Does she or doesn't she?

I have a confession to make... I dyed my hair!

While I was in the States my mother looked at me at least once a day (sometimes two or three times a day) and would say,

"Tani! I can't believe how much white is in your hair! How old are you now?"

That is part of her aging process and she doesn't remember that she's asked me that same question a hundred times already. On the other hand, each time I got asked I'd feel like I aged another year myself.

In fact during the whole month in the States my white hair became a major conversation piece. (Well that's exaggerating a bit but I was sensitive on the point.)

My kindergarten Sunday School teacher hugged me in the church courtyard and said,

"Tanya! Look at you! You were a pretty little thing when you were 5 and you haven't changed a bit! Except what is all this white in your hair these days?"

And my mother's neighbor was out trying to pull trees and branches across his yard one morning and Leiya and I went out to help.

"Angels have come to my rescue! But Tanya, did you know you have powder in your hair?"

My mother's neighbor is also suffering from dementia and I couldn't tell if he was really concerned about my hair or was joking.

Oh well. My mom, her neighbor and my Sunday School teacher... all three in their 80s. Elderly people can be frank...

But then my friend's husband came right out and said I could take off a couple years if I dyed my hair. And when I told Marcy she agreed! Hmm. Food for thought...

Leiya's advice was "Don't do it. You look fine."

Takumi's advice was "Do it. It doesn't mean you have to do it forever. Try it once. You might like it."

Tetsu's advice was "If you want to."

And my friend Marlene's advice was "Do it soon or else people are really going to notice if you make a drastic change when there is MORE white!"

SOOOOOO.... I did it. And so far no one has noticed. Or maybe they've all been polite and are just not mentioning the change. How often do you go up to someone and say,

"Hey, I notice you dye your hair." Not me.

But the other day Tetsu looked right at me and said,

"You know Tanya, I'm getting pretty white myself. Maybe if you decide to dye your hair I'll dye mine too."

I looked at him with raised eyebrow. What does this mean? That he needs new glasses? That the dye job doesn't cover as well as I think it does?

The question is... Do I like my dyed hair? Well, I don't dislike it. But I didn't really dislike my white hair either...














I didn't want to scare you with huge mug shots so here are a couple little before and after pictures... Tomorrow Tetsu is going to ask me what with the pictures of myself on my blog. Do I let him in on our secret?