Recently (meaning the last 15+ years…) we’ve seen countless advertisements inciting us to “cover our grey!”, signifying to anyone who might not be “in of the know” that grey hair = bad. Inevitably, The Demoiselles asked “Why?“ For the answer, we asked the magnificently silver-haired Miss Malaprop – master of indie and eco-everything – to express her true feelings on “grey,” and why it’s most definitely not a bad thing. If you have any comments for our guest blogger, or if YOU would like to be a guest blogger for The Demoiselles, send your feedback and queries to guestblogger@thedemoiselles.com.
I started noticing random grey hairs at a pretty early age. I was about twelve or thirteen when they started popping up, and it’s no surprise really, since both of my parents went grey early. (You can see what I mean in this picture, taken recently at my sister’s wedding. That’s my mom and dad on the right, with my sister and her new husband in the middle and me on the left.)
I had been dying my hair all varieties of colors since I was in high school. It’s not that I necessarily wanted to cover anything up; it was experimentation more than anything. I even went platinum blonde a couple of years ago just to see how I’d look. But once I realized that the majority of my greys were coming in at the front, in sort of a streak, I thought I’d let the color grow out and stop fighting nature. It doesn’t hurt that the placement of my greys reminds me of Rogue from X-men.
When I first started growing out my hair, one of the colorists at the salon I go to seemed appalled. “Why do you want to let your grey grow out?” she questioned. Luckily my own stylist saw the light and thinks my grey hair is cool. And so do I. I actually get compliments on it pretty often… I suppose it’s sort of unusual since I have so much grey hair but I’m only 25. Sometimes people question if it’s natural; they think it must be some sort of highlights.
While right now I may have the benefit of youth, I honestly don’t think I’ll go back to coloring it anytime soon, other than maybe as a brief experiment. I like how unique my hair is now, but I also dream of the day when I’ll have Emmylou Harris snow white locks. The chemical compounds in most hair coloring products scare the crap out of me too, so I’m glad I don’t have to worry about my health and adding toxins into my body with frequent hair dyes.
Maybe going au naturale with your grey isn’t for everyone. But I think it’s like anything else in fashion: anything you wear with confidence is going to look a million times better than something that doesn’t make you feel comfortable. Love who you are, and the world will love you back.
Tags: getting old, getting older, grey hair, hair color, miss malaprop, premature grey, young
Pardon me while I go, “aww, yay Pookie!”
To be honest, I think I remember when Mallory got her first few greys. At so young an age, I think she was like, “What’s this?! Huh,” then dyed her hair blue.
It’s great to see her as I always have, so confident in her own skin, the way she is.
Ashe Mischief´s last blog ..Betto Ditto for Evans U.K.
I used to work in a beauty supply store and gave more than one woman the “grey is awesome!” pep talk, causing them to walk out without buying the colorants they were after. I love it when people embrace the changes in their body – grey, wrinkles, saggies, whathaveyou. And Rogue-for-women and Reed-Richards-for-men looks are pretty sexy, if I do say so myself!
All my siblings have the greys early, I don’t think I do, but that’s mostly because I haven’t seen my natural hair color in years. When I go, I want the streak though…so interesting, I like interesting.
Pamela Quevedo´s last blog ..One Of Us
I’m with you! I love grey streaks… Embarrassingly, the first grey streak I fell in love with was that of Stacy London from What Not to Wear!
That’s great, embrace what ya got! She is very fortunate to have that unique swath of grey. I may embrace my grey some day but not quite yet. My mom has a lovely full head of white.
Lynn´s last blog ..Summer Weather
I was about 1/3 grey at age 19. Naturally, I raced to the coloring bottle (a grey haired college student! never!). I colored my hair till I got pregnant for the first time at 35. After my son was born I never colored again because I noticed how much HEALTHIER my hair was when I stopped torturing it. It’s thicker, shinier now that it was 40 years ago and I get compliments on the color all the time. I think of my hair as “silver” rather than grey, which helps. Silver looks much better with my complexion than gold, so it’s wonderful that my hair color matches my skin tones so perfectly. The notion that grey/silver hair is only for “old” people is nothing but cultural prejudce.
Sydney´s last blog ..Prosperity Affirmations For Attracting Abundance
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