Do You Dye Your Grays? If So, Why?
We’ve asked you a a few times if you dye your hair, and it sparked a passionate and interesting discussion, particularly among those of you who dye your hair to cover up grays. Men, we know, have it easy when it comes to graying: They get called a silver fox, and are celebrated for looking even better than they did before the hands of time changed their hair color for good.
Do women get the same treatment? Hells no.
Still, many of you have never dyed your hair (looking at you, mom) and never will. And because famous people are our de facto (and unfortunate) arbiters of beauty norms, it helps that some famous ladies rock their grays. And while I can acknowledge that, beauty ideals being what they are, having gray hair as a women means you’re somehow “braver” than those who do dye, there is something inherently condescending and ass backwards about that.
One of my closest friends has some salt in her pepper and she told me a while back that not infrequently, people will point it out to her as if she hadn’t yet noticed. “Wow! You have a lot of gray in your hair!” Is it an insult? Not at all. But no one would ever say “Wow! You have so many pimples on your face!” because acne is thought of as something a woman can’t do a whole lot about. It’s not your fault you have a bunch of zits, so it would be unkind to point it out. But your hair—whoa, you know you can do something about that, right? Gray hair, then, is viewed as a CHOICE, which makes no sense because it’s actually the result of not choosing—of letting your hair be.
Anyway, we totally understand those who do, and we understand those who don’t. But after a conversation with a coworker friend, who dyes her grays and is particularly interested in what other women have to say about the matter, I thought I’d put it to you:
Do you dye your grays? If you don’t have any yet, do you think you will dye them when you do go gray? And if so why? We really want to know what informs the decision. Is it to look more youthful? Because you think it’s more professional? Because _________. You tell us!
I am 62 this year and have pure all-over white hair. I looked old and it made me feel old. I tried dying it and I love the color. My hair is very fine and thin. The only problem is the first inch from the scalp wont take any color. Any suggestions how to color that first inch of hair?
I so dye my grays, started graying early in my 20s & can’t stand the sight of them so I use semi-perm color to cover them up…. ; )