transitioning

I've been dying my grey hair for years...it's probably been more than ten years that I've been covering the grey with ever-increasing rendez-vous with Miss Clairol or my hairdresser. I've been very lucky since moving to Jakarta, I found a terrific hairdresser who touches me up every 3-4 weeks, with highlights and/or a trim every so often. But in the back of my mind I've always known this would come to an end eventually, and that at some point I'd let my grey take over. It's become quite popular in North America to let your grey shine through, but I felt like it was less acceptable in my expat life, or maybe just in my own head. It's certainly been easy to maintain with the help of a skilled and inexpensive hair guy just around the corner. 

Either way, as I've been reflecting on turning 50 this year, the idea of going grey has been taking hold. So what does one do when one is considering a change of hairstyle? Pinterest of course! Over the last several months I've been collecting pins of cute, beautiful, classy grey ladies on my secret Hair Styles board, in preparation for the day when I'd finally be ready. I'd even settled on a strategy: cut my shoulder-length hair short, and get silver highlights to help ease the way. Remember, skilled and inexpensive hair guy just around the corner. 

Then several weeks ago, I was pulling on a white top with grey stripes and thinking: this would look even better if I had silver hair. Boom! The time had come! BUT - I had a big event planned for February 18th, and didn't want to be mid-transition with a giant skunk stripe in my beautiful ball gown. Giving a speech. And being in dozens of photos. So I postponed, kept dying the roots, kept my hair long, for the event. I think it was worth it, here is a photo from the night:

But then the ball was over, and it was time to decide if it was time. My roots were starting to show this week, and I talked myself into it an out of it several times, but finally decided to go for it. It was a surprisingly emotional decision, and I came up against some real fears actually. I'm still processing, and I think I will tackle that in another post. For now, I'll just share the Haircut Photos!

my hair was getting pretty long....

...and pretty grey

I'll spare you the gross pile of swept-up hair on the floor. Let's just say there was a lot. Putu was great, cutting a bit at a time, probably in case I had a melt down and changed my mind. 

Then came the colour. First stripping some highlights to light blonde:

Kind of cute actually! But moving on to the silver/grey over-colour. Putu says this will last only a few weeks, I guess it's the same stuff as the purple and blue hair dye. He just slopped in on there and we waited a bit before rinsing. And then a blow dry and style (which I will NEVER be able to replicate) and voila!

Thanks, Putu! I love it! I've had some great reactions and compliments, especially from my husband who loves loves it. The gardener told me I looked 70, but maybe that was a language thing. I'm choosing to laugh about that one :-D