To Dye or Not to Dye

Perhaps it's time to consider obtaining a part time job so I can afford to dye my formerly luscious locks back to the shiny raven hue of my youth. Today at lunch my adorable 9-year-old niece, who will eventually sport gray hair of her own (which I hope to be around to witness, if only so I can gloat) commented that she noticed very little gray in my head full of black hair. Although flattered, only I knew the secret reason why - I have devoted several hours in the last few weeks to plucking out those pesky little wiry, white strands from my tender head!

Since I can no longer honestly list my hair color as black - it's really black and white - I have been considering the pros and cons of hair dye.

Pros of Natural Hair

• Cheap, or to be more politically correct "budget friendly"
• Saves hours of time spent at the salon with a head full of foil
• Green....environmentally friendly....no chemicals
• No root touch-up every 6 weeks
• The gray proves that I have earned SOME wisdom.....

Pros of Dyed Hair

• Shiny, shiny, shiny!
• Saves hours of time spent in front of the mirror armed with a pair of tweezers....
• Helps maintain low unemployment levels in the chemical/cosmetic industry
• Brings the illusion of youth

What a dilemma! Can I really be one of the lone holdouts of my generation? And if I start dying the hair on my head, then what about my graying eyebrows? Must I dye them too or just keep plucking? Then there is the matter of my mustache, if only it would turn gray.....but no, it stays stubbornly black and forces me to break my "no chemical" rule on a routine basis. After all, a girl can only take so much "au naturale".

Until I make my final ruling I have learned to part my hair differently and use mascara to temporarily cover the obvious gray when I don't have time to pluck OR when plucking would leave a bald spot (which is more and more frequently.) If you happen to notice some gray then please remember that I earned it and it means that I'm smarter than I was when my hair was solid black. But if the gray is suspiciously missing then I guess you'll know how I spent my weekend!