{"id":77778,"date":"2024-03-05T18:43:24","date_gmt":"2024-03-05T18:43:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/neclink.com\/index.php\/2024\/03\/05\/nine-women-on-going-gray\/"},"modified":"2024-03-05T18:43:24","modified_gmt":"2024-03-05T18:43:24","slug":"nine-women-on-going-gray","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/neclink.com\/index.php\/2024\/03\/05\/nine-women-on-going-gray\/","title":{"rendered":"Nine Women on Going Gray"},"content":{"rendered":"


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\u201cWhen I was 16, a kid in my math class shouted out, \u2018Hey, you have gray hair!\u2019\u201d says Cup of Jo reader Kate. From then on, she dyed her hair every two weeks \u2014 until she was 34, welcomed a newborn, and struggled with the upkeep. Now she loves the color: \u201cThe other night, my four-year-old said, \u2018Mama, I hope I have gray hair one day because it\u2019s beautiful.\u2019 Breaking down beauty norms for my daughter, could it get better than that?\u201d <\/p>\n

Here, eight more Cup of Jo readers tell us about embracing their grays\u2026<\/p>\n

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\u201cMy hair started turning gray when I was 12. 12! My older sister has the same timeline \u2014 it\u2019s just who we are. I dyed it for the first and<\/em> last time when I was 18. The grays came back with a vengeance, and I\u2019m so low maintenance that I decided to just roll with it! Now it\u2019s almost fully white in a way that still manages to surprise me. (New friends sometimes think it\u2019s blonde.) But I\u2019ve fully leaned in \u2014 it\u2019s part of what makes me me.\u201d \u2014\u00a0Amanda<\/p>\n

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\u201cWhere I live in the Netherlands, no one comments on my hair, but when I traveled to India for a family event, many people talked about it. Do you know what I told a relative who implied I wasn\u2019t coloring my hair because of cost? I said, \u2018I paid to get gray streaks, they\u2019re very trendy and very expensive!’\u201d \u2014\u00a0Shweta<\/p>\n

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\u201cI was going to the salon every couple weeks, waiting for the blonde to sink in, only to have stripes of silver show through days later. \u2018Color-resistant gray\u2019 was the diagnosis. So, I cut my hair into a pixie and found the most startling natural \u2018highlights\u2019 in silver, salt and pepper, and dark gray. People often ask me, \u2018Do you color your hair to get it to look like that?\u2019\u201d \u2014 Nona <\/p>\n

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\u201cI come from a culture of women who dyed their hair no matter what: \u2018dejarse las canas significa descuido\u2019 (\u2018gray hair equals neglect\u2019) is what I heard whenever a woman had visible roots. But then, on Instagram, I found a movement of women of all ages leaving their hair natural. My hairdresser gave me subtle gray highlights to make the transition smoother. My hair makes me feel as true to myself as I\u2019ve ever been.\u201d \u2014 Mar\u00eda<\/p>\n

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\u201cI stopped dyeing my hair two years ago, after we moved from London to Tanzania. I was inspired by a woman I met here who was embracing her gray. Those early months were hard! Looking in the mirror and seeing gray was a struggle, but then I turned 50 and decided I didn\u2019t want to feel shame about visibly aging. There are still tough days, but more often than not, I\u2019m enjoying this new evolution.\u201d \u2014 Cheryl<\/p>\n

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\u201cI am an arborist, which is a male-dominated field, and I think I now get more respect leading workshops. It\u2019s a relief to present a little older and embrace the freedom of being myself.\u201d \u2014 Pamela<\/p>\n

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\u201cGray is just a hair color like any other. I\u2019m learning, over and over, that hair doesn\u2019t have anything to do with your value as a human \u2014 it\u2019s just hair<\/em>. I\u2019ve also stopped using the term \u2018prematurely gray,\u2019 since most of my friends in their thirties also have grays. There\u2019s nothing premature about it \u2014 maybe we\u2019re just done hiding.\u201d \u2014\u00a0Ruth<\/p>\n

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\u201cWhat I love most about my gray hair is that it\u2019s a beautiful way of marking time as I grow older. Instead of a hard line between dyed and undyed hair, I see filaments of silver that grow denser at my roots.\u201d \u2014 Erica<\/a><\/p>\n

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When did you first notice gray hair? How do you feel about going gray?<\/strong><\/p>\n

P.S. Libby DeLana\u2019s beauty uniform<\/a>, Cheryl Sparks\u2019s week of outfits<\/a>, and four more women on going gray<\/a>.<\/p>\n

(Opening photo by Chrissy Blake<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

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72<\/span> COMMENTS<\/p>\n

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