Thanks for that. I'm sure it makes me look a little older than it does dyed, but what the heck.
Your hair is gorgeous and you look beautiful!
A little analogy about what you said, if you'll indulge me:
Back in the mid 70s, I worked for a company that made plus-size women's apparel. This was a breakout company, a true pioneer in that market; ours was among the first to offer bold, vivid prints and bright colors to the size 34-52 set.
The sales manager, an insightful woman in her 50s whose body happened to fall in that large size range, often waxed poetic about her passion in this area, our company's philosophy, and the terrible lack of clothing choices available to plus-size set women at that time. Lane Bryant, Woman's World and their ilk carried dresses and suits in black, dark brown and navy. Blouses were dark solids or had subtle vertical stripes, prints with very small flowers, etc. Nothing too flashy. Nothing that made them appear larger. Slimming styles and colors. Heavy women always looked like they were in mourning.
She looked at me (a 24 year old size 10) and said, "If you wear solid black or navy you might look 5 pounds slimmer. If I wear black or navy, it'll also take off 5 pounds. The difference is that you'd look noticeably thinner but I'd still appear 40 pounds overweight. I'd rather wear something fun and pretty even at the risk that it
adds 5 pounds to my appearance."
My point - and I do have one: When deciding to let my hair transition into grey (adding grey streaks and having my stylist color less of it brown as time goes on), I thought of this woman's wisdom. Truth is, if I continue to color my hair brown, it might take off a decade (at the very most), but that would still set me squarely in my late 50s. It's not like I'm 45 going for 35.
I'm tired of chasing roots. Besides which, if at any time I decide I don't like the grey, my stylist will be more than happy to do her magic and bring back the brown. For now, I'm following Faydean's advice in a gradual way. It's time to let my freak flag fly a little.