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Some resources for going gray

zuzu

Thanks to Going Gray in the comments to this post, I found her blog as well as the site Going Gray, Looking Great, a site for Diana Jewell’s book of the same name. Lots of great information about transitioning there, as well as colors to wear with gray and photos of great gray hair.

I haven’t yet done anything with the color, though I got a haircut yesterday. I was willing to chop it short, but I left the cut in the hands of the stylist with some instructions (i.e., GET THIS FUCKING HAIR OUT OF MY EYES OR I’M GOING AFTER IT WITH NAIL SCISSORS!!!!), and wound up with something much more textured but still more or less a chin-length bob. Which looks great. And given that there’s a good deal of texturizing, there’s a lot of shorter pieces which won’t take long to grow out.

I hadn’t been planning on getting a haircut yet, but I had a job interview yesterday afternoon, and since my hair was both showing roots and overgrown, I had to fix one or the other in order to look polished. And since I both still couldn’t stain my bathtub AND I suspect I’ve developed an allergy to a chemical in hair dye, I went with the cut.

15 thoughts on Some resources for going gray

  1. For quite a few years I’ve had the occasional gray strand in my hair and in my beard, but now my beard is starting to go gray faster than my hair is (my hair is just getting less consistent in its coloration). I am thinking about shaving my beard for that reason (as much as I hate shaving). I thought that my lovely wife didn’t like the beard and would jump at my wanting to shave it, but she’s said that a gray beard would look dignified.

    I’m trying to figure this one out — would it really work having a gray beard with red hair? I know many men in my age range who had beards in their callow youth and who regrow their beards in later middle age shave their beards in their 30s/40s due to not wanting to have a gray beard and non-gray hair … although I think more and more men are dying their beards (henna, the obvious choice, wouldn’t work for me as I am allergic to henna).

    Maybe I should check out some of the links whilst I try to avoid doing work? 🙂

  2. Thanks for the links, I love them!

    I sent them to my sister who dyes her hair, but whom I think would look great with her natural grey. She’s not buying it, but the links helped a little.

    My hair is much darker blonde than hers and much longer with grey streaks that look sparkly and pretty in my opinion so I am working on my sister and other women tostop the chemical use!

  3. I’ve always been low-maintanance when it comes to my hair (and just about everything else). My dad started going gray when he was 19 or so, and I started finding gray hairs at about that time, too, but it wasn’t until a few weeks ago (I’m 26 now) that I actually found a gray hair in the middle of my head instead of the top, and it was as long as the rest instead of much shorter. I suspect more and more will be popping up now.

    But I SERIOUSLY doubt I will be dying my hair. I do not have the patience. And I certainly don’t want to spend the money to get it professionally done. I’ll be okay with the gray, I think. ‘Cuz I’m lazy more than anything else, HEH.

  4. DAS: It’s typical for men to go gray in their beards first, and I’ve seen men who don’t shave it off or dye it and I think it looks fabulous, but then again, I think men look fabulous with gray hair. 🙂 An old friend of mine shaves his head completely bald and leaves a beard, which is nearly completely gray. It looks great.

  5. Zuzu, thanks for the pro-gray hair post! My mom has sported a gray bob for years – not because she particularly wanted to, but because she was never a big one for dyeing her hair – and she’s always gotten lots of positive comments.

    Anyway, with all the hubbub about women freaking out after they find gray hairs, it’s nice to see someone celebrating our natural progression…gray hair is nothing to be ashamed of. It’s part of us. Let’s make peace with it and move on.

  6. I just wanted to say I *love* grey hair, particularly on women. I think grey hair is beautiful and I’m always so sad that so many women feel compelled to dye it because it’s going grey (which seems slightly different to me than dying it because you want to change colors for a bit).

  7. What a great site! I bookmarked it – once Baby Girl goes to bed tonight, I’ll have to take a closer look. For me, gray hair just means I’ve survived long enough to have some. So it makes me happy.

    Most of my family has gone gray at around my age, so I wasn’t too surprised. I had briefly thought about dyeing my hair plum, but I’ve done that once before – there’s not enough gray in my hair for that one, thanks. I’m just not sure if I want my hair to be as long as it is now (just past shoulder length) and gray.

  8. If you have the patience for it (because it take a very, very long time to do) go to Lush and try one of their hennas. It leaves your hair in better condition than it started, and if you like red, it will come out beautiful and bright on the grey.

  9. FYI, my post wasn’t an “anti-gray” one. I like gray hair too. Personally, I get bored if my hair is the same color for too long and henna is a nice, natural option for me.

  10. DAS–My dad has almost completely gray hair and a red/auburn beard. His gray is just starting to come in on the beard, but his hair has been that way for a few years now. I think it looks pretty cool. Before that he had very dark auburn/brown hair and a red beard.

  12. ZuZu — good lick with the interview

    I have gray hair and a white beard.

    When I knew I was going to start job-hunting again, I shaved off the beard.

    For some reason, gray hair and eyebrows create an impression of “experience,” but the white beard would create the impression of “old.”

    I started going gray in my late 30’s, but my beard didn’t start turning until my mid-forties. But then it did so with a vengeance.

    But, of course, the failed interview (where I only got so meet someone from HR and never actually saw the hiring manager) was really because I “wouldn’t match their corporate culture” and not because I looked like an older person. With 30 years of experience.

    And certainly not because my level of experience would have mentioned something about red flags when I, if I had been inducted into their IT department, would have noticed that they were keeping personal information about retail sales way past the sell-by date on the credit-card transactions….

  13. I’ve had the odd grey hair since around 18 or so, and know some women who started young, even as young as their early teens! To be honest, I quite like the look of grey hair, so I can definitely see me sporting my signature ponytail in grey, some day. To be honest, I’m not greatly motivated to dye my hair, because I love my hair colour, and would be afraid to lose it (It’s brown, but I like brown. ). I understand why a lot of women dye their hair, ranging from just loving to change, to feeling that they just don’t feel womanly if they don’t have perfectly toughed up roots. So I’m not anti-dyeing per se, and might dye my hari if I found a colour and style to tempt me out of my indolence on the hair score. I just wish society would not pressure women to dye their hair so much, especially to conform with its beauty standards of youth or fair-hairedness.

    On an unrelated note, I’m encouraging my mother to get purple streaks, because they would look fantastic on her. 😀

    So I totally love the encouragement of women to go grey. It shouldn’t have to be a huge statement, seeing as it’s the natural order of things. It should be just one other normal choice.

  14. I’m in my late forties and have the occasional gray strand in my medium brown hair, plus one small streak that usually doesn’t show unless I pull my hair back. I thought I was really relaxed and positive about the gray, and when I was considering going for some highlights and an all-over-glaze last year, was adamant that absolutely none of my gray be covered.

    But after my husband left me for a girl young enough to be our daughter, I’ve been hyperconscious about any and all signs of age on me. Silly, I know. And I’ve recently started seeing someone about 10 years younger than me, who seems pretty cool about the age difference, but … yeah, the gray hair, if it starts coming in more heavily, becomes even more of a marker.

    I’m dealing. I think.

  15. So my beautiful curly red hair is good but my beard is totally grey! It (I think) looks very distinguishing (classy) but do the women think so? I am a professional guy and think it is good for business as it shows a link to experience and positive image. I like it but how do others precieve this “image of professionalism?”

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