looked like this, I would have gone natural decades ago. I just think of all the money and time I wasted trying to cover up what little gray was there at the time. At times I miss being blonder like when I colored and know I could shave 5 years off my age (at least) if I colored again, but it's still not worth it to me since I think my hair looks fine as it is. (It is lighter than in my avatar now because I'm older and because it was wet in that photo.)

Like you, I like being different.