A CASUAL GLANCE at a photograph of myself and my 16 year old daughter changed my life.  I saw myself as I truly was – a 49-year-old woman with hair dyed much too harshly.  I realized I wasn’t fooling anyone about my age and decided on the spot to quit dyeing my hair and discover what I really looked like.  And this epiphany led me on an unanticipated personal, professional, social and cultural adventure.  I made myself a guinea pig for all women thinking about (or frightened of) letting themselves go gray.  I explored our fears about losing our sexual attractiveness by “dating” on Match.com with both my gray hair and my former brown hair. I went out to bars as a gray-haired pseudo-single. Posing as a corporate job-seeker I interviewed with headhunters and image consultants – and in Going Gray I expose the unspoken ugly truth about 21st century discrimination. I had free-ranging conversations with icons such as singer Emmylou Harris, Governor Ann Richards, author Anna Quindlen, actress Frances McDormand, Mireille  (French Women Don’t Get Fat)  Guiliano and Nora  (I Feel Bad About My Neck) Ephron.  What I discovered about aging gracefully surprised me, and may surprise and inspire you, too.