Florida’s Fifty Shades of Gray

Gray hair, that is.

As hard as it may be to believe, not all of the people you meet in Florida sport their original hair color. If the truth were told, the majority of Floridians have various shades of gray hair. However, thanks to modern chemistry, a person of any age can have just about any hair color they choose.

The hair coloring industry is alive and thriving in sunny Florida; I think even more so than in northern states. Why would I say that?

It seems that Mrs. Fog colors her hair a lot more often since we migrated south. She never gave a thought to how much or how fast, the sun would fade her hair color. Hey, Florida is the Sunshine State right? Well that abundance of UV light causes the colors of lots of things to fade, including hair.

According to Mrs. Fog, hair color lasts about two thirds as long as it did up north. She also informed me that lighter hair coloring seems to last longer than darker colors do. That is why there are so many senior blondes around. That was a surprise to me; I thought blondes lived longer, that’s why so many of them are in retirement communities.

Now, I have lived long enough to know it is not a good idea to be critical of the ladies. I have no problem if a woman of any age wants to change her hair color. I honestly would love my wife just as much with gray hair as any other color, but if it makes her feel better about herself, I am all for that as well.

When it comes to men, my feelings are a bit different. I try to understand why an old goat like me would want to have the hair of a 25 year old. But come on guys, we are not 25 anymore. Jet black hair on top of a wrinkled old man makes you look like a slick used car salesman, or even worse, an aging politician. If you are going to color you hair, leave some gray; it will make it more believable. That’s just my opinion, if it makes you feel better, do anything you like. At our age, what do we care what other people think.