Embrace Your Gray Hair and Feel Amazing!

Embrace your gray hair and feel amazing! It isn’t so scary after all. There is less expense, less fuss. You are just you! I feel more confident in my appearance, more youthful, with my natural hair than all the many colors I have tried over the years.

All the Years of Coloring My Hair

I first started playing with hair color in my teens. I dabbled in some modeling and my agent encouraged us to go with some highlights for dimension. My mom was a hairdresser before she became a teacher so my first highlights happened in our kitchen/dining room.

I can remember one time when she was highlighting my hair with the cap. The bleach had bled through the holes my hair had been pulled through and created leopard spots all over my roots. After the initial shock and panic wore off we found it quite hilarious. However, dad did not when he found out how much color correction costs!

As I grew up I had fun playing with different hair colors. Dark hair, bleached hair, highlighted hair. Although I never really did crazy colors. There was one season that I did bleach blonde on the top with a pretty red underneath. Other than that I didn’t get too adventurous.

When I First Noticed Gray Hair

I don’t really remember a distinct, “Oh my goodness, a gray hair!” moment. I just recall noticing that there were some gray hairs peeking around in my hair part, probably in my late 20s or early 30s. It didn’t really bother me. Truthfully, I hadn’t really thought about NOT dying my hair. It was just what was the normal thing to do with the primary women in my life. Even my friends, if they had gray hair, would quickly cover it. That was the normal way to handle those sparkles popping through.

I would say my thoughts remained fairly neutral to gray hairs the whole time. I wasn’t keen on shelling out so much money to get my hair highlighted. But I had an amazing stylist/colorist who understood that I wanted as low maintenance as possible and to stretch as much time as possible between appointments without looking unkept. She did great!

Why I Chose to Embrace the Gray Hair and Feel Amazing

I entered my mid-thirties with some more prominent gray streaks developing at my roots. At this time I also seemed to notice a trend of women on social media referred to as silver sisters. These were women who had stopped coloring their hair and were embracing their natural color. They looked stunning! AND many of them were either my age or not too much older. This looks like an awesome idea!

I became more intentional about investigating the idea of not coloring my hair anymore. I tossed the idea at my husband. He is nine years older than me and would tease me that he didn’t want his wife to look older than him. When we sat down and talked it over though, he was very supportive. He felt that if I took care of myself and didn’t go all frumpy on him that he would be supportive. I also told him that if we decided down the road that we didn’t like it, I could always start coloring my hair again.

So what is my why? Well, at the most basic idea, God made me this way and why would I want to cover it up? God created me and as such made my hair to turn gray when it did. I wanted to embrace it rather than fight it. I also saw the benefits of ditching the dye. No more harsh chemicals, or visible lines of demarcation or worrying about hair appointments. No more worrying about sneaky grays showing up in my hair part.

I also read…

“Gray hair is a crown of glory; it is gained in a righteous life.”
‭‭Proverbs‬ ‭16‬:‭31‬ ‭ESV‬‬

Why would I want to cover my crown of glory?! Hahaha

My Support System

Ultimately the decision comes to myself and then my husband. I consider him in how I present myself. Whether that be in my dress and modesty, to how I make myself look put together at home. This is part of our marriage and continuing to pursue my husband. I care about what he thinks when he looks at me. If he was going to struggle with my graying hair and wasn’t ready to embrace it yet, I would’ve waited or modified my highlights for longer. His opinion was the only one that mattered to me. It’s part of being married.

My grandma was a little opinionated at first. I think namely because the grow-out process can be a little tricky. She is a gal who loves to be put together, and even I will admit that it was a little challenging to style my hair in the earlier transition stages. You go through an awkward period where you are visibly NOT coloring your hair, but it isn’t obvious it’s on purpose yet. But once my new growth got to a certain length and she had time to get used to it, she came around.

My mom loves it, even though she isn’t ready to ditch the dye for herself yet. In fact, we had a laughable moment in the hospital with my brother last year. The doctor thought that she was my brother’s sister and I was the mom. My hair is nearly completely grown out at this point and she is blonde. We all laughed! I said she was still in denial, but I had embraced my gray hair. It was funny.

I Feel Amazing in My Gray Hair

I absolutely love my natural hair. The patterning is so unique. And it looks slightly different depending on how I wear my hair or which side I part it on. It took about two years for my hair to grow out to the length it is. I am actually planning to get my final color trimmed off this week. Then I will be completely natural, root to tip.

The overall process was no big deal. The first few months were a little awkward as the demarcation line was unavoidable. I just played with different hair styles to find which ones made me feel the most confident. Some women cut their hair shorter to make this part of the process feel shorter. I didn’t want to lose any length though.

Ways to Grow Out Your Gray Hair

There are also some really great ideas and ways to transition gracefully. From dying only a strip of hair where you normally part it to let the rest of your hair grow out underneath. Or toning highlights to look more silvery and blend the grow-out process. Others choose to splurge on one really big coloring session that blends the salt and pepper all the way through so their grow-out looks seamless.

I opted for the good ol’ just let it grow process, and it was liberating. Once I got about 3-4 inches of root growth I had lots of fun with pulling my hair up. My roots would be all salt and pepper with all the blonde tucked in the braid or bun I was wearing. I even enjoyed playing with hats and bandanas.

Let me encourage you to not fear your gray hair. Chose to embrace your gray hair and you will feel amazing and liberated. You are no longer a slave to the upkeep of hair color maintenance. You notice how different colors look on you with your natural hair and skin tone. And there is a whole different kind of confidence that takes root. You see beauty differently.

Not to mention your scalp is healthier! And your hair gets healthier as well! So many great benefits!

Is this something you are considering? Where are you at on your gray hair grow-out journey?