Did You Know That Going Gray is a Whole Thing Now?

After becoming mesmerized by the first clear sight of my sparkly silver roots under a skylight, I fell down the internet rabbit hole that is silver hair obsession.

I was holding my baby son and perusing the toys with him at Costco a few years ago when an old fart wandered by and yapped at us, “Ooooh! Looks like Gramma might get yooo sumpin’ special!” I turned to look over my shoulder before I realized he meant me, and just barely caught and stopped the “FUCK YOU!” as I pursed my lips into a tight smile instead. I huffed off and complained to my partner about it who laughed and laughed, blamed it on the baby robbing us of sleep, and then also said, “Well, you do have gray roots right now, too.” I internally promised myself and that baby that I would keep covering my gray until I was at least 50. I developed an instant hangup about gray hair, even though I found it to be visually pleasing on others.

Flash forward a few years, and here I am, not 50 yet, standing under a very bright skylight and peering at my silvery roots. It’s months into the pandemic, and I am digging these roots. I vaguely remembered that I had seen my first gray hair as a teenager, maybe age 16. But, I started box-dyeing my hair when I was 13, and that…