Anyway, I thought I would bite the bullet and share my experiences of allowing myself to go grey or 'au naturel'. Maybe someone is at a similar stage that I was just over two years ago, (I had just turned 45) in that, I wasn't happy having got into a rather expensive viscous circle of having to get my hair dyed every four weeks.
This was a big, big step for me as I had always dyed my hair. Since I was about 16 I have experimented with auburns, blondes, red, every shade you could imagine. I have always loved nice clothes, wear make-up, nail polish and take care with my appearance so could I ever consider not dying.
Thought it appropriate to wear my grey sweater, it is the Lyra Crew from Rowan Cocoon Collection.
I was quite fair as a child but my adult colour was just simply brown. I started to go grey when I was in my early 30's. My hair is naturally wavy and I have had all lengths of hairstyles, in my 20's longer and curlier, in my 30's got gradually shorter as the children and work life balance thing kicked in. That's just a bit of background, so here are my reasons for finally deciding to stop.
1. Tired of having to go every four weeks to get roots done, which is also quite expensive.
2. I am a trained nutritional advisor (in particular Metabolic Typing) While training I became aware that there may be risks in using chemicals as cosmetics, make-up, hair dye and everyday cleaning items.
I had already got rid of all chemicals and began using organic or at least more natural products. There is conflicting evidence about all this, of course, but I feel that it is just because not enough research is done and the beauty market is huge and probably quite powerful.
3. I was starting to feel less happy in myself about getting my hair dyed and also felt that although my hairdresser was good, I just felt my hair always took on a yellowy tinge after a while.
4. After googling 'going grey' on the web, I found a great website here and found lots of women were feeling the same way and was inspired and helped by it. There were some beautiful grey haired women and some a lot younger than me. I have since discovered pinterest and there are loads of grey-haired women on there.
5. I started to feel there is an inequality between men and women with this. Gray-haired men have a suave, sophisticated, sexy image ... just think of the gorgeous George Clooney, but yet with women there is just an association with looking older or just letting yourself go. I just don't think this is fair.
6. I went to a 'Colour me Beautiful' advisor. She told me that I am in the 'Cool' category and need to wear colours with blue or cool undertone and to avoid colours that have a yellow or golden base. Before I even mentioned hair colour she told me that I would suit going grey. That was it... I made my decision, so my next problem was how to go about it.
I will not lie, the transition of the first few months was not nice, it really did look as if I had 'let myself go'. I started by letting my hair grow, it was a really snowy winter so I wore hats a lot, although I did have a few social occasions that winter when I didn't feel great. Then in the spring I got a really short chopped hair cut and the worst seemed over.
Luckily my husband was supportive and my hairdresser was great too. Most of my female friends were really against it. "You're too young, wait until your 50's" "Maybe you'd feel different if you had daughters" "Your hair will be dry and frizzy" and other such comments. Lately some have said that they now prefer it.
So what's the result
1. I am happier in myself, I feel brighter.
2. I have much less hair falling out now. (Didn't even really realise this was an issue before). My hair is in great condition and some of it's curliness has come back.
3. I have more money to spend on the things I like, like fabric, patterns, yarn ha,ha.
4. I need less hair products, I use more expensive type shampoos, like Organic Pharmacy, Miessence and Liz Earle.
5. I suppose it has made me take more care with make-up and colour choice of clothes. This is good.
6. My hair is actually true salt and pepper which I like.
So there you go, that's my experience of 'going gray' and I love it.
Having been short haired now for a while, I am trying to grow my hair. That will be another dilemma.
Apologies for not having 'before' picture but I lost a lot of photos off my last computer when it died.
Meanwhile, in my sewing world I have cut out the fabric for my husbands Albion Coat and the lining fabric has just arrived. Busy, busy.
Definitely not my colours, but then it's not for me.
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