Knock Knock Knock!

Knock knock knock!

Is anybody out there? I don't expect anyone to have to wait around for me. The How Bourgeois blog has been pretty quiet for a long time!

I've just been in How Bourgeois Land, over-thinking things I'm sure and trying to live life offline.


What happened was, that I sort of became.......put off by social media and online culture, and what was starting to be seen as completely normal, i.e. humble brags, a constant parade of "I bought this or that, or use this or that, or went here or there," and of course selfies - of which I have been known to take a few.

I know that I'm  guilty of these things at times too, but I've tried to catch myself before it became all that there was over here too.

Do you know what I mean, what I'm trying express? Back when blogging began, I fell in love with the medium because I could read stories about other people's lives and I could learn so many different things! For example, there were blogs that taught me how to make my own natural cleaning supplies and how to take good photos and endless pages with topics new to me. It was such a neat and amazing resource! Things began to change though, eventually. I feel like...slowly, the blogging culture, social media culture, it morphed in general from a platform to share and learn, to a platform of showing off.

Maybe I'm being too hard on social media, maybe I'm over generalizing, but in my heart, I feel that our society has kind of tipped too far into the "me, me, me" zone. I don't want to be part of that. It's just not for me personally.

Before I began to grow my gray hair out, I wrote about mundane things like cooking and cleaning. Mostly just for fun, a little bit to memory keep. Then, when I journaled here about what it was like to have gray hair at a young age and how I was going to grow it out, suddenly I found myself with a much bigger audience than ever before.

It was fun for a while, but there is only so much you can discuss about your own hair, and do you want to know something? I REALLY got myself into a pickle with all of the hair blogging because  I hate taking selfies. I really, truly dislike taking them.  All of those photos on this blog, of myself and my hair, I did it because I felt like I had to post pictures because I was talking about my hair. It's kind of a Catch-22. People were here for the hair posts and I couldn't hair post with out pictures of me and my hair, so I just had to keep going. Many of you have been incredibly kind and patient and open to my occasional homeschool or silly crochet writings, but I didn't want to lose you by posting too much about things that were essentially only of interest to about five of us.

So, I kind of ran out of hair blogging, hence blogging, steam. That's where our hair line "BY THE WAY, Your Hair Looks Fabulous!" came in. I knew that I needed a break from trying to encourage fellow silver sisters through writing, and figured that there were other, better ways that I could assist people in their transitions to gray. So, we worked very hard to come up with products just for us - the ones that I searched for and couldn't find on the market. Products that ticked all the boxes: more natural, more affordable and specifically made for gray hair needs.

I am hugely thankful and grateful to say that a year and a half in, the company is doing great and people really seem to like our products. (Thanks guys!!!) The only thing is....I got myself into another pickle. (This one might be in my head). After things started rocking and rolling, I realized that I didn't want to be on social media selling products because it went against so much of what I valued, like....I don't know, being yourself, not feeling the need to be absorbed in beauty culture and consumer culture. I tell you, it is a daily tug-of-war. I want to share more because I honestly know that these hair care items can help and boost the self-esteem of fellow gray-haired men and women, but I also don't want to pressure people to shop. Do I sound crazy yet? Who starts a retail business and then remembers how much consumer culture irks them!!???

Oh! Wait, wait, wait! There is one more reason that I stopped posting. This is shameful, but guys, in frustration I cut my hair off. Again. My hair was half way down my back, so long and thick and unruly and it had a mind of its own. Summer was coming and that humidity made everything 20 times worse. I just snapped and since my friend, the women who cuts my hair was on leave for the summer, I chopped it myself! (What could go wrong)!? Yeah, EVERYTHING.  Everything could go wrong. It was horrible, terrible, I gave myself "micro-bangs" and I went into hiding, so yeah, that is another reason I wasn't online.

I have this feeling now, that when you start a hair care company, you're not supposed to go and spontaneously cut off all of your hair yourself. Don't look at me, OK!!!

So then, what IS social media and blogging for? What do I do with this space? I miss it.
Maybe it's to tell you that I saw a squirrel on my roof with a whole piece of pizza in his mouth.

Or maybe it is to share with you a dream-come-true.....I got to use a trash grabber. It's called the "Nifty Nabber."

Or maybe it is to get over things and just take some dumb selfies with your dog and not to feel ashamed for taking one.

I have no idea what blogging and social media should be for me, but whatever it is, you guys, I just want to write again. I want to post online for fun, without having to worry that I'm not publishing enough about hair. I want to blog because it's journaling and that not only saves memories, but it's cathartic.

Gosh, even this very post has little to no point, so I shall end it here. To those of you who have stuck around, you have my deepest and un-ending thanks and steadfast devotion.

*EDIT - You guys are so incredibly kind in your comments here and on Facebook. I had some requests for pictures of the short hair cut that I GAVE MYSELF in early summer. Micro-bangs! LOL. I found a couple silly ones. I must please my audience! So without further ado....MORE SELFIES! OMG. 😁😅🙆

Until next time!
xoxoxo,
Lauren