Don’t Be Afraid to Go Gray

Going gray.  Are you considering this?  Letting go of coloring your hair, dealing with roots and spending the money and the time necessary to keep your “look?”

I was.  In addition to the cost, my hair felt like it was simply sick and tired of me abusing it.  I have naturally curly hair that tends to be dry anyway and the wiry quality of gray hair didn’t make it any better.

A while back, I noticed this new trend of young women choosing to color their hair gray.  Now, it doesn’t really look like natural gray hair, but it’s gray nonetheless.  But who am I to buck fashion? Actually, my thought was “here’s my chance!” After months of research as to how other people took the plunge, soul searching and courage building, I bit the bullet and stopped coloring my dark brunette hair a little over two years ago.  

I was scared.  Terrified to be honest.  What if I aged ten years just with the color of my hair? Beyond that, I have long hair.  How bad will my “skunk stripe” look? Most of my gray sits right on top of my head.  In addition, it was toward the front so the growing out could be quite traumatic.  I found multiple pictures on Pinterest of women with literally half and half hair.

Since I had been coloring my hair myself for quite some time, my hair was pretty much solid dark brown.  Zero highlights so the contrast between the dark brown of my colored hair and the new gray growth was quite dramatic.  

About 3 months in, with my more salt than pepper roots at 2-3 inches long, I knew that it was time for some highlights. So I went to see my gal, Jen, who I would use whenever I needed highlights or a cut.  She’s great because she would never give me any flack for the absences when I wasn’t using her.  Let’s be honest, it was because I was feeling poor and colored my hair myself.

I explain to Jen that I was growing my hair out and that I needed some highlights to camouflage my skunk stripe. In my mind I was hoping that she would use some of the new trendy gray colors.  I thought that it would look better.  She did not.  She expertly wove in some highlights that made the transition flow with ease.

I have to admit, my growing out was pretty darned easy either because of the highlights that Jen did for me or my gray placement.  I do not know the answer to that. What I do know is that I get constant compliments on my hair.  Sometimes they are mistaken. I have had two people recently compliment me on my amazing blonde highlights.  I think it was the lighting.

Regardless, when the conversation actually goes to me choosing to go natural with my hair color, both men and women are incredibly supportive.  I am told that I am brave and that I am trail blazing.

I’m good with that.