My mom was a 1945 war bride and raised me to believe that letting your hair go gray was as close as a woman could come to committing beauty suicide. Four years ago, my brother and I realized she was the only resident in her nursing home with brown hair. I was responsible for scheduling her hairdresser appointments and decided it was time for her hair color to be natural, despite her past sentiments on the subject. What eventually enabled me to go natural was the honesty required when seeing myself in a mirror.