During the Cannes Film Festival, Andie MacDowell walked several red carpets and ended up debuting her full mane of curly grey hair. She’s 63 years old and she had been dyeing her hair various shades of brown for years. As someone who had a lot of grey in my 20s and 30s, I’m still not in a place emotionally or psychologically to go grey or go natural. I need to dye my hair right now, at my age. But sure, I hope when I’m in my 60s, I will feel fine with letting my grey hair fly, natural and free. It’s different for actresses and public figures though, and Andie apparently got a lot of push-back from her team when she wanted to go grey. She spoke to Vogue about all of it (you can read the piece here). Some highlights:
Why she chose to go grey: “At the very beginning of quarantine, my hair started growing and every time my kids would see me, they kept telling me I looked badass with my gray hair. When I pulled it up in a bun, all you could see was the salt and pepper, which is what I am, you know, dark and silver. I like to compare myself to George Clooney because why not? I’ve been saying for a while now it was time for me, personally, to make that transition because I felt like it was appropriate for my personality and just who I am.
She got pushback from her team: “During lockdown, I had a lot of downtime and became obsessed with Jack Martin, who did Jane Fonda’s hair. I shared those pictures with a lot of people going, ‘Hey, I want to do this.’ I got a job and very quickly I had to make up my mind about what I was going to do. My managers had actually said to me, “It’s not time.” And I said, “I think you’re wrong, and I’m going to be more powerful if I embrace where I am right now. It’s time because in two years I’m going to be 65. If I don’t do it now, I won’t have the chance to be salt and pepper. I always wanted to be salt and pepper!”
She had apprehensions: “At first. I was so cautious because I didn’t want anybody to be upset, and I was trying to figure out how I could wear wigs to please people. But then once I did it, it was just so clear to me that my instincts were right because I’ve never felt more powerful. I feel more honest. I feel like I’m not pretending. I feel like I’m embracing right where I am. I feel really comfortable. And in a lot of ways, I think it’s more striking on my face. I just feel like it suits me.
The products she’s trying: “You have to use a lot of silver-hair-color products. I cautiously use purple shampoos on my hair because they’re drying. I use a lot more products that boost color, like foams or purple conditioners. I use a lot of purple conditioners to make it look silver, and it’s amazing how they work. I love L’Oreal’s different purple products.
She wants to work, just with silver hair: “In terms of opportunities for work, I think it’s more interesting to see me like this. I suffered in this business as an actress, with people always wanting me to look younger. For me, it kind of hurts my heart that I can’t embrace where I am because honestly I feel like I am enough right where I am. I’m in great shape. I exercise all the time. I can pretty much keep up with the kids. I feel valuable where I am. I don’t want people to have the expectation that I need to look younger to have value or to be beautiful or desirable. We don’t do that to men! We love an older man. We love men as they age. I would love the same expectation for women, and we’re getting there…you know, baby steps.
Something I think about too much is how many older women in media feel the need to dye their hair. Legitimate journalists who know that their jobs are on the line if they go grey. They know they won’t be allowed on camera anymore. I imagine it’s the same for actresses too – once they go grey, they know they won’t work as much, or that they’ll just get drastically different roles. The prejudice against women going grey is very real.
Sidenote: I feel like this is very nitpicky about Andie and her appearance, but I have to say it. She needs to change her makeup now that she’s gone grey. Her coloring is different and now her makeup needs to change too.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.
It’s so sad that we can talk about men being silver foxes, and women still have this impossible beauty standard to live up to as they age.
In my family all women embrace their natural hair colors at every stage their in, and I grew up thinking that I can’t wait to turn 50 and have my hair turn salt and pepper like my grandma.
I think our society is ready for that natural beauty to flow. Andie looks amazing and so authentic this way. I love it!
After years of hiding my gray, I decided during the pandemic to go gray and to tell the truth, I like it better that having to constantly worry about covering up the gray. All my hair dresser does is trim and wash. In some ways it is so freeing. And a whole lot cheaper.
Good for you, Indywom! Celebrate your natural beauty. Grey hair cannot be beautiful on one gender and not for another, it’s just lies and oppression.
I’m sure you glow a lot more now that you’re more authentic too. At least it sounds like you’re owning it!
