Is now the time to let your gray hair shine?

I have been chemically altering my hair color since the sixth grade. My naturally platinum blonde hair began turning a light, ashy shade of brown as I aged out of elementary school and I wasn’t having it, so out came the Sun-In, which is a product (yes, they still sell it!) made with hydrogen peroxide and lemon juice that lightens one’s hair in the sun. Between that and perming my then naturally straight hair (What can I say other than it was the 80s?) my locks became an unnatural shade of yellow, which at the time, I thought looked “cool”. Fast forward to high school, where I grew out my hair and let it air dry most days. It was a lovely shade of light brown and so healthy, but by college I was heavily highlighting it, and my on and off relationship with being an unnatural blonde lasted until my 40s. It wasn’t until a personal loss about three years ago which led to a bout of significant hair loss that I decided to give my hair (and my wallet) a much needed break.

Over the last few years, social media and celebrity magazines have been highlighting (pun intended) people who are deciding to age gracefully and naturally, and I’m all for it. Last year, at the age of 49, I decided to ditch the hair dye and let my grays shine, and I couldn’t be happier with my choice. As it turns out, going gray is much more than a beauty choice. Read on to find out the benefits of saying goodbye to hair dye and hello to your natural color, whatever it is.

Benefit #1: Your hair’s health will improve

Over the last 10 months, I have noticed that my new hair growth is significantly fuller, shinier and stronger than the rest of my hair. When it dries naturally, it isn’t frizzy and I have a natural wave to my hair, which was being destroyed by bleaching it. Most importantly, my hair loss has essentially stopped (fingers crossed!)! I should add that I have also started taking Wellbel, a vitamin which targets hair growth. I have no proof that it helped my situation, but since I prefer to take a daily vitamin and my hair growth has shown improvement as a whole, I will continue to take it.

Benefit #2: Less exposure to chemicals

Hair dye is full of toxic chemicals that we allow to sit on our scalps for minutes to sometimes hours at a time to achieve the color we want. Hair dye chemicals thin out our hair, and can cause allergic reactions in certain individuals. Most concerning is that according to The National Cancer Institute, frequent use of hair dye may be associated with a higher risk of certain cancers including bladder, ovarian and breast cancer. So scary!

Benefit #3: You’ll save A LOT of money

If I had all of the money that I spent on getting my hair dyed over the years, I could probably buy a very nice, new car in cash! It’s actually kind of crazy to think about how much money I spent on something completely unnecessary that was harmful to my health. I have no words.

Benefit #4: You’ll save time

The hours you spend in your own bathroom or in a salon with dye or foils on your head could be spent doing something you love, like spending time with family, reading, having a cup of coffee in a cafe, going for a walk in the park – anything other than sitting in a salon chair or on your closed toilet waiting for chemicals to take effect on your hair.

Benefit #5: You’ll feel more like you

Since ditching the hair dye, when I see myself in the mirror, it’s like I’m finally seeing the real me. I love my natural color now. I feel much more authentic and not that it matters, but I am getting compliments on how my hair color looks. That rarely happened when I was dyeing it. I feel so much freer. It’s kind of amazing!

Going Gray: The “Challenges”

Although the benefits of going gray are very clear and significant, you will face some challenges while doing it, and we can’t ignore them. So, how do you deal with the grow out phase which can last anywhere from a year to four or five years depending on the length you keep your hair (hair grows about six inches a year)?

The Demarcation Line:

First, accept that the first few months will look like you’re overdue for an appointment at the salon. The first three inches of growth do not look intentional, but I promise, you are being harder on yourself about it than anyone else will be. If the demarcation line bothers you, you can simply use temporary hair color powder or spray to blend it in. These products are very convincing and wash right out in the shower. As a brunette, I have used L’Oreal Paris Magic Root Precision Temporary Gray Hair Color with great success and as a blonde, EVERPRO Gray Away Root Touchup Quik Stick worked very effectively as well. Both are inexpensive and last a long time, as a little goes a long way.

Brassiness:

Now that I’m almost a year in without having bleached or dyed my hair, the ends of my hair have become very brassy, but I am determined not to cave to it! One way to deal with the brassiness is to use a colored shampoo. I was very picky (of course!) about the shampoo I was going to buy, because I didn’t want to reintroduce chemicals into my hair routine. I came across Klorane Purple Shampoo, and while it’s not a perfect fix, it does take the edge off the brassy hues at the bottom of my hair without any use of nasty chemicals. Klorane is made in France and is paraben, silicone and sulfate free. Its purple color comes from plants. It is a bit drying, so I use it sparingly. Klorane does also sell a purple conditioner, but I have not yet tried it. I have noticed that the more my hair grows out and my natural hair surrounds my face, the less noticeable the ends become, as they are not surrounding my facial features.

Changing Makeup Palette:

Lastly, you may need to change your makeup. In my case, I still have a lot of naturally ashy, brunette hair, which is significantly darker than the hair I had when I was using dyes. My gray is also an ashy tone. I love both, but I noticed that my eye shadows and mascara no longer complemented my skin and hair color (with dyed, warmer, lighter hair I was using warmer brown colors, as I have green eyes). Believe it or not, switching to gray and black liner and mascara and a lighter, taupe shade shadow did the trick for me. You will have to play around and see what works for you. I know I listed this as a “challenge”, but it was fun trying out new shades of makeup. It was like getting a makeover!

Looking Forward:

I have hair below my shoulders and before I decided to go gray, I read a lot about what people refer to as “the big chop”. It’s the itch to cut one’s hair once the natural gray reaches about shoulder length, as the patience for waiting for your hair to grow out wanes. My natural hair has not yet grown out to bob length, but I understand the inclination to want to chop off the dyed portion. I don’t know if I will go that route, but either way, for now I know I am doing something amazing for my hair, my body and my life. It sounds so simple, but it really is transforming. I am so thrilled with my choice to embrace my grays and when you are ready to let go of the dye, you will be too. The great thing is, if you don’t like being gray, you could just dye it again, but after reading this post and knowing what you know now, I don’t think you will.

Here’s to silver linings in life (and on your head!)!

Note: This article contains some affiliate links. Please know that I take using affiliate links very seriously. I only recommend products I have used and trust.