If you’re like me, hair color is not optional in your house. Manicures, pedicures, waxing, and facials are all special occasion treatments but hair color is essential. I’ll eat dog food before I let my hair go natural. I researched the gray hair options. Read on to find out what I learned.

THE BEAUTY OF YOUTH

Once upon a time it was so simple. A little lemon juice on the face-framing tendrils and I had that sun-kissed look. Of course I was 14 and my hair was still cooperative. Then I started dabbling with store bought hair color, highlights, lowlights and I vaguely recall a frost and tip kit one desperate month.

Hair color was a tightrope to walk but once I perfected it, it was exquisite. Strangers complimented me. A professor made a comment on my “curly, blond locks” while grading an essay paper. To be fair, she probably wanted to pay me a compliment and realized it wasn’t going to be directed at my writing.

It was so easy to do at home. It still managed to remain healthy. For years, I mixed, squeezed and applied as needed. And then…I became a mother. 

MY HAIR MOCKED ME

The gray hit like a sandstorm. You would think coloring over the gray is the obvious solution. Nope. Because the hair follicles do more than change color. They change texture and become less porous. Iron has more bend. The commercial accurately coins grays as “stubborn”. 

So I had to start over with my hair color hunt. I tried different products, different application methods, different hairstyles. At one point I hoped the Rhoda movement would come back and we could all wear head bandanas again. After the chemical smoke cleared, I accepted that every 3 weeks, my age would rear its ugly gray head and taunt me from my bathroom mirror. 

As I reviewed my gray hair options, I realized it was time for a professional colorist. 

TIME TO BRING IN FEMA

Again not an easy feat. You have to wager a lot with a colorist – both your hair and your money. Hopefully she understands what you want and hopefully she can execute it. But hair is persnickety, so results can vary wildly. Proceed with caution because one misread of the color wheel could last 3-4 months of hair despair.

I’ve always described my natural color as mousy brown. No highlights, no richness. Just dull and flat brown. I have a fair complexion and ash blonde suits me. But when the gray begins to peek through, I get ancy for a color hit, just a touch up. No one will notice. Everyone’s doing it. Then I get cocky and score some highlights. Just a few lines. I’ll quit later. 

Eventually I find a flattering shade and after summer fades away and cooler weather arrives, I foolishly change to dark and dramatic. Not goth, but definitely not blonde. It really does wash me out and I hear from my mother — I think your hair looks really nice when it’s blond. This is the woman who opposed Sun-In when I was in junior high. Now she’s making requests. 

STAY CALM AND COLOR ON

So here I sit, contemplating my next tress challenge. I should take plenty of pix now to remind myself when next October rolls around. Captions like — You’re too Nordic to pull off anything darker than sand -or- Remember the 2016 Dark Auburn Debacle?

So this time when I land on the ooh la la shade, and have a head full of shimmering blond highlights, I need to back away from the brunette hair tassels and remember my roots. Just ignore Scarlett Johansson’s recently darkened hair, resist the urge and stay the ash blonde course.

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Tell me your hair color woes. Am I the only one who struggles with gray coverage? Or the only one who is indecisive about color?

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