Should you embrace the gray?
When should I go gray?
That’s a question a lot of us ask ourselves as we start getting older.
Cosmetologists and colorists, as a general rule of thumb, advise going gray when 80% of your hair is white or gray, or when your hair starts feeling increasingly dry and brittle.
But if you’ve been wearing a wig for some time - and especially if you don’t have much natural hair - your natural hair won’t work as a guide.
For wig wearers, going gray happens overnight. One day you put on a colored wig, the next a gray or white one.
The switch can feel abrupt and overwhelming, especially if you don’t spend some time seriously thinking about whether or make the switch from color to gray.
Here are seven signs you’re ready to make a change and buy a gray wig.
1) You are ready to face your fears
It’s ironic that as we naturally age many of us fear ‘looking’ old. We worry that people will treat us differently, or that people will stop noticing us altogether.
For some reason, our culture is obsessed with you and preserving youth. We overlook the advantages of aging - being wiser, smarter, and more settled in life - in an attempt to look like our younger selves.
Does that sound as crazy to you as it does to us?
It’s time to stop pretending we’re of an age where being carded is a sign of youth and beauty and accept our natural beauty.
Confidence is beautiful.
2) Gray hair is on trend!
It’s true! Just turn on your television or log in to your kid’s Netflix account to see for yourself.
Your children and grandchildren look up to fictional characters like Daenerys Targaryen and Mirage and admire silver screen legends like Helen Mirren and Meryl Streep.
Keep your look up-to-date and embrace the gray-haired trend that’s all around us.
3) You want to experiment with new looks
Most of us have spent decades with our original hair color, whether it be black, blonde, red, or brunette.
If you’re open to trying new things, now could be the time to switch to a grayer look!
Besides just experimenting with color, transitioning to gray hair is a great time to try out new lengths, styles, colors, and textures.
Fresh, modern styles that are up-to-date will complement your new hair color and keep you from looking elderly.
Think of celebrities like Jamie Lee Curtis, Helen Mirren, or Carol King. All of them adopted their natural gray locks and maintained sleek styles that kept them looking young.
While it would be great to point you in the direction of one wig that will give you a modern look with gray hair, we just can’t do that. The right style will be different for everyone.
Experiment with a few different looks to figure out what works best for you.
4) Your colored hair looks harsh against your skin
We’ve all seen those women.
The ones who still dye their hair dark brown, deep black, or bright red, and whose skin looks like a sheet of paper.
As we age, our skin loses pigment, and we naturally become paler. The contrast between dark hair and your skin will only grow over time.
Going gray or white can tone down the difference between your natural hair color and your skin, giving you an overall more natural look.
5) You’re ready to go gray...just not all the way
There’s a common misconception that once you decide to go gray, you have to go straight from the color you had before all the way to gray.
We’re here to tell you that’s not true at all.
Some people transition to gray hair by getting “highlights.” That means dying your hair or choosing a wig with gray streaks, rather than an overall gray wig.
This can help you get used to your new hue before making a permanent switch to gray.
6) You have daughters (or granddaughters)
There isn’t a grandmother, mother, aunt, godmother, or sister who doesn’t want the younger women in her life to feel confident in their own skin.
Often, we learn by from our role models and, unfortunately, there aren’t many gray-haired women over 50 in the public eye.
If young women and girls don’t see older women being confident as who they are, why should they be?
Set an example and the girls in your life of what a real live woman looks like as she ages.
Show them that there’s nothing wrong with embracing who we are and that any person - small, large, blonde, gray or white-haired - should feel beautiful in their own skin.
7) You’re ready to be free!
Choosing when to go gray is one of the big questions in life.
Should I live in a city or in the suburbs?
What type of school will I send my children to?
Should we downsize after we retire?
These big life questions are stressful only up until the point that you’ve made them.
We’ve all experienced the feeling of making a big choice and having the weight of that choice leave us.
The same goes for choosing to go gray.
Spend less time worrying about your hair color and more time planning that next vacation or big family celebration.
We promise you won’t regret it.
Need more hair advice? Check out our posts on 2018 Hair Trends, Wearing Wigs When It's Hot Out, and Everything You Ever Needed to Know About Wig Maintenance.
