My 10 Month Cold Turkey Gray Hair Transition Progress Report
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How do I feel after 10 months of not dyeing my hair? I feel fantastic!
To my continual surprise, the grayer my hair gets, the younger I look. What the what? That’s not what I was expecting. And I’ve heard this from countless other women on social media, which leads me to conclude that Mother Nature knows what she is doing. Why did I ever doubt her?
The silver hair has softened my face and brightened up my complexion.
When I look back at my dyed hair now, it looks quite fake to me, even though I paid good money to get it dyed close to my original color.
My Gray Hair Transition Routine Has Stayed The Same
I haven’t changed my routine this month. I’m still using all of my favorite products that I’ve mentioned before on the blog. If you want to see the products I use, click on my this post for an explanation of the products and the procedures I use to maintain my transitioning hair.
I’m Thinking About More Ways to Reduce Damage to my Hair
My hair is naturally quite wavy, but I straighten it with a blow dryer, which can be quite damaging to your hair due to the high heat, and pulling on your hair with a brush. Eventually, I’d like to stop the madness and just air dry my hair.
However, I still don’t feel like “me” in my naturally curly/wavy hair – isn’t that crazy? How “me” can one get?!
But I know myself, and I can’t change too much all at once: going from straight dark hair to curly gray hair all at once is too much for my brain to handle!
Just for fun, though, I did try an experiment this month: I washed my hair with my usual shampoo, and then I applied the BTWCo.’s Life Changing Leave-in Conditioner.
I wrapped my hair in an old cotton t-shirt and went about my business for 20 minutes (this method is known as “plopping your hair“).
Then, I unwrapped my hair and drove to work with damp hair and let my hair air dry. My hair was NOT frizzy and also not particularly crunchy. I hate it when my waves get crunchy, do you?
Once I get through the gray hair transition, I will probably start trying the Curly Girl Method and embrace my natural curls & waves and reduce hair damage. Have you tried it? Let me know below!
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I’m Continuing to Play Around with Different Hairstyles
Most of my silver is still underneath the top layer of my hair, so I played around a bit this month with a couple of new hairstyles. I’m not the most dextrous of women, so the more complicated braids and hairdos will have to wait.
The Anti-Gray Hair Comments Have Pretty Much Disappeared
Based on my experience, the farther along you are in your transition, the fewer critical comments you receive.
When your gray roots are several inches long, it signals to the world that you are intentionally going gray, not just “letting yourself go,” so the people who would normally feel bold enough to criticize your hair seem to back off.
My Hair Feels Like a Million Bucks!
I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again. My gray hair is surprisingly soft and shiny, not the wiry mess that I expected it to be. We are all different, so not everybody will have this positive outcome, but I’ve heard from a lot of silver sisters who have had the same experience. You won’t know until you’ve tried it, ladies!
If you want to see a video update, here is a really short video I made to go with this post- I was a bit sniffly, but you can see how my gray hair is growing out – it’s so interesting how it grows out in unexpected ways!
That’s it for my 10 month gray hair progress report!
In the comments below, please let me know how YOUR transition is going! Are you happy with it? How far along are you? What advice do you have for other women going gray? We’d all love to hear from you!
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Related Posts:
Celebrating One Year of Going Gray
My 11 Month Gray Hair Transition Progress Report
My 9 Month Gray Hair Progress Report
My 8 Month Gray Hair Progress Report
My 7 Month Gray Hair Transition Progress Report
New Haircut!
I have just decided to go natural grey. I am 78 but only started getting grey in my 60’s. So I have only been coloring my hair about 13 years.
It has only been a couple months since I had my hair colored, so I have a little over a inch of grey. It’s a beautiful silver. I cannot wait to see it all grown out. My hair is short now so it won’t take so long to grow out. Reading all the wonderful tutorials about going grey has been such an encouragement. My husband supports me as well.
Hello,
My last child graduated highschool this Spring and the decision is made. I’m had very dark brunette hair and now very silver as well as tight curls. Not just wavy for me! I’m working with my hairdresser for a smoother transition instead of cold turkey since it’s so extreme for me. Skunk isn’t the look I’m looking for. It’s going to be a lengthy process but well worth it. Thanks for sharing your journey. ?
You’re welcome – good luck with your transition!
Hi Katie
Thank you for sharing your journey- it’s really inspiring! I loved the timeline pics- you seem to look younger and hair looks healthy and beautiful! I’m going to do the same and go cold turkey and am looking forward to the freedom of just being me xo
Hi, Bridget! Thank you so much! Have fun with your transition – I bet you’ll enjoy it!
So glad I saw your YouTube. I’m at 10 months and the last half of my hair is still brunette. It’s driving me crazy! Loving my silver half!
Thanks for the Facebook page, also.
You look great, and thanks for the tip about blue shampoo! I’m also 10 months into going gray. I did it in a fit of solidarity with my favorite cousin who found out last April 2018 that she has terminal cancer. One never knows what the future holds but I told myself: “I have been given the gift of aging.” Then a funny thing happened. I like the gray. My hair feels healthier. I didn’t realize how damaging the color was — all these years (I’m 56) I had attributed my dry, fragile locks to the aging process rather than the constant dye jobs. In addition, my natural color (very dark brown) is re-emerging. Meanwhile, my cousin’s nearly black hair hair is coming back in with fabulous gray tufts framing her beautiful face.
Hi, Gina: I’m sorry to hear about your cousin. That was so sweet of you to go gray in solidarity with her, and how great that you liked it! I agree with you about our hair health – what an unexpected benefit! I had been using products to get my dyed hair to look shiny and smooth (even had a Keratin treatment done) and I don’t have to do ANY of those things anymore on my new gray growth (except the occasional oil to smooth down flyaways). What a nice surprise, right?
I am about 6 months along with my growing out of my grey. You are right that people stop saying things, I get compliments about my grey now. I am loving not covering the bathroom with hair dye every month. Your progress is inspiration
Thanks, Nicki! So glad you are experiencing the drop-off in comments! Getting compliments is nice – and it’s also great because we are showing other women that it is OK to do this!
I’m a curly girl,too! It’ll be fun watching what you do 🙂
For years I did my color myself. The first time I saw my hairdresser after I stopped coloring she said “Are you out of your mind?”! The last time I went she mentioned that I had MUCH more gray hair than last time. I told her “YES! It’s exciting to see ! And I can’t wait for my color to be gone!!” I,too, LOVE the way my “real” hair looks and feels!
Suzanne, your enthusiastic response to your hairdresser is perfect! Is she supportive now? I hope so! So glad you have a similar experience with your “real” hair texture and look – it makes it SO much easier!
10 months for me, too! And, like you, I love it! My natural hair is also softer and shinier, making my old dyed hair look “fluffy” and dead by comparison. I really think people use the “oh, your hair will be so coarse and wiry” as a scare tactic. That may be true for some people but everyone is different. I’ve also given up on trying the curly thing until I’m done with the silver thing. (I feel like we’re living parallel hair lives.)
I think we definitely are on the same track, Amber :-). I think you’re right about the scare tactic – I’m sure it started with the ad industry and now it’s just ingrained in our culture. Hope that changes!