I’ve got a question for you. It’s about fashion. Or beauty. Actually it hits upon a number of different topics. My question is about coloring your hair. Or more importantly, covering those pesky gray roots. This isn’t even an age issue, because I started finding gray hairs in my twenties. I have friends that found them in their teens.
I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately. Growing up in Southern California, gray hair is serious. It’s no laughing matter. Gray is something that signals old age. It’s something that you fight against with all your might. Under no circumstances do you give in and let yourself “go”. People will think that your old.
So when is the right time to stop coloring your hair? I always figured that I would continue coloring my hair forever. I love my brown locks. But I am getting tired of going to the salon to have those pesky grays colored so often.
So here I am, wondering if I could rock the silver, and still look young and fashionable. Not old. And not dowdy. No bubble hair-dos. No mom-jeans.
I’ve been noticing more and more beautiful young women sporting gray hair. I think it can look stunning. It doesn’t have to look like your grandmas gray hair. I am so curious to know what I would look like with white or silver hair and a young face. I’m not totally silver. Probably just chunks of white/silver highlights.
So I think that I’m going to give it a try. Anyone else ready to embrace your gray? I figure that the worse that happens is I don’t like it, and go back to my brown locks.
So what do you think?
I’ve never colored my hair (although I really didn’t start getting any noticeable silver until last year) and I don’t ever intend too. My mom has beautiful silver hair (although she does add purple streaks more of an artistic statement than to cover any silver!). I look 15 years younger than my actual age and I don’t think a little silver (or white or gray) will change that. It should be all about how you feel! You look great, Julie! I say rock the gray!
Rock the grey! Some young women are dying their hair grey now, and I think it looks great. I’m totally jealous of my friends with grey hair.
My hair started going silver in my thirties and I colored it back to dark brown. I colored it for years but finally got tired of the chore and the chemicals and “let myself go.” Everyone says it looks great, though I still sometimes have mixed feelings. But I LOVE not worrying about roots, which drove me crazy. And I no longer put those dye chemicals on myself and into the environment. I really respect women who choose to let their hair be natural, and I see glorious silver hair on lots of beautiful women in Seattle. If you need help with the initial process of letting it go grey, you can get a foil. The stylist adds your natural color back in and blends it with the grey. You don’t see roots as the hair grows in. I did this and it looked so great I almost decided to keep doing it but I was committed to letting my hair be natural, and the pile of actual foil that got used in the process made me feel like a mega polluter! Go silver!
I had natural grey hair for a while (it was very short so looked cute) but when I decided to grow it again I started to colour it, as the more hair = more grey and more chances to look older than you are. The tipping point for me was when my daughter told me I looked like a grnadma! I think if I were to go short again I’d let it go natural, but until then, colouring it is. I am lucky as my friend is a hairdresser and will colour it in exchange for baking!
I think, why support the billion dollar beauty industry and its ideas about what is beautiful. If we can change the way we think and feel about eating animals we can change the way we think and feel about beauty. Spend that money you would have taken to the salon and send it to an animal shelter or other organization you support, like vegan food carts!
Your timing is amazing! I’ve colored my hair for about 6 or 7 years – I’m in my 60’s now, but I’m tired of doing it! It’s so obvious right after it’s done, and then it starts to fade in a week or two. Can’t afford salon prices either. What’s a girl to do? I’m going gray, and since I’m already a granny, I’m ok with the whole aging thing anyway. You however are young and pretty – and will look fabulous, gray or not!
Hi! This is my first time commenting but I love your blog 🙂 On the subject of grays, I say rock it. I started finding grays probably when I was about 16 (thanks mom) and have seen a steady increase of silver strands in my hair. I’m now 26 and I have 2 HUGE streaks of gray. I tend to dye my hair not necessarily to cover the gray but because I just like darker hair on me. I’ve started to wait longer in between touch ups and they silver really tends to stick out, especially against my dark natural color. The funny thing is, people LOVE it. I get comments and compliments all the time. it is especially funny because I have a very young face (people think I’m 18). I think any woman can rock the silver. Age doesn’t matter, it’s all about attitude!!!
I say go for it! Seriously… you are gorgeous and could totally pull it off!
I can’t wait to see how it looks since I am in the process of allowing my mostly gray hair to grow out. I have chosen to go lighter with the hair color and have some highlights added as a sort of transition to my natural hair color, which is now over 50% gray.