I bleached and high/low-lighted my hair for decades (started with highlights at 17, then moved to full head blonde color change in my mid 20s). After getting sick and having chemo (at 58), when my hair grew back in, I decided that I was *not* going back to coloring it. It did come in darker than my “original” hair, and the gray came roaring in lol (always had it, though it blended in with the highlights in my blonde hair). I have some areas that are silver streaks, and some salt and peppery areas; it’s *very* apparent in the sunlight. Also, my overall “dark” parts are lightening; I think it’s the melanin fading in prep to whiten. I can’t wait for my hair to whiten! My dad has a head of the most glorious all white hair 😊
Anyway…long way to make the point lol: LOVE the graying. I keep it “toned” using the purple shampoo/conditioner once a week or so, and I use a home gloss kit (helps smooth cuticles and gives shine as gray hair is more coarse and dull) in-between salon visits (when I have it done “professional strength” every 2-3 mos when I get a trim).
Andi could benefit from some deep conditioning and a monthly gloss as her hair is more wiry/coarse from the curls. And she *really* needs to change up her make up; it does her no favors as her coloring has changed; and I SO WISH she would change up those eyebrows!! Put an arch in them…something! Always makes her look like she’s worried or constipated.
Jan90067 – Love your story, and hope your health issue is good!
My aunts have the best silver hair, absolutely gorgeous. Mine, is awful, and I’ve been grey since my 30s. It’s very ashy, very dull, and leaves me very washed out, so I have not embraced it. Hoping that it actually silvers one of these days! So just saying that I think it depends on both your hair and skin coloring, but I’m 100% behind woman embracing the gray/silver or any other color they want!
I’m 62 and went natural 5 years ago. My natural hair color is medium blond and I played with hair color since I was 20 and the last 15 years I stuck with brunette. I got tired of the upkeep and maintenance once the grey started to show and that made me decide to go for natural. It took me 2 years to grow it out due to the length I had back then. I was more attached to the length (shoulder blade length) than to the color.. lol I was worried about the color but it turned out I’m a solid silver/white like my dad was. It is very freeing, low maintenance, cheaper. Only get a cut and blowout every 8 weeks. I love it.
I am so ready for our culture to reject obviously fake insta faces and hair. AM is so gorgeous, and of course has always had amazing hair.
She was STUNNING in Maid. Absolutely drop dead gorgeous.
Thank you Ms. McDowell! And for the record her “people” need to shut up. If only people like Nancy Pelosi, Diane Feinstein, and other well known politicians would see the same light.
Wow! Those are stunning pictures of Andie and I think they express more than her physical beauty. She’s always had the look of someone with a lot of self-confidence and poise. Hope she continues to age with grace, would be nice to see for a change.
She looks great and while her hair is actually not very grey I like her attitude. Feel like European women are much more accepting of aging and they look so much more elegant than the Botox filled dyed blonde hair actresses running around Hollywood.
I agree: the silver does suit her beautifully
She sounds so lovely! Agree re: makeup to auit the hair colour change
Love the hair & agree about the makeup, especially in the eyebrow area. Good for her for going natural. I will do the same once I stop working in IT. It’s hard to be 40+ in IT already, if I had a grey head I would be out before I could say “programming”.
This is very true.
Yeah I would change the shape of her eyebrows – maybe an arch would soften the eye and forehead area. But that might not be possible. I’m not a brow expert ;-D
Her silver hair looks great.
And yes, George Clooney goes gray or Anderson Cooper etc and they’re “silver foxes” but women aren’t allowed that.
I got my first gray hairs over the past few months (I’m almost 40 you all, don’t forget) and I have said for a few years now that i’m not going to dye my hair when it starts to “go” – my mom dyed her hair for years and only during the pandemic stopped and let it go fully gray, and I think it looks so much better and so much healthier. And I think there’s a point where it’s like, you’re not fooling anyone. Both my brother’s MILs dye their hair, one dyes it dark brown and one bright blonde, and its obvious and I’m like….you’re 70. People know you dye your hair. Just let it go.
