Gray Expectations: Drab to Fab! 

Hi Yvonne! Thank you for your lovely message! You're really gaining traction at 6 months in! I'm so pleased to hear you are loving your silver! It's exciting to look ahead to the final result. At first I was unsure about the white hair framing my face but now I feel that it brightens up my complexion. It's so nice to be on this journey with you! 🤩

Hello Chantal! So great to hear from you from France. Silver sisters are everywhere! I don't really question my decision to go gray but I have a wobble every now and then. Thank you for your lovely comments and encouragement. 🌺🤩

Hi Silver Sisters love from NY. Gave up coloring my hair July 2 2022. My hair is past my shoulders. Not using chemicals anymore makes me grateful. but I too “ wobble” back n forth is this aging me? Funny but no one has really noticed believe it or not? My Goldie blonde is past my ears now Because I was a light cool blond before. I am looking for a good shampoo not the purple I have one. I get bad tangles. You look BEAUTIFUL & your hair is so thick & healthy it’s a win win combo🤍🙌🙏

@@colleenpec121 So nice to hear from you Colleen! Your 1 year milestone is coming up very soon. Woo hoo!! 🎉🎊 It sounds like your transition to natural hair is blending seamlessly with your goldie blond. I have tangles at the back of my neck and I sometimes use regular conditioner (not a purple one) on that area because I find the purple conditioner a bit drying. My hair stylist also recommended rubbing a little conditioner on my fingertips and just running it through my dry hair and leaving it on. That works great to tame the tangles between shampoos. Thank you so much for your positive comments and encouragement. Sending Silver Sisters love to you too! 🥰

Thx so much for your lovely comments, Gina!🥰 You're doing great at 7 months in! I honestly found the first 6 months to be the hardest. Some days are still a bit challenging but honestly as time goes on, I think about my hair color less and less. That's a win! Going cold turkey is very brave. I'm with you on this journey. We've both got our eye on the prize!

@@grayexpectations5686 ❤️

Thank you for your lovely message Karin. 4 months is great progress and honestly, probably the hardest part of the journey. You're doing great! 🥰I have found that styling my hair and using accessories has helped me take the focus off my hair color. I'm glad you found the styling tips helpful. I'll be posting again very soon and look forward to your comments.

Some days can still be a bit of a wobble and your message inspired me! We're in this together. 💝

Thank you so much Lynette. Some days may be a struggle but 9 months is amazing progress! Woo hoo! 🤩

Almost all gone and loving my natural hair more than my coloured hair!!! Who'd have thought?! :) @@grayexpectations5686

You're doing great! A big part of this, is making the decision to let your hair go natural and just moving forward and you're doing that. As you say, if you really don't like your natural color, you can always dye it again. I'm all about doing what makes you happy and makes you feel comfortable. I relate to being taken aback when you catch a glimpse of yourself in the mirror. It definitely takes time to mentally adjust to natural hair. I'm here to support you along the way however far you decide to go. There are lots of benefits to being dye free but if do you dye it again, maybe you will go a bit lighter which might make going natural a bit easier in the future. Sometimes I wonder what that would have been like. I'm happy to be on this journey with you! Thank you for your message. 💕

Hi Bea! Great hair accessories really help take the focus off your hair as it transitions to your natural color. You have great options with long gray hair. I ordered a bundle of accessories on line but many of them are for much longer hair. Still fun to experiment though!

Hi snowboard chick! I'm so pleased to hear that you're loving your grey. I relate to being over the two/three tone hair. If I lived in a city, I would get someone to color correct what's left of my brown. The growing out process sure takes time. Love connecting with ponytail girls with natural hair! Thank you for sharing. 🥰

Hi Theresa, thank you so much for messaging! 😍I agree that coloring our hair can feel like a burden because in many ways, it is. It takes time, money and planning and we're putting chemicals on our hair, which isn't good. The process of growing out our natural hair, can be long (depending on hair length) and honestly, it's hard to look in the mirror and feel we're not looking our best. Women are under more social pressure than men to dye their hair and look younger; it's complicated. My mother in law once told my husband that his gray hair, made her feel old!! Maybe your Mom feels that way too. There are some great, fun, color options if you decide to go that route. The dye strip technique was good bc it helped me through the first few months, which were the hardest, but it set my overall time line back. Honestly, it's what I needed to get started. Maybe check out a couple of the facebook groups for inspiration and support. I'm happy to support you on your journey too! I'd love to see your post if you decide to go natural. You are seriously considering this and that's how it started for me. I thought about this for many months before I made my decision and I kept reminding myself, that this is my choice and I can always dye it again. You can do this! 🌺

Thx so much Lana! Some days, I do feel a little washed out and I agree that brighter lipstick gives me a bit of a lift. 😊

Hi Silvia, thank you for your encouraging and supportive message from Sydney! I know you relate to our humid weather here. 🥰When my hair is looking a little dull, I use my purple shampoo and conditioner but I may try a silver toner as you suggest. As soon as my hair gets to the length I like, it's time for another trim. I'll post again once I get a little more growth. It's a good feeling to have the end in sight.

Stand strong Tracy!💪 I've had those wobbly moments too, especially in the first few months and I really relate to how you felt. When I started this journey one of my best friends told me she'd be honest and let me know how my gray hair looks and she's been silent ever since!! LOL, I guess she's not a fan! People have a lot of negative associations with gray hair and hopefully as more and more of us go natural, we can change that together. I think how ppl react to my gray hair is as much about them as it about me. Does that make sense? I'm here to support you on your journey! 😍3 months is great progress and honestly was the hardest for me. You're doing great!

