“I think gray hair is a gift from the moon! When the moon laughs, her eyes produce tears of joy that fall to the earth and onto the tops of people’s heads!”
― C. JoyBell C.
The appearance of a gray strand of hair, for many, is not a welcome sight. Many find it quite disconcerting sporting hair with a noticeable salt and pepper look, especially when it happens at a younger age. There’s really no need to be unhappy, and it doesn’t mean you’re aging too quickly. It’s not a negative sign of aging everyone thinks it is. Gray hair is something to rejoice over, actually. It’s a beautiful thing.
Let’s take a quick detour and see what exactly causes the hair to turn gray. When the specialized cells (melanocytes) stop producing melanin, the naturally-occurring pigment, hair starts to turn gray. Sometimes, if naturally-occurring hydrogen peroxide accumulates in the hair follicles, it can bleach the color to gray. What determines the age at which melanin stops getting produced is largely genetic. It’s normal for people to start graying in their thirties, though people of African descent don’t usually gray until their forties. Premature graying is classified from the late twenties downwards.
A touch of Moonlight, a blend of silver lining
26-year-old Martha Truslow Smith got her first gray strand when she was 14. In 2016, she started an Instagram movement for the normalization of premature graying. Her inspiring page, Grombre, has garnered over 83,000 followers from all around the world. A blog post published on TipHero shows 21 unique women from the Grombre community, taking pride in their magnificent gray hair. These women choose not to dye their hair and flaunt their silver with pride. A bride even got married in hers, and she looked absolutely stunning. They’ve inspired many more women to ditch dyes and fall in love with their gray hair.
Founder of Grombre, Martha Smith.
Her gray hair has the coolest edge game
Pregnancy’s never looked so good!
Silver waves
She’s been graying since she was 13. She quit dyes and was doing fine on her own, until she stumbled across Grombre. A community of women with the same passion adds strength to your resolve.
Her mother’s daughter
Gray and dauntless. She wears it like a queen.
The gray plays beautifully with her curls
Dynamic, Unique and Vibrant.
A big drop of moonlight.
Her hairdresser advised her to stop covering her beautiful gray hair with dye. She took her locks off and has been deeply in love with her ‘mojo’ ever since.
A mass of silver curls
Nearly everyone in her family had prematurely gray hair. It’s her heritage. It’s in her blood, so why to deny it?
Roguish beauty
She’s been graying since she was 13, and at some point, she just couldn’t keep up with the constant dying. She’s learned to love her gray hair with pride and joy. Sometimes, she pretends she’s Rogue from X-Men, just to add a little more spirit to it.
Tumbling gray falls
Wild and free
Rapunzel, Rapunzel. Let your gray flow.
Here, comes the bride; bold, pretty and gray.
Everyone told her she was going to look so old on her big day. Turns out, she looked stunning, perfect, and she got to be her true self.
Amazing gray, how sweet the sight.
She started graying when she was 11, and stopped dying it at the age of 26. She’s super proud of her gray glory.
At peace with one’s nature
She’s can’t recall anything that has brought her as much happiness as her beautiful hair.
A streak of silver
Crowning glory
Five, feisty, and gray
She’s had gray hair since was five, and she’s loved it ever since she saw the first strand.
Her grandma’s bundle of silver-haired joy.
Gray hair is something to love and take pride in, regardless of age. Grombre is an ever-growing community of women who choose to wear their gray hair like the silver crowns they are.
- Daphne Sashin. No date available. Premature Graying: Reasons, Options. Retrieved from https://www.webmd.com/beauty/features/abcs-premature-graying#1
- Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology. 2009, February 24. Why Hair Turns Gray Is No Longer A Gray Area: Our Hair Bleaches Itself As We Grow Older. Retrieved from https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/02/090223131123.htm
- Martha Truslow. 2016. Grombre. Retrieved from https://www.instagram.com/grombre/?utm_source=ig_embed
- Angela Haupt. 2012, August 23. Retrieved from https://health.usnews.com/health-news/articles/2012/08/23/gray-hair-at-25-yes-heres-what-you-can-do
- Admin. No date available. These 21 Women Who Ditched Hair Dye Are Inspiring People Everywhere to Rock Their Gray. Retrieved from https://tiphero.com/women-loving-grey-hair/?fbclid=IwAR3FeZpb0Kg1T6aEOdQyPfH7HGbESXXIbLluXrhUWI3UbXjjhb8AreUMrMA