You are a women who is brave enough to embrace her natural beauty. No matter what your age, you’re shunning the notion that youth is the only flavour of sexy, and letting your hair grow out into glorious shades of silver. You’re the feisty type, the one happy in your own skin, the one whose zest for life radiates from your face.
You don’t believe the propaganda, designed to inflate hair-dye sales and keep you playing small.
“We know it’s fashionable right now to tell older women to embrace the gray and celebrate being silver and sexy,” said Estelle, Color Director for the innovative online home hair coloring service eSalon.com. “But the truth is, natural gray hair makes people look older. One hundred percent of the time, when I take a client’s wirey gray strands and bring them back to a blond that’s touchably soft, or make them a brilliant brunette again, the years melt from the face. I tell my clients: if you want to keep your gray, that’s fine. But if you want to maintain that youthful look, you have to color.” — Hair Colour for Women
Sexy isn’t about your age, the colour of your hair, the size of your body or the wrinkles on your face. Age isn’t a shameful secret kept undisclosed to ensure others desire you, love you or respect you. With experience comes wisdom, insight, compassion and healing.
Sexy is knowing who you are and celebrating where you’ve been.
(Colouring your hair is also a valid choice. It’s just not the ONLY choice when it comes to being beautiful and sexy.)
→ Do you embrace your grey hair, colour it, or are you too young to have any yet?
Hi Katie, oooh I love this topic. First of all let me say that you are one of the lucky ones who truly looks good with grey hair. It doesnt make you look older at all. In fact that funky cut really suits you. But for many, the journey from natural (especially if thats a medium to dark brown) to grey is not an attractive one. There are many years from the grey starting before its all grey and its that transition that doesnt look good, IMO. I started going grey in my early 30s and I didnt like it one bit so I started colouring and decided to try the ‘blonde life.’ Now, I wont go back. I also remember my mum colouring her dark brown hair all the time and then one day deciding to stop. She aged 10+ years through that one decision. So I’m firmly in the ‘colour brigade’ because thats what makes me feel better 🙂 Now if I could just get my son to shut up about my wrinkles!! LOL
xx m
Thanks Magda for your story.
Like Sara said below, I don’t believe looking ‘young’ should be the goal of our lives. Healthy, happy, vibrant, radiant and glowing – yes. Young? not so much!
I’m also intrigued by how much we worry about eating ‘processed’ food and then we go and douse our heads in chemicals every six weeks — it’s an interesting paradox don’t you think?
I do colour, and I do have a few greys. The colouring is not because I want to HIDE the grey though. My mother had jet black hair and when she got greys it looked most awesome. Mine just make my natural brown look a bit ‘meh’. If I was a silver fox, I’d definitely be flaunting it.
That quote is crazy. It comes with the assumption that looking ‘young’ is the goal. Surely not. Looking great, yes, but really does everyone want to look the same: eternal youth for everyone?
Great comment Sara — I agree about looking young is a strange (and ultimately unachievable) goal.
I had ‘meh’ brown hair too my whole life (and coloured it). I can’t tell you how nice it is to have a colour that’s different and interesting now.
I went from being blonde (natural & then later assisted) all my life to going a lot darker a couple of years ago. I have noticed a few greys and pulled them out!! However you can’t really see them anyway, I’ve stopped anyway.. Being darker I have more option to play with my hair colour, that’s why I colour. Never thought about hiding grey, as not much there.
It’s funny how we all go grey at a different rate. Duckfish has hardly any either and he’s WAY older than me (actually only 2.5 years but that’s 10 in man years ha ha)
Well said Katie. Beauty shines from the inside out! I am loving my journey to grey, I am finding more and more confidence in being my authentic self.
I’m pleased you’re enjoying your journey Kama. Thanks for stopping by ♥
wonderfully written..I love my natural color. I colored my hair since I was 16 and finally decided to go ala natural. It feels so much softer and thicker. It is a journey to go through the grow out.. but so worth it.
Me too Linda. Now it’s thicker I’m going to try and grow it a bit longer as well. It was always too fine and lifeless before the greys kicked in.
I believe there’s a shift taking place and more and more people are rejecting commerce and chemicals in favour of that which is natural, radiant and real. I got my first grey hair at 16, and I wanted to stop dying in my early 30s, but sadly I was influenced by a pleading friend who told me I just COULDN’T do it!! Suddenly, in my early 40s, after losing both my parents in quick succession (both only in their 60s) and waking up to myself and what really matters in life, I realise how dumb I was to conform to someone else’s opinion and not acknowledge my own fundamental desire for authenticity. I love the colour of my natural hair now it’s here, but I feel sad that I missed out on so many stages of my hair changing naturally. Unlike Magda I believe each stage of the natural transition from dark to silver holds it’s own particular beauty. In hindsight, I would have relished my natural uniqueness and the lovely contrasting shades of my slowly changing colour, rather than having to make the short painful leap from black to white, so to speak… but I can’t go back, so I’m making the most of it now. 🙂
Thank you for writing this inspiring blog Katie! 🙂
What a great comment Louise. I love how you’re expressing your authenticity through your hair and making the most of where you are now. Brilliant!
I have had grey since high school but only started dying this year when it became really obvious. As someone with dark hair who is only 30 having silver throughout your hair is a bit strange, plus it has let me play with hair dye, loving red right now.
My mother is a full silver haired woman and she looks amazing. If I ever get to where my hair is full silver I would wear it natural.
Your mum’s hair sounds lovely. I can’t wait to be totally silver.
I started dyeing my hair at a rough point in my life. I felt as if I had no control over anything. Not only was the stress showing on my face but it was really adding to the amount of grey. It was the only thing I felt I had control over and I did it to feel better about myself. I don’t want to go to grey yet so in the Fall I am having some shade of pink or some other different color blended in – whatever my stylists comes up with – but it will be fun! I know people are going to look at me and say, why don’t you act your age? My only response to them will be I am!
I love it Patty – enjoy the pink!
I’ll be honest… I’ve been coloring my hair for about 8 years. I was completely gray before the age of 30.
I might be able to be sexy without the color.
I’m just not there yet.
When you’re there, you’ll know…
I LOVE grey hair. My mum’s gone a lovely shade of silver and she was lucky in that she went that salt/pepper shade of grey all over, fairly evenly, rather than just in sections. My dad was white-haired by the time he was 45 as well. As a 33 year old, I’ve found the occasional grey strand on my own noggin which I’ve pulled out because while I am a fan of silver, I don’t want to be silver just YET. Let me get out of my 30s first.
Sounds like you have great genes and lovely silver hair to look forward to when you’re ready.
Hi Katie, just catching up on your blog. Love your hair! Agree with the processed food & hair dye comment. That’s one of the reasons I stopped colouring my hair. It seemed silly to be eating organic food but putting toxins on my head. Cheers, Charlotte
Hey Charlotte — hi! Yes all those chemicals seeping into our brains can’t be good…