By the time I was 40 years old, I’d been coloring my hair for ten years. I wanted to desperately stop coloring it and chop it all off. It was a time in my life of tremendous difficulty and extreme challenges and I needed to simplify everything. At that time, I was going through a difficult divorce, fighting an emotional legal battle in court, and my emotional, mental and physical health was shot, and cutting my hair felt like a release from all old thought patterns and one less thing to deal with. Even though there was the risk of loosing my career as a model, I took the risk because I really needed to start fresh, stay authentic to how I was really feeling and be true to myself. Showing up in the world as my authentic self became paramount.
Fortunately, I survived the rough patch I had to go through and came out all the wiser. Looking back I see how courageous I was by going grey for several reasons. Grey hair was not a ‘thing’ like it is today. There was not a lot of demand for models who had grey hair. There wasn’t a ‘Classic' division in my modeling agency. The term ‘Age Diversity’ didn’t exist as a hashtag because there were no hashtags!
Going grey today still takes a certain amount of courage, yet grey hair so much more accepted. If you’re considering going grey now, it’s much less shocking to the world and much more common than ever before. What good timing for you!
How ironic life can be. Once I became true to myself and let my hair go natural, my modeling career took off. When I stopped trying to look the way I thought I was supposed to look, great things happened. My grey hair color catapulted me into a whole new niche once I looked like myself. Plus, my hair grew in as healthy, thick and shiny. If you take the leap and go grey, I would hope that surprisingly wonderful new things will show up in your life, too.
What I found curious is, although many strangers applaud me for having taken the leap, those same women are afraid to embrace their own natural grey hair, in spite of liking mine and wanting it for themselves. Their reasons for not going grey are generally the same which are they think they’ll look old. They think people won’t like how they look, and they think the transition will be difficult. These fears seem legitimate and big. But actually, they aren’t so big, because everything we want is on the other side of fear. Once we step into our fear, it diminishes the fear and isn’t as big as we thought.
Today there are hair products to help blend the grey into your hair color. When I transitioned to grey nearly twenty years ago, there were no grey hair color products. Can you imagine!? That shows how popular this color is now. In the United States the hair color industry is worth over $2 billion and growing. Young, dark haired women are getting their hair dyed grey. We, as older women (and some young women, too) can go grey naturally and be on trend. How lucky are we! Money and time saved. Anyway, back then the only option was to cut it short and let it grow in. So, that’s what I did. But today, you can highlight, lowlight and use certain new toners to help blend in the grey. The good news is, once it’s grown it, you’re done. It’s all grown in and you’re good to go.
Women have said to me, “I’d let my grey grow in if it’ll look like yours.” But what’s right for me won’t be right for you. Your own grey hair color is perfect for you and your skin tone. Trust in nature. Nature knows the best color for you. Your natural hair color is the most flattering color you can wear around your face. Your wrinkles look less strong because it softens the look of the texture of your skin. Your eye color becomes stronger and you look vibrant.
When you’ve got grey hair it doesn’t mean you’re old and spend your life in a rocking chair. People are waking up to the fact that women with grey hair still have verve, beauty and energy and are still very active and attractive. In a way, letting your natural hair color grow in gives you a new and emancipated lease on life.
I can’t emphasize enough just how liberating and empowering it feels when you go grey. You’re showing up as your authentic self and showing the world that you are proud of who you are naturally. Let’s remember that it’s also very inspiring for others. Go for it! I totally support you.
If you have any thought, comments or concerns, send me a comment below.