Hello YLF!
I am sorry I haven't been around much. Figuring out parenthood has been a slow process.
On the wardrobe front, it's been 10 months since baby B arrived, and I still can't fit in my pre-maternity clothes, particularly bottoms, and dresses are out due to breastfeeding/pumping inconvenience. But, I've taken Angie's sage advice and have purchased some new, inexpensive,disposable but for the time being well-fitting clothes to create two small winter and summer capsules, and I don't have complaints.
Today, I am here to bore you with my hair woes. Sorry this is going to be long!

Background:
I stopped coloring my hair when I found out that I was pregnant in March 2014. Expecting and then breastfeeding a baby seems to be a valid excuse for not coloring your hair. Because apparently going gray is such a faux pas that you need a legitimate reason when people ask you why you don't color your hair - otherwise they will keep pestering you! Yes, already, I am ranting! I used to color my hair a rich dark brown with some chestnut highlights before pregnancy, so I let that all grow out little by little. 19 months later, here I am. My current hair is 100% my natural color and texture. I am adding a few photos below.

As you can see, this is not a should I or should I not post, as I am already there. I guess what I am asking for is a bit encouragement, since as I will explain I don't have a lot of support from my circle of friends/family. On the other hand, I want to hear your genuine opinions. I want to hear it if you think I am deluded to even consider gray hair as a good look for me and if you think I should immediately go back to coloring it. So give it to me straight.

Here are my thoughts on it so far:

- I like a lot of things about my new hair. I think I look sophisticated and out-of-the ordinary. On the negative side, nobody, not a single person in my circle of friends/family, not even my mom (I'll tell you about her in a second) commented positively on it. The closest thing I got to a compliment was when a colleague said that I "could pull it off." Some people, like my sister and best friend, are categorically opposed to it and don't shy from bringing it up very negatively, as in "so when are you going to start coloring your hair again?" whenever they see me. Others, more open to the idea, have commented how they find this or that person (usually a celebrity) very attractive, interesting, beautiful, etc. with gorgeous gray hair, but none of these people have specifically said that I look like that or that my hair looks good. Now, as for my mother, I've been particularly disappointed with her reaction. You see, she has had gray hair all my life. She has this gorgeous white-bordering-on-purple hair. In fact, women stop her on the street and ask her where she got her dye job. She started going gray in her early 30s, and never ever colored her hair. She says she tried henna once and the whites turned out bright red so she immediately gave it up and never tried coloring again. Clearly, genetically I take after her, and now I am following in her very courageous footsteps. However, her reaction is mild enthusiasm at best, completely cold criticism at worst. In fact, she commented that, my natural hair color is "too brown" (and hence I guess not a very good contrast against the whites) and that I don't yet have enough gray in my hair that it doesn't look "on purpose."

- I have thought about this "on purpose" thing a lot myself. And I agree with some of my friends that it would be nice to have jet black hair one moment, and gorgeous gray hair the next, like some celebrities. Unfortunately, if you are like me, and decide to go gray early (instead of stop coloring later in life, when a bigger portion or all of your hair is gray, like Una. Although I am sure that process has its own challenges!), there is transition period for a while (perhaps years), until a nice looking portion of your hair turns gray. I thought about getting a white halo around my face and even found an inspiration picture (see pic 3) to make it look more "on purpose". I talked to more than one stylist and they all commented that this would be a highly difficult dye job, damage the hair intensely, cost a lot of money, would require a lot of skill, so they wouldn't touch it. So this is not an option available to me.

- I think with gray hair, I need to be more vigilant about looking unkempt or frumpy. I have to be wearing makeup and styling my hair pretty much all the time. You can see my daily make up in the pictures. In fact, I just saw photos from our beachside vacation, taken right after a swim, with my hair up in a bun, and I did not find them flattering at all. For me, there is no casual, "I just got out of the bed looking this good" beauty in having gray hair. On the other hand, I am not sure I ever had that, lol!

- I think my gray hair looks best when blowdried professionally by a hairstylist (less frizz). I do try to get salon blowouts once every other week or so (they are very affordable over here), but of course I have to style it on my own the rest of the time. I can't blow it out straight as nicely, but I heatstyle wavy it using a curler, again as seen in the pictures.

- If I were to start coloring my hair again, I think I would need to go to the salon every 5-6 weeks, as the roots would start showing. With a young baby, I am happy to be spared the time and money for color maintenance.

Ok, so those are my thoughts and feelings. Thank you very much if you have made it this far. I am looking forward to reading your ideas, thoughts, comments.
xoxo

ETA: Oh, I forgot that I have one more thought about fear of looking old. I have to run out to lunch now, but I will update it when I come back.