Wowzers….we found a great place to expand our reach and give you more of what you love so much on this site!  Check out our new spot at Pinterest.  At Pinterest our team will be pinning away and curating all sorts of wonderful things for your enjoyment.  It will be a visual smorgasbord of all things gray!  We just started a board for Christine Lagarde.   What a lovely woman.  Check it out and stay tuned!  We’ll be adding more boards soon and sharing them here on our blog.

New feature! Each week we’ll pick a question or a comment from our readers and feature the dialogue on the site. Chime in! The more, the merrier!! Got a question? Email us at info@goinggrayblog.com.

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What will you actually gain instead of lose?

Are you getting better with age? Well, here’s your chance to show it off!  A well known monthly publication is looking for women (ages 30 and up) who look better now than they did years ago.  

Did you grown into your body/looks?  

Find your inner confidence/ identity?  

Find the love of your life?  

Dump the one you thought was the love of your life? Have an eat pray love moment?  

Grow out of your small town style?  

Realize that water is the key to beautiful skin?  

The list goes on and on.

Please share your story of looking better with age. If you or a friend fit the bill please email your name, age, occupation, photos then and now, time frame of your then and now as well as a couple sentences that describe why you look better with age to abridgewater@hearst.com

**Only responses from the New York City tri-state area will be considered.

Must be available for a casting prior to shoot. Shoot date end of January/beginning of February 2012.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Here’s a segment that aired on the TODAY! show showing three women getting glam gray hair makeovers.  They look absolutely gorgeous!  Great tips on gray hair care and makeup too!  Enjoy!

Update:  Here is the link to the TODAY! Show “Seize the Gray” Segment.

Breaking news…We just heard from our friends at the TODAY! show that the Seize the Gray! segment will be airing on Friday, January 20 at approximately 9:36 AM EST. We’ll be watching! Leave us a comment if you catch it. If you miss it, we’ll be posting a link to the segment or the actual video if there is one. Should be great!!

Update:  Here is the link to the TODAY! Show “Seize the Gray” Segment.

Attention ladies living in the tri-state area!! (In the US that’s basically New York City and the surrounding region extending into New Jersey and Connecticut.)

The Today Show is having a Seize the Gray! makeover to help you embrace your gray hair.

Going gray is not just about ditching the dye.  It’s about making a powerful statement.

It’s an expression, and perhaps an opinion. It’s making firm to do something by determining upon an action.

Going gray is a purposeful, deliberate and intentional act.  It defies society’s standards, squashes paradigms and surprises expectations.

Going gray is brave, bold and courageous.  Should we throw in the word fierce?  We think it’s fitting.

Be sure to stay connected to our community if you’ve decided to go gray this year.  We’ve got a lot of great stuff coming up on our blog, and our Facebook page is always hopping.  Be sure to “like” us there!  And don’t forget to share this site with a friend, or your mother…or your sister.  You know, the ones that would look fabulous with gray hair, but just aren’t ready to take the plunge.

Welcome to 2012!

A New Year’s Poem for our readers:

The Old Year

John Clare (1920)

The Old Year’s gone away
  To nothingness and night:
We cannot find him all the day
  Nor hear him in the night:
He left no footstep, mark or place
  In either shade or sun:
The last year he’d a neighbour’s face,
  In this he’s known by none.

All nothing everywhere:
  Mists we on mornings see
Have more of substance when they’re here
  And more of form than he.
He was a friend by every fire,
  In every cot and halló
A guest to every heart’s desire,
  And now he’s nought at all.

Old papers thrown away,
  Old garments cast aside,
The talk of yesterday,
  Are things identified;
But time once torn away
  No voices can recall:
The eve of New Year’s Day
  Left the Old Year lost to all.

May 2012 bring you joy, happiness and the very best of all things!

A new year is almost here, and we want to make going gray a reality for so many women who are sitting on the fence.  Unsure of who will say what… not certain about what they will look like or how they will be supported.  We want to make this choice easier.

