Ah, the eternal question. It raises its head (no pun intended) to every woman in midlife and we find ourselves standing in the supermarket, pondering over the dye aisle like a Shakespearean heroine in the throes of an existential crisis.
Firstly, there are the societal expectations, you know those whispers that equate grey hair with invisibility. NOT dyeing your hair has been frowned upon for years by those in the know as ‘letting yourself go’. But who writes these rules? Certainly not a wise woman in her prime! Still, it’s hard not to hear them echoing in the recesses of your mind as you contemplate that box of hair dye.
I have been dyeing my naturally blonde hair since I was about 14 years old. I was a competitive ballroom/latin dancer, and fire engine red was the trendy hair colour on the dance floor - guaranteed to catch the judges attention. (Yes, it was the hair colour and not the skimpy costumes – insert eye roll here). As I got older, and quite a bit less influenced by ‘Strictly Ballroom’, I let my hair go back to it’s natural blonde. As the -ahem- ‘natural highlights’ started to appear, I forged a deep and powerful relationship with my hairdresser to keep them at bay.
I personally LOVE my hairdressing appointment, because, quite frankly, it is the one time I get to pamper myself. Lying back in the chair to have my head massaged, catching up on the trashy gossip magazines that I would not be caught dead buying, having a coffee that I do not have to make myself and having some laughs with the girls in the salon is my idea of heaven.
I have no opinion on what other women choose to do, or not do with their crowning glories. With the rise of grey-haired beauties now becoming more present in advertising and films, I mistakenly thought that we now had more freedom to choose what we wanted to do without worrying about other people's opinions.
I was wrong. I was shocked the other day, when taking part in a conversation between a group of fifty-to sixty somethings, with my freshly re-coloured hair, when one of the group said something along the lines of:
“I don’t know why women bother to colour their hair, it just makes them look older anyway.”
I did a double take. Surely, I had misheard? Has the pendulum swung so far the other way?
Now, I am normally a person who will shrug and say, ‘to each their own.’ But not this day. When it was my turn to speak, I made it very clear that I love to have my hair coloured and will continue to do so as long as I continue to enjoy it.
So, when it comes to the question of dyeing your hair, I ask you:
What brings you joy?
Does the act of dyeing your hair spark a sense of liberation, a celebration of self-expression? Or does the idea of embracing your natural grey fill you with a quiet sense of empowerment?
In the end, the choice is yours and yours alone. Whatever you choose will be a testament to the beauty of you, and be assured, that beauty will only grow richer with age.
Jody Webster