I'm a 70 year old with a swinging pony tail. I use a Topsy tail tool that lets my hair flip over itself in a ponytail band and it really looks sophisticated-and very easy to do. My hair is still very dark brown with just a hint of gray in the front which I like. I tend to wear long flowing skirts and soft blouses rather than slax which I hate. Most of my shoes are sandals. This is a huge change in wardrobe from when I was a nursing coordinator and marketer.
briegull....You don't dye hair, you color hair. I colored my hair for over fifty years. Always a blonde except during my last pregnancy at 38 when I decided to be a red head. I went back to being blonde because it was more fun. I stopped coloring about two years ago and found out my hair was a boringgggggg light brown. It is now showing some gray streaks and looks okay. I still wear the makeup but have stopped the mascara except for special occasions because the cataract surgury took away my close up vision. What special occasions??????? am I talking about. I really miss dressing up and going to all the Saturday nights dances at the BPOE lodge that was a part of our lives. The other night DH ask me if I liked to dance? He said he would like to take me dancing. Ahhhhhhhh....Sweet. I'll bet he could still shuffle to the beat even tho he has problems walking now. Oh, well that was then and this is now
I also worked as an Admin Asst for a regional airline for 11 years before I retired. High heels, panty-hose, suits, nice dresses, etc. I used to have to do some traveling. Have you ever wore panty hose on a hot summer day and fly to a job in another city when the temp was 85? Those pantyhose will just cut you in two. Absolutely miserable! Thought I'd die before I got home. Never again!
I grew up a country girl/tomboy. I would rather slop the pigs than do 'girly' stuff in the house. It drove my mom crazy but that just left more time for her to do stuff with my older sister. I worked in the berry/green bean fields from about age 6 (ate more than I got paid for); cannery in high school; nurses aide; owner our own print shop; clerk for a medical insurance office; built 4 cylinder outboard engines; ran an air mattress press; bookkeeper for nurseries (plant) and a small book publisher; volunteer lay counselor for 3 years (best job I have had); front desk clerk; and now Workamping.
Never wore makeup - can't stand anything on my face. Had to wear dresses to school but they came off as soon as I got home. Grew up on a farm with nearest neighbor a mile away which is how far we walked to catch the bus. When I first took my hb there, he thought I was trying to get him lost. I haven't worn a dress in years - don't even own one anymore. I mostly wear shorts if it is warm enough otherwise knit pants or stretch jeans, men's shirts (fit my fat body better) or big sweatshirts; socks and sneakers. I am a very casual dresser. My hb has always been the opposite - liked shirt and ties so we were always dressed opposite of each other. My hair is simple brown with a very few gray hairs; in the early 80s I had it permed a few times but heard perming causes it to gray sooner. I let my hair grow until it is long enough then get it cut short donating it to 'locks of love'. This is about a 2 year cycle.
When I look at picture of me from my childhood to now there is a smile on my mouth but not my eyes. I was a very sad child due to dodging abusers. I would say I have been depressed all my life, sometimes better than others, and suicidal starting in my childhood. Only during my senior year in high school and in the 90s did I actually try anything. I took trazadone then prozac from 1986 to the mid 90s but stopped when I became more suicidal on than off.
My joy right now is with my two grandkids that live here. They make me smile. My 3 year old granddaughter thinks I am the best there is. Helps that I am the only grandma she knows as her other grandma disowned her mom when she married my son. Her brother is 9 months old and is getting more fun. But it is always emotionally exhausting after playing with them. In a couple weeks during spring break we will see two other grandkids that live with their other grandparents. They are 8 and almost 12. It is easy to fake happy with the little ones but the older ones it is getting harder.
So my former life: sad and stressful and challenging. Current life: sad, stressful, challenging with some joy from two little kids. We rarely have ever had friends, so do everything together - part of the hazards of moving so often. But, life goes on and so do we. If not for my faith, I would have been dead long ago.
Bluedaze, Freezing pantyhose? You would NEVER have to do that in Ohio.I do always keep a white shirt of hubby's in freezer.In case one is needed (not often these day's) it's really white not yellowed from hanging so long.
Remember the movie Overboard, with Goldie Hawn and Curt Russell, where she a filthy rich debutante then has an accident causing amnesia and wakes to find herself married to a poor but sweet man????? That must be me, I just know I was born to a loving wealthy family, living the life of luxury, weekly spa treatments, manicures, pedicures, we "did" lunch at only the best spots, had to deal with the paparazzi and drank champagne at night by the pool. Now I wake up and find myself here in Maine, married to a sweet man, serving as his loving caregiver, with stubby fingernails, formally jet black hair turning white, trying to figure out how to keep my sanity, and make ends meet. Ahhhhhh to dream.
Remembering "Overboard"...... you will recall Goldie was much happier with the man and his boys.... than with her snobby husband. Isn't she the cutest thing?