But its much easier to say that as a spring chicken at age 35 and another to follow through at the ripe old age of almost-40 (lol) – I have these three gray strands and I’m honestly debating what to do. I’m cheap so that’s a big factor. and I don’t want to be stuck dyeing my hair for the next 30 years either. IDK. My hair stylist said she could help with the transition (actually dye it more of a silver and kind of a purple-y silver I guess) but again, only three strands so I’m not there yet either.
All that to say – more power to someone like Andie for going gray in the public eye like this.
My aunt is still blond in her 70s and my former mother in law is in her late 80s and still blond – so it does happen! My maternal grandfather was bald, but the hair he did have stayed dark until he died in his 80s. My mom is salt and pepper, but she has a lot of dark hair left. I’m almost 50 and I have just a few grey hairs. My former hairdresser used to tell me how unusual it was that I had no grey in my early 40s (and now I probably have fewer than 5). I have really lousy hair – baby fine and flat- but the color is consistent.
My Korean son, on the other hand, has had grey hairs since he was a child. He’s in college now and he has a lot.
Oh it does happen, of course, but not at the rate you see if you walk through a Target and look at all the women over 40 or 50, lol. I also think for blonde people its easier bc so often the grays blend in better.
I also knew someone was going to respond to that part of my comment and say that it happens lol 😂 Of course it happens, but if it was that common home hair-dyeing kits wouldn’t be the business they are lol.
Maybe it’s a thing with blondes? One side of my family is natural blondes and didn’t show grey hairs, or rather silver and a kind of ugly faded blonde smudge color, until their 60s- 70s.
Theyre just happy it’s not that Trump Orange color. I had an uncle whose dark hair turned Orange with age. Maybe he was dying it like Cheeto.
Becks, I started getting grey hair in my early 20’s…I’m in my mid 40’s now and I’m about half-half according to my hairdresser (I have dark brown hair.)
My mom is in her late 70’s and her natural hair color now is a spectacular white, but she refuses to stop dyeing it because she feels she’ll look old. I, on the other hand, would stop dyeing mine tomorrow if I had her all-over white, but as you said it’s one thing to say that when we’re in our 30’s or 40’s and another when we’re older.
If you’re comfortable with the idea of letting your grey stay, then go for it. Worst case if you don’t like it you can always dye it later on. It’s a personal decision and yes, it definitely is annoying that we women don’t get to enjoy a silver fox label, we just get old lol.
My dad colored his hair (Just for Men or something like that, leave it on 5 min shower it out). He used to think if he was gray he’d look old (never mind the fact that he was close to 90 at that point! lol).
Dad was hospitalized for pneumonia at the start of Covid, and was in the hospital and then rehab for a total of 4 wks, during which time his white hair came in. Once we got him a haircut, all the brown “ends” were gone, and he looked SO MUCH BETTER! We convinced him to not dye anymore, and he’s never looked back 😊
@Jan – exactly, that’s how my mom was! she always dyed her hair (she didnt go gray until she was 60ish, but her hair was “faded” as she put it) and when the pandemic hit and it grew out and her hair looks so much healthier and I swear she looks so much younger.
I hear ya Becks! My dad looks SO MUCH BETTER with his white hair, and yes, a lot younger than his (almost) 94 yrs!
Funny story: Everyone in the group that my dad played poker with (until their late 80s early 90s) dyed their hair. And not a SINGLE ONE would do their eyebrows!! When I’d help my dad with his hair, I’d practically BEG him to let me do them, but nope! lol. Nothing says “Spring Chicken” like a wrinkled face, graying brows, and a reddish brown helmet of hair (because of course, none of these home methods had an ounce of toner for the brassiness) 😄
It’s much easier for blondes absolutely. I have “dirty blonde” hair, and I’ve basically just gone slightly lighter with sun-in–I’m one of the few people with the right hair color for it so that I go more blonde and not orange–and people are always astonished when I tell them I have a fair bit of gray (at 43). I know where it is, but it just blends in with the highlights at this point. I’ll be sad when I can’t pull it off anymore because I am also super cheap!
Go grey Becks! I’m similar in age (43) and started going grey in my 20s. We women are stuck in a loop where we feel old with grey hair because we grow up only seeing really old women with grey hair instead of it being a natural process that often begins in our 20s. We’re stuck in a false vision. I’ve got black hair and I LOVE the grey streaks even though my (older) sisters hate it cause it makes them feel old. We can and need to normalize it then we’ll all feel better about ourselves.
