Benefits of Going Gray

Are you flirting with the idea of going gray? Here are some of the benefits of going gray that I’ve found on my natural hair journey.

It has been exactly one year since I made the decision to stop dyeing my hair and let the gray take over. Before I made that decision, I had been dyeing my hair for gray coverage since I was 22 years old. Thanks, Dad. I had been thinking about letting my hair go natural for a while, but the decision to stop once and for all came out of the sky and hit me like a ton of bricks. One day I was a woman who dyed my hair, and the next I wasn’t.

Even though my decision was so abrupt, it was equally easy and hard. It was easy because I really felt like I was ready to let go of the dye. I had been a slave to the salon for far too long. It was hard because it felt like society wasn’t ready for me to go gray. Professional women and moms of young kids shouldn’t have gray hair.

But choose gray hair I did! And now that it’s been a year since going gray, I’ve definitely reaped some benefits. Here are all the benefits of going gray – some I was expecting, and some I wasn’t.

Quality of life

Hair health

Emotions

Quality of life

I’ll be honest, the quality of life benefits were my biggest reasons for going gray. And they definitely proved to be benefits!

Time

Honestly, my biggest driver toward going gray was the time. I simply didn’t have time to go to the salon every 3-4 weeks and sit in a chair for 60-90 minutes. I have work, errands, and kids that take every waking minute of my day. When my hair began to gray to such an extent that I needed to go as frequently as every 3-4 weeks, it simply became impossible to squeeze these salon trips into my life.

Instead of making the decision to let my hair go gray right away, I tried to dye it myself using drugstore boxed dye. I figured that it would be a lot easier to find the time to dye my hair so frequently if I could do it at home after my kids went to bed. Although that was true, dyeing my hair at home was still a huge time suck. And it ruined my bathtub. The at-home dyeing experiment didn’t last long for me, and it shouldn’t for you.

Now that I’ve embraced my natural hair color, I no longer have to squeeze hair dyeing time into my already overfilled schedule. Or stress out about when I could squeeze it in. This has been a huge benefit of going gray, and one not to overlook if you’re currently weighing the pros and cons.

Money

The other huge driver behind my decision to go gray was the money. Because I was having to dye my hair so frequently, the cost added up. Quickly. I mean, if you’re lucky, a salon single-process color costs $60, but it’s usually more. And if you want highlights, double that number. I just reached a point where I could no longer stomach this high of a monthly cost on something that didn’t really matter.

Even when I switched to box dye, it was still about $15 a month. And although that cost was a lot easier to swallow, it was still money I didn’t really have to spend. Especially because the look I was getting with the boxed dye wasn’t awesome. You could see from a mile away that my hair was dyed, even though I chose a color that was as close to my natural color as possible.

Now that I’ve gone gray, this money gets to stay in my pocket. Or get used to purchase the seemingly unending list of things my children need. Like new shoes or berries. The money savings has definitely been a welcome benefit of going gray. I’m sure you can think of many other things you’d rather spend your money on than hair dye too.

Hair health

The hair health benefits didn’t really cross my mind when I was weighing the pros and cons of going gray, but now that I’ve made the transition, I can’t ignore them. My hair is different gray, but it’s so much healthier than its dyed predecessor.

Fewer chemicals

I am not a crunchy granola mom by any stretch of the imagination, but I also don’t love exposing myself and my family to extra chemicals that have questionable safety data associated with them. Have they made hair dye safer over the years? Yes. Are there some open questions about some of the ingredients in hair dye? Also yes.

Since going gray, it’s been nice not thinking about what chemicals are going on my scalp and what they could possibly be doing to my scalp. At the very least, the eczema on my scalp that used to be in a constant state of flare has calmed considerably since removing the dye from my regular routine. That’s not nothing.

If you’re looking to limit your exposure to iffy cosmetic chemicals that could be causing irritation or worse, going gray is a no-brainer.

Less fall-out

My hair has been falling out in clumps for years. Although this phenomenon can largely be attributed to things like chronic stress and hormonal changes, the hair dye certainly didn’t help. I always experienced increased fall-out when I dyed my hair and the few washes after. It was actually kinda scary.

And although I can’t say that my fall-out is non-existent since going gray, I don’t have those few washes every month that have me convinced I’m going bald. Would you rather have gray hair or no hair at all?

Healthier hair

Hair dye can be rough on your poor hair. The harsh chemicals in hair dye make your hair dry and damaged, and there’s really no conditioner you can use to completely negate these effects. This is especially true if you have curly hair, which is already parched in its normal state.

Since going gray, my hair has been shinier, softer, and less dry. It’s still curly and gray, so it’s a mess, but it’s way better than the over-processed mess I had atop my head when I was dyeing my hair so often. If you’ve been dyeing your hair frequently for a long time and you’re not happy with the health of your hair, try going gray! I think you’ll see healthier hair growing out of your head.

Emotions

I know it sounds ridiculous, but hair is important for women. It’s the crown atop our heads, one of the first thing people notice about us. Because of how important hair is for women, of course going gray can stoke up some emotions. But, surprisingly, I’ve found them to be overwhelmingly positive when I expected them to be negative.

Dimension

I never really liked my hair. Like most women, I wanted the hair I didn’t have. What I had was curly, dark brown hair that was all one color. What I wanted was straight hair with all the natural highlights. One benefit of going gray that I didn’t anticipate was finally getting one aspect of the hair I always wanted. I have dimension in my hair now that it’s gray!

The majority of my gray hair is a charcoal gray color (pepper), with highlights of silver (salt). For the first time ever, the hair on my head isn’t all the same color. I’m loving the dimension it’s giving me, which is making me happy when I look at my hair. Whoever thought I’d be happy about gray hair? Certainly not me! If you want dimension in your hair, try going gray!

Authenticity

Like many women who have children, I lost myself a little after kids. I dove head-first into being mom, and Sara got a bit lost in the shuffle there for a while. Now that my kids are getting a little older, I’m making strides toward finding myself in motherhood, and the decision to let my hair go gray has helped in this effort.

When I look in the mirror and see my natural hair growing out of my head, I look like me. And when I look like me on the outside, it’s easier to do things to make me feel like me on the inside. Am I aging? Yes. Would continuing to dye my hair somehow stop the aging process? No. Accepting who you are in your current stage of life is powerful stuff, and going gray just might help you do that. It did for me.

Benefits of Going Gray