I'm A Grey-Bae!

For as long as I can remember “hair” has and still is a major topic of discussion.  For most of our childhood, others such as parents, siblings & other family members decided what would be done to our hair.   As we got older and were given more autonomy, those decisions became ours but were and still are greatly influenced by society "what's in."  The hair  industry is booming now more than ever because hair & what we do or don’t do with it, is very important in our community. 

It's been over a year since I decided to let mother nature take her course.  What I mean by that is I decided to “go grey on purpose.”  My mother had a beautiful head of sparkly silver.   Although I don’t know what age she started greying, I do know that it is a very strong gene on her side of the family.  My random grey strands became more noticeable the shorter I cut my hair.  I'd see strands of grey here and there, but since I always colored my hair, it wasn't a problem.  Early last year, I noticed that it was getting increasingly difficult to keep up with maintaining the appearance of black hair.  I would faithfully buy & apply hair rinse (black color to cover my grey) & faithfully my hair would defy it.  I'd go to my barber who would CUT off the newly colored hair leaving sparkly silver exposed again.  It didn’t take long for me to realize that this was not only a vicious cycle; but a losing battle.  I had to make a decision to continue the vicious cycle or embrace my Crown of Splendor (Proverbs 16:31) earlier than I anticipated.

I must be honest this was not an easy decision.  As I tell women, “it’s not for the faint at heart.” Society has created such a stigma for people going grey.  There are also so many myths about grey hair; so let me take a moment to talk about how grey hair occurs.  Hair greying is a normal part of the aging process. As we age, hair cells on the scalp produce less melanin.  When there are fewer pigment cells (less melanin) in a hair’s follicle, it causes that strand of hair become more transparent (grey, silver, white) in color.  As one grows older, there will be fewer pigment cells to produce melanin, eventually leaving us with a full crown of splendor.   Hair greying can take place at any age, as it is based on genetics.  I get it from my Mama and, who wouldn’t be proud to rock something handed down from their parent/grandparents? I don't know about you; but knowing that made me all the more proud to allow my grey to come in. 

My sister who is older than I am & knows our family genes, expressed her concerns with my proposed decision (“it will make you look old, not everyone can pull that off, are you sure you want to do that now you’re not even 50 yet?, etc.” )  A few friends cheered the idea and others remained quiet, with perturbed looks on their faces.  I found it interesting that males seemed more supportive than females of the idea.  Nevertheless, I persisted with one of the BEST decisions that I’ve made in life; and that was to “go grey on purpose.”   I've learned so much about myself and about life along this journey.  If you or someone that you know have been contemplating rocking your natural highlights, let me remind of Nike’ famous quote “Just Do It!” You'll thank me later!  One of my biggest supporters throughout this process has been my husband.  He was the first to encourage me to “go with the flow” & stop trying to fight the inevitable. I had no idea of the freedom that I would also be embracing. (Thanks Babe!) Out of this process, I earned another nickname (“Greybae”) added to the long list. 

If you know others that are struggling with this decision as many of us do, I encourage you to invite them here for encouragement & inspiration.  We will talk about it, brainstorm on how to get through those rough patches (there are rough patches) & learn how to feel confident rocking what’s naturally yours.  I will attach some photos of my hair along the journey, as well as feature other "Greybae's" here and you will see,  that the possibilities are endless. 

Click the link in my bio to purchase your very own “Greybae” T-shirt & support our grey hair movement. 

All comments, suggestions & questions are welcomed.  Please leave them below because I’d love to hear from you.

 https://www.scientificamerican.com/