September / October 2007
Transitions: Anne Kreamer
Feeling comfortable in my own skin--hair included--has given me more confidence
Three years ago, Anne Kreamer, then 49, decided to transform herself from a dyed brunette to a proud grayhead. Her new book--Going Gray: What I Learned About Beauty, Sex, Work, Motherhood, Authenticity, and Everything Else That Really Matters--chronicles the experience.
Photo by Deborah Feingold
Three years ago, Anne Kreamer, then 49, decided to transform herself from a dyed brunette to a proud grayhead. Her new book- Going Gray: What I Learned About Beauty, Sex, Work, Motherhood, Authenticity, and Everything Else That Really Matters -chronicles the experience.
You write that going gray represents "being over the hill." Are you over the hill?
When I started the process, I was anxious that I'd feel old and un-sexy--the Barbara Bush image. But I discovered that my hair color actually had very little to do with my sense of attractiveness. Feeling comfortable in my own skin--hair included--has given me more confidence.
Barbara Bush aside, there aren't many prominent women in American public life with gray hair. Why is that?
Because the media and the beauty industry have brainwashed women into thinking that men don't like gray hair.
Do they?
In one of my experiments for the book, I took off my wedding ring and went to bars to see if men would try to pick me up...and a guy in his thirties did. Try, that is.
Would you dye your hair if you were running for president?
I think having gray hair would be a competitive advantage for me--a signal to the electorate that I was telling the truth.
You'd also show that you're serious about cutting spending.
I calculated that I spent $6,500 on hair color during the 25 years I dyed my hair. If I'd invested that money, it'd be hundreds of thousands of dollars now.
So what's next? I can't wait to be a grandmother.
Photo by Deborah Feingold
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