Finding your first gray hair is inevitable, unless you’ve been drinking from the eternal fountain of youth. Regardless, people react differently. Some immediately pull it out, and put their head in the proverbial sand - like an ostrich. Others run to the salon, or reach for the box dye to quickly cover it up. Then there are those who celebrate the rite of passage. They embrace going gray and vow to age gracefully.
There was once a time when some people were a little embarrassed about sporting silver locks, but things have changed. Today, there are shades of gray available on the shelves, and even those (young and old) who don’t have a dash of white in their hair are choosing to become silver foxes.
One person who has helped gray become the new black is celebrity colorist Jack Martin. Instead of covering up the roots of his clients, he works his magic to let them lean into their natural gray beauty. Martin's Instagram account is filled with before and after photos of beautiful transformations. Bored Panda has put together a list of the best, and they might just inspire you to say "yay!" to gray, if you didn't already. We also reached out to Founder and Master Stylist of At Stylar, Ronel van Vollenhoven to hear what she has to say about going gray.
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Going gray can be empowering and incredibly chic, says Founder and Master Stylist of At Stylar, Ronel van Vollenhoven. The award-winning hairdresser has traveled the world helping people put their best locks forward. She, too, believes people should embrace the gray.
"It’s not about 'giving up' on your hair," van Vollenhoven told Bored Panda during an interview. "It’s about letting your authentic beauty shine through. The key is to work with the texture and tone of your gray hair rather than against it. A good haircut and the right products can make all the difference in feeling confident and stylish."
The expert says she's seen a big shift in recent years, with more and more clients choosing to let their gray hair take center-stage. "There’s something really refreshing about that confidence. That said, some still prefer to cover it up, and that’s totally okay too! It’s a personal decision, and I’m here to support whatever makes my clients feel their best."
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While embracing your natural gray does mean you can spend less time and money on hair dye, it doesn't necessarily mean zero maintenance. "Gray hair tends to be a bit more coarse and dry, so moisture is everything. I always recommend a great hydrating shampoo and conditioner, and a leave-in treatment or serum to keep things soft and shiny," advises van Vollenhoven.
"Also, watch out for yellowing — using a purple shampoo once a week can really help keep those cool tones bright and fresh. And don’t forget regular trims to keep the shape looking sharp!" she added.
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Jack Martin is the go-to when it comes to going gray. The celebrity colorist has clocked up more than 880,000 followers on Instagram. And it’s easy to see why. His wall is filled with magical hair transformations. Many of them, people who finally decided to embrace their natural beauty and not hide their gray hair anymore.
The GOAT of gray is so good that people fly across the world to sit in his salon chair. One of his IG posts features a woman who traveled from Cape Town, South Africa, to California for what Martin called “a complete transformation.” And it seems the trip was worth every penny. The post garnered more than 25,000 likes, with some calling the makeover their “favorite one yet!”
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Martin’s love affair with gray hair began somewhere in 2017 when a client walked through his salon doors with a bit of a dilemma. She told him that she’d been furiously covering her gray roots at home with box dye every three to four weeks. For years… Sick and tired of the high maintenance, the woman wanted something easier to manage.
He accepted the “challenge.” But while many stylists may have opted for something like blonde, Martin had something else in mind. No more denying of natural beauty. Instead, he took the woman right back to her roots. Quite literally. And colored her hair a beautiful shade of silver to blend in with her gray tones.
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In a previous interview with Bored Panda, the celebrity colorist took us back to that day... "A client approached me with black boxed color and two inches of white roots, asking if I could match her black boxed color to her white roots. Initially, I thought she was insane, but her determination and confidence in me inspired me to challenge myself," he said.
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Martin told Bored Panda that he agreed to work on the woman's hair under a few conditions. "First, that she wouldn't hold it against me if I fried her hair; second, that she'd be open to a pixie cut if things went wrong; and third, that she'd allow me a full day without rushing, as hair requires time," explained the expert.
"She accepted all the conditions, and after eight hours, she had beautiful, healthy white hair that perfectly matched her roots. We were both over the moon with the results, and she could now enjoy her early retirement and outdoor activities without feeling embarrassed about her two-toned hair color."
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Going gray is generally a sign of aging. And we can't really predict when it'll happen. But according to WebMD, your race plays a part. "White people start going gray in their mid-30s, Asian people in their late 30s, and Black people in their mid-40s," reads the site.
"Half of all people have a significant amount of gray hair by the time they turn 50. A White person is considered to be prematurely gray if their hair turns gray by age 20. Going gray before 30 is early for Black people."
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Some people go to extreme lengths to hide their gray hairs. Journalist Anne Kreamer was not impressed when her locks turned white at the tender age of 25. She claims to have spent an estimated $65,000 on salon color treatments over the next two decades.
When she was approaching 50, Kreamer decided to do some reflection on what her gray hair meant to her. And at the age of 49, she published her book, aptly titled Going Gray: What I Learned about Beauty, Sex, Work, Motherhood, Authenticity, and Everything Else That Matters.
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"Look at an Anderson Cooper or a Steve Martin or men who have historically gone gray early," said Kreamer. "I think they look terrific and it becomes almost an iconic differentiation for them."
A few years ago, the same didn't always apply to women. There was a stigma attached to white hair, and Kreamer believes this is because women were brainwashed into believing gray is "unattractive and undesirable."
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Thanks to people like Jack Martin, more and more women are flaunting their gray hair. But while hair can literally go gray overnight, getting it from, say, dark brown to a sexy shade of silver in Martin's salon takes time, effort, patience, trust and money. On average, Martin's makeovers are done over ten hours.
The celebrity colorist explained on Instagram that he starts by using a color extractor to remove any remaining artificial color. He then bleaches the rest of the head to prep the hair for the new silver color. But he leaves the gray roots intact. His trick is to base the client's new color on their hair's natural gray pattern.
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If you want to have the privilege of sitting in Martin's chair, be prepared to walk around with gray roots for a while before that. According to Allure, he asks clients to come in with three to four inches of their roots grown out. This is so that he can inspect how their hair is colored naturally. The expert then works his magic to recreate the exact same pattern for the full head of hair.
"Some clients have salt and pepper mostly in the front, and the back is darker, so I match that and add some dark to it," he explained. After spending longer than a 9-to-5 in the salon chair, Martin's happy clients are set free to flaunt their incredible transformations. And instead of having to color their roots every 4-5 weeks to hide the gray, he says they typically only come back to him twice or thrice a year for a touch-up.
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