Wow if that’s not a title. …

(Pardon my Halloween makeup. This is my only picture before I quit dyeing it in January. )

Like the majority of women in America and probably the world, I worry about aging. I am now forty-one and yes I am gaining some wisdom lines. Now I will say first off, that dying your hair is wonderful. I love it. But if I choose to let it go. That too should be wonderful.

When I was in high school a friend’s mom plucked my first white hair. I was probably around sixteen. From there it multiplied. By the time I was 21 I was dying my hair every 6 weeks.

As a school teacher I was in the public eye and I felt the pressure to make sure I had my hair dyed. I went from dark brown, to blond, to black. Black is where I remained the last 8 years.

In the past five years I began to feel conflicted about my hair, and this is where my struggle begins. I retired from teaching and I am now a full time mom and ranch hand. Over the years my every six week hair appointment has changed to every four weeks. Once a month I had to go in to have my white, or silver, or maybe gray turned back. Why?

I tried to grow it out once and I was given so much grief. So much grief from even people I didn’t know. “You know your hair is really aging you.” “You look like my grandmother.” ” You have let your self go since you quit teaching.” The list goes on.

What makes it okay for us to put down or questions someone’s hair choice? Why do we feel that letting our hair be what God intended is not good enough? What gives us the right to put others down for being natural? The hair dye companies want us to feel ugly and unattractive without their products. But why?

We do this because someone tells us it is not the norm. We do this because society tells us that letting gray, silver, or white show is wrong!

Well this time I’m stronger. This time I am letting God’s choice for me shine bright! He chose me to have this color and I am letting it shine. Many of us have friends or family who never got the chance to go gray. They were taken early. I have the opportunity to see what God intended me to look like at my age. I’m going to take a look!

Here is to being proud of what God gave me! Let that light shine!!