Where I Eat My Yogurt & My #1, Most Favorite Hairstyle for When You're Growing out the Gray!

Hi Silver Sisters, it's Lauren from September 2018!  I have the most amazing update for you - my husband Jon and I have launched our very own hair care line!  I have learned so much on my gray journey, and our new products incorporate all of my "tips and tricks" for making silver hair look terrific.  I am leaving all prior recommendations in place because I hope that they will continue to be helpful to people, and I will continue to use and enjoy many of the products that I have written about in the past. My opinions still stand on them. 

I hope that you will take a look at our new line By The Way, Your Hair Looks Fabulous!™  - it is a complete line of hair-care and styling products made especially for Silver Sisters AND for anyone who wants their hair care to be more natural and more affordable! 

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Sunday, January 12th -

I'm still feeling kind of blue. My friend asked me this morning: "What did you do this weekend?"  And I said "Nothing." He meant did we go out or do something fun. Which, honestly, we haven't.
Friday was dinner and TV and lights out. Yesterday was errands and writing and by the end of the day, it was too cold to really make it worth venturing out. Maybe I should rethink my whole "Liking fall and winter better than spring and summer" thing.

Piggybacking on my post from last week about feeling isolated, Jon and I haven't been for a kid-less night out in months. I honestly can not remember the last time we went to dinner or a movie alone. It's been a long long time. We don't have an evening sitter anymore. I keep saying that I need to find one. I really do. It's just difficult to find somebody, let alone somebody you trust and is available. Plus, the going rate around here is about $10/hr. which adds up. Maybe I'm finally ready to just jump in an find an occasional sitter. Our 10-year anniversary is coming up in four weeks, and even for that, there are no plans, no sitter. I realized that on Friday and it just made me feel completely down.
BUT.... in the same breath, these are small, small issues in the grand scheme of life so....

Here is a picture that I took while eating my daily Greek yogurt. I felt that the photo kind of summed up how I was feeling. If that makes sense....

Monday, January 13th-

All things must pass, right? And what helps? Walking!  I went for another walk yesterday because the weather was GORGEOUS! It was only about 34 degrees here, but the SUN WAS SHINING and it's been such a long time since that happened! Sun makes everyone feel better. It really does. In fact, I took three walks yesterday! One was an exercise walk, one was to the coffee shop to write, and another was with Jon and Noah to the park. It was that nice out.

Here is an unflattering, up-the-nose picture of me on my first walk.  What do you listen to on your walks?

 I was listening to the latest Daft Punk album: Random Access Memories.  It's pretty good. I was a Daft Punk fan in college, and I still think Homework was one of the best albums out around that time. 

Isn't it funny that it was only 34 degrees (that's ONE degree Celsius)  and I was like: "Oh yay!!! Let's go outside!!!" Sad but true. Michigan is a cold place. Noah spent a big portion of the day building a fort in the family room and playing in the fort. At one point though, I forced us to get outside. We walked around town a bit, got Jon a coffee and went to the park. Even though a lot of snow has melted in the past few days, it was surprising to see this HUGE pile in front of the police station. Wow!

We were laughing because all of that snow that they collected from downtown had trash in it.  It was kind of gross, and Jon was playing a theoretical game of "what would it be worth it to touch the nasty snow?" For example, would you dig out a $20 bill? I said no. I swear I saw part of an old diaper in it or something.

At the park we saw that they have not yet taken Santa's house down for some reason. Why? Noah was really curious to see if Santa was still in there. I told him that I thought Santa had already gone back to the North Pole, but he wanted to knock just in case........ :)

Here is a short clip that I took of Noah going down the slide. I took it because I have the same exact short video from last year. Same slide, same time. This year the slide didn't work so well.

Ok, now to all things gray hair! Thank you for all of your comments and questions lately, especially on the Seven Best Tips and Trick for Going Gray post. There's been a lot of talk about the ole' skunk stripe. It's the worst, isn't it? The super good news is that as hard as it is to deal with "the stripe", it only lasts a while. Soon it turns into a cascade of silvery strands and then you're left with a head of happy, healthy grays!

In the meantime, we need good tactics to help us battle through the stripy days, and I'm here to help! I want to share with you my #1 most favorite and life-saving gray hair hairstyle! I used it as soon as my short hair grew long enough to soften "the stripe," and I still use it today. It's the 1/2-up hairdo!

It sounds simple, but let me tell you my theory on why it works so well and some of the small tips that you might want to keep in mind. This isn't just an ordinary 1/2 -up hairdo. ;)

First, let's talk about when you should deploy this secret hairstyle weapon! If you are like me, and you had a short haircut to help with your transition to gray, you can start with the 1/2-up as soon as your hair is long enough to pin back on the sides. Remember, this will be sooner than you think: you can use clips and bobby pins to pin your hair back instead of waiting for it to be long enough to pull to the back of your head (I'm going to touch on my favorite hair clips in a minute!).

If your hair is already long, and you're growing out your gray, you can use the 1/2-up hairdo at  any time in the process. It really comes in handy when that skunk stripe begins to grow.

So....here's why, even if the 1/2-up isn't your style, you might want to use it as one of your temporary "tools."  When you pull your hair back at each side, you are essentially softening your look and are in more control of what is seen and not seen. When you pull your hair back, you are breaking up the stark line between gray roots and colored hair. When you soften that line you just look....SOFTER!

There is something often harsh about the contrast between gray roots and one's natural hair color and the "stripe" adds a hard, linear effect. Gray hair has not always been equated with femininity if we're being honest, so doing what you can to lighten up might make you feel a bit brighter and more pretty during a challenging time!

Honestly, the main purpose of going gray is not to be an exercise in "pretty."  It's about becoming comfortable with who you are. If you happen to be struggling through this transition, anything to make you feel a bit more confident can be so worth it. Pulling your hair up and away from your face and  letting in light can be amazing. Your face brightens up and your eyes sparkle! I always make sure to gently pull my hair back in a loose, soft way, instead of tightly. Think flowy! Also, for me, I add a bit of volume just to keep things looking youthful. You might want to try this by curling your hair with large rollers or a curling iron. You can gently tease or back-comb as well. I pull out soft strands and wisps, which can help soften this look too. You can choose to pull a lot of hair back on each side, or just a little like I did in the photo above.

I usually don't pin my hair all the way back behind my head because I find the look less severe when I use clips positioned to the side. I want to share with you my favorite clips because they've just been so great!

It's these medium-sized gray clip below..........

I'm very sorry, I just can't seem to find a link to these particular clips online, but I can tell you that I purchased them at Target, and that I am almost certain that they are by Goody. Here's why I like them....because they come in GRAY and they blend in with your hair! I highly recommend any gray or clear colored clips. They're out there and easy to find in a number of sizes. This adds to the"soft" look. The clips have worked great for me. They feel more comfortable than bobby pins and rubber bands and definitely do the job.

So that's my two cents on a very easy gray hairstyle. I hope it comes in handy and helps you as much as it helped me! For those of you who felt a bit down while growing out their gray like I did, this simple change might come in handy to lift your spirits.

Until next time!

xoxoxoxox,

Lauren