Here is a guest post by Mary at http://grayhairstories.blogspot.com :
I have started a project looking for stories of people who have been coloring their gray hair, but now want to stop…it’s not easy to stop. Four months ago I stopped (coloring my gray) cold turkey and now have about 2 inches of gray roots showing. It, of course, has been a huge internal struggle (I did cave in and recolor my gray a few times previously), but amazingly the struggle is now getting easier.
My idea, and it’s worked for me, is that in order to let the gray grow back in gracefully, it helps to have something to take your mind off of it. Yes, we are all busy anyway, but it helps to have a project or a world issue that is meaningful to us to work on. We use our energy and anxiety (about those dang roots) to do something good for the world, for ourselves and for each other.
To increase the momentum of the gray revolution, I would like to get the word out to people who WANT to “gray up” but are nervous or pressured by our culture to look young. Let’s say NOto that pressure! Let’s make our OWN cultural norm! I will follow their progress on their gray journey AND their project or issue to see how it’s changed their lives, then publish the stories to get even MORE people to gray up !! 50% of any profits will be to give small grants for projects that change the world in some small way. Guidelines TBD.
{ 10 comments… read them below or add one }
My mom went gray over a year ago and looks younger and more beautiful than ever. People come up to her to tell her how fabulous she looks with her soft, silver hair. It’s also in great condition because she’s not coloring it. Now if I could only get the courage myself…
Hi healthnut, your mom is so luckyI hope i look as good! my husband said are you serious when i had said i am not using hair color anymore,my son who is 25 said nooo my daughter was a little more positive said at first nooo ,then she added you will always look pretty .My mom who is 84 still colors her hair looks crazy with her neon red ,the good thing for me is i am retired,after 27 years of coloring I am 53 and i am so ready,
After 42 years of coloring my hair, I have stopped……I didn’t even know what color my hair was any more….what a surprise…most of it as it comes in is silver! And, I will be 60 in August. By then, totally gray! Verdict is still out….I’ve cut it short….has blond on the ends….I, like many, have grown tired tired tired….of the constant coloring roots, then double-processing to obtain the streaked results I wanted). No More!!!!
I decided a year ago to stop coveringy gray. My husband and 3 children(son 25,daugters 23,20) were all supportive. I have been struggling with feeling unattractve. I ve. Been trying to focus on more exercise!
I began growing out my gray hair 5 years ago. Love my
curly wedge style of silver gray.
Well, I ended up on this site because…I want to go gray!! I have dark brown/auburn color now and my colorist has forbidden me from going gray until I'm sixty! Well thanks to all I've read here I am ready to do it. I am 52 and my 20 year old daughter is fully supportive of my decision. With her support and encouragement I hope to be on my way. Wish me luck!
I listened to my hairdresser until I was 57, and I wish I had gone gray a lot sooner! I started going gray in my 20's and spent so much time and money all those years coloring my hair. I finally said enough! My hairdresser, friends, and children told me not to do it; it would age me. Now that it's completely grown in, they are changing their tune. Everyone loves it and my friends wish they could do it but they don't think their gray would be a nice shade. Don't listen to anyone–follow your heart. Suggestion: I cut my hair very short until it was all grown in.
I have been gray two weeks have a very short hair cut feeling nervous,
need support with this decision.
Hang in there girl! Put a big smile on and enjoy the new you… this transition is a process give yourself time to adjust to the shortness and the silver… two big changes.
Thank you Kori!!!!