Going gray gracefully....

Am I ready to go gray? NO. I colored my hair again last night. Someone was teasing me several years ago about not being ready to go gray. They thought I was afraid to get older.But they were wrong. I love to color my hair. It is one of the perks I do when I pamper myself. I've earned every gray hair I have and I have no problem at times letting them show. However, I have had a close, personal relationship with Lady Clairol since I was 18 and colored my hair walnut brown when Waylon Jennings came to town. (Why I remember that, I'll never know.) I was naive and had never done this before. So I bought a bottle of brown because it said on brown hair it would lighten and provide highlights. WRONG! It made my hair the color of a overripe walnut. It was almost black. But I survived. The next time I tried it, someone recommend I use a golden blonde because it would simply put light highlights in brown hair. WRONG AGAIN! Since my family has the "red" gene, it simply turned it a strange shade of auburn. So I thought a few months down the road, since I had auburn genes anyway, why not use auburn coloring. It should just be a beautiful shade of brown with reddish/golden highlights. Third times a charm? WRONG! It was so orange, I could have passed for a pumpkin on Halloween. So after many aborted attempts and not willing to spend the money at a salon to do it right, I did some checking. It turns out that if you have red or auburn genes, and you are wanting to lighten brown hair, you simply use a Ash Blonde. The ash tones down the red/auburn and you end up with a variety of golds, browns and blondes that make it look like you've had some streaks placed in your hair. Now that I have the gray, when I use my ash blonde, I get variegated shades and the gray looks much better covered with browns and blonde highlights. So I can grow old gracefully. I have no problem with that. But I will fight my grays as long as I can. Not because I am ashamed or embarrassed by them, but simply because I love changing my hair color. It gives me a lift, boosts my spirits and makes me feel younger. Vanity? No, just one of my little quirks that I like to do.