100% she hasn’t adjusted her make-up yet to suit her new colouring. All of her looks lately have come out really harsh, which is a shame, because she is beautiful and rocking the salt & pepper.
She looks glorious. I am glad she listened to her instincts.
I love her hair like that, it suits her so well
She looks great with silver hair – so many women too. My husband started going grey in his 30s. He’s 100% grey now and he’s strikingly handsome (when he grows out his whiskers, they are salt and pepper, but the hair on his head has zero brown now). I turn 50 in a few weeks and I have just a few grey hairs (my family doesn’t go fully grey, ever), so I’m intending on embracing my salt and pepper, when it eventually happens. I agree about needing to change up the makeup when one’s coloring changes – I’ll file that away for the future. 😊
I’ve always found prematurely gray hair striking and intriguing. My mom’s brothers started going gray in their late 20s.
I’m also someone who isn’t going gray and won’t ever be silver, my hair color is just sort of dulling over time, so I really love to see Andie’s silver locks.
You and me both with the dulling hair. I’ve tried so many products yet still haven’t found one that works well. I live in a southern Atlantic coast town so I can’t dye it, bright sun exposes it in a bad way. What I see is blonde dying gives the best results but I don’t want to start that.
@Esmom and Southern Fried, I just said the same thing above before seeing your comments! I don’t silver, I ash. I’ve found my dark copper color to be the best at covering the ash without looking horrible as it grows out. To me, it’s about what best suits your coloring, and the ashiness of my hair made me look sickly.
Please can someone advise…..having dyed my hair since my mid 30s when silver starting coming through almost black hair, I have let it go during the last lockdown and now am dark and silver. And I do mean silver, it glows! At my daughter’s wedding this summer I did my make-up as per, but it doesn’t look right in the photos. What make-up tones/colour goes with Celic pale skin and dark/silver hair??
I have/had (lol) dark hair and the silver is definitely IN. I also have bluish green eyes and fair skin. I use makeup with a rose undertone (as I have blue undertones in my skin, and it sounds as if you do as well). I use Chanel Beige Rose foundation (and a corresponding CC cream 20 beige for days I want more coverage) with their JOUES CONTRASTE 72 Rose blush. These are VERY natural looking.
I am 40 and use the palest shades of everything for face and had a lot of fun with a consult using trinny London’s makeup artist. I can wear both cool and warm shades but they are super knowledgeable and you can translate some of their advice to other brands too. I use trinny products as well as tarte and a couple organic lines (RMS and well people). I’m partially platinum white with a base that’s an ashy and red level 7. I’m going back for cool blonde streaks bc I want to look trashy right now and will have to switch up my makeup and will do a new consult as a result.
She looks lovely but should cut 5 or 6 inches off. She would look great with a longer bob. As someone with curly hair, I cringe at the amount of work it takes to keep that much hair looking good.
She is a silver vixen!
That curly grey hair is glorious.
Agree about the makeup though- that last photo of the article, with the softer looking makeup, is beautiful.
I too, during lockdown, decided not to spend the excessive money to color my hair but I’m also not ready to embrace the silver just yet.
She looks great and I agree with a change in makeup colors. She is phenomenal in the show Maid (Netflix). Great performance.
Love what she said about where she is right now and being accepted – all just for some silver in the hair where males never have that issue.
Rock it Andie, you look great.
I think that she certainly rocks her gray locks!! She has always been stunning, but I agree that she needs to alter her make up to match her stunning locks!! I am glad that she trusted her instincts and kept her beautiful look!! I agree that while we celebrate men with their silver Fox looks, but we don’t with women. There is certainly an unhealthy expectation of women with regards to the never ending acceptance of getting older and accepting their natural transition. All the while celebrating our male counterparts. As for other women who have fearlessly accepted and rock their silvery locks should be celebrated!!
As someone who started going gray in my mid ‘20’s, and I am in my late ‘50’s, I am not quite ready to go fully gray. I suffered the loss of my mother and when that happened my hair changed overnight. My mother was mostly her natural color with just a hint of gray when she passed in her ‘60’s, so I don’t know what happened with mine.
As a person who has gray, thinning hair, can I have just some of that glorious mass of hair!?
