Dear Celebrity: So You Wanna Dye Your Hair Grey, That’s Cute & All But…
Here we go again! Another season of fabulous hair trends and of course grey hair is leading the pack. This time the trend’s Internet buzz is driven by Toya Wright (she’s Lil’ Wayne’s first baby mama for those who are having a much-warranted brain fart).
When I first saw this picture (on repeat via Instagram) I’ll admit, I thought it was kinda dope. A good Beyonce wave simply delights my inner diva. And I honestly feel that if you’re confident in your being you can pull off any hair color. But of course, since I am naturally grey (a fact that I have to prove every time I leave my house because celebrities dye their hair and now people don’t believe it can be real), I have a rant that I’ve been sitting on since Rihanna first broke the Internet with her dingy ass grey weave.
I’ve been grey all of my adult life (I’m now 38). I decided to stop covering up my grey when I turned 25. Call it my mid-life aha moment. But it wasn’t because I predicted the cool factor that grey hair now possesses. I just wanted to keep the hair I had. Because my hair grows as fast as a “is Beyonce pregnant again?” rumor, I was dying my hair nearly every week and perming/relaxing it every 4-6 weeks. I don’t think I really need to explain exactly what that was doing to my hair. Thin, brittle and a little disrespectful to the lifestyle of fabulousness I wanted to live, my hair and I had a “come to Jesus” moment and thus birthed my life as gorgeous in grey.
The problem is, for us naturally grey people the hair industry ain’t checking for us. I don’t care how many celebrity cool points #TeamGrey garners, I’m not convinced that this trend will change anything for us. There are very few products that actually work to make embracing grey hair easier. And through loads of global advertisements, the hair industry has made it clear to women with grey hair that we shouldn’t be grey. This fact alone makes me love this grey trend–proving to a room full of white male executives that grey hair is far from making us look or feel old.
But because this is merely a trend, this conversation never meets the right individuals. Toya’s hair will be grey for however long XYZ project will last and then she’ll move on. And rightfully so, it’s her hair.
This is where I get all in my feelings and slam my Macbook shut because I don’t even know who I have to call or write to for any of this to change. I just know that I want all those white male executives sitting in that board room who are deciding the fate of American beauty to know that my hair is just ONE of the many reasons why I am gorgeous. AND one of the many reasons why celebrities want my hair color is because it’s gorgeous! Period.
Shout out to Cheeno Grey for being a committed member of #TeamGrey
So to the women with natural grey who email me on a daily basis, I see you…and I think you’re gorgeous!
Now someone find me a grey weave dammit…