About Me
I am a 43 year old woman. I haven’t gone gray yet, but some day I will. This blog is dedicated to all the powerful women who have made the choice to honor their authenticity, joyfully embrace the aging process and simply go gray. This blog is also written for woman, like me, who will some day be confronted with a similiar choice. Perhaps this blog will make the decision to go gray a little easier.
{ 14 comments… read them below or add one }
HI!
I am not gray yet either…but I totally look forward to it. It makes me sad that so many women feel the need to dye their hair…and that so many women feel the need to tell others to dye their hair because of the gray.
I, personally, think gray is BEAUTIFUL. Gray hair comes in all different variations unlike hair that isn’t gray (you are either blonde, brown, or red)…Gray hair can be all white, a little salt and pepper, a lot of pepper and not much salt…and the kicker is with a good haircut you won’t look “old” at all!!!
I just keep remembering my great grandmother…she had gray hair…but she kept hers long and in braids and I have always wanted to have looong gray hair. I always thought it was the most beautiful hair I have ever seen.
I totally look forward to being gray!
I’ve been wanting to get this off my chest: I’m 48 and I have beautiful silver-white hair that I allowed to show almost 4 years ago. My gripe is that at least half a dozen of the women I work with (all of whom are older by a few years than I and color their hair) never pass up an opportunity to mention my “hot flashes”. Here’s how it goes: the heating system in the building is erratic. If I’m in one spot, it is cold; move into a different area and it’s hot as a sauna. When I’ve mentioned how hot it is in a particular room, I get the “must be hot flashes” comment and a chuckle. Well, I get my period every month like clockwork and I’m as yet showing so signs of stopping. It irks me. Not because I’m not looking forward to menopause; like my gray hair, it’s inevitable. It’s just that hot flashes are not a part of my reality yet. I think they assume that because of my hair, I’m 5-8 years older than I am. I have commented back to all these women that I am not yet there but they’ve persisted on making this comment. I just don’t say I’m feeling overheated anymore so I can avoid being peeved.
This is a terrific website! Need to share though…another great gray book….is …. “Going Gray, Looking Great” by Diana Lewis Jewell. Check her website at http://www.goinggraylookinggreat.com.
It’s the reference Bible for anyone thinking about, going or already….not just gray…silver, pewter, salt and pepper…you name it! I’ve had Diana’s book for 1 year now and it’s never far from reach!
Hi Dawn,
Thanks for mentioning this great book and thanks for reading!
Going Gray
Hi there, Very happy to find your blog (via you finding me on Twitter). I have been looking for blogs related to aging that are not focused on how to stay young looking, but rather about embracing aging! Here is my blog: http://embraceyouragecauseyoulivin.blogspot.com
I am going to add yours to my list.
Ann
Hiya everyone,
So glad to find other like minded ladies, so I am telling everyone about this site. Not much interest from friends and family at the mo. They are all brainwashed into thinking colouring is normal and I am weird for not colouring. I don’t mind being different though. I think to just let your hair go its natural way is a sign of strengh of character and individualism. What does everyone else think? x
Ann, Gaynor, thanks for your comments and welcome to our community!
I am 43 years old. Fed up with my preoccupation with maintaining my hair color, touching up my roots and buying this or that color restoring conditioner, shampoo etc. etc only to discover that most of the time my hair didn’t look that great – I took out my husband’s clippers out onto the porch and with a 1/8″ guard and shaved it all off. Now I am enjoying my little cap of fresh silver hair.
I am ready to be free of the bondage that is the futile pursuit of younger looking hair. I feel like a great weight has been lifted and feel more like myself than I have in years. I feel fierce and beautiful and for some strange reason, taller.
I have been toying with going gray for some time – in some way I felt as though I owed it to myself to own “It” –
I have spent 43 years becoming me, why am I suddenly afraid? The covering up of my hair began to feel more and more like a betrayal of self. And let’s face it, most of us aren’t kidding anyone. Look around, I challenge to find more than a handful of women over 35 whose treated hair looks like anything more than a brassy, faded, fried, over-processes, over – highlighted, over-pigmented, over-styled facsimile of young hair.
You can’t go gray until you are ready but I urge you to begin preparing yourself for liberation.
