10 Reasons To Go Gray

It Saves Time & Money

Life is short and gray hair is easy and (mostly) free. As my newly gray friend Maureen says, “I don’t even want the stylist to spend time chatting with me. Cut it and let’s go — I’ve got a life to live!” If I still had all the money in my pocket that I’d spent coloring my hair, I could take a European vacation … a nice one.

It's Earth-Friendly

We eat pretty low on the food chain at my house. We recycle. We avoid foods with unpronounceable ingredients. So why am I putting something called p-Phenylenediamine just a few millimeters from my brain eight times a year?

It's The New Black

Seen Helen Mirren’s gorgeous silver locks lately? Or Nichelle Nichols’s amazing shining gray? What about Emmylou Harris or Annie Lennox? Even singer/songwriter and rebel icon Patti Smith now has a head full of silver — and that really rocks.

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It's Flexible

Decided to try it? There are lots of approaches to converting — from stealth to cold turkey — and you can pick the one that fits your comfort level. Maggie Rose Crane, inspirational speaker and author of Amazing Grays: A Woman’s Guide to Making the Next 50 the Best 50, describes approaches to letting your gray grow wild.

It's Surprising

Letting your hair go gray is a little like searching for hidden treasure — you can’t be sure at the outset what you’re going to find at the end of the trail, but the journey is always interesting. I was lucky to find that my (current) real hair color is a shiny salt and pepper mix, and my friend Sue happily describes her chic gray hair as her “precious metals” — a little bit each of silver, gold and copper.

It's Sexy & Sophisticated

Just three words: Jamie. Lee. Curtis.

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It's Powerful

Think about it. Would Meryl Streep’s character in The Devil Wears Prada be taken so seriously without that mane of snowy hair? Not so scary, but plenty powerful: Food Network chef and entrepreneur Paula Deen; Nobel Laureate and Princeton professor Toni Morrison; and Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius.

It's Versatile

My colored hair looked fine, but my graying, wiry eyebrows were beginning to give me away. Once you go gray, you may also discover that your hair not only matches your eyebrows, but that it has a rich new texture and amazing shine.

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It's Real

“We live in the United States of Advertising,” says Crane, “in a society that worships youth and makes us afraid of aging.” For many women, she adds, going gray is not as much about style as it is about attitude. Going gray lets us celebrate our wisdom and maturity and throw out the script that says older women can’t be sexy and strong and happy.

It's Just Hair

Going gray doesn’t have to be permanent unless you want it to be. Crane says that most of the women she met while writing her book were thrilled with their new gray hair, but one woman went back to coloring after someone assumed she was her elderly father’s wife. As Crane notes, “It’s not just about hair, but about how you want to live and creating a life that reflects the woman you’ve become.”