As many of you know, I have a full head of grey hair and I am 44 years old. I tried to go my natural grey at 40 but I only lasted about 5 months before I gave in to societal pressure and colored it again.

About 6 months ago, I cut my hair super short to go grey once more and I've been wearing it that way fairly happily since. I am trying to grow it out but I've been careful about keeping it trimmed so that I have a style and not just a crazy mop of greyness. Usually, I'm ok with it (though I have rethought a few things I wear as colors look decidedly different on me now) but every once in awhile something happens to make me question it. A few weeks ago, I had to travel to TX on business and I felt a distinct difference in how people there treated me vs how people here treat me. There, I was treated as an older lady. I can't quite explain it but it just felt different.

Anyway, I've been back in the Portland area for a week or so and I tend to forget that I'm grey. Well, last night at work I was helping a coworker with a new system. I was showing him something on my computer screen and directly behind my screen to the right are 4 photos. 3 are of me and my husband (one taken last Jan, one about 3 years ago and one from our wedding which was almost 10 years ago) and 1 is of my parents. This coworker (who is late 30's himself...so not a too young to know better), sees the photos and says 'oh, are these your children?'

WHAT?!?!

I laughed it off, said "no...those are photos of me and my husband" and that was the end of it....but holy cow! I know I don't look old enough to have 40 year old children if you look at my face but it's comments like this that make me want to color my hair. This guy has no 'filter' and I don't take offense at all, but if he is haphazardly saying what others are probably thinking, I can't help but question my decision to make myself appear older to the world. Ugh - I don't want to color my hair anymore but I'm already tired of people judging me so wrongly for something so easily fixed. I'm so torn. I LIKE being different, but I wish that my version of 'different' didn't come with preconceived notions. So, should I color again?

Maybe I should just get pissed that society has determined that women can't be grey until they are in their 60's.