by Josette Maurer

Created on: January 22, 2009

With only four strands of gray hair buried deep beneath 36 year-old black locks I admire from afar the many beautiful women who unapologetically display both full and burgeoning grays with confidence and pride.

In the Book of Proverbs gray hair is esteemed as a crown of glory, and it is wonderful to see a mature woman who walks in elegant assuredness as she adorns herself with her natural crown of glory. Gray hair is not an unfashionable reminder of the golden years calling your name. And it should not bring about an anxious, faulty notion that your beauty has somehow begun to fade.

Beauty goes through stages of maturity just like our physical bodies, and just as the beauty of youth is represented by blondes, brunettes, red-heads and others, this same beauty never dies but simply transforms itself into the deeper beauty that gray hair signifies. It is the wisdom gained from life's lessons that are now waiting to be received by non-grays who are basking unaware in the frivolity of youth. Gray hair is also an honorable symbol of long life that is most often gained by living a sensible and righteous life.

With this said why would you cover your gray or wear it in a negative posture that may falsely convey a lack of self-esteem or dissatisfaction with the phases of life we all enter into? Unfortunately many women who choose to camouflage their gray often end up with an off color that is unappealing or they wear it so far into their most mature years that it looks completely unhealthy and unnatural.

It is wonderful that my grandmother is approaching her ninth decade. I applaud her for bravely weathering glaucoma and a quadruple heart bypass, among other ailments, that failed to hamper her spunk and spirit. But the unflattering dye job she has maintained for the last twenty years gives no reflection of her inner strength and ability to endure. It has also done nothing to complement her face or enhance her outward appearance. Allowing the gray to come through would soften her features and make her to look more natural (which, by the way, I am too chicken to tell her). How many times have you crossed paths with a similar person in need of the same advice?

It is unfortunate that the glory of gray hair is being suffocated in this age when more and more women not only dye, but also nip, tuck, inject and implant. As for me, gray hair is a gift that I barely possess but very much look forward to attaining in its fullness. You are encouraged to wear your gray and wear it with a smile. It will make you that much more beautiful.

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