Going silver

I expect my hair journey has been much the same as other women my age.  Being a child of the 50’s, I succumbed to a home permanent by my Nana at the age of 10.  It took me years to grow that out and I’m sure many of you are nodding your heads as you read this.  It was quite the disaster but showed unlimited trust in my dear Nana.

Here is what I thought my hair would look like (and yes, I loved it!) every day even though it had just taken a mountain of chemicals, rollers, Dippity-do and some intense back combing and pinning to get this carefree swingin' 60's look!

This is what it actually looked like when I washed it myself...

By the time my Tonette perm had grown out, it was the 70’s, god bless them.  I wore my hair long and straight and unadorned or chemically treated (except for the odd henna treatment) and that kept me going into the 80’s. 

The 80’s was a crazy time for hair!  I think I was pretty conservative but that didn’t stop me from multiple body waves and dips and wings and some pretty severe “frostings”.  I did have very distinct Princess Diana hair for a while in the early 80’s ;).

I'm changing my whole colour scheme :)

This is where I started. I was happy with the look but was starting to wonder if I could go "au naturel". This was taken February 2016, about 6 months before I stopped highlighting.

These were taken in March 2017 and I was about 7 months into the transformation. This is the worst stage, in my opinion but it is different for everyone. I didn’t have a strong demarkation line so it just looked like the dogs breakfast for ages. Totally worth it though!

 The 90’s brought more highlights and several versions of the Rachel (from Friends).  I was addicted to my hair spray and Velcro rollers, if you get my drift.  At the time, I thought it was great and looking back, I cringe a little, but what the heck!

Excuse me? Who is the woman? I don't even recognize myself anymore.

I’ve worn my hair in a similar style since the late 90’s, which is some version of a bob, occasionally veering to longish hair with longish bangs in my early 50’s. 

I swore I would never give in to my grey/silver hair until during one discussion with  my hairdresser we  decided that I might have quite a bit of it and we should perhaps stop the highlights for a time and see what happens.  Gulp…

Now that I have done it, I am so happy I have gone natural!  I am quite lucky that I have a lot of very light platinum shades on top, mixed with a more deep charcoal grey underneath and scattered throughout.  I’ve never been complimented more on my hair in my life!   

 I think I’m lucky that the trend of grey or silver  hair for younger women was happening around the time I decided to try my own version so it almost (almost!) looked like I was actually trendy and not just “mature” ;).  As well as the trend, I’m blessed to live in a time where aging is something to celebrate and not hide. 

Letting my hair revert to its natural colour has been very liberating.  It became about more than just embracing my silver hair.  I found myself enjoying the perks of aging.  I find myself more visible now.  I think it makes more of a statement than my highlighted blond.  I’m not sure I would have felt this way at 50 and my outcome would probably not have been so striking as I likely would have had less silver but the timing gods were on my side.  I recommend trying this look to anyone that feels they have enough silver/grey to make it work. Then again, to each their own and it’s just hair xo