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Monday, June 9, 2014

21 Months

My 21-month anniversary came and went but I was too busy enjoying life. I arrived in DC three weeks ago and I haven't really stopped running. From unpacking and figuring where everything goes, SPRING CLEANING and getting rid of tons of stuff, dating (seriously what am I thinking? Three first dates in one week?!), and a super busy job. Whew!

So it's no real surprise that my anniversary would come and go without a blink. The thing is I always thought that the 21-month anniversary would be my graduation and I would emerge this fantastically silver muse. But I'm nowhere near graduation and I've sort of just looked upon this as every month and every cut I emerge lighter than the month/cut before.

It think that's a healthy way to view this as it's not a contest. There are so many ways to go through this transition. My color-stripping added more time. The dingbat stylist that burned my hair added on more time. This happens and it's life.

So on my anniversary I had more important things on my mind, such as my good friend, Lindsey's wedding. I've known this girl for several years and I just think the world of her. I was there when she was single, going through heartbreaks together, to when she and her now-husband fell in love. Now I get to be there at their wedding and what a privilege that is!

Lindsey is 10 years my junior and Kevin 15. I knew the age of the guests would include the parents in their 50s-60s and a lot of Millennials. However the only thing I cared about was seeing my friend and looking my best for her. So I wore a new dress bought just for the occasion (thank goodness all this walking slimmed me down enough to put it on), did a rare full blow-out on my hair, straightened it into place, and really worked on getting the perfect upper eyeliner.

Voila! Here are the results. When I walked in I was the only person who didn't know anyone and I certainly wasn't going to try to commandeer the wedding party's time. I also was one of the few silvers with no one in my age group. But you know what? I still felt pretty. I felt my own unique Jilly brand of pretty. I think we should all strive to feel this way about ourselves every day. Not the Jilly brand- aim high to your own brand-- you know what I mean.

It was a beautiful day and I'm not ashamed to admit the number of times I became teary over my friend's happiness. There are few greater joys than witnessing your loved ones' joys and happy moments. So as my friend's wedding was around my 21-month anniversary, this pic will have to do. It may not show off my silver as well as some, but it shows off my happiness even better.

3 comments:

  1. So happy to have found your blog! I am in the same boat just a different river. I read above where you said that the color stripping added on more time. Could you explain that to me please? I have about a 4" skunk strip on dark mahogany hair that is more than 1/2 way down my back. I really was thinking it would be cool to have all the color taken out and have a silver color deposited on it. Sort of like Kelly Osborne. But am terrified of just letting anyone attempt the look and certainly don't want it to add anymore time. I can't imagine another year or more of this process but am not willing at this point to go short. Been there done that. And you did and why still would it take so long? I'm confused, Please help if you can. Thank you and I love your hair, you look amazing! Susanne

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    1. Arrgh, I typed this long response and then it disappeared. I have a couple of posts about this, mainly at http://greyinganddating.blogspot.com/2013/04/color-lift-part-deux.html.

      So if you were to go the route you suggest you would have this chemical compound that strips through your hair. Really, it eats through a lot (not all) of the color. It will also redeposit some of that color onto your virgin hair, especially the top canopy. The 8 months on top will be reduced to 0 progress in some areas. Then you end up with a stripe of dark blonde hair and you deep condition with coconut oil. Two weeks minimum before any other bleaching or treatment and then you get it bleached lighter, put in "grey" highlight or color. Those will be matte (Kelly Osbourne's looks like a matte lilac). There's no way to reproduce gorgeous sparkling silver. :( I know, we all wanted to do this. No one wants to grow out the skunk stripe.

      So they would pull some virgin hair and mix it and your growth would be reduced to 1" in some places, 2" in others, 0" in some.

      It's an option, another is curling your hair, to swirl the colors together, layers that blend... Send me a pic at jill.stark@gmail.com so I can see your fantastic progress!

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    2. And BTW Susanne, thank you thank you!

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