Going Gray

July 30, 2007
Kreamer has been creative director of Nickelodeon/Nick at Nite and columnist for Martha Stewart Living
. She has a loving husband (author and radio personality Kurt Andersen) and two daughters. She was 49 and still “pretending” to be young. So not only did she decide to stop coloring her hair, she set out to discover the practical implications of going gray. If she wanted, could she still find men willing to date her? Was gray a handicap in the job market? Not surprisingly, she found that it isn't so much what other people think, “it's how we feel.” Her consultants reminded her that hair color is only one part of a woman's appearance; a new haircut, well-selected cosmetics, new clothes and even plastic surgery will affect the success of a woman's look. Kreamer's chatty, confessional style is appealing, as are the gray-positive cultural icons she invokes (George Clooney, Helen Mirren, Emmylou Harris). But when she declares, “I remain at least as vain as the next person. I intend to continue spending large sums to have my hair cut and styled,” she undercuts her own argument that “repackaging” ourselves can be a dangerously “slippery slope.” In the end, she's learned to accept her own aging; readers over 55, however, may find that premature.