Growing Out Gray Hair, How To #1 – Living with a Growing Stripe

January 26, 2018, about 10 weeks in.

Cut it, shave it, skunk it, color it gray, use lowlights, flip the part…there are several ways to transition to gray hair and each has its pluses and minuses.

Back when you initially made the decision to dye over your grays, you got to transform your entire look in a couple hours. When done in a salon you probably left feeling like a brand, new woman! Going the other direction – going back to your natural hair color – can be the opposite of that. It can be extremely arduous and/or fraught with doubts and second thoughts. There will be days when you look in the mirror and think “what the fuck am I doing?”  This would be a good time to check back in with the brave women on YouTube to find those who have gone before you. They will inspire you! Or look for a Silver Sisters online forum or local meetup to check in with women who are transitioning right now. They will commiserate with you, support and encourage you!

Getting On The Skunk Train: One way to go is simply letting it come in, and let your roots display your progress. If you were to just grow in the gray while maintaining your hair style as it is, with occasional trims at whatever intervals are normal for you, the process will take 18-24 months. If your natural hair is quite gray, or if the contrast between the natural hair and the color of the dyed hair is pronounced, you will be faced with a stripe down the middle of your head that will make you think you look like a skunk. You may fear that everyone is thinking you’ve completely let yourself go. You may feel an urge to announce to everyone you see “I am growing my hair out!”

The reality is that most people are not paying that close attention to you, and for any person who might be momentarily judgmental, there will be multpiple women who are also toying with the idea of letting their gray come in.  They will look at you and think “can I do that?  Maybe I can do that!” As a woman letting your natural color come in, you too will inspire others to do it!

Once the stripe reaches an inch or two on either side of the part, it will be more obvious that you are embarking on a journey. Yes, you will still have a marked and growing skunk stripe down the center of your head, but it will act as more of a declaration, than suggesting procrastination.

I found a blog by Jill S. about her own transition in 2012-2014. Here is her Skunk Stripe post: http://greyinganddating.blogspot.com/2012/12/skunk-tales.html

You can watch the transformation of Cinder in Australia https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B-9B9fA9JJ8