Ruth’s Story: Grooving and Confident at 68
"...I take every day as it comes, and I wear it as if it's the gift of the present."
At 68, Ruth feels like she is exactly where she is supposed to be.
She feels confident, comfortable and sexy just being herself. In short, Ruth has never felt better—especially with her striking silver hair.
Watch the video to hear her full story.
Video Transcript:
Ruth. I'm 68.
It feels very good. I absolutely feel that I'm where I'm supposed to be. I'm grooving with where I'm at, and I'm very confident in where I'm at. And I don't need to know what's in the future because I take every day as it comes, and I wear it as if it's the gift of the present.
I allow my hair to go gray. At first, I was a little bit apprehensive about it, but once I cut it off short and I let it grow in, I never felt better.
I've never gotten so many compliments. And I used to have long hair almost to my waist, long, black, thick, full hair. And I used to love that look, but never do I get the compliments like I get today. People stop me in the street and they tell me, "Oh, your hair is beautiful," and it's just like an added bonus.
I didn't know what my hair looked like underneath because I had rinsed it for 30 years, and it would seem like every two weeks I had to rinse it again.
One of my best friends had brain cancer, and she had to have surgery, and she had to go through the process. And I just decided that I was gonna cut my hair in support of her. So, when I cut it, I couldn't sleep for two weeks because it was so very short, and then I let it go gray.
And, I began to feel very comfortable and very confident in who I am, and how I looked while looking in the mirror. As a matter of fact, I didn't know it was so bright. I mean, I was trying to make my hair lighter in color, and here it was already light.
I feel the same sexiness as I did at 27 at 68. I feel like a woman. I feel sexy because that's not about the outside, it's how you feel on the inside. I still buy Victoria's Secrets as I did when I was 27, as I do at 68. When they have the sale, I'm the first one in there.
I wanna age gracefully, continue the process of aging gracefully, and be healthy. So, you know, exercise is very important to me, and I want to continue that, to be healthy and have a full productive life. I hope that I will have a couple of bestsellers, you know, books. But, that's what I'm looking forward to.
I have a lot of female friends. I have a lot of male friends, too. Well, I have a couple of friends that all wear gray hair, which is unusual for people who are very fashionable, people that are very fashionable. And I know that girls that I modeled with back in the day, none of them wear gray hair. But I have a couple of friends of mine who wear their hair gray. And as I was making that decision to go gray, they were like, "Oh, it'll look fabulous on you."
So I have about four girlfriends, and they might be a little older than I am, but they're fierce. They dress fabulous, they keep up, they go to the Met. They keep up with what's going on, and they look fabulous, and I'm a part of their club. So, you know...and then I have young friends as well. I have young friends who are inspired that, at this point in my life, that I'm still a role model, still fashionable, and they still feel like they wanna hang out with a mature lady. I have young friends, old friends, in-between friends, new friends, old friends. I just love people.
As you evolve, everything evolves. I can't compare to myself when I was 20. I was very different when I was 20, but I enjoy myself much more at this stage of my life because, again, I'm comfortable with who I am and I know what I'm doing.
Video Highlights
0:03 Why 68 feels very good
0:17 Taking each day as a gift
0:25 Gray hair = never felt better
0:36 Gray hair = more compliments than ever
1:01 Cut her hair to support a friend with cancer
1:21 Feeling comfortable and confident
1:37 Feeling the same sexiness at 68 as 27
1:58 Aging gracefully and staying healthy
2:27 Her girlfriends with gray hair
2:49 Fierce older friends / inspiring young friends
3:29 As you evolve, everything evolves.