Why I ditched the dye

 

Disclaimer: This is my story and a path that God took me down.  Each one of us has different lessons God wants us to learn for whatever reason.  This post is in no way meant to judge anyone that dyes their hair I’m just merely sharing my journey.  If a part of it resonates with you perhaps you are meant to walk this part of life’s path with me, if not don’t judge me harshly.

    I used to make my trip to the hair salon once every eight weeks or so to get my hair colored.  After several rather traumatic instances of attempting to do it myself at home I came to the conclusion that it was much better left to the professionals and so began my frequent trips to emerge from the salon a “new me” every two months.  I loved going actually and having the pamper time while talking to the stylist as she lathered up my long locks and  talked about the events of the day.  A little bit of “me time” was a special treat!

I’ve always prayed to hear God’s voice in my life. Having made lots of mistakes as we all have in life I figured if I truly heard from God and followed what his purpose was for me I couldn’t go wrong.  About 3 years ago I started hearing this still small voice prodding me to stop dyeing my hair.  Oh this absolutely CAN’T be God.  I mean why would he care if I dye my hair?  Besides I love getting my hair colored.  I loved the compliments after I got my hair colored.  I loved the pampering  that came along with it!  So as I’ve done before I wrote it off as “not from God” and kept on trucking back to the hair salon.  But just like a parent whose great love for their child doesn’t falter his love for me didn’t either and the voice continued to prod me to stop the color.  I started noticing EVERY silver crown that crossed my path.  Believe me there were many and my eye began to be drawn to them. It seemed like every where I looked they were there and I wondered if there were always that many or if God was strategically placing them along my path or maybe he was just opening my eyes to see them!   I was curious about how they were comfortable in their own skin like a lot of them seemed to appear.  I realized a lot of them were confident and beautiful and I wanted to know more! I discovered a facebook group of women taking this journey and discovered there were ALOT of them way ahead of me on this path and they were an inspiration! One thing I’ve noticed about life no matter what you’re going through there is ALWAYS someone on that path ahead of you.  I think that’s God’s purpose.  We are here to inspire those that are beginning to walk a path we’ve already experienced to give them words of hope!

Giving in to the call……

I prayed to know God’s will, I now knew this was his will it was time to put the proverbial “money where my mouth is” and dive in.  I skipped my next appointment and watched as slowly the dreaded “skunk stripe” started to emerge.  I’m not going to lie here, it was tough! I almost backed out several times.  I went through a couple of crying jags and wanted to hide my head in a paper bag when I went out in public.  What if…..I’m not pretty.    What if……people think I’m just “letting myself go”.     What if………(and the most dreaded one) I look OLD!  And to add to the distress at this time my daughter was getting married and my HAIR along with the rest of me would be in several pictures! Yikes!! Que the stress attack!

 

Through pain comes growth…….

The skunk striped grew and strangely enough began to soften as the old dye faded. I made it through my daughters wedding unscathed with a pretty updo that hid a lot of the lines between the two colors.  My attitude changed as God started stripping away the vanity and pride that I held onto so tightly at first.  I started to have moments of expectation as I felt like a butterfly emerging from my cocoon.  What is the REAL color under this dye? If I had never dyed my hair what would my natural God given color be like now?  I started feeling excitement! My heart was changing! I had others along the way that were cheering me on that had beautiful heads of silver.  My husband dealt with his multi-colored wife and encouraged me to keep plodding along never showing a hint of embarrassment that his wife didn’t have that fresh out of the salon look.  Now here it is 3 years later and my transformation is complete!  I do look different on the outside but that is really not the part that matters, God changed me on the inside and that was the whole reason for God giving me this task.

Here’s what I learned…..

It’s toxic…..after going through some health challenges lately I realized the damaging affects of exposing myself to environmental toxins  and it just isn’t worth it to me now. Did you know that women are much more prone to autoimmune diseases?  It’s largely believed that part of that reason could be the HUGE number of toxins that we are constantly putting on our bodies most of our lives.

Its incredibly freeing……I feel like I am free now…..free of what others think of me…………free of whether I look “old” or “young” or “pretty” or whatever the word is that may play on that track in your mind. I once had a wise woman tell me when I get to be around 35 I would “find myself”.   I didn’t really know what that meant at the time and I’ve always been a late bloomer but at 45 I think I totally understand what she meant now. Finding yourself means you know who you are no matter what the culture says about you or what others think of you, you already know the answer and you know the “true” you not what others expect you to be!

It has saved me some bucks……I think this one is pretty self explanatory.

I can still be God’s version of beautiful…..We’ve heard it said that God sees the heart and man sees the outward appearance.  ALL I have to worry about is pleasing my heavenly father and he looks at my heart so I better diligently work each day to make it more like his and though I have a long ways to go I strive to do that.  And that makes me beautiful to him!

Going silver doesn’t mean you throw in the towel on your looks……Makeup is totally different now as my haircolor is different.  It’s still important to take the best care of my skin and put my best foot forward.  I still like to dress nice when I go out and just because my hair is not colored doesn’t mean I won’t look attractive.  Besides the only person that really matters there is my husband and he’s good with my hair so the rest pale in comparison!

I get more compliments on my hair now then I ever did when I was dyeing it……..I consider this a wonderful added bonus from God and the kindness of others.  Perhaps a gift from him for being obedient to what he wanted me to do.  I cherish each lovely comment.

I could go on and on but I’ve already written a book!  I will end with this: The world tells us as women we have to look a certain way to be loved. Beauty comes from our courage, determination and the kindness we show others.  That can’t be found in a box or bought with money.  Aren’t those the most valuable gifts of all?