During the next 6 weeks, we are going to introduce you to 6 beautiful women who have made the choice to go gray.  All these women are featured in our ebook, Color Me Gray.  We can’t wait for you to meet them and read their inspirational stories.

So stay tuned over the holiday season and into the new year!

Give your gray-hair “wanna be” friends and family members a new year’s gift:  Send them a link to this site or our Going Gray Blog Facebook page.  They will thank you! 

Wow!  What a HOT topic!  We got some great feedback from our community about how to gain respect from a hairstylist who is less than thrilled about you going gray.   Thanks to all who you left some great comments on our  Gray Hair Rocks Facebook page and here on the blog.   Here are some of your suggestions (no edits, your words) :

“I have encountered this reaction from my old stylist, who colored my hair for two years and didn’t like my decision to stop. My reaction has been to grow my hair for the last two years, but it’s at the point where I at least need to get the ends trimmed. I will look for someone new, with whom I can establish a fresh start. First thing I will say is, “I love my salt n’ pepper hair, and have no intention of coloring it. If this isn’t okay with you, let me know right now because I don’t need to dread your judgment with each scheduled haircut.” I have used the honest approach in establishing new relationships with other professionals, and it has never failed me.”

“There are times to project a power persona to garner respect, but if I need to do that to get a decent haircut, that’s so wrong! I totally get your point, but I would prefer finding someone who can show basic respect for the zaftig, fresh scrubbed, and gray among us.”

“I’m through transitioning to “no coloring” in my life, and LOVE having mostly gray hair! During the growing out year, I decided to mainly ignore people who worked in the beauty biz regarding coloring, because I believe they are geared toward SELLING color. Let them have their say, pay no attention, and toss your glorious gray hair over your shoulder as you walk out.”

“Grey hair gives a huge message that you have loads of confidence in yourself and the fact that you (we) are aging, but not trying to hide it like the majority. Going grey is rebellious!! People don’t like it. The hairdresser is challenged and intimidated.”

“My stylist respects my decision as my own and is working with me to achieve my “grow out” with the dignity and pizazz that she has lent to me for years while i was coloring it. i know back in the day, she didn’t think anyone should have grey, but i think ideas of style are changing. i was apprehensive to tell her i was going natural, but she made me feel that if anyone can pull it off, its me! no matter the style or color we must do style business w those we vibe with who lend their skills to our vision for our personal bodies. i would move on till i found someone who gets it. will rock it out for you.”

“Find a new one! My longtime stylist dropped me after I went gray! It wasn’t worth her time for just the price of a cut without color. I asked a salon owner that I trust which stylist understood thick wavy hair best & took his recommendation. Absolutely LOVE my new cut & stylist! You are hiring THEM, so don’t put up with any nonsense! A good cut is key to managing the gray, so find someone both experienced AND pleasant to work with. Especially if you are a bit younger & don’t want to go ultra short. (I’m 50 & have a stacked, angled chin length bob – basically the same style I would have even if I weren’t gray.)”

“Not only did the following service help me find my new curly stylist, but it also has user-ratings, making me feel better about using a locator thingee: http://www.naturallycurly.com.  When I called my stylist, I told her I found her via the locator from that site, and of course I had read her reviews. But I also asked her if she had a problem with me transitioning to gray, meaning that I’ll have 3 colors — including the grays died brown, but fade to orange. No problem, so I made an appt. Her being a curl specialist, I knew she KNEW about shrinkage, so one less thing to explain, but I did let her know it was VERY important to me to have a ponytail, as it’s fairly hot where I live (last month’s highs: 107-109F). Plus I usually resort to ponies for days 3-5 (older curlies don’t need to wash everyday LOL). So I’m still tri-toned (Cold Turkey, no transitioning high/lo lights), but have a lot less hair that still goes into a ponytail. My hairdresser advised me on researching vitamins to increase hair growth so we can get rid of the dyed hair quicker. I love my new stylist, a curly expert that’s also very encouraging to transitionists like me.”

Thanks, ladies!  Anymore suggestions out there?  Feel free to leave a comment!