Sunday, April 5, 2009

The Eye of the Beholder

Being a woman is a supreme pain in the posterior for so many reasons. The list is so long that I’m not going to entertain it here. I’ll just talk about one aspect – hair.

I have the fabulous genetic blessing of being prematurely grey thanks to my parents. So from early in my teens, I’ve been struggling with covering my grey hairs. And as I grow older, the grey overtakes the chestnut more and more. My husband says I have a lot of stories to tell and that’s why I have all these grey hairs. It’s really sweet of him but no one else in this damn world sees it that way, I can assure you.

Now, I’m also blessed with hair that’s thick and grows inordinately fast. This is actually something I’m really happy about. Aside from my grey hairs, I’ve never complained about my hair. I have tons of it and I love the texture of it. The only problem is that with the kind of hair that I have and the speed with which it grows, means I have to visit the salon at least every 4 weeks to get the roots colored to hide the grey.

Ok, yes, so what’s the big deal? Well, one time I went to a different hairdresser than the one I’m used to visiting. And she kept telling me how lucky I was to have the hair I did because she had thin hair and had some bald spots and she had to get extensions to cover those patches. Now, normally I would feel bad but I kind of got annoyed because….as she’s complaining about her hair, I’m frustrated with my greys poking out from every angle. I just couldn’t see why I was blessed. I often have people stare at patches of my grey hair for moments that I have to wave my hand in front of their face!! What’s also annoying is that my face and my hair tell conflicting stories about my age, which is also annoying. I’m sure people look at her patches of baldness but I don’t think those go as noticed and grey. There is no way for me to comb or do my hair to hide them once the roots show! In the line of work that I’m in, grey hairs signify inability to handle stress and that’s not acceptable. But if a man has grey hair, he’s distinguished. How about you shove that in the garbage? That’s totally not fair! So if a guy has grey hair, he’s sexy…but if I have grey hair, I’m a basket case that can’t handle stress. Something is so rotten in that logic is smells like a backed-up sewer. Why am I not distinguished when I do twice or three times the stuff any man can do and I do it better and get paid less for it? I’ve never heard a bigger crock of poop in my life.

I guess what I’m trying to say is that no matter what…all women hate what they have. But I hate it more for how society makes me feel about my issue than I normally would with anything else. Stupid society!

1 comment:

M said...

It is distressing to go grey at such a young age. I didn't think I'd really have to deal with that b/c blondes don't generally go grey until later in life, but I've started finding some grey hairs on my head and it FREAKS ME OUT! I'm not yet at the point of having to get it colored every 4 weeks, but I can imagine that would be frustrating. Still, at least you don't have grey AND thin/patchy hair!