Grey hair, yes, but wrinkles?

Orginal Post Date:  December 3, 2006

Well, another month has gone by, and I must say this whole going grey process is going much better than expected.  First of all, there was a slight miscalculation on my part.  Apparently, hair grows a half inch per month, not quarter inch per month. Therefore, there is quite a bit of grey now with colour on the ends.  I was just debating whether to go all G.I. Jane and get my hair buzzed off, when a complete stranger stopped me to tell me how absolutely stunning my hair was.  Stunning!  Not simply nice. Not simply attractive.  Stunning!  She said it was wonderful how I was blending my grey with some colour and what a wonderful way to avoid the whole skunk head thing. 

Then there was my shopping trip on Saturday, in which three men in one store, the male sales clerk in another store, and a policeman in a coffee shop all chatted me up.  Yes, I hear the cynics amongst you. "Oh course they felt comfortable chatting to you. You've got that whole silver-haired comfortable grandmother thing going on."  Not chatted to me. Chatted me up!  That is something different all together, so hush you.

In my first article, I said this would be a depiction of my going grey process, but it would also be a psychological exploration of aging.  I also explained that part of my reasoning for going grey now, was because the media is making it socially acceptable to do so.  So, there I was reading O Magazine the other day (that's O for Oprah, not that other O word!) and I have discovered that while grey hair may be acceptable, wrinkles are not.  Five prominent female American plastic surgeons were interviewed and all of them got Botoxed as soon as they turned forty.  The tox stands for toxin, but there I found myself in front of the mirror, pulling back my nice silver bangs and studying my forehead.  Yup, some pretty heavy duty grooves going on there.  And apparently Boxtox causes a mini eye lift too.  Huh, gosh, looking a bit droopy in that department.  I mean how stupid is that?!  I've never thought about my wrinkles before, but I read one article and I'm ready to pull out a ruler to figure out just out deep those nasty little furrows are.  Well, thank goodness I really like my silver bangs, because I have to keep them now, don't I?

I decided to do some informal research and trotted over to the magazine section to see what messages were being splashed across the covers of women's magazines.  Here is a sample:  Hype Up Your Fat Burning Machine; 100 Ways To Look Your Hottest; How To Get The Hair You Really Want.  Everything screamed You Ain't Good Enough!  Fascinating. So, then I wondered if men were getting the same message, and I found the section of equivalent men's magazines, like Gentleman's Quarterly and Maxim.  Here's a sampling of their headlines:  Fantasy Being Destroyed By Internet Porn; 407 Ways To Burn Through Your Paycheque; This Month's Obsession - Lindsay Lohan.  Lindsay Lohan?!  I mean, she's fourteen for crying out loud!  Well, okay, maybe not fourteen, but ew!  Anyway, did you note the distinct lack of any suggestion that the Guy Ain't Good Enough?  No, of course not. The message is he's got an active fantasy life, makes enough money to spend it 407 ways, and attracts young starlets. Why not the following:  Ten Ways To Burn Off Those Love Handles; Ways To Dress To Hide That Paunch; How To Get The Hair You Used To Have?

Wrinkles shminkles. To quote Martina McBride: 

'Every laugh line on your face, made you who you are to day.
This one's for the girls!'

Comments

[chris]

No wonder the 3 men chatted you up...look at you with your confident self. :)

Anyway, I also have streaks of silver hair. It's always been a debate in myhousehold whether I should get it dyed or not.

With the magazine thing....Well it just re-affirms our social beliefs. Women are judged by their appearance and man are judged by their wallets and wildness. ;)

[vered]

You are beautiful! I really admire women who don't color their hair. It shows confidence and character.

[theramblinghousewife]

I don't see myself going gray early in life--
It's a possibility I suppose, but most people in my family have not grayed early.

But the wrinkles .. .Damn those wrinkles!!!!

I have already noticed fine lines around the eyes!! (I'm only 30!!!)

And just the other day, in good light--I found a couple of smile lines!!!

*GASP*

I must say, it does bother me a little--I'm just beginning to notice age on my face--I suppose it will just take a little getting used to . . .

(You look great, by the way!) :)

[Urban Panther]

Chris - thanks! My what charmer you are. Your wife is one lucky woman ;-) And I could get on a whole rant about how men who have 'conquests' under their belts are considered to be studs, while women are considered to be...well, another 's' word...but I'll save that rant for another day. Bottom line, it still doesn't seem equal does it?

Vered - and thank you. It helps that the photo is taken by my extremely talented studio photographer daughter. It was supposed to be a serious photo, but she managed to make me laugh and snap the pic at the exact right moment. Not surprising though, because her signature is to capture the true essence of people. I went grey in my late 20's so it took over 10 years to gain that strength of confidence and character. Interestingly, I no longer look in the mirror and see grey hair. I just look in the mirror and see me.

Rambling - the wrinkles on my face don't bother me. Mind you, I am blessed/cursed with oily skin, so there aren't too many. You know what horrifies me right now? My hands. I look at them sometimes and think 'OMG, those are old lady hands!' But then I remind myself, it's not what my hands look like, it's what they can accomplish. Wrinkles and raised veins, psh, based on that, these hands are gorgeous.