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'Color'ful Musings About Gray Hairs & Hair Dyes by Carol Wells

Carol, in her younger years, did not think about growing older. Times change, things change - and, oh, how did things change. Now she boasts of being a Miss Clairol #609 and proud of it! Waving a bottle of hair color high in the air while pondering why the hair dye aisle has to be so perplexing.

By the age of 18, my father's mother hair had turned gray. I, on the other hand, had my first gray hair appearing when I was 22 years old.

Upon discovering this gray hair, I armed myself with a pair of tweezers and plucked it with the knowledge that my mother would strongly disapprove of this action. She was a firm believer of "If you pluck one, two will take its place" theory of how gray hairs populated.

After a few years, the multiplying effect of the twos taking the plucked hair's place steadily began to take their toll. I fibbed, claiming the graying strands were cosmetic highlights. This was possible due to early gray hairs blending in at a randomized ratio to appear similar, in a way, to that particular hair cosmetic effect. Dim lighting also aided this fib.

Then the inevitable occurred. I reached the stage where I could not fool anyone about my hair having highlights. This may be just my opinion, but gray hairs apparently reproduce more quickly than rabbits!

I became a fan of Miss Clairol® hair coloring products almost overnight. I happily experimented with various shades until finding one closely matching my former natural hair color while covering the gray hairs' population explosion.

My driver's license states that I am still a brunette. Listing the actual color seems more honest when you think about it but Bureau of Motor Vehicles will not allow one to list Miss Clairol #609 so the clerk does not edit that line. On the other hand, according to them, I have not lost nor gained a pound since I received my first license.

Try asking the Bureau of Motor Vehicles clerks sometime about listing your hair dye number being a possibility. I assure you that three clerks will roll their eyes, a tad bit sarcastically, in response. The remaining clerks will think you are sharing a little joke instead of being serious. It is out of my hands, I guess, thanks to bureaucracy and red tape.

Another side bit or trivia to share: If pulled over and asked to hand over your driver's license, few police officers find it humorous when you say, "By the way, I should inform you in advance that the information on my license is incorrect. See, the license says my hair is brunette but it isn't . . .." The police are inclined to be extremely serious while working; trust me.

I am not saying that the clerks at the Bureau of Motor Vehicles or people involved with law enforcement lack a sense of humor. It just seems some of them are unaware about various Miss Clairol® hair products or how invaluable some of us find 'her' to be in our lives.

However, it is not limited to appreciative female consumers. Call me observant or catching up with the times. I have noticed Miss Clairol® also packages line named Clairol for Men®.

I do not think men feel their hair is more special nor unique in structure. Could this packaging be helpful so he will not feel silly at the checkout with a male instead of a smiling female model showing off colored tresses? Or are men too impatient to spend time puzzling over if they want a herbal, no ammonia, ammonia, or 6 washings or less type of hair coloring on their heads?

Before thinking, "Sheesh Carol, you spend time thinking of some left field thoughts about products, marketing, and consumers don't you?" Let me say that I do not puzzle over those prior thoughts as much as I do over another curiosity about the hair color section in a store: Why does Clairol® have multiple shades and more than five variants (or strengths?) of hair dyes for women to dwell over. Yet, with the men, 'she' cleverly narrowed the line's offering down to five shades of one variant for selection.

I do hope that some day Clairol® shares this marketing secret of how to condense a line of products for certain consumers. Particularly items that have adopted the idea of ranking a product's supposed strength, or absorbency, with water droplets. We will not even discuss various numbers of walls, wings, mini - regular - super - or maxi thoughts. Which the wide variety resulting in mental debates, in that particular story aisle, may explain why these products are more simply packaged and not graced with a picture of a smiling model.

Humorous Book Recommendations:             [ view all ]
Getting Old Ain't for Wimps
[Karen O'Connor; 200 pages]
Inspiration with touches of humor underlines these stories shared by Karen about growing older. Those of us who are retired or nearing our Golden Years - can you relate?

When I turned two I was really anxious, because I'd doubled my age in a year. I thought, if this keeps up, by the time I'm seven I'll be over a hundred.
-- Wright Stevens

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Gray hair is God's graffiti.
-- Bill Cosby