Image: AI illustration
When I was approaching thirty, I found my first gray hair. To say that I had a panic attack is an understatement, even though I knew it came with the territory
of getting older. In the past few years since that traumatic day, I have done spot checks when I haven't had the chance to color my hair and I have come to find gray patches. Finding those gray hairs scares the living
daylights out of me and I almost immediately run for the hair dye.
I don't know why hair color is so closely associated with youth to me. It's almost as if I could be ninety, with a hunched back and fifteen grandchildren, but as long as my hair is colored, everyone would still
think I'm young. Maybe it is because I was raised in a generation where hair color spanned the spectrum and we were always experimenting with new shades like pinks and purples.
It was an amazing form of expression, and then it just became natural to cover our grays, if and when we got them. But I definitely had a lot of respect for the men and women who were brave enough to let their
natural color come through.
To go naturally gray is one of the bravest and boldest moves anyone can make, and it seems as though men get more credit and accolades for going that route than women do. Now, both men and women are jumping on the gray
bandwagon, but it is not through nature’s doing but rather thanks to a stylist. Yes, people are going gray on purpose and spending hundreds of dollars to have their hair look twenty years older than they actually are.
It could be because many celebrities have a way of rocking the gray look so phenomenally well.
Kelly Osbourne - Photo: CarlaVanWagoner/Shutterstock Dascha Polanco - Photo: Kobby Dagan/Shutterstock Zayn Malik - Photo by PR Photos Zosia Mamet - Photo: Kathy Hutchins/Shutterstock
We have become more aware of this new color trend over the past few years. It really started to become popular in 2010. Kelly Osbourne, known for her buzzed sides
and lavender locks, was one of the first to wear gray for a long time. It is a look some call "granny hair." Along with her, pop star P!nk went gray as did Lady Gaga, Ellie Goulding, Hilary Duff, Zosia Mamet of
"Girls" fame, Cara Delevingne, "Orange Is the New Black" star Dascha Polanco, Evan Rachel Wood, Zayn Malik, Justin Bieber, Olympic skier Gus Kenworthy, Tyler Oakley, Chris Brown, and Madonna’s daughter Lourdes Leon.
And that is just some of the celebs who have taken the leap to gray hair, but it's still a fairly long list, if you ask me. I love that it's compiled of both men and women.
