I was thinking of letting my hair go gray, but it was a big step.
I grew up in a small southern US town where the ladies dressed to the nines for just about everything–church, bridge, mullet roasts, garden circles, campaign rallies, and the Friday night football games. Even the older ladies did–especially the older ladies.
The Blue Haired Ladies
I distinctly remember the blue-haired ladies. They were always so tidy and meticulous with every hair in place. Several of the elderly ladies used a rinse that made their hair have a bluish-gray tint. We called them the ‘blue haired ladies”.
A 1960s Magazine Ad
1960s Magazine Ad for Yellow Tinged Gray
My Mother at 68 and Grandmother who was in her 90s
Time to Go Gray?
Well, here I am today with a head full of gray hair. Or at least it appeared so at the roots. I wasn’t sure because I colored my hair consistently. I’ve colored it since some of the it started coming in nearly twenty years ago.
I thought, though, that it might be time to embrace my gray hair; but I was not exactly sure how much I really had up there.
Frankly, this is a new phenomena for me. Until just lately, I never even considered letting myself go gray. I’m a vain woman. I think I’m just curious more than anything. Several of my girlfriends did it, and I liked it. They looked great.
Three Steps to Going Gray
So last fall, I stopped coloring my hair, which was step one. I watched the gray roots grow each time between washings. It was like one big experiment.
Next, step two was to spray my gray away. To keep it looking good, though, I sprayed the roots using a product called “Grey Away”. It worked like a charm and hid my roots even after my roots got more than two inches long.
It washes out completely the next washing. There are many other sprays and other secret weapons on the market, but I found this one right away and kept using it.
I had over two inches of uncolored grey that I covered with this spray after every shampoo. This is why I tell my husband that we older ladies know camouflage. He calls it fraud. I found it worked better after my blow dry and after I applied my hair spray.
Here’s a before photo and an after using the spray. It covered very well.
The third step was a good haircut, shorter than I had in a quite while. I wanted to cut off as much of the colored hair as possible. I needed hair to frame my face, so it is cut longer on the top with bangs. The haircut was by Angela at Hair on Earth in Tallahassee. She cut it just like I wanted.
I love styling it myself, but I am still not totally gray. I may want to go back to spraying it with “Gray Away” to let more gray grow in.
And I can always just go back to coloring it. We women today have so many options.
One thing I know for sure, though, my hair won’t allow me to be a ‘blue hair’. Not yet, anyway. It’s still a little too early. That will take a little while longer.
Are you thinking about going gray? If you already have, please share how you did it?
