Hair update #2
November 4, 2010Enough about the new site. Let's talk hair.
First of all, this growing-out process has taught me something new about my hair: it doesn't grow unusually fast, like I thought it did. I was convinced my hair grew an inch a month (as opposed to the normal half-inch). It turns out that this was a lie I told myself, for no apparent reason. It actually grows at the same rate as everyone else. I'm learning so much about me! It's like adolescence all over again. My body is a wonderland.
Here's an interesting thing about growing out your haircolor when your hair is short: when you have all these layers, it's easier to hide the growth. At least in some parts. Take the above picture, where it looks like I have no gray at all. Meanwhile there's about two inches of gray underneath the inch of the faded auburn blech on top. Look here:
I have a gray undercoat! I'm just like my cat. Who stared at me while I took pictures.
The tall one has gone insane. Perhaps she will die, and I can finally eat her.
Around the part area, you can see even more gray. Here you go!
Finally, here it is in different light, where it almost looks like I'm going completely white:
Oh, another thing I learned about my hair: I'm not as gray as I thought I was. Since I've been graying since high school, I assumed I would have a shining silver mane lurking beneath all the dye, but it seems like the end result will be far less dramatic. Nonetheless, I really like it, so far.
I haven't gone for a haircut yet, but I did, well, cut my own hair. Scott looked truly alarmed when I told him this. He seemed to think this was evidence of mental illness, Oh, men! Just because I have no haircutting experience whatsoever and maybe laughed a little too maniacally after telling him about my haircut! But listen, I had just trimmed Henry's bangs, and I was feeling confident. And it's not like I used the kitchen shears! Sheesh.
You're seeing the results here, and I think it looks perfectly fine and not at all insane, SCOTT.
Reader Comments (45)
Good luck with the growing out of the hair! I did it a few years ago and I am so relieved that I no longer have to dye my hair. And I too found out I wasn't all that gray as I'd suspected I was. Now I wish I'd never dyed it in the first place! Maybe it wouldn't have looked so bad all along.
It looks great. You totally pull it off!
Wish I had the guts to go gray as well...wear mine super short like you (and have that much or more gray).
Have you seen Emma Watson's cute,cute cut? Think if you did that you might get all of your color off in one fell swoop now - you have the facial structure for it!!
Thanks for the new photos. I love them almost as much as I do the ones that inexplicably went missing when I wanted to link to them for the "hair" post on my blog.
What is it about hair? It's a topic that's so self-indulgent, so trivial, and yet so important and enduring. Did you see the Dominique Brown piece in the New York Times, about her long hair and how it bucks the trend for middle-aged women? (Not that I'm middle-aged, because I'm going to live to be 120 at least.) Sadly, I can't go long, because my untamed hair would make me look like a haystack. Or Cousin It.
Your interpretation of your cat's expression is right-on. Our cats get that look, which I saw on someone else's photo with the caption: "Kitten thinks of nothing but murder all day." Because it's true.
Your site, by the way, looks wonderful.
I LOVE IT! Your new silvery locks and your blue eyes! I can't wait to see it grown out. It is going to be gorgeous! I have what I call non-color hair. It's not brown, it's not blond, it's like an ash pewter. I've been dying it since I was 19 (almost 20 years) and red looks best on me but it's also the hardest to keep looking good. Much to my excitement I'm starting to get white hairs. Not silver or gray, but WHITE. I can't wait until it's mostly white so I can stop dying my hair. I don't do it to cover the gray, I do it to get rid of the non-color. I wish my hair was as pretty as yours!
The new site is pretty great too! Good job on the changes!
Great blog and great hair! Growing it out is definitely a bitch thats for sure!!
But we want to see your butt! And get tips on your butt! To heck with Heather Armstong's.
So are you growing it out to get to your natural color? or just becuase you want it long? or both?
I LOVE your gray!! I am starting to sprout some serious gray in my bangs (I'm 25), and I'm hoping I go totally gray quickly instead of having strands here and there. Either that, or I want a gray/white streak in my bangs, like my aunt has had for decades. She looks awesome.
ErikaJean, I'm trying to go back to my natural color! I don't think I'll go long, and even if I did, "long" for me is, like, chin-length. I've had short hair for waaay too long. Although now that I think about it, maybe it's time to change that...
Thanks, bex! When I was your age, I decided to dye my hair, and the guys in my office were all, to a person, mad at me. They liked the gray. I wish I had listened to them before taking the plunge.
I cut my own hair, sorta...but I wouldn't attempt a layered cut. I might use a Flowbee, though. Maybe.
And I'm going gray. I keep hoping it will look like highlights. You know, maybe not expensive highlights, but highlights just the same. If I could get some dark gray lowlights, I think that might look sexy. Although, I think the word "lowlights" is just silly.
I've been cutting my own hair off and on for AGES. My mom used to cut my hair for me. Then I got to college and I'd watch what the stylist did and think, "that doesn't look so hard." Even the past 3 yrs or so when I've had my hair short (about like yours if not a bit shorter) I've been cutting it myself. Honestly, I find I get about the same results as when I go to a cheap hair cutting place, which is all I can really justify when I need a trim about once a month, and this way I save some money and don't have to bother with finding the time to GO to a hair cutting place. ; )
i LOVE it. and i cut my own hair (and some friends') too, but long hair like mine is much easier to cut, so my hat goes off to you.
Look how young and beautiful and smooth your hands are.
Just works of art. Beautiful.
I love it!
Well, here's a hair story for you. Every time I color my hair I get fed up with the skunk stripe growing in (as I call it ) and I end up shaving it all off. Literally. Down to 1/4" to make sure there is no more haircolor left on my head. Why do I do this to myself? I look ridiculous when I color my hair. On June 27th, I shaved it all off - again - and its been growing back ever since. Shaving it all off is liberating, and dang, does it ever feel good, but I think I'm going to refrain from coloring my hair again. I look much better with hair. Gray hair.
Susan
http://www.raisin-toast.com
I like this article! Thanks for sharing!!!
;)
I've noticed this same thing about my hair. I was wishing that it grew fast but once I cut short like yours. I could tell I was fooling myself. I do love how my short hair and highlights brings out the layers and covers up new growth.
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