‘Let’s dare to be grey!’ Meet the women embracing natural hair at every age

Many women will remember the day they spotted that first stray grey hair, whether it was in your late teens or much later in life. But while many of us have grown reliant on the dye over the years, a few have begun bucking the trend in recent years to embrace their beautiful white, grey and silver locks in all their glory.

In fact, it’s become such a huge new trend that dedicated social media pages are being set up to inspire other women of all ages to follow suit. And one, Grombre, invites women from right round the world to share their moving and inspirational personal stories alongside a stream of photos of themselves rocking their silver fox looks.

Leading the inspirational posts on the site was Martha Galbo Weir who revealed she has been battling grey hairs ever since her son was born when she was 30 – more than 30 years ago now. “I would go to the beauty salon every two months or so and my hair looked great. But over time my grays (sic) really started to come in and I had to color (sic) it more often. I began dying it at home and it was a hot mess,” she admitted in a caption on the Instagram page.

“At age 50, I decided to let my grays (sic) come in. It took me months to get up the nerve. I kept worrying what everyone would say to me. But one day, I woke up and I said I can do this. Most people were encouraging but some people were not. My manager even asked me if I was going to ever color (sic) my hair again and I answered emphatically no.”

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She revealed she initially trimmed her hair to shoulder length, while using mascara to cover the roots. She eventually stopped after four months when it became impossible to continue and has embraced the grey ever since. “I had once approached someone in the store who had beautiful gray (sic) hair and asked her if she knew what I wanted to talk to her about. She said yes. She encouraged me to continue my journey. She said the transition was tough but to stay with it. I would be a member of the Silver Fox Club,” she explained. “That was 10 years ago and I never looked back. I often tell women who approach me to go for it. You never know what your hair is going to look like. And the feeling of empowerment and positive self-image that you experience through your journey and once you have arrived cannot be put into words. You can do it!”

She was joined on the site by Brigitte Eertink, who posed for a stunning photo to show off her locks. In her own first-person caption, she explained she finally got the courage to go au natural after being inspired by another lady with “beautiful grey hair”.

“I loved it so much but was afraid it would make me look older. But I have a lovely hairdresser who encouraged me and helped me with the first difficult part. That was about 8 years ago,” she wrote. “Right now I’m so happy with my gray hair and even made some people change to grey! Embracing my grey hair, for me it’s all about being myself and being happy with my age and who I am.”

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Another lady revealed she’s loved every moment of embracing a “whole new me in my 60s”. Deb Pinckley wrote in her own caption that she grows more intrigued by the process with every day that goes by.

“After 19 years of salon hair color (sic), blow drying, and flat iron to straighten, I’ve decided to go back to my natural curls, air dry or diffuse, and scrunch! It’s a whole new me in my 60’s, and I’m embracing it!” she added. “Thank you for all the posts that have encouraged me to stay the course! Katie posted that ‘aging (sic) is a privilege to be cherished!’ I couldn’t agree more. ‘Life is a daring adventure or nothing,’ so let’s dare to be gray! (sic).”

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Junita Prentice shared her own reasons for embracing the grey, alongside a beautiful photo of her clutching her natural locks while smiling widely at the camera. She was quoted in the caption as saying: “I ditched the colour exactly two years ago. My hair was long, down to my waist. I was tired of people pleasing and just could not deal with the burden of it anymore.

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“One day in early June I just decided to go pixie with my locks. That took most of my colour away n then kept my Pixie until early this year. I’m very happy and relaxed since I stopped colour. I don’t miss it, I don’t miss the panic every 4-5 weeks. Even though I never used chemical hair dye I was tied to henna every 4-5 weeks. But I’m free now.”

Creative director Steph, 46, shared her own story after ditching the dye, as she not only let her hair go grey but styled it into an incredibly modern and eye-catching do. She admitted she finally took the plunge a year ago – a huge decision given she “couldn’t conceive of letting my silvers shine free” before.

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“I’d been fighting/hiding them for so long (every two weeks to be exact) I didn’t know any other way of being. The superficial side of me worried about what people would think? Would I look older than my 46 years? Would I look like I had “given up” and didn’t care anymore? I kept having visions of my Grammie’s silver hair in rollers and wondered if that was where I was headed?” she added.

“I started thinking about hair dye and why it is we even do it? When/where/who said our natural hair color (sic) isn’t good enough or that gray (sic) or silver hair needs to be hidden. It’s strange if you REALLY think about it.”

Meanwhile, cancer survivor Kari Kuykendall admitted she had started going grey from her teenage years – sparking her to dye her hair every three years for the following 10 years, in a rush to hide her natural locks. Now however, still very young, she’s embracing the incredible new trend with open arms.

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“I started going gray (sic) in my early teens and spent over a decade coloring (sic) my hair every three weeks. About a year and a half ago, at the age of 28, I was diagnosed with breast cancer and lost my dark brown hair to chemo,” she revealed in an emotional caption on the photo. “When it grew back in, I realized (sic) that I actually loved my silver hair and resolved to never hide it again! It has been SO freeing to embrace this unique gift God has given me.”

For some women, choosing a family member as an inspiration can be hugely important. And one lady shared a photo of her beside her mother, both rocking beautiful grey and white hair together.

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“Today is my 2-year of ditching the dye anniversary! This little picture is specially dedicated to all the women hesitating before taking that decision, or the women struggling during the transition and who’d like to know what a 2-year ‘silver growth’ might look like,” she wrote.

“It’s both an extremely long and extremely short process. To keep a memory of this special day, a picture with my mom who has come visit me for a few days. She’s my main hair inspiration (and so much more!) and for the occasion, we’ve put on some red lipstick (we both never put on makeup) to rock this picture a little bit more! I had posted a similar #silvermotherdaughter picture about two years ago already. Time flies!!!”