I stopped painting over gray hair and became happier

Marketers still build a cult of youth and offer to monetize it. To do this, we must use the entire arsenal of anti-aging agents, make injections and, of course, paint over gray hair. After all, wrinkles and gray hair are the main signs of aging, which, in turn, according to salespeople, interfere with our achievements, no matter in a career or personal life. Everywhere the road to the young.

If in the 2000s many people blindly believed marketers and danced to their tune, then at the present time a whole trend called pro-age has appeared. His followers are in favor of accepting all age-related changes, against playing with time and nature.

Our heroine, Daria Korolkova, editor-in-chief of the wellness portal, can also be attributed to the followers of this trend. In isolation, she surprised everyone by shaving her head and, as it turned out, supported the whole trend. And having got rid of her hair, she decided that when they grow back, she will not paint over her gray hair.

And the experiment was a success, at least our heroine and her relatives think so. How did Dasha manage to slap public taste in our age of universal rejuvenation, and why does she think that she began to look better?

Why did I cover my gray hair before

I have dyed my hair since I was 14 years old. First, as part of teenage experiments, affordable paints for home use appeared, and my girlfriends and I went all out: I was red, blue, purple, fiery red, blue-black … And with the latter it turned out awkward: I didn’t know due to inexperience that getting rid of black is not so easy. As a result, she made a wash and dyed her natural color, deciding to stop the experiments. And after a couple of weeks I noticed that the roots grow gray in places. I was 18, but in my family everyone saddles early, so this fact did not upset me too much. But I absolutely did not like how the white shreds at the roots look. And it went and went by inertia: grew – painted.

How did you get the idea to not dye your hair anymore?

In quarantine, I found that my hair became brittle and dry due to constant dyeing. I decided to shave them off and never color them again. It’s even hard for me to say what was more important at that time – length or color. Anyway, I decided to start from scratch.

To some extent, these my (for many extravagant) decisions were influenced by the new trend in body positivity. I realized that I like this inner feeling of freedom and independence from the generally accepted “canons of beauty.” I stopped wearing uncomfortable shoes, uncomfortable clothes, I finally thought not about what impression I make on others, but how I want to look myself. What do I want, what do I feel comfortable in, do I need makeup – for myself, and not “as it is – not made up” (as a result, I don’t make up at all, because I like it more). I wondered if it was worth pretending to be someone I really wasn’t. Acceptance of myself as natural, respect for my own nature and the natural course of things – for me this is a very comfortable new world.

How I got my new look

I am very pleased with the result and do not plan to paint ever again. Perhaps I will experiment with the length of the hair, but most likely I will stop at a short haircut.

The reaction from the people was different, but not as violent as the fact that I shaved my hair. When my hair began to grow along with gray hair, I received only compliments from friends and family.

But in the social networks, sofa experts decided to criticize, and, it seemed to them, to hurt my feelings. For example, I was told that I looked 40 years old. I am 40, I don’t understand why it is supposed that I will be offended by this. Someone wrote that I am now unattractive to men. I don’t see a problem in this either, I absolutely would not want unnecessary attention from unfamiliar men, I have a husband who, by the way, is completely delighted with my new hairstyle, image and the idea itself. He initially said that it was a great idea to try to “zero” and see what happens, and if you don’t like it, paint.

Passers-by called me “young man” a couple of times from the back, but I don’t see any problems in this either, it’s just funny.

My perception of gray hair now

Many consider gray hair a sign of aging. For me, gray hair is such a hair color. As an analogy, wearing glasses can be cited: a drop in vision is also an age sign. However, many wear glasses at school, and even in kindergarten. It’s just a part of life, and no one at 15 or 16 considers himself a decrepit old man because he wears glasses. So it is with gray hair in my case: it is a part of me, nothing more. And I’ll say separately that I don’t really understand the fear of age. He – age – will come anyway, it is inevitable. By dyeing my hair, I will not become younger, I will only create an illusion. And I somehow liked to live without it.