Hi Tina! Thx so much for your lovely comments!🥰 It sounds like you're doing great with your grow out, at almost 5 months and counting! I honestly found the first 6 months the hardest. I think honey brown is a great transition color because there isn't such a sharp contrast when the gray starts coming through. Sometimes I wish I gone a bit a lighter before growing my hair out. When I started this, like you, I didn't really know what my gray pattern would be and what my natural color was anymore. I'm happy to have made the decision to go natural but I still have days when I feel a bit wobbly and I think that's normal. It's as much a mental shift as a physical change. But, I must say, I have more and more good days as I adjust to my gray hair!

Hi GG! I'm watching "The Crown" right now and I can see why you felt crushed by that comment. Some ppl say things without thinking and those comments can be hurtful. I know that as much as I enjoy the freedom of my natural hair right now, there are negative aspects to it as well. Like you, I can always go back to dyeing my hair it if I choose to; that is up to me and I'm open to that. You made the right decision for yourself and what's important is that you feel good about it. Gray hair isn't for everyone and it doesn't have to be a permanent choice. I agree ppl judge us by how we look and hair color is a big part of that. Thank you for sharing your experience. 🌺

@grayexpectations5686 We'll I think it did me good to talk about it because I have decided to go gray again. I didn't thunk I'd miss it as much as I do. So after 3 months I'm done with the dye,again!

Thx so much for sharing. I totally agree that you have to be in the right mindset to accept the gray and just go with it. Honestly, it's not always easy. There are still days when I question my choice and feel a bit wobbly. Everyone's gray/white/silver pattern is unique and the only way to really know what yours will be like is to grow it out. Some gray hair can look a little dull and one dimensional but now that I'm noticing it on more and more ppl, I find gray hair is quite interesting. I have a lot of white framing my face and initially I didn't love the white hair but I'm getting used to it and now I feel it brightens up my face. It sounds like you have some beautiful strands on the side that you really love. That's a great start! 🥰

@@grayexpectations5686 Thank you for so kindly replying! I can understand why you occasionally question your choice, it's an entirely new path you're on and of course, it doesn't help when someone says something that insinuates you're older than you really are. 😯 But don't take it personally, what matters is what you think and how you feel about yourself. The fullness of your hair is really pretty and I do think the multi shades you have right now are very flattering and dimensional. But then when you pull it back and it's mostly white, that's also flattering, so I think once yours become all white, it will look great, too! 👍 I'm hoping that's true for me as well, that it will be more white-gray than silver-gray and hopefully these side strands are some indication of that. Back in my twenties, I got a can of that spray hair color that was popular then, it came in dark shades, gold, and silver and I tried the silver ... put some streaks around the sides of my hair and it was NOT flattering, thankfully it easily washed out ... so that may be one reason I've resisted going gray ... fear of the silver! LOL I've always looked younger than my actual age and have a youthful attitude, but I'm 67 now and in just the past couple of years have been feeling and looking a little more my age so I'm conflicted about ditching the dye, but watching your video has helped. 👍 I hope you'll post updates. Take care! 🥰

@@qso3566 We share a lot of the same ambivalence about going natural. I try to tell myself, there's so much more to being youthful than just hair color and I think a youthful attitude is a gift! I honestly think gray hair looks better than we may perceive because there are a lot of layers to how we feel about going gray and aging. When I look back at photos of my gray hair journey, I think my hair generally looks better than I felt at the time. I can honestly say, this process looks easier when I see someone else doing it! LOL! Thank you so much for your encouraging words and positive comments. I'll post an update in August. Hope to see you then! 💕

@@grayexpectations5686 Yes, we do and that's why I reached out to you, it helps to share concerns and thoughts with someone who's on the same page about something. Definitely more to youth than hair color, but you know, it's part of our overall look and how we feel about ourselves and the dilemma of whether or not to go gray is very real to most mature women. Society is still youth-oriented and I think it's ingrained in many of us that gray hair = old and every other hair color = young. Most likely the reason you didn't think it looked as good as it did in the beginning was because it was a totally new direction, so it stands to reason that it takes time to acclimate and decide if you're ok with the change. No doubt many women are happy and stay with it and others may, at some point, decide they want to go back to coloring their hair, and there's nothing wrong with that, it's individual choice. You're most welcome and thank you for engaging in conversation with me, it helps. Look forward to your next update! 🥰

You've made such amazing progress with 2 years of growth! I can relate to your feelings for sure and still have the occasional day where I question myself on this decision. When I've had a wobble, my hairdresser has encouraged me to take some time and sit with my thoughts because she didn't want me to do anything impulsive. I was thankful for that advice because if I had acted impulsively, I think that I would have immediately regretted it. It can be hard but shifting the focus away from your hair will help, that was my goal in making this video. At the end of the day, you need to do what makes you happy and what feels right for you. I'm here for you. 🥰

Hi Connie! So pleased to hear you are finally embracing your grays! 4 2/1 months is great progress. I'm still in the game too! I've been working on my update video and I'll get it done very soon. It's still a mental adjustment but I can't imagine dyeing it again. I feel if I ever did, I would immediately regret it. Thank you for being in touch. 🥰

7 months is great progress! The more time passes, I think the more committed we become to this process and honestly it only gets easier with time. Like you, I'm not going back!