Stress Center Peer Support

I read this post with interest, thinking to myself "Finally, someone with similar problems!"

My hair has always been of concern to me and after all it is called "our crowning glory". So much import is put upon it looking nice, in our culture.

When I started being concerned about all that gray, it suddenly came to me that it isn't so much a hair issue as it is a "getting older" issue. This culture makes so much of looking and staying young and for anyone to actually SHOW their age, it is Guilt inducing. The only thing that makes me feel better about this, is that those cutey models and trend setters will also look into the mirror and forever be traumatised by that first gray hair (or their first size 14, whichever comes first)!

I am not trying to minimize your feelings, they are yours and therefore important! I will not try to tell you that there are greater more serious things in the world to worry and stress about. But I will tell you that maybe there is a larger problem lurking beneath the surface that needs to be addressed. For me it was approval/fear of criticism/acceptance of self.

Hope that helps.
herebedragons

thank you all for you advice and stories. Herebedragon i do also worry about getting older and i have always worried about what people thought of me.

Well, I can relate to hair problems, tho' perhaps in a dif. way.
I don't have nice hair at all. I have very thin, fine hair. It is straight as a board without a perm. And limp. It is grey in the front but persists in remaining darker in the back. When I was younger it was a medium brown.
Nothing exciting about it.
I've lost quite a bit of it right on top in front, so I have to get a very "curly perm" to cover that spot up. After the perm is a few weeks old, it gets very fuzzy. It is just not attractive.
But hey, folks: It is just a matter of acceptance for me. Itis the way it is.
I guess I don't spend but just bare minutes looking in the mirror. And, yes, in the past I've probably let it keep me from socializing.
However, as time goes by, I spend less and less time worrying about the way I look. And reading on this forum has helped me a lot with that. Because I've been able to look into the hearts of those who write on here. You all share your experiences and that helps me to know that I probably am okay, too. I used to have lively, blue eyes that were an advantage to my looks. But now wrinkles have about swalloped them up!
Say there, girls, I've probably earned those wrinkles.
I wish you all joy in just being!!
And thank you all for sharing.
Be light-hearted!!
MJ

thankyou for sharing Cornflower.

Hi miniol.

I have a sister who's had grey hair since she was about 13 years old and an ex boyfriend that has been grey since his teens. When my mom was younger, I remember talking to her and hearing her talk about looking forward to having "salt and pepper" hair.

It's just a fact of life that things change, and sometimes sooner than we'd like them to. Whether it's like my sister and my ex, who had to experience it ealier than they'd like, or like my mom who welcomed it with open arms, we have to look at the positive in the situation.

We still have hair. There are people with alopecia, where their hair folicles die and their hair can never grow back.

I have a sister with seborrhea dermatitis. She had thick beautiful hair. Then in her twenties she started having problems with her scalp, now she has to wear wigs because she has only small patches of short hair.

Dye your hair if you don't like the grey, but make sure that you thank GOD for the hair that you have - grey and all. Don't worry about the grey because it's a blessing that we have hair at all - some people don't.