For a change, let’s talk a little about getting older.
From every possible and impossible direction, the media tell us that “you only matter when you’re young and beautiful by our standards”. And there is a whole army of products that “fight” aging.
But what about taking care of it?
From all sides we are served the story that we should accept ourselves as we are, while at the same time they try to sell us things we not only don’t need, but that go beyond all reason. But fine, people in marketing have to make a living too, right? We’re not going to tilt at the windmills of big corporations now.
Let’s talk about ourselves.
How many of you spotted your first grey hairs somewhere in your twenties and rushed off to the hairdresser to have them dyed, even though you had never even thought about hair dye before?
Just as I thought.
And it’s all the result of this: always stay young, fight aging.
I’m Not Ashamed of My Grey Hair
But let’s get back to grey hair. Of course I’m one of those lucky women who, as soon as they turned 25, already had plenty of grey hairs, and by now whole streaks. Besides, I’ve earned every single one of them, if you believe that worry and stress turn you grey. I find it rather charming, so I like to say I’m like Rogue (yes, I mean the heroine from “X-Men”, those who know, know).
No, I have neither the need nor the wish to hide my grey hair. And no, I won’t dye it, at least not in the near future.
I have always been against hair dye, for several reasons. First of all, I adore my natural hair colour, and there is no dye that could match those transitions between dark and light blonde, brown and red.
Apart from that, I think dyeing would really weigh on me. It already “gets on my nerves” and burdens me enough that I have to wax and pluck my eyebrows regularly (read: when it can’t be put off any longer), the last thing I need is yet another “must” that isn’t really a must.
On the other hand, I think that a woman, just like a man, is most beautiful when she is natural, clean and well-groomed. And I suppose the industry can’t make a living from that…
I don’t have a problem with getting older. I see aging as a process that, above all, makes us more experienced and therefore wiser. Just imagine how many more books you can read by the age of eighty-something. Wow!
An Industry at War with Aging
So the problem lies elsewhere. The problem is a society that is programmed to fight aging. That’s why it’s impossible to find a product for CARING for grey hair, only ones that fight AGAINST it. And again the message is direct: don’t get old, fight it.
And this isn’t only about getting money out of your pocket, that’s the much smaller problem. The bigger problem is the worm built into our DNA that makes you feel guilty and insecure because, once again, something is missing.
From Pimples to Wrinkles: a Battle That Never Ends
As a teenager you fight pimples, and just when your twenties arrive and you’re supposedly meant to enjoy yourself, no, it’s time to start fighting your first wrinkles (and/or grey hairs) and to spend the rest of your life worrying, because, God forbid, you’re getting old!
And by the way, have you ever wondered why grey-haired men are seen as more attractive and distinguished, while women are “old hags”, “frumpy” (the granny look) and so on? I won’t go deeper into that now, because it deserves a closer look. But think about it…
God willing, we will all grow old and live to see not only our children’s children, but also their grandchildren.
When my grandma tries to explain to me how she feels when she sees Sofia, she can’t find the right words and just says: “God willing, you’ll experience it yourself, and then you’ll know what I was talking about.” And I just reply: “God willing.”
And that is what matters to me: whether we will live to see all the beautiful things that await us in the future (for me that is, of course, family first, my descendants). Whether I will have wrinkles or grey hair then, and how many, really doesn’t worry me.
What worries me much more is that one day I might get Alzheimer’s and all this reading and learning would be lost, rather than the fact that sooner or later my hair will turn white (from worry or not, that matters less).
S-Mama
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