hair today gone tomorrow

There have been a couple of comments this week about how long my hair is getting and indeed shaving it is on today's to-do list. Last night I dreamed that when i let it down it was long enough to plait down my back. Sometimes I miss that. (For those of you who don't see me in real life, by long, my hair is currently around 2cm, so there is no letting it down except in my dreams).

I enjoyed a debate on radio 4 yesterday as I drove between locations at work. It was about both women and men hiding their grey hair. I hadn't before noticed the shift in terminology, how we used to talk of dyeing hair, but the homophone wasn't cheerful so that moved to rinsing, as if you could rinse away the grey, and today the talk is of colouring hair and the emphasis is on injecting fun. Instantly I wondered if my refusal to "colour" means I'm viewed as both boring as well as old.

How happy then, was I to be reminded by a wise woman on the radio of the profit making mantra - create anxiety; suggest a solution; make money. I think it can sometimes be tough to stand against this, but that is what I want to do. A blokey on the show claimed it was hypocritical to not colour your hair in a bid to be natural, if you also wear deodorant to mask your body's natural odours. Not that I have to justify my decisions to him or anyone else, but I can choose to resist the culture of creating insecurity about how we look and age, without having to eschew deodorant or toothpaste.

As always, I'm not here having a go at anyone who colours their hair, wears make up, or has plastic surgery to change their body, as we all get to choose what is right for us and the life we want to live. I do myself tho want to keep pointing out how money is made by the dissatisfaction that is stirred up about our beautiful, short lived selves. I don't really want to spend any of my numbered breaths doubting my gorgeousness or altering myself to fit somebody else's idea of how I should appear.

(Interestingly, I wrote this blog, which as far as I'm aware, is unconnected to my FB account, and then for the first time - as far as I've noticed - there is an ad in my FB feed for some hair dye so that I don't have to be "held back" by my greys, I can carry on being me. So I can't be me with grey hair? Surely that is me? And is FB reading my blog??)