I absolutely love your hair wild and free - how I envy that look! Will ponder if I've had the same epiphany. Perhaps it's about my height. Have always wanted to be tall and associated height with strength and power.

Yay for the new camera. And that shade of blue is lovely on you, I also like that bright yellow. I think I just like bright shades on you, they really look stunning! Hair, I'm not a fan of mine. I only have two styles really, up in a clip of some sort, usually all up but once in a while half up, and all down, which is lots of work because I have to blow dry and flat iron otherwise I have a poofy mess. I envy those with more styling savy than myself. Your hair looks very versatile, it's straight, it's curly, it's wavy, I love it, what fun looks!

Claire - I don't think you question your decision to remain gray as much as you believe. You've already made your choice to have a healthy head of hair that's not colored. The difficulty seems to stem from the public perception that you are older than you are. I think you're a lot more comfortable with that misperception than you are with the inevitable thinning of you hair if you colored it.
I struggle with that myself albeit not to the same degree. I am about 10 percent gray and I wonder if I do extra moisturizing conditioning treatments etc. if I could avoid breakage, but it simply isn't a risk I'm willing to take. My hair colored is not as soft and feels brittle and scratchy.

Hil - well said. It seems the struggle is accepting that what we have is all we're going to get. There is so much pain and suffering we cause ourselves when we wish for things we simply aren't going to get. Perhaps that's the human condition to realize this then move on to having a happy life.

Soobee - Is the instyler that tool where you blowdry your hair inside of an attachment and it spirals on itself until it's dry? I thought that was pretty cool but I wasn't tempted to get one because my hair will probably not get long enough to take advantage.

Goldenpig -- isn't that the way of it? The grass is always greener? DH constantly refers to me as "My Michelle". I call Michelle O his girlfriend and his crush. I agree the styles are Michelle-ish, it's a very flattering and classic style.

Alaskagirl -- I always wanted to be taller too. I think it's funny that in real life and on the forum people think I'm taller than 5'5" so maybe I got my wish?

Lisa -- I'm just glad bright colors love me back. I'd be out of business if they didn't. I've always been a bit afraid of neutrals because I thought if I wore too much of them I'd fade into the wall. I'm sure that isn't really true but it doesn't stop the thought from invading my brain when it comes to choosing colors for my outfits.

I let my hair dry naturally, usually washing it the night before, then Instyle in the morning. It's a heat tool like a straightener but with a round barrel on one side and a brush on the other. It gives a lot lift as well as smoothing out. There are clips on youtube of people reviewing it if you want to see how it works

I love this thread.

One of my earliest memories is of my Mom winding up my hair on rag curlers. Yes, I said rag curlers. Not sure if I can even explain them. My sisters and I had rag curlers placed in our fine straight hair every night and every morning Mom took them out and brushed the results into something vaguely resembling Shirley Temple ringlets.

Do any of you remember Toni Home Permanents? Once they hit the scene we endured hours of smelly chemicals and frizzed hair. I even had a Toni doll with a fake home permanent twist. My best friend and I called ourselves the Toni Twins.

I could go on and on with my struggles with my fine, straight hair. Even in the 60s when women were ironing their hair I still wound mine up every day on something called electric curlers.

My closest friend, who is my same age, has a similar struggle, only her hair is fine and curly and the least bit of humidity causes it to curl up into a mass.

I could go on and on with the history of The Hair. Certainly there is a lot of social, cultural, and psychological issues involved with our hair. Congratulations to any of you who has been able to make peace with it.

I love your curls, but you also look gorgeous with the sleeker styles. These are all so wonderful. You are just beautiful in each of these photos, and you look like a model. Like others, I would not have guessed your hair was thin. It looks perfect for you, nicely balanced with your features. I'm happy for your epiphany. Kind of like how I didn't realize my hair was naturally curly/wavy until my mid-30s! I just thought it was hard to control. Then I stumbled upon a hairdresser that actually cut and styled my hair to use the wave--aha! What a life-changer.