My Hair Dilemma

I recently passed my 47th birthday. It didn't seem like a monumental day (it's not like I crossed over into a new demographic category; now THAT'S traumatizing). My family made it special for me, but other than that, it was just another day. I don't know how I got to this age. I mean, I feel like I've only been on this planet for 25, maybe 27 years.

I am having a problem though. My natural hair color has turned almost totally grey (or white or silver, I'm not sure which). Of course, I have spent a small fortune over the past 15 years to color my hair -- sometimes for my own amusement (wonder what I'd look like blonde) and, lately, for far more practical reasons: to hide the grey.

I've tried highlights on a dark base, highlights on a light base, light colored hair, dark colored hair. Nothing actually hides the grey.

I read with interest recently about Anne Kreamer's new book, Going Grey - What I Learned About Beauty, Sex, Work, Motherhood, Authenticity and Everything Else That Really Matters. Kreamer calculated that she had spent $65,000 over twenty years coloring her grey hair. She became empowered and went au naturel, so to speak. Her experience not only changed her life, but changed her perspective on life, too.

I'm not ready to go full-out grey YET but I think I'm ready to ease into it. So I've been seeking a colorist who will highlight my hair GREY. It seems the world has not yet caught up with us boomers. Every person, product, place assumes I want to COVER MY GREY. But that's not what I want to do. I want someone to artfully ADD grey to my hair so that as my roots grow in they truly do blend in. I want platinum and silver and white streaks.

All of my internet searches return hundreds of thousands of sites with advice on covering up the grey, but nowhere can I find a product or specialist to GIVE ME MY GREY! I read a couple of cases where women were complaining about a stylist who had botched a coloring job and their hair turned out grey. I followed those links in the hopes that they would include the failed color formula. I was hoping to be able to present it to my stylist and ask for the same results.

Attention L'oreal, Clairol, Garnier, Goldwell.... if you make hair color, please start marketing permanent shades and highlights for the boomer market. I'll be your first customer!