Little Black Hairs and Going Gray

I love being a woman. I really do. I embrace everything about being a woman from getting a period to boobs. But after I went through menopause (had a hysterectomy at 36) I wasn't prepared for the next phase. First, there is this new thing they tell you to take called hormone replacement therapy (HRT). What do doctors prescribe? Premarin! Bad bad stuff. Why? My awesome doctor Dr. G told me. Premarin is made from the urine of female mares who are in heat. Yes ladies, you're taking pee. I did it for probably 10 years. After I found out what was really in it, it was gone! Dr. G put me on a bioidentical and natural replacement which works better.

Ok, back to the conversation. When you go through menopause all of a sudden you have little black hairs growing in places you're not prepared to have them. Neck, chin, jaw line...but wait! All of a sudden your eyebrows start growing together too. And these hairs aren't soft either. They're more like a wire punching through your skin as a natural exfoliate to drive me nuts. More to tweeze, wax, or thread everywhere. All of a sudden you're looking in the mirror daily to find new hairs in more places. Wait! Some of those new hairs come in a new color too! White! White hairs growing too? Yea I'm not ready for this.

The little white hairs start coming out in new places too. Your eyebrows are one place and you find them in your pubic area and your armpits. My God! Really? Does it have to be like this? The first time you look down naked and you see a white hair, a grip of fear comes to you. Am I getting old? Am I one step closer to the home? Not in my book. What do you do when you get those white hairs down there? According to my former mother in law, if you pluck one, more come back. Do you dye them? You could shave them off too. Wait wait wait...how about waxing? This is a topic all women face silently without anyone to talk to. I'm not going to say there's a solution but I will say it's a new chapter which I'm really not ready for.

Then there's going gray. I've had gray hair since I was 26. Since I was 26, I've been dying my hair.

I'll admit it, I'm not ready to be "mature." While I fully embrace my age, I can't be categorized as a senior yet (even though I am a life member of AARP). There is no way to grow old gracefully but I can do it on my terms. I will continue to dye my hair till I'm ready to stop. I will tweeze and wax those unwanted hairs as I see fit. As for those white hair in the southern hemisphere, well, what can you do? You do what you need to do my dear sisters. If you're ready to be gray, embrace it and enjoy it. My 80 year old mom who has a beautiful head of white hair stopped after her mom died and embraced it as a fact of life. Ummm not ready...so not ready.

Life tends to be pretty funny sometimes and I firmly believe Mother Nature has a fantastic sense of humor giving women more fun things to do while looking in the mirror.