I was looking at a picture of myself from November 2005. I was pregnant with Alliclaus at 24. And while I've known that I have gray hair for a number of years, I had been trusting people when they said that I was the only one who could see it. But there it was. A streak of gray right in the front of my hair.

And in the last two years, the presence of that unwelcome gray hair has increased exponentially. It's no longer lingering only in that patch between my eyes. It has instead moved on to everywhere along my part, where it can make itself known more fully.

In spite of the fact that I had long since decided not to dye my grays (mostly due to my desire to not ever have to let it grow in - hello, skunk!), I bought a box of non-permanent dye and covered up those grays without mercy. It's really subtle - no one at my office even noticed a change - but without the gray streaks, my hair appears significantly darker. Additionally, the gray hairs are now bright red instead of white, but not really particularly dark brown as I think I would have preferred.

All in all, I'm glad this color change is temporary. I rather think my face seems very pale without some gray hair to lighten the dark blob on top of my head. And while I don't care for the idea that I look older than I am, I guess I must have grown somewhat attached to my gray hair. It's like free highlights for old people.

Besides, after eight years of not dying my hair, I'm rather attached to the feeling of healthy hair. And now my hair has that distinct feeling of recently dyed straw. Hopefully, some of that texture will fade along with the color.