RE: Purple shampoo – I use it (and conditioner) every other wash and alternate with a coconut co-wash (I like Asiam), which is moisturizing. I have loved every minute of going gray, because my hair went from a blah thin brown to a silver that’s thicker and nicer than what I had before.
Mine has also thickened back up. I like my natural silver so much that I’ve booked an appointment to add even more. My natural silver looks like Rouge from X-men.
I’m looking forward to going all grey for the same reason. I want a sharp old-lady bob but my hair is still too fine and limp.
I love the gray look and have been trying to convince my mom to stop coloring her hair. She has that pure white hair, not gray, and it looks beautiful. Her fear is that she’ll look old. My dad has black hair and is still silver/black with his hair. She hates that he looks younger (to be fair, he looks 15 years younger than his age). I grow pure white strands that stick out of my hair like little weeds. My roots aren’t going white but new strands of hair are starting to pop one at a time.
Also, just finished Maid on Netflix and I loved her in it. She looks beautiful!
I embraced my white hair a few years ago. We had a family tragedy, a grandbaby died, and my hair turned white. I didn’t realize it at first because I was coloring my hair. I had white sprinkled lightly, but it was suddenly completely white. I was amazed that my body reflected my grief so clearly. I quit coloring my hair, grew it out, and I love it. Andie loves her silver, I love my white.
I’m so sorry for your loss. It really is incredible how trauma is physically expressed, isn’t it? I didn’t realize that trauma could speed up greying so dramatically until I lost a late pregnancy and suddenly went pretty grey myself. My husband’s beard went grey after that too (but just the beard, quite odd). Both of us had quite dark hair before, so it was very noticeable.
she’s gorgeous
I also use purple shampoo to keep my silvers bright. I got my first silver hair at 17. My hair has been so many different colors in my lifetime, few of them natural, but it was still weird to stop dying it and let the silver come in. But now I love the freedom, and the look, and the attitude.
I don’t dye my hair or do anything to it but I can’t wait to have a full mane of silver-white hair. Everyone in both sides of my family have lovely white hair.
I already transitioned from chemically straightened hair to curls so I expect the process will be hideous but worth it.
I was thinking something seemed off, but you’re right, it’s the make up, not her hair. Her make up artist needs to change it up. Her hair looks amazing.
I only have a few white hairs so far, and the highlighting I get done masks them fairly well, but a few friends have decided to just go with their natural gray or white. Whatever makes you happy!
I’ve been going silver since my mid-30s, and at 42 I now have genuine streaks at my temples and front. It is awesome and I want it to keep coming. I had various dyed hair colors until my early 30s and was getting so sick of my plain brown/auburn real color. The silver makes it interesting and dynamic. My mom is mostly full silver and it is glorious.
I hate it when youthful looking people go gray. Why make yourself look older? Whatever she wants i guess. Always liked her.
She looked stunning in ‘Maid’ salt and pepper works if you have full healthy hair.
That’s the thing. She has nice full hair. With thin hair, this wouldn’t work as well. She looks great and to be honest you don’t even really notice the greys too much…it all blends in nicely.
Yes! That’s the thing. It doesn’t look great on less full hair.
She is fantastic in Maid
She was amazing in maid. I feel like I have friends who will become her character in time..!
I was just a kid when Andie was at her peak so I don’t remember her being a great actress, just a pretty supporting lady to Hugh Grant or Bill Murray. When given the right script…wow, she’s got chops! She was so believable as a loopy artist/free spirit and had been so contained/guarded in her previous roles. So happy they (Margaret…reverse nepotism!) gave her that role (and not to someone predictable like Meryl Streep or Allison Janney).
I agree. But the character she played wasn’t just a loopy, free spirit. Her character has a mental illness and could go dark quickly and was very narcissistic. And she nailed every aspect of her character. I agree with you. I always felt she was just a decent-enough actress in the right part, but never great. But she was fantastic in this part and showed so much range.
Every great once in a while a famous celebrity’s daughter or son will deserve to be successful in the same business as their parent, and all on their own, not because of nepotism. And, boy, does Margaret Qualley deserve the success she is now having as an actress. She is absolutely brilliant in her role in “Maid.” I can’t say enough about how fantastic she is in it. Note perfect. Not a false delivery of line or emotion in the movie. She became her character Alex. She deserves an Emmy for this role.
