I stopped dying my hair when I was 38 ( just over 5 years ago) & never looked back. I'm naturally very dark & I could not keep up with my grey regrowth anymore so I decided to let my hair do its thing. Right now, at almost 45 & 4 years into peri, my hair is very much in the salt & pepper category. And it's fine. Everyone presumes I have it streaked, which is weird because it is VERY uneven, but people (women) always comment on it. I feel more myself & so free not being tied to the dye box anymore.
I was born blonde, then like you paid a lot of money to stay blonde. A few years ago I said f-this and let my hair be it's natural brown self. It's freeing, and free! I have no regrets and am embracing my natural color, even the grays that are appearing.
I loved reading this. I guess I should have known I haven't been alone in my relationship to my less-blond-than-before hair! I, too, stopped being able to highlight my hair in 2020 and decided to embrace the natural dishwater of it all. I was wrestling with the very things addressed in that brilliant OpEd. Since I had divested from diet culture, not coloring my hair also felt like another way to reject certain beauty standards and start to examine my participation in white supremacy culture.
After about 3 years, I did end up starting to do a few highlights around my face again. I was kind of beating myself up for it, like I had caved to my own internalized prejudices. I guess I'm just trying to survive in a body that is losing access to previously enjoyed privilege, thanks to ageism and weight stigma.
This resonates so much! I’ve read about why blonde is problematic (Claudia Rankine, Just Us, devastating). And yet… I’ve highlighted my hair since the color turned to dull dishwater after the birth of my first daughter, and it is a confidence boost. I recently asked my stylist to put in lowlights and “less blonde”. Welp, it’s all brown and it is hard to look in the mirror. Perhaps I will power through?
I stopped dying my hair when I was 38 ( just over 5 years ago) & never looked back. I'm naturally very dark & I could not keep up with my grey regrowth anymore so I decided to let my hair do its thing. Right now, at almost 45 & 4 years into peri, my hair is very much in the salt & pepper category. And it's fine. Everyone presumes I have it streaked, which is weird because it is VERY uneven, but people (women) always comment on it. I feel more myself & so free not being tied to the dye box anymore.
loved this!
I was born blonde, then like you paid a lot of money to stay blonde. A few years ago I said f-this and let my hair be it's natural brown self. It's freeing, and free! I have no regrets and am embracing my natural color, even the grays that are appearing.
I loved reading this. I guess I should have known I haven't been alone in my relationship to my less-blond-than-before hair! I, too, stopped being able to highlight my hair in 2020 and decided to embrace the natural dishwater of it all. I was wrestling with the very things addressed in that brilliant OpEd. Since I had divested from diet culture, not coloring my hair also felt like another way to reject certain beauty standards and start to examine my participation in white supremacy culture.
After about 3 years, I did end up starting to do a few highlights around my face again. I was kind of beating myself up for it, like I had caved to my own internalized prejudices. I guess I'm just trying to survive in a body that is losing access to previously enjoyed privilege, thanks to ageism and weight stigma.
This resonates so much! I’ve read about why blonde is problematic (Claudia Rankine, Just Us, devastating). And yet… I’ve highlighted my hair since the color turned to dull dishwater after the birth of my first daughter, and it is a confidence boost. I recently asked my stylist to put in lowlights and “less blonde”. Welp, it’s all brown and it is hard to look in the mirror. Perhaps I will power through?
My thought while reading this was…RED??!!