“Getting in touch with [ this feminine, receptive side of our nature ] can be a life-transforming experience because what we’re really talking about when we talk about receptivity is how we can be open to growing and evolving into more enlightened human beings.” — Lauren Artress,, N SWEET COMPANY: CONVERSATIONS WITH EXTRAORDINARY WOMEN ABOUT LIVING A SPIRITUAL LIFE

My hair started graying when I was 18. By the time I was 25 my silver streaks (on one so young) were frequently the topic of spontaneous conversation in elevators and check-out lines. I enjoyed the attention, the distinctiveness of my look. As a child, my mother and all my Aunties had silver hair. They were such good women I believed having gray hair meant you had a connection to the angels.

After a serious car accident 13 years ago, my graying accelerated. (Interestingly, my once cheerio-curls no longer sprung like corkscrews about my head.) My skin also took on an ashen hue given the stress of the injuries I sustained. Conversations in elevators and check-out lines were equally colorless. I started to dye my hair to keep questions about my health to a minimum. Four years ago, I developed an allergy to hair dye and had to go au natural. I had no idea whether the outgrowth would be gleaming or dull and overcast.

Fortunately for me and for those who have to look at me, my hair came in bright white. I am again engaged in fashionable conversation. My eyes look bluer than they are, I appear wise — or at least experienced. The years that it’s taken to accumulate all that white have made me a lot more comfortable with who I am — and am not. It’s a good look and a good place to be. I feel Womanly in a way I never did before.

All this furor about President Obama’s graying coif amuses me. We all know the job takes a toll on the Presidential Head. Maybe a president needs to be connected with the angels to give the world a little luster.

Your thoughts?