With age: things are gained, some lost. True beauty coming from inside: your intelligence, compassion and generosity are the things attracting us after initial impressions subside. You share your time and enthusiasm – priceless and magnetic. All that said: even with an eye patch and a peg-leg you’d be Ms. Blackjack, not a filthy bilge rat. Rrrr mate!
Hi Julie! Love the new site and the book cover. How exciting! Don’t forget to keep me posted so I can help out.
On the gray, I think it really depends on how you feel about gray hair. If it looks beautiful to you on others, go for it! Who cares what anyone else thinks!
i’ve always admired women who rock their grey. as a redhead, though, it just looks like i’m going blonde… which may or may not be a bad thing 😉
You already know what I think… 🙂
Thanks for all the awesome feedback you guys! I’m actually excited about seeing what my hair will look like. At this point, It’s only grown out a couple of inches, and I have that stupid skunk line. I had my haircut last week up to my chin, so it would make this process a lot easier. I love the shorter hair though.
Great idea Andrea, I’m going to look into that. Otherwise I might just do a short pixie chop in another couple of months.
Julie, you’re going to look gorgeous with silver streaks!
Dont hate me, but I think you should keep your beautiful brunette hair. I am sure when you go to your hair dresser for a touch up you have a relaxing afternoon sipping a soy latte and reading magazines. You probably fit in time for mani’s and pedi’s as well. You have lovely a british peaches and cream complexion and your dark hair really sets it all off. I am sure most of the comments are pro gray, au naturel! However, we all shave our legs and armpits (most of us gals anyhow) and that practice is high maintence as well. You are too young to go silver, wait 20 years and lets see then!
Love your recipes! I am more than thrilled!!!!
Lisa 🙂
I hope you decide to do it. Gray hair can be stylish and hip. I think you would look amazing. My blog is devoted to being fearlessly gray and relentlessly cool — sometimes I get it right, and sometimes I fail miserably. Either way, I write about it to entertain and inform. Rock the Silver@ is the name of my blog, and if you haven’t already visited, I hope you will check it out. Good luck on your journey!
Thanks Melisser! We’ll see when they grow in.
No hate here Lisa! I appreciate your honesty and totally get what you’re saying about maintenance. That’s pretty much how I thought about it. I think though that for me it’s less about the maintenance, and more about not wanting to douse my head with chemicals every few weeks. I have decided to have a wait and see attitude with the silver, as I really can’t tell how it’s going to look until it grows in. So if it looks bad, I’ll consider going back to coloring. I really hope that it will look good though.
Thanks Donna! I have seen your blog and love it! I am going for it, ugly skunk-line and all.
it hit me this morning that maybe I should go for a cute short cut and stop coloring my hair. it’s not the chemicals, though I’ll love to feel the softness of my hair again, so much as it’s just that my grays are me. now do I know if I’m going to love it once that’s all that I’m looking at . . . no. but I’ve found a good colorist and I think that I’m ready to take the leap, if I don’t like it I can always go back to coloring my hair, a few dollars poorer but with one less thing on my “what if” list.
however, if I do like it then I can be that much more free to be me and I’m thinking that freedom will add to confidence which adds to sexiness and that just might more than make up for the fact that people don’t think I’m in my twenties anymore 😉
I did the ash blonde highlight for a decade and got tired of the brassiness fight at the salon, frying my hair and damaging my little very LCMs. I am naturally a little darker than a #4. Now touching 60 my family wanted me to return to brunette from progressive blonding. I took the dive with a new and vetted colorist:
#5 base with platinum highlights anywhere I had gray starting to show itself, as a transition to my authentic self (hey, I felt sexy with nice cool highlights so this should be good). My hair has remained silky and I had a good set of natural extensions colored to match. I am one hot great-grandmother, according to my kids and partner. Haha. While I feel a bit like Rogue or Storm I am experiencing a bit of mixed feelings — is it ok to embrace my authentic self (even my own dad and grandmother I my went 35% gray with a nice face frame) aa then a resounding “hell, yes. I am not only honoring my true self but my family’s as well.”
With my healthy and active lifestyle, a professional career, 12 children and a gaggle of grandkids and now a great grandson, I am rocking this life!