I can’t believe it’s already been TWO years since I decided to stop dying my hair and let the natural greys sparkle through! Nor did I realize it would actually take THIS LONG to grow it out completely. It could have taken less time if I had cut off all my long hair into a short style - but from past experience, I knew that would be WAY to drastic for me.
 |
| Although it didn’t take five years to grow out, I found this picture from 2016 and thought I’d try and strike the same pose for a good side by side comparison |
Thankfully, even though I decided to leave it long I have to say I feel very fortunate that my transition wasn’t difficult at all. I think it is mainly because of when I decided to do this. I remember making my decision. I was sitting in a hair salon in Vancouver. While on a business trip I decided to treat myself to a haircut at a nice salon. The stylist I got was amazing, and when I told her I was thinking of just quitting the dye altogether and letting my natural hair colour come through, her response surprised me. Right away she said she loved hearing when people made that decision, even as hard as it could be. That wasn’t my experience in other salons in the past. Whenever I mentioned it, they always sighed and would say something like - “you’re too young, people will think you are old” and then...”we can always play around with the colour - highlights/lowlights/toner”...aka $$$ and continual dependence on the salon for touch ups!! No thanks! Funny enough, when I was in that salon in Vancouver I happened to see a woman who was probably in her mix 60s in for her weekly or bi-weekly “root touchup”. She had beautiful short hair that was jet black...and then there was the skunk line. The funny part was, her skunk line was a beautiful crisp white. I bet she would have been gorgeous with her au natural hair.
Recognizing the pain in the ass bi-weekly root touch ups alone would be really solidified my decision to ditch the dye right then and there. And, don’t get me wrong, I am not judging women who decide to continue dying their hair. The freedom to choose that option is certainly theirs. For me, I wanted a different kind of freedom. I have to admit, making the decision when I did, with more dark hair than grey most certainly made the transition much easier on me. I admire women who make the decision when the distinction between dye and their natural colour is so much more drastic.
I absolutely LOVE my natural colour! I equally love no longer dying my hair - the hassle - never quite getting the colour I imagined - the brassy/red tones - the mess - the money, the list goes on. I look forward to watching the progression as my hair changes in the years ahead. And to boot, just yesterday someone at work said to me “You look so young, seriously you look like you’re 29!” So of course that made my day, heck make that my YEAR! She was seriously shocked when I told her I’d be 49 this year. I’ll credit that to great family genes....and hey maybe it has something to do with what people are always telling me and writing in every single performance review I have “Yvette is always so calm”. 🥰
For anyone pondering this move, my advice is to take the plunge. In time, you won’t regret it!
