For Better or For Worse by Lynn Johnston for September 25, 2018

I think John rests his case.

John! Shut up now! And leave the room! If you value your life!

Are you ready for a whole of gray hair jokes? I know I am. Bring on the hair colour!

In case you were wondering, when this comic strip was originally published in 1989 Elly was supposed to be 39 years old.

I wouldn’t know what to say in such a situation. If I lied to her and said that she’d had no grey hairs, she’d come down on me. If I confirmed it (but said that there were only a few grey hairs) she’d burst out in tears. :/

And another of Lynn’s true-to-life dealings with aging shows up in the strip. Part of why so many people read it, for so long- the characters feel REAL, despite the occasional cartoonish overreaction.

Who else.When I saw one, I plucked it out, but I never went looking for it.

One day, when I was about 30, I was taking a walk with my mother & her sister. At one point my aunt stopped, looked at me, and said, “Karen! You have some grey hairs!” I said, “Yeah.” My aunt called my mother: “Theresa! Karen’s got some grey hairs!” My mom came over & looked. They’re both going through my hair (once again, I LOVE people playing with my hair). My mother said, “You have to start coloring now.” That raised my hackles. “I don’t HAVE to do anything!” That was over 20 years ago, and I still haven’t colored my hair.

Wife never colored her hair and wouldn’t wear a wig when she went bald during ‘chemo’ but did have a lot of cut off and donated to make wigs several times before being diagnosed.

My Mom is 86 and finally stopped dying her hair. She’s in an assisted living home with a bunch of other people her age. I guess she figured, “what’s the point?”

Relax Elly. If you need support, look at Bob Barker. When he renounced hair dye in 1987 and let his hair go gray (and eventually white), his popularity soared.

I’m perfectly fine with going grey. Growing up I was around some women who went prematurely grey and they were adults I liked and admired. I associate it with strength. My only hope was that my grey would be white like my dad’s and not yellow like my mom’s. I got my wish! (Another plus is that I’m saving a ton of money by not dying it!)

Guess I misread yesterday’s strip. I thought the hairdresser was complimenting her on her hair color to cover her grey—not pointing out grey ones.

Stephen Colbert is currently sporting a white beard with his dark head hair. Anyone but me think it looks strange?

There’s your answer, John.

For heaven’s sake! Just be glad you have hair at all!

I got my first gray hair when I was 16. Now it is hard to find black hair.

My mother’s sister went gray at 19 and totally white by the time she was 30. It was beautiful. Other women were constantly asking her what hair color she used!

My wife was prematurely grey when we got married. However when our first was 2 or 3 years old. We were in Walmart our first said “mommy please pick me up” and a little girl that had been watching said, “You’re her mother? I thought you were her grandmother!” So my wife has been coloring her hair for the last 25 years

A little girl was watching her mom at the kitchen counter. The girl noticed that one of her mom’s hairs was gray, and asked, “Mommy, why is one of your hairs gray?” Sensing a teaching moment, the wise mother replied, “Well, dear, anytime you do something that makes me cry, one of my hairs turns gray.” The little girl thought about this for a while, and asked, “Mommy, why are all of Grandma’s hairs gray?”

I started going grey in my 20"s

Before I was 20 most of my hair was turned white. Most of it is still there 40 years later.

I am proud of my antique blonde hair….I worked hard for it….earned it….deserve it….and wear it with pride……especially goes good with a dark shirt.

Got rid of my gray hairs shave then off

When some women discover they have a few gray hairs, they decide to go prematurely blonde. Gray roots don’t show up in blonde hair as easily as in brown or black. A friend and my sister both did that. I began getting gray in my late 30s, but have never died my hair any color. If I woke up tomorrow and my hair was back to it’s natural dark brown, I’d be thrilled, but I’m not going to waste time and money on dye. I’m 66, and most of my hair is now white and gray, with a little dark brown in the back.

At 80, my wife is maybe 15% gray, well-mixed in, and accepting. Her mother was totally gray at that age, but one aunt was only about a third gray at 109.