Yesterday Lover and I took our mothers, and my grandmother, out for lunch. It was a belated mothers day gift for the three of them. I felt a little like I was being grilled by the Matriarchal Council because all three sat across from Lover and me.
We talked about how I found my first gray hairs and how excited I was. All seemed a little taken aback by my excitement but I explained I liked the idea of being a crone and have been waiting to be one for a long, long time. Then one of them, I forget whom, suggested I cut my hair.
My hair is very long and very straight. It reaches the top of my butt. My grandmother thinks it’s too long and “wild” and wants me to cut it. My mother in law and mother both love my hair but they too think it’s time I cut it since I’m almost 40. I explained the reason I keep it long is because it’s cheap to do so. Both my mother in law and grandmother color their hair and all three keep theirs short. I asked how often they go in for the cut and color and the cost behind it. Each of the matriarchs understood where I was coming from after that part of the conversation but I could see they all want me to cut my hair.
At one point my mother in law said “if you have long gray hair it’ll be too witchy!” She said it with disdain. Once she said those words though, it cemented in my mind to keep my hair long and let it go gray without any intervention. After all, I’m a witch in training. And I love the idea of having witchy hair!
Very funny – “witchy hair!” I never understood why people seem to think that mature women should have short hair. I used to know a woman in her 50′s with a long brunette braid that had a gorgeous thread of silver weaving through it. And another even older with completely steel gray, and totally lovely, hair down past her butt. One was a witch, one was not, but both were women with strong identities…
Good for you – wear your hair however it makes you happy!