going gray (or in my case, white)

since it is raining and everyone is still asleep, i thought it would be a good time to get a new picture of myself for my blog. a more recent picture with my white hair. unfortunately or fortunately (whatever your point of view) going gray early, and i mean early, runs in my family. my father had white sideburns when he was only 20 something. i had colored my hair for a very long time. every color from pink to blonde to red to well you get the picture. well, never black. i always thought black would be just frightening. anyhow, in my 30s i began to notice white roots. i had to color more frequently. finally sick of paying for root touch-ups and coloring jobs, i decided to go natural. sounds easy enough right???? wrong. i tried for about 3 weeks and then the roots began to show. it was terrible. i felt embarrassed for my husband. so i colored again. then, sometime later i came across an article by a woman who chronicled her painful change from coloring her hair to going gray and realized that i too could do this. her story was funny and sometimes downright depressing but in all of her experience i sensed growth and acceptance. so last year, on vacation no less, i decided to stop coloring. whoa, those vacation pictures are ugly. i look like a skunk! that being said, my sister-in-law, who by the way HATES me, said that i shouldn't stop coloring because i would look like an old lady. i decided not to listen to her, which was fairly easy to do. i got back home, went to my fabulous stylist and told her to strip as much old color out of my hair as she possibly could without making my hair fall out. four hours later my hair was blended (no more skunk) and shockingly, i liked it. i haven't looked back. at 43, my hair is white. i accept that this is who i am. i like me and i like my hair. i still have a little old color in the ends of my hair but by Christmas, i'm sure it will be history along with all my concerns about going gray or in my case, white.