She is and so is her daughter. I am a little obsessed with this show right now!
I’ve also been dyeing my very dark brown hair since my 20s when I started getting gray streaks. Now I’m 64 and I think I would be all gray – but I have extremely fair skin, and my ‘look’ is all about the contrast, and I look good in black and vibrant colors. I tried going blonde a few years ago with highlights but I looked so washed out I’m afraid to go natural! Agree Andie needs new makeup, and I would totally need new makeup too.
She’s gorgeous and has always had great hair, no surprise it also looks fabulous in silver. I love that it’s making her feel more confident and powerful.
Andie’s hair is gorgeous. I have a beautiful salt and pepper canine companion whose fur I have always thought gorgeous. She is my daily beauty inspiration as I get more silvers in my ash brown hair. At 50 I am going with natural and think it looks so much better for me. I dyed from about 30-46 and wish I hadn’t. Didn’t appreciate what I had but now I do!
I had been dyeing my hair for years and always planned to stop at 50-55. Well, when the pandemic hit I was 48 and my hair salon shut down for 2 months right before I was due for my touch up. By the time they opened back up I had 4 months growth and was surprised that my natural hair was not nearly as gray our as dark as I thought it would be. So, I just let it grow out and kept trimming it. Now, I have all my natural colors and textures back. The time and money I don’t spend on maintaining my hair is so worth it. Now, I am blessed with great skin and my body shape has stayed the same over the years, too. So I often looked a bit younger than my actual age and that has probably changed because of the gray hairs. But who gives a crap. My husband and kids adore me just the way I am! My 16 year old daughter is particularly proud of my new naturalness.
In fact, we recently attended a funeral back home with people we haven’t seen in ages and the compliments for my appearance were off the charts by both men and women.
We need to stop allowing Hollywood to dictate how we should see ourselves and start telling them what we want to see on screen. I praise the Andy MacDowells and the Jamie Lee Curtis’ of the film industry. They are bravely following their gut instincts and they are absolutely right to do so!
She is gorgeous and looks great with her hair natural. Plastic surgery and robot-looking manipulations have gone way too far, I hope things swing back to natural and normal.
THIS! Her face looks very, almost completely natural…you can’t tell if she’s had anything done at all. The SATC girls on the other hand are younger but the things they think they need…yikes. I’m all for people wanting to look/feel better but I still think there are some who would look great/better if they just left themselves alone (looking straight at you, Kardashians).
I’ve been getting Greg hair since my teens and had been dying to cover for over 15 years. Just about a year ago, I decided to ditch the dye because, at 40/now 41, I’m about 90% grey and silver. We decided to lighten my hair to help me stick out the process, and the grid out is sooo long, but I feel good about my decision. As someone said to me, grey is just another color. Society just equates it with old. Dye it if it makes you happy, keep it natural if that makes you happy
She looks absolutely beautiful with the graying hair, but I completely agree with you, Celebitchy, about her makeup. And whoever is dying her brows that dark, while letting her hair go natural, is doing her super dirty.
I’d also add that when you go the dye job route, your choices are to have a religious and rigorous standing appointment (salon or your bathroom) to deal with the roots or to constantly have visible roots.
Even Jane Fonda, whose job involves her personal appearance, got really really sick of trying to keep it up. And if it’s hard for her…well just say that most of us get sick of dyeing and are walking around with 1-3 inches line of demarcation from real to ideal.
Each and every instance of my seeing this, the natural color looks lovely and better next to the dye job.
Yeah. I went gray very early (it’s a family trait) and started dying in my late 20s. It wasn’t so bad keeping up when my hair was mostly still brown with some whites in there, but after about 45 it started turning completely white (also a family trait). Eventually it became a real hassle as that skunk line would start to show up after a couple of weeks. I took advantage of Covid to let it all grow out (with an assist from a hairdresser who came in and gave me some strategic highlights around the face). Now I’m close to snow white, have minimal hassle and get compliments all the time! I think I look older, but well I AM older! Whom am I fooling? 😀 Oh and I save so much money!
