I cannot remember when I made a vow to die a blonde but I suspect it was during my teen years. I really believed then that “blondes have more fun.” And believing this to be “fact”, I started streaking and color processing my hair, and continue to do this to this day. Lucy has been coloring her gorgeous thick mahogany mane for as long as she can remember because she believes it is more flattering for her.
Why color our hair? I do it to keep being a blonde but Lucy does it because her brunette color is more flattering and because she wants to keep from going gray. We both agree that we do not want to be gray.
What is it about gray hair that we don’t like for us? We think it makes us look old and it just doesn’t fit who we are. Yesterday was big news even in New York Times that Keanu Reeves brought his current girlfriend to an event and she had gray hair. OMG!
Actor Keanu Reeves and girl friend
And that was the focus of the article. It goes on to say that most women with gray hair in Hollywood have had extensive cosmetic work and thus the gray hair is attractive because these celebrities still “look young”. This is the operative phrase.
Gray and silver hair look great on men like George Clooney or Richard Gere, or Pierce Bronson. When we researched gray haired celebrities, most
Gorgeous George Clooney
were men. Rita Moreno, in her 80s, is one of only a few women who looks beautiful with silver hair. White hair, on the other hand, can look great as seen on Helen Mirren and Jamie Lee Curtis. Clearly there is a difference between gray and luminous silver and white.
Helen Mirren – Beautiful at any age
For hundreds of years, women have dyed or hennaed their hair, because graying hair was a sign of age. In the attached New York magazine story, the author describes how gray hair effects respect and authority negatively in the workplace. And it is clearly not a level playing field when it comes to gray hair men versus gray hair women in the workplace. This is especially true today where gray hair women are perceived as less relevant. Even in social settings men with gray hair are perceived as more attractive and interesting than women with gray hair.
But not everyone agrees with us. According to Wikipedia, “The granny hair trend is a new phenomenon of young women coloring their hair in different shades of gray. The trend is attributed to fashion designer, Jean Paul Gaultier who, in his 2015 catwalk show at Paris Fashion Week, featured silver-haired models as did the shows of other fashion designers like Chanel. Over the next few years, many celebrities like Lady Gaga, Pink and Rihanna, also tried out this new trend.
Coloring hair gray often requires the use of dyeing as well as bleaching the hair and both the practices are damaging to the health of the hair. To achieve the look prior to naturally graying, hair must first bleached until it’s white. Then tones of gray, blue or violet are added. If the color isn’t made light enough, the hair will take on a green tone instead of gray. Maintaining the look of artificially gray hair requires a lot of maintenance to avoid regrowth. Frequent toning is required since silver and grey hair can look blonde after a few weeks. However, today the newer techniques for coloring hair have advanced form the days of one process to streaking and pother gradations so that women do not look like they are wearing a helmet. “
Gradations of gray are fashionable in today’s interior design, think Restoration Hardware, with pale gray walls complemented with gray rugs and couches. Gray is even trendy in today’s kitchens. But what husband at a party or evening out says to his fellow dinner partner, “ That’s my beautiful wife across the room with gray hair. “ None ever, right? What he says is “That beautiful blonde across the room is my lovely wife.” You know it’s true.
We may hear lots of counter arguments and we will share them. Try looking around and when you see a woman with gray hair imagine what she would look like with gorgeous white hair or maybe shining brunette or perhaps streaked blonde. That being said, I have a great friend who is in the midst of going gray and I think she will look good as she is going from naturally black hair to gray and her complexion will go well with gray hair.
Dying or coloring hair is not the same thing as Botox or cosmetic surgery and the question is why? Is it vanity that we want to keep our hair from being gray? We feel better about ourselves with colored hair and we are more confident. We can imagine a world where there are non invasive products that make us feel better about aging and I guess coloring our hair is just one step in that direction. Some women choose to age more naturally and find that to be more authentic. And that is fine by us. Hopefully, we will not be judged for making the choice to not go gray. Check out this story:
https://www.thecut.com/2019/09/gray-lady-among-the-gray-babies.html
Ciao
Lucy and Claudia