Banishing Gray Hair
Where has all the gray hair gone? I never really thought about it, but there doesn't seem to be very many people, outside the current President and one past President, who have gray hair these days. Not even the President's wife has gray hair. I wouldn't have thought about it, in fact, if I hadn't witnessed something that pulled me up short and opened my eyes to this trend.
I was waiting for an elevator and a woman with gray hair stood nearby. A school group of five-year-old girls came by and one stopped, looked at the woman and blurted out, "You have funny hair!" Once this was offered up like some tasty little tidbit, the rest of the group chirped in and repeated the same comment, except for one little girl who just looked on. What was she thinking? Did she know a woman with gray hair and would it be disloyal to her to make fun of another woman with gray hair? Maybe she had been taught that nice little girls don't say things to make people feel uncomfortable.
But, think about it; where have all the gray-haired people gone? This country has undergone a quiet revolution that I never noticed. Now that I'm aware, I look, mostly in vain, for people with gray hair. Men in their 80s no longer have gray hair. Women, with the exception of the late author, Susan Sontag, rarely have gray hair these days. I guess most of them got tired of being called "blue-haired ladies" or some other derogatory term. They have been shamed into hiding the fact that they are the living historians of our time, those who can tell us what it was like to live through the Depression or WWII or even WWI. What have we done to them by making them hide their mark of wisdom? In Japan, these people would be eligible to be designated National Treasures. How would that designation go over here in the US?
Does this have something to do with the fact that we are now seeing many older women who have developed panic disorder? Have we eroded their sense of dignity by this incredibly youth-worshipping culture we now endure? Has this hair-colored related stress have a negative effect on their emotions and their immune system?
I can remember when there was a saying in the '60s, "Don't trust anyone over 30." When I first heard it, I smiled to myself because I knew that these same people would be 30 one day and how would they feel then? Start a revolution and suffer the consequences, especially if it's something that dismisses the fact that there is much to be said for people over 30 or 40 or 50 or 80. Let's hear it for late Grandma Moses, the American primitives artist, and Maggie Kuhn, the founder of The Grey Panthers, who died at the age of 89, still fighting the good fight.
How many gray heads have you seen in the supermarket lately?
Related Topics: Aging Well May Mean 'Mind Over Matter', WebMD Daily Video: Getting Glamour No Matter What Your Age
Technorati Tags: grayhair, aging,
I was waiting for an elevator and a woman with gray hair stood nearby. A school group of five-year-old girls came by and one stopped, looked at the woman and blurted out, "You have funny hair!" Once this was offered up like some tasty little tidbit, the rest of the group chirped in and repeated the same comment, except for one little girl who just looked on. What was she thinking? Did she know a woman with gray hair and would it be disloyal to her to make fun of another woman with gray hair? Maybe she had been taught that nice little girls don't say things to make people feel uncomfortable.
But, think about it; where have all the gray-haired people gone? This country has undergone a quiet revolution that I never noticed. Now that I'm aware, I look, mostly in vain, for people with gray hair. Men in their 80s no longer have gray hair. Women, with the exception of the late author, Susan Sontag, rarely have gray hair these days. I guess most of them got tired of being called "blue-haired ladies" or some other derogatory term. They have been shamed into hiding the fact that they are the living historians of our time, those who can tell us what it was like to live through the Depression or WWII or even WWI. What have we done to them by making them hide their mark of wisdom? In Japan, these people would be eligible to be designated National Treasures. How would that designation go over here in the US?
Does this have something to do with the fact that we are now seeing many older women who have developed panic disorder? Have we eroded their sense of dignity by this incredibly youth-worshipping culture we now endure? Has this hair-colored related stress have a negative effect on their emotions and their immune system?
I can remember when there was a saying in the '60s, "Don't trust anyone over 30." When I first heard it, I smiled to myself because I knew that these same people would be 30 one day and how would they feel then? Start a revolution and suffer the consequences, especially if it's something that dismisses the fact that there is much to be said for people over 30 or 40 or 50 or 80. Let's hear it for late Grandma Moses, the American primitives artist, and Maggie Kuhn, the founder of The Grey Panthers, who died at the age of 89, still fighting the good fight.
How many gray heads have you seen in the supermarket lately?
Related Topics: Aging Well May Mean 'Mind Over Matter', WebMD Daily Video: Getting Glamour No Matter What Your Age
Technorati Tags: grayhair, aging,
2 Comments:
Hello Dr. Farrell!
How funny that the little girls had seen so few gray haired persons that they thought the woman had "funny hair". The delightful, but sometimes embarrassing, honesty of kids, huh?! (I can still remember vividly the first time my own son blurted out in the grocery store "That man is FAT!")
Well, I can't see my own head, but I am one of the gray hairs in the supermarket! I began to gray very early; I had some gray in high school. Now at 52 I am all gray and a lot of white, and the white is much prettier since I quit smoking a year ago. I wear my naturally colored hair short and sassy: no poodle perm or unkempt hairdos! I get many many compliments on my hair and people say, well, if my hair would look like yours then I wouldn't color it. I tell them to stop coloring for a while and see what it looks like--it's probably been years since they've seen it uncolored.
On the other hand, recently I noticed in the hair coloring aisle (yes, sometimes I'm tempted!) that they now make a gray hair color, presumably to turn a head of hair that is partially gray into a full head of gray hair.
Living in Florida, I do see gray frequently. Odder than that, to me, is seeing a slim woman with long blonde hair from behind, only to see her from the front and discover she is 75 years old and has wrinkles like the lines on a road map! I find that to be hilarious and sad. Sad that she thinks she's pulling it off and sad that she feels she needs to...
Whether it is youth-worshiping or just an inability to accept one's own age, I don't know. I'm afraid I think so much of it is not youth-worshiping by women as it is youth-worshiping by men. Women do many things against their nature to attract and keep men. It is the men who are 65 and still expecting to attract a 25 year old. How stressful for a woman to think she has to alter her natural appearance to have or keep a man. This topic could easily be extended to include cosmetic surgeries, implants, and clothing styles.
As for me, I don't want the stress of trying to keep up a facade. It is much more dignified to just be the best one can be with what one has to work with.
Besides... I can't remember my natural color any more--what color would I pick?!!
I opt to KISS--keep it short and simple!
Thanks for an interesting blog!
~Tasker
I am now scared as hell, not even 30 (In November). I have noticed today, and just today that I am a proud owner of more that few grey hair. I have recently gone auburn, from platinum blond, and can not wait till 9 am to call my hairdresser to schedule an emergency appointment to have it colored back. My boyfriend (42 years old is not the most, well not the most anything) here i am crying and he could care less. PS (i have 2 small kids with him 2 yrs and 9 months) Am i being crazy or am i not willing to deal with getting older?! HELP ; (
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