I am, apparently, very much en vogue. I also seem to be the equivalent of a 40-year-old dark-haired woman. Whew! Just when I thought I was falling apart!
There have been many articles of late, noting that not only is "60 the new 40″, but that gray hair is THE color for 2015. Never before in my life have I ever felt like I, unwittingly, am a fashion trendsetter and one to whom others only hope to emulate. I must say, it's a bit of a rush when I take the time to think of it.
And then there's reality.
I am a 60-year-old woman with silver (I prefer that term) hair. And I'm darn proud of it. What is the problem with embracing your age and stage? Why do we need to feel or look like something other than what and where we are in life? My friend Cindy Joseph, one of the first silver-haired models, has been a proponent of and started a "Pro Age revolution." I was a part of her initial rally in San Francisco a couple of years ago where she encouraged men and women to own where they are and truly embrace it. I couldn't agree with her more.
The other thing that I find mildly troubling about this notion that I am now on the verge of hipster (something that sends shudders through my children), is the concept that I needed someone or something else's permission to be myself. It's as if "they" have deemed it OK now to let my silver shine. I can almost hear women out there thinking, Whew! What a relief! It was getting hard to keep that grey hidden! Who are we trying to kid... and WHY are we trying to kid them?
Or more importantly, why are you trying to kid yourself?
Learning to love yourself and where you are in life, regardless of how you look or who tells you what is "in" or not, makes the difference between living fully as yourself or living as the person you -- or someone else -- wishes you were. Having been there, done that, I can vouch for the fact that being comfortable in your own skin, albeit a bit more saggy and wrinkled, is a hell of a lot more powerful and liberating than expending all that time, money and energy to be something that you are not.
I'll embrace being an "in girl" for now. Why not? But when the winds of style shift, and being a redhead is now au courant, I will remain firmly where I am today, whatever age and stage that may be.