Terri Holley, a social media consultant gave a talk at On Purpose Networking for women in Baltimore County 4/29 and she mentioned your interesting blog.
I am a personal image consultant located in Baltimore , Md and I have what I call "virgin hair," I have never colored it. I am a "baby boomer," and my short very dark brown hair now is about 10% silver. I sometimes enjoy the way my hair is greying but other times I feel I am losing my contrast level.
Contrast level is the difference between the hair and skin color. As we get grey the reason we start to look older and or washed out is because we lose our contrast level. My normally high contrast level between my dark hair and light skin is more medium contrast as I have been getting greyer. Once my hair completely turns silver (white) I will have my contrast level back. I may "low light," (its the same as highlighting but its putting in dark hilights) around my forehead and temples. I'm not ready to do this yet.
I was trained by Joanna Nicholson, in the Color 1 system and as long as I wear my most flattering shades of clothing and makeup my skin still can still look radiant. Your readers may be interested in understanding how to use color in clothing and makeup . By using their most flattering shades their greying hair will look good and they can save time, money and frustration. Joanna has written several books the most recent is "Dressing Smart for Women," avail in paperback from Amazon. I do not have a blog yet but plan to start one asap. My web site is http://www.WardrobeWiz.com.
Hi,
now I am 49 – but my grey-hair-career started at 18. I dyed my hair, henna and all sorts of chemical colors till I was 44. I did not want to any more, cut my hair off – half an inch -and let it grow again. Now I even get more compliments about my hair, many people think that I am ten years younger and even many men like my grey hair (but funny- they think it is dyed in grey *grin*).
Since that time I see many more women in grey im my little town in Austria – I am proud of being a “trendsetter”.
It was one of my best decisions to turn grey, I feel young and beautiful (although I do not have the perfect body and I fell the “heat” for some month now).
I love it!!
You go, girl! I talk about this in my latest book,”Entering the Age of Elegance: A Rite of Passage & Practical Guide for the Modern Maturing Woman”. I mention what Anne Kreamer has to say about going grey as well as my own decision to let those silver threads blossom. That section in the book is entitled “To Dye or Not to Dye”.
Wow! I love what “clogboots” did by shaving hair and embracing gray, How brave.! You are such an inspiration and so honest. When you talk of fear, of really embracing one’s self, I couldn’t agree more. I use to wonder if other’s also had this battle with what we’re being sold as “beauty” by the media. To really be beautiful is to embrace one’s self, and then show it to the world. I also don’t want to be part of a group with bad hair, horrible roots, and the attempts of chasing a look that just looks desperate. I love that so many women are getting the guts to embrace themselves and reject the fear of what others my not be ready to embrace in themselves. I think that sometimes becoming comfortable with ourselves makes others uncomfortable.
Hi everyone
I found this blog today just searching for images of gray hair with low lights. I am 51 and have very uneven gray , almost white around temples and complete dark brown in other areas. If part my hair down the middle there is amost no gray except for a few squiggly strands. I am thinking of how to go forward. I dread being tied down to coloring roots every 2 weeks. I also dread getting tired of it in the future and having the ” shock” of seeing me half white, half-brown as I will eventually let the dyed hair grow out one day in the future… so I have been putting off the decision and just parting my hair in the least gray part for the past few years.
I come from a south american country where all ladies color their hair as part of their routine like having nice nails or putting on their make up. This makes the few gray haired ladies you see on the street look like their husband’s mothers as opposed to their wives. What about the issue of ” feeling good about yourself”? Most ladies who color their hair say they wouldn’t go back to gray because they feel so much better with their colored hair?
I am considering henna or low lights to color some of my gray and leave some of it , for a more ” natural ” look . I’d like to keep some gray, but not have the white patches . I also think my husband ( who has his own white temples ) might like a more youthful looking wife, compared to his friends’ stylish wives. Is there any research out there that invstigates the relationship between hair color or makeovers with your mood or self confidence? I guess that in theory any woman whose self confidence depends on the color of her hair needs a lot more than a change of hair color… but that is what people seem to say when they have been to the hairdressers and got a new hairstyle or a new color. Will let you know what I decide.