I am going gray. In fact, I have been slowly going gray since I was sixteen, but only in the past year or so has it become noticeable. It doesn’t bother me at all. For a while now, I have maintained that if at some point it starts to make me look far older than my age, I would dye it. But until -and unless- that happens, I see no reason to make any changes to my hair color.
But, I am starting to wonder if it’s time to put myself through that rite of passage all of my people’s women experience: going blond. Jewish women don’t go gray, they go blond. Sure, some go red first, but eventually they all go blond, even if they’re like my Aunt Bertha, who went blond in one stripe across the front of her head while the rest of her hair “remained” black.
It’s not that I particularly want to be blond. Dark hair and light skin are kind of my thing, and like I said, the gray doesn’t bother me at all. Still, it’s a rite of passage. Bat Mitzvah at thirteen, blond in the thirties. (Except for my mom, who didn’t have a gray hair on her head until I was well into college and graying myself. I lost out in that genetic crap shoot.)
Maybe I’ve just seen too many pictures of Sarah Jessica Parker lately. Hmmmm…
