There are a few things that you learn once you are grey, and have been embracing your “greytude” for a while, and that really nobody tells you before you decide! I’m here contemplating these perks that came with the decision to stop the dye and embrace my natural grey hair, and I realise that knowing these things in advance would have helped me hugely, and in different ways. Hence, I decided to share with you what, in my experience, are the top 6 things nobody tells you about going grey.
1 You do not look older just because you have grey hair.
This is really something that might be very counterintuitive, but the colour of your hair alone is not going to make you look older. The perceived impact is much more than what it in reality is: how old you look or appear, depends on many different factors. Your attitude, your spirit, how you dress, your selfcare, your eyes, how you move and behave and many more. Your hair colour in reality accounts for very little amongst the total!
You’ll be surprised of how little it impacts overall on your perceived age, not that it had any value in itself, as I am not afraid to look my age, but when considering the big step, everybody you speak to, throw it in the conversation for good measure, so knowing it before could have produced a nice out loud laugh.
2 Many more people than you’d expect find grey hair very attractive
Hey, I’m reporting my experience, but if you read about other silver-sisters on Instagram, you’ll find out that’s quite a shared experience. Whilst in the beginning I noticed more the looks from other women, and I could happily tell that often it was an amazed one at how grey hair could look like (The “maybe I could try that too” look).
On the other hand, after a while I noticed an increasing amount of attention from men as well, and in general I seem to be more attractive now, than when I was dying my hair. If you consider that in the meantime, I have gained 10 kilos and I’m 3 years older, for the current logic, it should not work this way! Well, I’m telling you: it definitely does. For one reason or another I get many kind compliments from strangers, so if you are ready to boost your appeal level: let your grey hair grow and see it for yourself!
3 Your hair is going to be different from your dyed one!
You really fully appreciate it when you are completely transitioned and look at your new hair for the first time: a whole different animal!
If, like me, you come from many years of continuous hair dye (27, to be precise), to a point in which you do it fortnightly on a regular basis… Well, you are in for a big surprise. All those years and layers of dye have completely transformed your hair into what you were used before. What your hair is like is easily much thinner and of a nature that you will discover only once you have it and see how it behaves! I found my hair much curlier, because the year of dye had actually weighted down my curls and chemically modified its structure too.
Hence, you learn what your hair really needs on the go, observing, and adapting the products you use as you learn. My hair needs less nutrition than before, and I learnt that it loves hydration more than everything, and I changed my wash routine accordingly.
4 Natural grey hair looks much better on you than the dyed one!
Unless you have a very expensive hairdresser and you pay a lot of money for your dye /use multiple processes (good for you if you can!), your dyed hair tends to look worst on you than your natural one. What I have discovered is that your natural hair, albeit grey, go perfectly well with your skin tone, in a pleasant accordance that no regular hair dye can emulate. I was really surprised that this is really true for me, and for the almost totality of before and after pics of women that I’ve seen.
The dyed hair tends to look very fake in comparison, and clash a lot with the skin appearance. Going forward you will find yourself noticing that same clash in other woman who dye their hair, and begin to wonder like me how they would look better with their natural hair!!!
5 Your grey hair will look good despite the grey pattern
I’ve heard many women turn back on their almost decision to go grey, just because after a couple of weeks without dye, they could see only a few strands here and there, and not a regular pattern. Or I’ve heard hairdresser advising against going grey for this same reason.
This is nonsense, because the beauty of grey hair is in the unique pattern that everyone has, and despite the pattern, it will look good on you, natural and flattering. I used to hope for a more consistent silver pattern when I started, but realised just at the end of the transition, that instead of uniform colour I got what looks like a head full of highlights in different tones of silver and grey. And styling my hair differently allows me to show off almost 2 different hair colours! Do not let the grey pattern let you down, trust nature and just go with it, you will never regret it!
6 Is about the hair… But is much more than the hair!
You might believe you are doing this just to free yourself from the slavery of perpetual dying, or to improve your hair health ditching the chemicals, or just because you are fed up, and want to stop dying your hair… But you will find out that letting your natural grey hair grow has a huge impact on your life, that has really little to do with hair.
It is about doing something for yourself, about creating a different path for other women to come, about learn to know and accept yourself in ways you could have not imagined, about being well in your own skin and learning to see all the shades of grey.
Is the beginning of a self-love journey, that opens you up to possibilities, and teach you to get lost in the admiration of the small things. Like the minimal micron of silver growth that has occurred overnight. It’s a journey that makes you more confident and self-assured, like a silver crown that you eventually acknowledge you earned.
Now you know!
In essence, these are the most relevant 6 things that nobody tells you about going grey, and they are a game changer once you know them! I could go on, and tell you about many other happy discoveries, but these are the ones that I believe are true for the majority of the people that let their natural grey hair grow.
If you already finished your transition, can you relate with what I wrote? Did you find anything more relevant than the above? And if you are still deciding, I hope you find these, helpful and inspiring. Let me know in the comments!
If you want to read more about transitioning to grey, have a look at this post on the fun facts of the grey transition, or read about my 2 years transition if you need to decide how to go about your natural silver growth!
Main Image Credit: Pixabay