To Dye or not To Dye

Yep, that is the question. I'm torn - I haven't colored my hair in a long time, and it's pretty much all-natural at this point. I am facing that fork in the road every woman faces when her hair starts to grey - let it be natural and eventually become a magnificent silver fox? Or sprint down to the salon and cover those greys with glorious, youthful color? And highlights? And low-lights? Or a fabulous weave? It is tempting. A few things restrain me from option B. 1. I'm not very grey as yet. I am ALMOST 50 but I've lucked out with the hair color genes or something, I do have grey
coming in, but the majority of my hair is still brown. I kind of want to look at the natural brown for as long as I can. 2. hair color maintenance is a drag. And expensive! At my (albeit fabulous and wonderful) salon it costs around $200 to color your hair. 3. It doesn't always look natural. When the light hits colored hair sometimes it just gleams an unnatural red, or purple, or magenta, or whatever under tone
was in the dye. And if your hair is at all thinning - which mine is beginning to be - it shows the scalp through in a high-contrast shade of pink. Kind of ick! Unless you're Vivienne Westwood or something and it's totally cool. Alas, I am not she. However, in some photos my greys are so highlighted I really do look like an old lady. I don't mind looking like one, WHEN I AM ONE!
And even though people regularly died by the age 43 only a hundred years ago from plague and tuburculosis and having too many children, I am not an old lady. I may have been a grizzled old toothless granny on a rocking chair with 15 kids and their kids all clinging to my patched skirts a hundred years ago - but hallelujah it's 2016 and at 49 I am still considered a teensy, tiny, teeny- weenie bit young. So. Back to my dilemma. Should I rock my 50th birthday with new, glorious hair - perhaps a dark shade to augment my french gamine aesthetic, or maybe a california blond rinse to camoflauge my greys and add some summer gold to my hair? Or, let it be what it is, get a super-cute cut, and revel in the fact that I still have so much naturally brown hair. Hmmmm..... I can't decide. Stay tuned for pics of the final result. We'll see what the "mid-life crisis" mindset reveals. Let's just hope I don't actually get that tattoo I was dreaming of the other day....next thing I'll show up in a red convertible, tattooed, dyed and heading for vegas! Yikes! xoxoxo DR