With Faith on the Eighth.
Geneva, August 8, 2025
Babe you're so blessed.This realisation dawned on the morning of May 15, a week before leaving on a trip to Asia.
Between travel preparations, client meetings and administrative responsibilities, high on my priorities was having my hair colour and braids done, at two different salons. Sometimes that’s how it is. If you know you know.
I have battled with the “to colour or not to colour” debate for a couple of years. I am at the stage where my entire hairline is grey. There are times when I look at it and think “meh, who is that person?” and at other times, I quite like it. My new growth shows up every fortnight post-colour so it is quite an investment in time and money.
So, back to May 15th and my packed pre-travel schedule: I had the hair colour appointment at 9h on the other side of town; then had to get back to my office in time for an online client meeting at 11h; then another at 13h with a new Coach contact in Japan; followed by a 14h15 appointment to have my nails done; another 15h telephone client meeting and at 16h, have my braids done. A day peppered with to-do's.
I woke up an hour earlier than usual as I had done some oil treatment overnight and needed to wash my hair before having the colour done. It felt good to have that extra hour so I was relaxed and unrushed as I prepared to go out. I took my time brushing my thick curly hair into a bun and once done, looked in the mirror. The person I saw looking back at me was this absolutely stunning 59 year-old woman with grey hair and perfect skin. I stared at her as though meeting her for the first time. My eyes welled up with tears. I bowed my head and stared at the floor. I looked up again in the mirror and the only thought that came to me was "Babe, you're so blessed". By this time, I had a solid lump in my throat.
Something in me shifted that morning. I cleared my throat, put my hands together and said “Lord, I am so grateful that you created me the way that I am”. I looked at my hair again and it was not grey but bright silver. “Oooh", I thought, "Babe, you're hot", laughing out loud as I indulged in this self-appreciation and affirmation.
By now you can guess what I did. Yep! I cancelled the appointment to colour my hair thinking to myself, “ I am going to step into my silver. I am going to step into my looks at this age and at this stage. I am going to step into the natural Faith that I saw this morning and so loved.”
Why am I telling you this? I am telling you this because this truth has changed my life. Here’s how.
Six to eight weeks before, I had had cornrows done straight after having my hair coloured. I did not enjoy the colouring process. The braids were tight. And painful. For one week, I went around in this pain thinking “God, why am I doing this to myself?” When I took them out, I had so much breakage, my normally full hairline had thinned out. There and then, I made a promise to myself that if I got my hair back, I would stop treating it so badly. I would no longer have any chemical treatment done to it. No more colour. No more tiny goddess braids. And yet here I was, only just having grown my hair back, coming so close to breaking that promise.
As memory of this promise came flooding back, I realised God had given me eyes to see what I was not seeing. The blessing of a full and beautiful head of hair.
Now let me tell you the best part of it. Remember I had this busy day ahead. The minute I was obedient to cancel that hair colour appointment and to step into the beauty that God has created and the person and the message that I will be whenever I step out and people look at me and say: “Wow, Faith does not colour her hair and looks great”, God started arranging things. The magic started happening. If you know you know.
First, I turned on my phone and the Japanese Coach had cancelled our appointment because he sadly felt unwell. This worked out great for me as it was backed up to my nail appointment and required quite a juggle. I wrote to him to wish him well and we agreed to meet in Tokyo where I was headed (our meeting went great by the way and now we are developing projects together). Then my other client meeting was cancelled because his Boss had given him an urgent task. That freed me up yet again to see to other things. My day that had been so tight now had pockets of air and I could breathe. That’s not all….
On May 9, the week before that is, I had organised a lunch event for members of the Insightful community in Geneva. It was fun. We ate well, sang, danced and had great conversation.
The main theme of our discussion was “who are you when you give yourself full permission?” Talk somehow shifted to aging, living fully, concepts of beauty, the pressures to look youthful and inevitably to the "to colour or not to colour" question. I listened to three beautiful women who wore their different shades of grey hair in natural styles. They had walked this journey before me, including one whose hair started turning grey at 12. I listened to them tell their stories of rejecting societal expectations and judgement, without rancour. They just chose to be fully themselves.
I was full of admiration as I looked at them inspired by the stories they told of giving themselves full permission to be. I didn’t know it then but I now know that my seed of freedom was planted on that day. Yes indeed, I am free and that freedom is manifesting in different parts of my life. I am thankful to them (you know yourselves) for sharing their stories with gusto. It took me a while to understand that their stories enabled me to give myself full permission to embrace my silver on that May 15th morning. I know better and am the better for it. I am proudly rocking my silver and loving it.
This is one of the joys of community. I never walk alone. You never walk alone. We never walk alone. We learn from our journeys together. We are Insightful.
And now to you.
Who are you when you give yourself full permission? What about you or your life are you not embracing? What can you be grateful for and celebrating that you are not? Are you drawing inspiration from the people around you? Try it. You may just be pleasantly surprised as I was.
With love,
Faith