Heal Your Humbug! - I've colored my hair for years. In the beginning, I did it for fun and for a new look, and then to cover those gray hairs that kept increasing each year - the ones that everyone told me had to be hidden if I wanted to look younger.

My natural hair color was brown but way too often after coloring my hair, I was stuck with that harsh brassy black that turned wrinkles into highways across my face. That's when I knew I didn't look younger in colored hair.

I kept asking myself why - why we women think we have to color our grey hair to try to fool ourselves and everyone else into thinking we look and feel younger. We seem to think that men look good in gray hair. Why not women? What's the difference? I think the difference is all in the mind of women. We color our hair for what we think other women think. Women are the ones who need to unite and change this untrue biased idea.

I was tired of seeing the grays in my hair growing out every few weeks and even more tired of wasting money to cover them. That's when I decided to do it! I made the decision to stop the color completely. (And tried not to look back)

As the gray line in my hair got wider, I will admit that I had doubts. I worried about what I would look like. Many times as I walked by a mirror, I wondered what I was doing. It was definitely a time of questioning my looks as well as introspection.

My hair didn't look very good with the partly brown and partly gray, but I knew I had to go through this stage to get to where I wanted to be. After about 6 months and several haircuts, the fake brown was finally gone. I joined the ranks of women with gray hair. I was now a woman with short gray hair. My husband said he loved my hair. He told me I looked more beautiful than ever. How lucky could I be to have such a supportive husband?

Now what would everyone else think of my new look.

It seemed that everywhere I went friends and strangers, male and female were complimenting me on my hair. I felt young and attractive.

Then someone very close to me commented that I looked old. I felt old and unattractive for a few days - and very hurt. I started questioning my decision to go gray. Soon I realized that this woman had been sucked into the myth.

She actually believed that gray hair had something to do with being young or old. She had not faced the fact that if a person's face looks old, it looks old no matter what the color of hair - and if it looks young, the same holds true. Being young is a state of mind! Of course, we all want to look and feel good. If we are trying to be the best we can be, isn't that what REALLY counts?

Since tossing the color, I walk 2 miles every day and am actually in better shape than I have been in a few years. I believe exercise is one of the best ways to look younger. I feel great, and I know I look great - and after all I am who really matters! (Once in Awhile I do have to remind myself)   A Tribute to Going Grey and getting older