I’ve been coloring my brown hair since I could drive myself to the drugstore. When I decided to grow out my ombre highlights last year — still a work in progress — I thought I’d give my hair a rest from the chemicals and go au naturale for while.
It turns out, I like my natural color… and now my head is being slowly colonized by grays.
Ironic, dontcha’ think?
It started in my late 20s with a silvery strand or two — which I yanked and forgot — but when I tried a deep side part a few Sundays ago, I found a sneaky streak hiding near my left temple that I hadn’t noticed before. (I’m sure I sprouted several more over Valentine’s week.)
When women start to gray, we find ourselves at a fork in the road: one path leads to years in our colorist’s chair waging a war against our roots, and the other embraces it. There’s even an #embracethegray hashtag, which I discovered while scouring Pinterest and Instagram for fierce ladies who let their silver shine; see: Sarah Harris.
Considering my aversion to maintenance, I think I’ll join the latter camp and let it go. For now. ;)
To blend everything in, I want to add some hand-painted balayage highlights to the crown and around my face. They’re more subtle and grow-out friendly than foils, and will hopefully camouflage the gray without the need for regular root touchups.
Best case scenario, I end up with some awesome natural highlights like this gorgeous model from Cisthene.
{Image sources: Refinery29, Cisthene, Constanza Arena, British Vogue.}
What do you think?