The other day while we were out and about somewhere (I can’t remember where offhand), Ron got all excited and came up to show me something. Something he’d just found – on Abby’s head.

Stop, before you even think of little creepy crawly thingies – that’s not it.

No, what he’d just noticed right on the very top of Abby’s dark brown hair? One very, shall we say – light – hair. A GRAY one to be exact.

Yep, Abby has her very first gray hair – at 8 years old.

I would’ve taken a picture of it, but I didn’t have my camera with me and my phone just isn’t capable of taking decent pictures that close up. But trust me – it was gray. I examined it quite closely at the time. Since then I’ve searched the top of her head and haven’t been able to find that sole gray hair again – her hair’s very thick and it’s apparently quite well hidden. But we both saw it – there’s no denying that fact.

What kind of stress could an 8-year-old have in her life to be giving her gray hair – already?

Unfortunately for her, I think that genetics plays a much bigger role here than anything else. You see, I found my own first gray hair at age 11. And it was pointed out to me that I could’ve had them earlier and just never noticed. I’m not exactly thrilled that Abby seems to have inherited this particular trait from me – but I’m not terribly surprised either.

My mother started dyeing her hair in her early thirties. From the time I can remember, she was entirely gray underneath the dye. She finally decided about 20 years ago in her 50’s that she was finally ‘old enough’ to just let it go, and she now has the softest, most beautiful white head of hair. I’ve never seen my mom’s natural hair color except in photographs.

At age 39, my hair is also quite gray – probably more than 50% at this point. I’ve dyed it off and on, but between not having the money to get it professionally done every 6 weeks nor the time to do it myself, I think I may just give up and let it go salt-and-pepper. I hate the look, but really it’s just a vanity issue, right? I’ve always dyed it myself, but there’s so much gray in it now that the home-dyeing kits just don’t do a very good job anymore. And if I dye it once, I have to keep up with it, or the roots (remember my ‘natural’ color is very, very dark brown) look horrible after only a few weeks.

Even my ‘little’ brother has the salt-and-pepper look going on, although he keeps his hair short enough that it’s not as noticeable – and guys just tend to look more distinguished when they go gray, don’t they… Which is kind of frustrating actually. At least for me. But I think it’s time to just – let go, and learn to love my hair as it really is.

Here I am, while at BlogHer last summer – with recently-dyed hair, just styled by a professional stylist at the Suave booth:

And here I am – au natural, so to speak, this morning. Pre-shower, just as I got out of bed (although I finger-combed my hair a bit so it wouldn’t be, you know, too horrible looking):

Can’t quite see it from that angle? Well trust me, the roots are quite grown out at the moment (I haven’t dyed my hair since BlogHer). I can’t believe I’m throwing this out there for the whole Internet to see, but here’s a birds-eye view:

Yep, that’s me. One little gray hair multiplied into well, who knows how many now. A lot. But I’m refusing to let myself be embarrassed to be seen this way anymore – not only for my own sake, but for Abby’s as well. Because 30 years from now when she’s facing the same choices, I’d rather she be proud of who she is and what she’s accomplished – not worrying about whether or not her gray roots are showing.

Ugh, 8 years old! I don’t think she really even understands why Ron and I were so shocked about one little gray hair. Unfortunately she’ll figure it out – and at an earlier age than most people generally have to.

Or who knows, just maybe she’ll be a trend-setter and gray hair will be the new ‘in thing’ of the 2030’s.