50 & Fab....Silver and lovin' it...

I've been silver, or at least silver-ish for about 4 years now. I've had days when I looked in the mirror and thought I might be making a terrible mistake, but overall, I'm pretty happy with my decision. Contrary to popular opinion, it hasn't made me look older, and in fact, I think compliments my natural skin tone better than my previous blonde did.

When I started my journey to Silver hair, I imagined something along the lines of this woman's hair above. I was still striving for this look until very recently, when somebody rightly pointed out that her long sleek ponytail is in fact a hairpiece, wrapped in her own hair at the top. Boom went that idea! I'd been idolising this look for four whole years...hahaha! Now I realise I can have it with some gel, a hairbrush, and a good faux ponytail! Dang. I've been arguing with the hair straightener all this time for nothing!

I also had my eye on this gorgeous look below. I finally found this stunning comb today. The week AFTER I'd cut my hair back to shoulder length. Gotta laugh! I guess I'll wear it tiara style for Christmas.

Over the time I've transitioned from light blonde to dark blonde/light brown...

....to Ash Blonde with chocolate layers underneath...

....and finally to silver...

....I've struggled with how to make the Silver look, youthful rather than ageing. I've blogged a few times about this and you can see those posts linked here. Mostly, I've focused on trying always to dress well, looking after myself by eating healthfully and exercising, and of course, making grooming absolutely vital in my daily routine.

Until last Saturday, this meant long, sleek hair (hello to hair straightener for up to 30 minutes).

I did try to do the tousled ponytail look sported by this lovely lady below (I think it's Daphne Guinness), but again, found that there is clearly some trick involved in not having this look like you've climbed out of bed and just scraped hair up into a ponytail because you lack the time, motivation or wherewithal to do anything else. It's not a skill I currently possess.

I've tried for this cute style below too, and managed it with some success. I even quite liked it for a while. But in the end, it felt a bit too girly on me, and the ends of my hair looked a bit straggly. Come to think of it, so do hers!

Pulling the front of my hair back and securing it with bands and bows has been a good solution for me often when nothing else was. Strangely, although the long curls felt a bit 'girly', the ribbons felt rather more sophisticated to me.

Ultimately, I imagined my hair would look like this photograph below. And it did. Sort of. But again, I think this is the result of a long standing relationship with a hairdresser, toner, straightener and gloss, that I am not willing to maintain for now. That's just exchanging one madness for another.

While my hair was very long over the last two years, and the messy up-do has prevailed, I have enjoyed swirling it into a topknot and embellishing it with tiaras and clips of all kinds...



But with Summer and a Cruise just around the corner, (and a certain feeling of needing a change!), I've taken the plunge, armed my 16 year old daughter with a CreaClip and a sharp pair of scissors, and asked her to cut me a bob. I think I like it. It's liberating not to have to straighten each day, in the same way it's liberating not to have to colour and dye. By the way, that Creaclip is the best money I've ever spent. Once you overcome your fear of putting scissors to your own hair, it's utterly brilliant!

Mind you, I think I'm helped by the fact that these sorts of loose curls and casual bob hairstyle, are very 'in' at the moment, and I guess that is the key to being successfully Silver. You have to make your best effort to keep your look current in some way. This cut also gives me the opportunity to be rid of the chocolate brown underneath my hair from a few years ago, and to say Sayonara to the last of the blonde highlights from June 2015. Very soon, I will truly be completely Silver, and I think I'll be very content.

What do you think?

Do you toy with the idea of going grey?

If you have, are you happy with it?

Five Star Frou-Frou is now a neverending linkup, with a featured blogger each and every time I post.

Todays featured blogger is...

 Rheta at Vintage Eves, who shared this stunning collection of Georges Briard serving dishes. I particularly loved the gold trim on this one...

 Thanks for sharing Rheta! And thankyou to everyone who continues to link and share!

...Mimi...