Gracefully Aging, Day 30: Helen Mirren

Helen Mirren
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We all know women who wear their age well...who are lovely in spite of the advancing years.

In my case, those women include my mom and my older sister, both of whom I've profiled in this series.

There are a few famous women who also appear to be aging well.  One of them is actress Helen Mirren, who was recently chosen as a spokesmodel for L'Oreal Paris.

Several years ago, at the age of 63, Mirren set the world back on its heels when a paparazzi caught her on the beach wearing a red bikini and looking fantastic in it.

This is from a recent article:

"...Mirren, thank the Lord, doesn’t feel bad about her face... She doesn’t look like someone who has had work done. She looks like a woman who has lived a bit, and laughed a lot, and who knows she has been lucky in her looks, but also knows that how you look is a pretty small part of who you are. She looks, in fact, like a woman who is happy in her skin. 'The weird thing is,' she says, 'you get more comfortable in yourself, even as time is giving you less reason for it. When you’re young and beautiful, you’re paranoid and miserable. And then you’re older and it’s ironic.'"

And this from an article about the now 69-year-old Mirren's new role for L'Oreal:

"Participants [in a consumer survey] described Mirren as 'genuine, intelligent and glamorous, with looks that seem only to improve with the passing of time.'  And this down-to-earth, positive approach to ageing comes across in the 69-year-old’s comments about the L’Oréal gig: 'I am not gorgeous, I never was, but I was always OK-looking and I’m keen to stay that way.

'I hope I can inspire other women towards greater confidence by making the most of their natural good looks. We are all worth it!'"

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I'm participating in "31 Days: A Writing Challenge,"  in which I 'm blogging on the subject of Gracefully Aging every day during the month of October.  Click the button below for more information and links to each post as they become available!

Gracefully Aging, Day 6: To Gray or Not to Gray?

"Supermodel" Cindy Joseph
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It's a decision every woman will have to make sooner or later.

To gray or not to gray?

Years ago, silver hairs started popping up randomly on my head.  By the time I was in my late 30's, they were too numerous to ignore.

I started coloring my hair, trying to find in a bottle the dark color I had been born with.

Finally, it became a losing battle.  The dark hair coloring didn't look natural, and before too long gray roots would appear.

I had determined I would "not go gently into that good night," to quote Dylan Thomas.

And I still feel that way.  I'm not ready to give in to the gray.  My solution was to go lighter.  At any given time, I have various amounts of blond highlights in my hair.  It's working pretty well right now, because the highlights are more forgiving when the gray starts to reappear.  There's less of a contrast, and it blends it better.

Personally, I think gray hair ages me even beyond my years.  When gray starts appearing, I feel it makes me look haggard and old.

Singer Emmylou Harris
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Giving in to the gray

Some women give in to the gray, and it ends up being beautiful  It's hard to imagine model Cindy Joseph, pictured above, looking prettier with any other color of hair.  She was 60 when that picture was taken. (She is now 63).

Cindy says she stopped coloring her hair to hide the gray when she realized some things about aging: "This is going to sound so repetitive and so old and so unsurprising. Life has proven to me what I heard before and didn't understand, and that is, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Absolutely, entirely, and 100 percent."

(I'll be featuring Cindy Joseph again later in this series, by the way.)

Actress Helen Mirren
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For me, going gray is not the answer at this point in my life.  Frankly, it makes me feel old, and how I feel is going to come out on my face.

 If you're considering going gray, here is an article about styling and maintaining gray hair beautifully.

What about you?  Have you decided to give in to the gray...or are you still fighting it?  I'd love to hear your comments!

I'm participating in "31 Days: A Writing Challenge,"  in which I 'll be blogging on the subject of Gracefully Aging every day during the month of October.  Click the button below for more information and links to each post as they become available!