Sara was left shocked when she noticed that her hair had suddenly started to turn gray when she was 21. She was forced to dye her hair for many years but decided to embrace her natural silver hairdo.
Sara Eisenman, a resident of Sedona, Arizona, USA, was left feeling horrified when she looked in the mirror after turning 21 and saw that her hair had started to turn gray. This was quite a bizarre sight at such a young age when she was supposed to be brimming with health and youth, her hair was showing signs of aging.
She did what many young adults would do: she tried to cover it up.
“My hair turned almost entirely silver, literally overnight, at the age of 21. I went to the mirror one day to find that silver hair was emerging from the roots all over my head,” Sara on recalling the day her hair turned silver overnight.
After seeing the grays of her hair, the neuroscientist and author immediately began a routine to hide her silver locks with store-bought box dyes every two weeks; to prevent anyone from seeing her new natural hair color.
This went on unfailingly for over 15 years, she even prioritized dying her hair just hours before giving birth to her son Abe so that when people visited them, they wouldn’t see any tell-tale signs of aging.
“It was seen by me as a startling marker of aging at a time when I was supposed to be in the height of youth.”
Rearranging priorities
However, after the birth of her second child, Naomi, she started to change her mindset. Sara realized that there were more important things in life than whether she had freshly dyed hair or not.
So, at 37 years of age after 15-years of coloring her hair at home, she ditched the dye and started to view her silver hair as a “crown” and found that she felt completely liberated and reborn.
Her husband, Hanan, fully supported her decision, however, when she confided in her friends, Sara was told that she would look old, like a witch. But it didn’t take long for her to show them otherwise.
“To disguise this evidence, I took to coloring my hair very aggressively every two weeks, with a slew of other products – powders, hair crayons, etc. – to disguise the roots in between dying,” Sara explained her battle.
“I could not afford to go to a salon so I would use cheap box dye and undertook this messy process at home as frequently as possible to hide what was happening to me, of which my hair was a glaring symbol.”
“I even had my hair colored hours before I knew I’d be going into labor with my son, so that everyone who came to see the new baby would also see a new mama with freshly dyed black hair and no tell-tale roots.” [3]
Sara decided to ditch the box dyes and embrace her natural look. She soon found that her natural color had a vibrancy and sparkle that dyes failed to replicate.
She is turning 44 this September and she could never be prouder of her looks. After letting her hair to turn silver while she takes care of her children, Sara, instead of aging, felt like she was regaining all those younger years lost to dying her hair.
“At that time I was still trying to “fit in” to myriad social structures – extended family, the clique of moms at my kids’ school – that I knew would be kerfuffle by my blatant silver roots and what was bound to be a very awkward transition from fully dyed black hair, to blazing silver.”
“When I confided my decision to friends, I was told how much it would age me, and that I would look like a ‘witch’.”
“Yet I knew very steadfastly in my heart that these stereotypes would prove completely incorrect, and I never touched a bottle of dye again.”
“I also used this as an opportunity for a radical total self-rebirth, which manifested in myriad ways. First, I started wearing the clothing I always wanted to wear, in new color palates, playing with new makeup shades, using all manner of scarfs, headbands, and messy up-dos to dance with the line of demarcation between old and new ‘me’.”
“Thus, while I found myself shunned by some of the snobby moms and other judgmental people in my life during more transition, I was coming more alive and having more fun than ever.” [4]
A good decision
Sara says that she hasn’t had any negative effect since showing her natural silver hair color. She explained this saying:
“To sum, there is literally no downside that I have experienced in the decision to embrace my natural silver hair. There is nothing to lose – except society’s judgments and a few friends who weren’t, really – and everything to gain: freedom, daring, a whole new relationship with one’s own beauty and being, increased health and confidence, and last but not least being able to do something good for the Earth by not contributing to the collective toxic chemical burden.”
“In embracing my silver hair, I feel more alive, more beautiful and sexier than ever in my mid-40s. My embodied philosophy is that, through every single stage of life, we don’t necessarily ‘age’ so much as we have the opportunity to continuously grow.”
“Embracing this is what it means to be truly ageless,” she added. [4]