Shall I Dye My Hair Gray?

Wanda C. Badger
Volume 23, No. 4

"Miss Clairol, do you have something in a soft gray-to-white shade? Something that will cover up my natural dark brown hair?" 

Without admitting to my age, can say this much: We've just celebrated our fifty-fifth wedding anniversary; we're parents of nine children, grandparents of thirty-two, and great grandparents of two children. And I don’t color my hair. But I feel as if I have to apologize that my hair hasn’t turned gray. Friends ask what color I use so they can use it. Some have even asked my hairdresser. 

LHK

I was on the committee for our East High 50th reunion and was invited to attend a luncheon with other committee members. Many of my old classmates were there; some I hadn't seen since our graduation. Most everyone had white hair. In a conversation group before we sat down, one of my friends looked directly at my hair and said, "I used to color my hair, too, but I finally decided to let it go natural." I answered that this was its natural color and I had never dyed it. Everyone in the group looked startled and gave me a blank stare, as if to say "Sure!" Later, one of the male committee members made a classic observation. He said, "What difference does it make if Wanda doesn't dye her hair? Everyone thinks she does anyway." 

Some time after this, I was invited to lunch with six old friends I hadn't seen for fifteen years. They were smartly dressed, sharp-looking women, and all were crowned  with gray or white hair. We were taking turns telling what we had been doing the past several years, and when my turn came, because of the static about my hair at the reunion, I said, "First of all, I want you to know I don't dye my hair." (Another disbelieving "Sure!") One friend just sat staring at me. Finally she said slowly, "Wanda, I hate you! You could have gone all afternoon without letting that bit of information out." 

This enigma followed me to Germany where I served a mission with my husband. At a homemaking meeting, a color stylist was commenting on hair and colors. She looked at my hair and then kind of shook her head and said sweetly, 'Sister Badger, you should go a shade or two lighter." 

More recently, a friend's sister who goes to the same hairdresser as I do asked Linda, the hairdresser, if I dyed my hair. When Linda said "No," the woman said that her sister had it on good report that I do, and if Linda doesn't do it at the salon, then she knew that I secretly did it at home. Linda told her that she had just given me a permanent and if I had had dyed hair, the solution she used on me would have made me bald. "Besides," Linda told her, "I know right where all seven of her gray hairs are." 

So I think I'll dye my hair gray. Then maybe no one will accuse me of doing it or "hate" me for not turning gray. 

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