Going, Going, Gray! — State of Gray

Book cover Going Gray — The cover of Going Gray by Anne Kreamer

For me it was white, as you can see in my pictures.

The subject of going gray/white came to the forefront for a lot of women during Covid, when they could not get to the salon for months. And a lot of women took the opportunity to go for it, or at least try it out. It was not much of an issue for me, as I was already there, but I’ve read that many many women went ahead and made the change.

The adventure started for me in 1988 when I saw a picture of myself with my 6 month old and saw a huge streak of gray in my unfortunately permed hair. From the age of 30 until the age of 50, I got permanent color every 2 1/2 weeks. It was an enormous expense and just never-ending upkeep. My hair started out dark brown. As my hair turned more and more white, it was impossible to keep the white stripe down my part covered. I noticed that my hair color also looked “weak”, the white areas looked washed out and there was no amount of color that would fix that. By my late 40’s the color was starting to look harsh, and by that second week, I wasn’t fooling anybody.

After turning 50 in 2008, I started getting highlights with some lowlights for depth, instead of permanent color, and went much lighter. Now I could go for 3-4 weeks. My straight hair tolerated it well. And I cut it short, which was helpful. I decided that I wanted to start out blonde and then hopefully, when I went to white, it would read as blonde. (At least for a while.) In 2016 I went from light brown/blonde to platinum, starting around my face and slowly moving to the back. I felt like the color was looking much better, if not younger. It is hard to find a balance between attractiveness and authenticity.

In 2021, I was almost complete.

I can now go 5-6 weeks between salon visits and I get a some platinum highlights in the darker areas, and I get a toner rinse, to keep it bright and from yellowing. I think it will be a few more years until I can go with no highlights at all. Or I may always get them. We shall see.

It is definitely not for everyone. I have some friends who hardly have any gray at 60!! And if you are a light blonde, it’s a much easier transition. I do think when you are trying to cover huge swaths of white hair with permanent dark color, as in my case, it makes sense. Your actual hairstyle becomes more important though - you need to keep it current if you’re going to do this! Some good news - it is much easier to find more products out there for gray and white hair than ever before.

I did it very slowly and methodically with much help from my stylist. And I have never regretted my decision.

I must say, i get many more compliments about my hair now, than i ever did before.

Books & Sites that have been helpful…

Going Gray by Anne Kreamer (2007)

Going Gray, Looking Great by Diana Lewis Jewell (2004)…..you can see how long I contemplated this

Silver Is The New Blonde - Jan Correll A fun website and IG account to follow. Jan blogs about style and beauty for ladies over 50, and has really pretty silvery white hair in a swingy bob, similar to mine.

Style At A Certain Age - Beth Djalali One of the biggest blogs in style and beauty for ladies over 50. She has a Youtube channel, a lifestyle website and she has great silvery hair with a wonderful short cut.

Silver Style Studio - Kerry Lou Henson A website by a NYC makeup artist with fabulous curly silver hair. She also has a great IG account and does wonderful tutorials on Youtube.

Cindy Hattersley Design - Cindy Hattersley A great blog that focuses on over 50 fashion, and lifestyle. She has done several posts on gray hair and just happens to have gorgeous white hair.

The Progression

I hope this post was informative and helpful to you. I will do future posts about care and maintenance, and about wearing color with gray hair. And you can check out these ladies’ sites listed above for great information on the topic!