Different Shades of Gray

By Mieke Vander Heyden

"Stay out of my life!", I would want to shout in such moments.

Sometimes people think they have the right to comment on things we didn’t even ask their opinion about. This happened to me when I was around my thirties and got my first gray hairs. Family, friends, colleagues, people I barely knew, men and women, would directly or more gently, suggest to start dying my hair.

I was astonished with those recommendations. As I didn’t know that hairdressers exist.

Of course, I was also shocked and not pleased with aging that fast, I needed to process this as well. But soon I realized that those who felt the urge to point out my lack of color pigment were the ones with the problem. It reflected their own need to stay young and pretty at the cost of investing time and money, pouring chemicals on their heads.

Influenced by them, I also dyed my hair with color shampoos. Once it gave me totally the wrong color and I ended up being orange - to the great amusement of my friend who helped me.

"Don’t worry, color shampoo washes out without giving any hairlines, and so does Henna as well."

All bull-shit, if you ask me.

Soon I had enough of it.

Why should I actually bother?

I realized this is just not me. I LOVE women with long gray hair!

Admittedly, I didn’t picture myself being one of them as soon, but I made a conscious decision.

If this is what nature provides me with, I will accept it and feel 100% sexy with it.

As my grandmother told me: "Wear your gray hairs with dignity."

Cheers to that! Hers were shiny white and beautiful! I hope I inherited her genes in this regard.

How often do we forget to take a step back, pause, and think for ourselves what we actually want?

• Why do we do what we do?
• Do we act because we are supposed to?
• Because we think we are supposed to?
• Or rather because we want to?

We have more choices than we realize, in the big things and in the small things, such as dying our hair or not.

Which choice do you want to take today, regardless of what people may think about you?