prestige issue

Dear friends,

This is the one which everybody has--either when they are young or old
This comes to you without any discrimination of gender!
This has a place for itself, but if it changes its place, it is not worth a cent!
If this goes away or falls from your body you will be happy (hope you got the hint)
Even if this comes, some people don't want to show off!

This is nothing other than the grey hair or to put it in the color sense---white hair!

I felt happy one day, when after combing my hair i saw one of my grey hair has fallen which gave me immense pleasure to look at me as 1 grey-hair less young!
But that was short-lived when i saw some more hiding behind my usual (black) hair!

Nowadays i don't feel for the same, which makes me think that having grey hair is nothing which shows that you are growing in age and becoming wise
My husband and myself are of the opinion that we are not going to use any hair-dye to get back the original color of our hair when all of it becomes white.

As my hubby is a physician, he will get the title of 'an experienced doctor' due to this

On a lighter note, out of his brothers, my hubby is the youngest, but he looks older to others. it must be because they are using hair-dyes and he doesn't'.

this comment of who is the eledest, is common when the 3 of them go together, irresepective of the place, be it a store or a reception.



sriniketan

I am too young to have any gray hairs yet but I have always thought that gray, white, and silver hairs are beautiful and I know that I will not dye my hair for this reason. However, I also know that the rate of cancer among people who work in beauty salons dyeing hair is statistically way higher than it should be, and that women who dye their hair have a shorter life expectancy (I'm not a doctor, but I'm a healthcare provider). I think that poisoning oneself for beauty is far less prestigious than having gray hair.

Hi Srini,

I have been a long-time member of the Gray Club. I got my first gray when I was 15. I panicked . I thought over-night my hair would all go gray. It did'nt and I thought may be by the time I finished school, I would be like my grand-mom's sis .

The lone gray just felt lonely. So it soon started having companions. When someone would point out - "Hey, you have a gray hair." I would reply - "Oh, is it, I did'nt know about that." But in my mind I would be thinking - "Do you have to scream with such excitement at my predicament?".

My dad's side of the family are all early grayers. And I diligently inherited their genes. I would have appreciated if the genes were related to brilliance or intelligence.

I tried parting my hair at different places trying to hide the grays. Then there came a time when there was no place where I could take a parting and not hide them. So, I just let them be where they were, giving up on my battle with the gray brigade. It probably was an early lesson in vanity. These days I use mehndi and it does'nt matter to me when I get an ocassional stare at my grey patches.

People can look good with gray hair. I guess it is all in the way they carry themselves. I read Nafisa Ali went gray early and she does not dye her hair. Yet she looks beautiful.

Hi Tadasari,
Thanks for your response, i second your last line! It is very much true!
Being a health care provider, you also gave us a shocking statistics, which will be an eye-opener!

sriniketan

Hi Nivedi,

Thanks for your well written post.

I can feel how you would have felt during those days of 'early' detection of gray hair.
It is true that we inherit what we actually don't want!

How do people present themselves gracefully does matter and more than that how do they acccept it, is the main thing.


sriniketan

Dear Sriniketan,
I have a long way to go before having that identification of my long life on earth. But, its beauteous when it appears just when you should get them. Sadly, when it appears for wrong people(young ones) at the wrong time(when they are young), it loses its beauty. They have no choice but to color or dye their hair. And when i look in the crowd of marriage or any gathering, i can hardly recognise the color of their hair. It takes various color after dyeing the hair constantly and regularly. I just wonder why do they have to hide or altar something that's natural, something to show that they have lived a happy and content life. People want to die old(not young), then why do they have to hide the oldness??

My FIL, when passed away for 60, and he didnt have a speck of grey hair. We really used to make fun of him then. But my dad, being a business man, gave way to grey hair when he was about 40. But he never dye his hair. The only occasion he did that was for my marriage after we all insisted and we make fun of him telling that for my sister's marriage he has to probably use wig, since he would lose what hair that's left if he keeps thinking and working hard.

I have just given my opinion of it.No offense for dyeing ladies here please. If it gives you satisfaction, please go about it.
Thanks for leting me live over those experience.

Hi Sriniketan,

Interesting post. I liked the line---------- "he will get the title of 'an experienced doctor' due to this"...

My Father too used to say that grey hairs made people look at u, with a little more respect....

But when u get it too early.......then of course initially u try ur best to pluck it or hide it. but yaar, its possible when there is just one or two...what if the number increases.

Now when I m in early thirties I have started getting a couple of grey hairs.
I often used to go to the mirror with a scissor...but always ended up pulling out the good black ones ... Now I just don't bother...U cannot disturb the natural process...

bye.....

Dear Bhargavi,
nice topic and toughy too.
I use hair colouring to hide my grey, not because I want ot look young but because I do not want to shock people by my looks. Yes, my greying started by middle thirties while I had to use an ayurvedic hair oil for sinus. Then I stopped the oil after consulting the doctor, but the grey continues. I will look very bad with my real hair colour so I colour it. But I am not very particular about not showing the grey, I sometimes let it be and go with the real thing. Nowadays, I find white hair even in my eye brows.
My hubby also te same case, we all got grey very early. That may be due to the water of our place and other factors.He too dyes as I do. But we don't hide the fact at all.

But it is very funny when I see some very old public figures in TV etc. with jet black hair but wrinkled face which show their real age.
You might have seen the yesteryear Hindi film heroine Waheeda Rehman, she is an elegant grey, well groomed and lady like. But Sharmila Tagore looks beautiful with jet black hair.The famous AB uses no not hair colouring, but patches of artificial hair on the front, to keep himself goodlooking. It is a shade of brown, not black. But looks elegant.
The latest in Bollywood is the botox shots to make the face look young and smooth.

Dear Srini ma'am,

A good thread started. I would connote as the need of the hour. Every time my mom goes in for some kind of herbal dye, we will have a heated up argument (I love the way my mom tackles when it comes to an argument; simply i start off stuffs to listen to her sweet scoldings). I would like to be natural always even without application of powder and other cosmetics. The same i do feel for my hair, even though not experienced with gray roots yet. When i share the same with my mom, she says that she should look decent at least till my marriage. Ha ha ha. There goes the spark for my laughter.

Ladies always look beautiful when left to their natural appearance. And aging factor need not take the prestige tag, since it is a chance for us to put up an experienced look. It commands respect; of course at times we are de-motivated and de-moralized by our peer group when we experience the same at an early age. We do have to keep in mind that "genetic factors" play a vital role in this regard.

It is up to an individual to take a right decision regarding the same. But nature always demands a salute for its beauty.

Regards

hi srini,
as usual one more pataka topic and mind tinkering one, yeah all of us grey and happy to Grey it gives a lot of experience and so on, but woman have been dying not because they want to look young or old but to be among all and not prominent.
the trouble with graying is never in the right place suddenly you will find the center patch on the head has a double streak of gray all the way down, now with a center parting you get a band all around your front head.
How we love to start graying near the ears and then move on, mm even our Indira Gandhi had a smart dying done to her hair during the summit in france leaving only a patch in front as gray and the rest in black, my she really looked great.

some never grow wrinkles and look great in dyed hair, but with age better not to dye as we do accumulate a lot of respect or at least will not be ridiculed among the young..sunkan