Grey Hair:When Is It Time To Let Nature Take It's Course

I’m trying to remember a time when my mom wasn’t a blonde. I look at older pictures of her and she had really dark hair just like me when she was young. I’m not sure when her transition to lighter hair was but she was definitely way younger than I am right now. I never really noticed her grey hair roots coming in. The blonde seemed to camouflage the grey hair. That was only a few years ago and she is 85 now. I convinced her to finally stop colouring her hair and let it go grey. Now, her hair is thicker and a beautiful silver-grey. Absolutely no one noticed when she made the switch. To be fair, all of her friends are her age and their eyesight isn’t the best. lol

Fascinated with women that have had the guts to stop colouring, I talked to a woman at work one day that had let her hair go completely grey. She is slightly older than I am. She said she did have dark hair like me too when she was younger. She keeps her hair in a pixie cut, so for her, the complete transformation did not take long at all.

So, here I am again, staring into the mirror and all I can see is the grey hair roots advancing. What is it with the one day it’s fine and the next day your bangs are too long and the grey roots look like they’ve gained an inch. Off to the stylist I go, thinking this it, let’s go blonde. I could do with a change and I think blonde is the only colour I didn’t try out when I was a teen. This will be awesome!

“Really? You want to go all blonde?” my hairdresser asks.
“Yes, I’m tired of noticing these grey hair roots just one week after colouring!” I reply confidently.
“But you have no grey at the back of your head at all. It’s all in the front.”
“That’s ridiculous! Is that normal? Why?!”
“So you can see it.”
“Same again please and I’ll re-book for six weeks”
Sigh.

UPDATE 2019: I wavered for an entire year after I originally wrote this post but officially transition to grey hair at the end of 2015. It has been almost 4 years since the change and I admit there have been times that I have wanted to go back to colouring. It is short-lived though as I remember how bad I was at the upkeep and honestly, being totally grey haired is not as bad as having grey roots literally all the time. I love my grey hair but I know that deciding to embrace grey hair is a very personal decision. You should do what makes you feel good. If that means colouring until your dying day, then go for it. No one should tell anyone how to live or look. As a woman over 50, you have earned your right to do as you please.

If you are thinking about letting your hair go grey, check out my other articles and products I recommend at the bottom of this post.

Drastically changing your hair can seem like a momentous decision. This is my transition story, from long and brown to short and grey. This is only the beginning.

Elena Peters December 2017

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The following are a list of products that I use on my gray hair. It needs special care to make sure it doesn’t go brassy or really coarse and frizzy.

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