I say each to their own. If you want to go gray, do it, and if you want to be Sharon Stone (same age as Andie), with blonde hair, do it. If you want to be like Bernadette Peters, still auburn hair at 73, and gorgeous, fantastic. Or if you want to look like the amazing Helen Mirren with her glorious white hair at age 76, fantastic. It’s so individual. Many women keep dying their hair because that’s what they want to do, not what society tells them. My mother kept her hair a dark blonde up until she lost her hair to cancer at 78. And she looked fabulous. Her older sister loved being gray. My mom did not. She was naturally beautiful, no plastic surgery. I know my sister and I are different. She tells me one day she might go gray as the gray roots come in strong. Me? Nope. Maybe in my 80s. LOL But I don’t have the amazing head of hair my sister does. Although, I am blessed with barely any lines as I age.
I think the key to having silver hair look great is a good haircut and maintenance. Dry, damaged-looking hair never looks good, no matter what color. My mother had amazing silver hair that she embraced during her 60’s – she was lucky because her hair was thick and full. That’s a big thing when it comes to hair as we age – it gets thinner. Ladies, prepare – you are going to need to care for your hair for the rest of your days.
My best friend went grey in her early twenties, just like her mother, who always dyed her hair a luxuriant auburn/brown and is a very beautiful woman.
My friend went the natural way and never even started dying. Everyone admired her grey /silver hair and she got lots of compliments on her courage and originality. She was an oddity: a 20-year old silver fox, and she was cute.
Now, a few years on, her beautiful auburn haired mom is thought to be my friend’s sister. A younger sister. And I am NEVER going to go grey. Fifty years from now, I’ll still be a brunette. Hell, I’ll die dyed.
I’ve enjoyed reading about all you lovely ladies going natural. And I’d never tell another woman that coloring their hair is futile. I colored mine from early 20s to mid 40s. Early gray surfaced during late 20s, and there was no way I was ready to lose my thick beautiful dark hair to the encroaching color. But when I finally took the plunge, I really can’t locate gray. I’m a calico with platinum blonde in the front transitioning to various shades of dirty blonde to brown to very dark underneath in the back. Hilarious. But ask me how many F’s I give. 😁
I kinda feel like I should add that I really don’t judge anyone for choosing NOT to go grey. I intend to go natural, but I also don’t have many grey hairs, so it’s a bit of a moot point – AND my hair has never, ever been my glory, so I’m not losing much (if anything) there. I get by on my dazzling smile – NOT on a glorious mane of hair. Whether my hair is grey or brown isn’t going to dramatically change my appearance because my hair is just bad. 🤷🏻♀️
I love this comment section! It’s so refreshing to read about others who are embracing their grey hair.
@Kaiser, I’m similar to you in that I’m in my 30s and probably at least half grey by this point. I started getting grey hair in my 20s. I’m not ready to not dye my hair yet. Maybe one day.
I found my first gray hair at 13. At 45, I’m 100% grey/white. I get compliments on it. I don’t see why people think it’s A Big Deal. Now… trying to convince people you have jet black hair when you’re 65? That’s weird.
Andie is gorgeous!!!
Good for her. She looks incredible!
Ageism is the last prejudice frontier. It’s everywhere. And especially troubling how engrained disdain for aging is in women. I get compliments from young women all the time admiring my blended silver strands. But have been told countless times by women my age how much younger I’d look if I simply dyed my hair. Youth worship is deadly to everyone’s self esteem.
K, I love her.
I just moved back to the US after 10 years in Europe. Before that I lived in NYC 8 years and 2 in Miami. Aesthetic codes and customs vary greatly from place to place. In Europe, women on average are quite a bit slimmer but they were minimal if any make up, hair usually done, not much on the way of manicure/pedicure (more for occasions) and wear flats to walk everywhere. As women age they do not fight it, American style, they embrace age and in my opinion look a lot more at ease, there is an attractiveness to acceptance, to working with what you have v.s the fight that Americans wage with super high heels, hair extensions, nail extensions, botox, fillers, blond hair, hair & make up like a movie star to go anywhere etc… it is so exhausting to live like that. This type of look would be highly unusual in Europe, very strange. It took me years living back in Europe to scale down my hair & make.-up myself, I just hope I dont revert from the pressure now that I am back.