Richard Gere, Kenny Rogers, that singer they used to call the Silver Fox — what was his name? Oh, yeah, Charlie Rich. And you’ve all seen that handsome husband of mine …I love the look of graying hair on men. It gives them the distinguished look of worldly wisdom. God graces the lucky with a brush stroke of gray at the temples that blends upward and backward with what can only be described as downright artistic. Few women are graced with this effect. My own tresses have started turning into this salt and pepper mixture of gray and dirty brown. I’m not even sure when this all happened. I just looked one day and there it was. I stood there gazing in the mirror at someone who surely could not be me. When did I start to look older? I sure do not feel older on the inside.Why is it that the gray hairs are always a different texture and seem so much shinier than my real hair? They are shorter, too. Did the good stuff abandon ship and leave the wimpy aged-looking to take its place? When there were just a few grays poking out, I used to fib that they were cosmetic highlights that went bad. If something is going to go bad, like my hair, why couldn’t it have gone to the ‘dark side’?I went to beauty school in the early ’80s, where I learned that the color of hair has a life span just like anything else. When the follicle stops producing the melanin needed for color, you get hair with no color, which just happens to be gray.When I was a young adult, I experimented with hair coloring just for fun. My locks have been practically every shade under the sun, but tinting your hair by selecting a chemical process is a whole lot different from nature deciding. Though I’m sure it did not happen overnight, it feels like someone has just played a very cruel joke on me, and I, the self-crowned queen of levity, am having trouble finding the humor in the entire situation. There is an old wives’ tale that states that if you pluck out one gray hair, two will grow back in its place. I did not think this was true, and maybe that is why I am now having the trouble that I am having.I have heard parents blame their children for the appearance of gray hairs on their heads. I have jested, "I can feel my hair turning gray" in the direction of our children on more than one occasion, and perhaps I will place the final blame on them. One way or another, it is definitely someone’s fault.I’ve a feeling my own mother grayed early, but I don’t remember exactly when. By my calculations, I am positive that my older brother and younger sister were responsible for 92.76 percent of any graying in our family. Ah … numbers! Who could argue with such a precise computation?Mom now has this striking crop of white hair that looks great on her. She wears it in a pixie cut and it looks fittingly perky, as that is the type of woman she is. Amazingly, Dad has a good percentage of his hair still brown. I figure fathers must not be affected like mothers in a lot of ways.In the Bible, Proverbs 16:31 states, "Gray hair is a crown of splendor; it is attained by a righteous life."I don’t think that the queen of levity is ready for such a crown. And should one really wear two crowns at once? Surely the fashion authorities would be breathing down my neck over such a faux pas. So I have started coloring my hair. After all, my driver’s license states that my hair is brown and I would hate to be a breaker of the law and misrepresented on such a legal document. I have learned that law enforcement officers do not find some things humorous and this just might be one of them. I’m not going to push my luck.My hair is now my "natural" color. Or is it the color that it used to be my natural color? In either case, it matches what my driver’s license says. Let’s just hope the police don’t start carrying around bathroom scales in their squad cars or I could really be in a lot of hot water.Call me "Miss Clairol number 308" and with that I close the gate.Story ideas or comments can be e-mailed to Nancy861@msn.com or called in at 962-3411.