I am only 51 but have enough gray hair that it makes me feel old. also, I think people in our culture get less respect if their hair is gray. my Mom told me this was her experience so she colored her hair right up until she retired. she said she absolutely got more respect.
so, I should color it, right? I want to.
but, I have been trying to reduce the amount of toxins I expose myself to: buy organic food when I can and so on. if you think it makes no difference (had a coworker tell me, we all live in a toxic soup anyway) then read Slow Death By Rubber Duck, which explains, yes you can make a difference by choosing to avoid toxins.
and hair color is pretty toxic; it just is.
the “clean” option is henna - which gives a warm red color that won’t flatter me.
but I hate my gray hair. should I leave it? get a wig? or color it and say, OK, toxins - in this case it’s worth it.
you know what I want to know? do men my age find gray hair less attractive?
Henna actually comes in a variety of shades from red to auburn to dark brown - I’m not sure if any of those would work.
I think if your hair goes grey attractively and you get a very good hair cut it can look good but if either of those things are missing it can look dreadful.
Well, I do think there is a limited number of styles that look sophisticated if your hair is gray - if it’s shortish you’ll look like a granny. If its long (past your chin, probably) you’re likely to look homeless. I always find a sleek, chin length bob in grey or silver looks fantastic, and the super short spikey do you see on older arty ladies with can look good, but other than than, it all tends to look a bit frumpy.
I keep hearing all this rubbish about toxins. What the fuck are toxins? Hair dye has some strong chemicals in it, sure. How else would it change your hair color? That’s why you use gloves, ventilate well, and throw it away when you’re done. The time people spend dithering about ethereal, poorly-defined life-shortening toxins causes anxiety which actually DOES shorten their lives.
That said, gray/white hair ONLY looks good on men with dark tans or brown/black skin colors. Light-skinned guys can rock the salt and pepper for a while, but once the pepper is gone, it looks like shit. Gray/white/salt and pepper is NEVER a good look on women, though, except those who play grandmas on television. If you’re a working professional woman, then you should absolutely dye it. If you leave it au naturel, you’re going to look at least 10 years older than you would if you dyed it. Occupational age discrimination is already rampant, you don’t want to increase the likelihood of it happening to you.
I have a lot of respect for older women who rock their natural color, but it would be a mistake to call it a professional look. There’s only *one *woman in my entire department who doesn’t dye her hair. And my department is at least 75% female and skews heavily toward middle-age. But hey, it’s your hair. Do what you want.
if it’s toxic or not is another thread, I guess. I have no doubt it is & if you want to get something into your body, putting it on your skin is a good way to do it.
and it wouldn’t be just once - it would be once a month from now until…well, I could dye until I die!
It depends on the person and how you style it. It’s possible to have very striking gray hair. And, more importantly, it’s possible to do such a horrible job at dying it that you look worse.
These images, for example, look rather attractive.
