DAILY PROMPT
Gray
Both my parents were grey-haired for as long as I remember. Perhaps that’s why when I started going grey it didn’t bother me. Or perhaps it’s because I had so many other things on my mind at the time that there was no room in the mental inn.
Whatever the reason, I am deeply grateful every time I whip in for a haircut, that I don’t have to sit there being bored to my toenails while my hair is shampooed (something I do for myself in the shower), slathered, foiled, rinsed etc etc. Added to which, I’d then have to worry about the possibly impossible task of trying to make my ageing face match my ageless hair.
However I do realise that my cavalier attitude to my appearance could be seen as a betrayal of womankind. Because not only do I leave my hair to show its age, but my face has never been transformed by any of the creams and lotions that claim to restore its youthful glow. I am wrinkly.
And furthermore, apart from occasions that matter (I can still scrub up quite well for weddings and funerals) I can’t get particularly excited about what I wear, as long as it’s clean and age- and environment-appropriate. No shorts, for example, and no frayed t-shirts in respectable Sydney suburbs.
There are downsides to being grey, of course. There are downsides to everything. The ‘grey means stupid’ attitude can be fairly irritating, although I do find a withering look usually sorts it out if you’re not feeling tolerant. But on the whole, I’d rather put up with the minor rubs than spend all that time at the hairdresser, when Time (as we know) Waits for No Man, let alone grey-haired old ladies.
helen meikle's scribblefest 
Nicely put
The older I get, the more I appreciate doing what I want to do rather than what society would like to tell me I should!
Very well said.
Refreshing! I’m glad there’s someone else who subscribes to the school of thought that younger or looking younger or ‘just so’ isn’t always better and isn’t for everyone. I DO have my hair ‘touched up’ now and then (foiled) but that’s to make myself look less like Bea Arthur and more ‘blonde’ (platinum now..so it’s white. Split a hair..) but that’s it. I DO not ‘get’ and never will why one is led to believe that looking “30ish” when one is clearly “60ish” is reasonable. Besides our hands ALWAYS betray our true age – they haven’t come up with (so far as I know because i never keep up with that stuff) anti-wrinkle or aging creams for HANDS.
My face would also be a dead giveaway unless I spent vast amounts of money having it lifted. It’s obviously important to some people. I feel really lucky that I’m not one of them!