We’re going a little off script here but we think it’s time to address the elephant in the room – especially with the holidays coming up soon and considering you might be connecting with family you haven’t seen in a while. What’s the elephant? It’s that bold, beautiful new “do” you’ve been sporting, ever since you let your true silver sparkles shine! If you made the choice to go grey during the pandemic – you’re not alone but my goodness what a kerfuffle it seems to have caused! Our best advice to our fellow Amintronians is to own it! Embrace your inner “Grey Hair? Don’t Care!” attitude, no matter what the naysayers say.

If you are the average Amintro user, there’s a good chance you are 55+ and whether due to genetics, years of color treatments or just plain bad luck, you might have been trying to hide more than a few grey hairs over the years. Now, certainly for many women of a certain age, during the pandemic you might just have decided to finally let your true colors show. If you did, good for you! Personally, I’ve augmented my silvers with just a touch of purple as proof that I’m still young at heart and it turns out plenty of the “young’ns” think I’ve purposefully had my hair done at a salon and paid plenty of moolah for my ombre hair. It’s fun when they comment, “I love your hair,” then add things like “where did you get it done,” or “that must have been expensive!” Nope. It’s almost all me. Just stopped years of adding chemicals to my hair, rather painfully lived through a brief period of an enormous and ever-widening “skunk line” while squirreled away in my home during lockdown and then finally emerged like a butterfly from the chrysalis. Ok, I may have romanticized that a bit – I’m no butterfly and I wore a lot of hats and headscarves for a while but I got the job done and now I absolutely love it! The only people who don’t, it seems, are peeps that are around the same age as me and for the life of me I can’t figure out why?

Men have been allowed to go silver for years. Not only is it “allowed” but very often we ascribe a certain sexiness to a slightly grey haired older man, or think it handsome, charming or even a sign of wisdom. Talk about a double standard! When a woman lets her natural light shine she’s “let herself go,” or “looks so much older” as if these are bad things. Not sexy, not wise, just old. It is a sad state of affairs when here we are in 2022, still holding men and women to a different set of standards. There’s such a noticeable bias in the media that recently, a Canadian broadcaster released (fired) a newscaster with decades of experience, knowledge and someone who had even broadcast from war torn countries – allegedly all because of the color of her hair.

I think it’s time we supported one another. You are about to see family you haven’t seen in two or maybe even three years. If you are grey, avoid the temptation to give in and start coloring your hair again and if you aren’t there yet that’s fine, but don’t call out your silver sisters with nasty remarks either. Embracing the real you takes courage – it should be celebrated!

Finally, let’s also talk about hair care, salons, spas and beauty products. Not to make a commercial out of this blog but to let you all in on a little secret: Just because you are grey doesn’t mean you can’t spend a day at the salon. Visit your stylist for the holidays and have them refresh your “do” with a great cut and style. Get your nails done and maybe choose a brighter shade than normal. Consider a skin care routine change and even a consultation with a beauty expert on how to choose and apply makeup now that your hair color is actually not a color! Resist the urge to automatically start wearing a bright pink lipstick to “brighten” your appearance and have a color consultation done instead. Next up – go shopping! After all, if going grey isn’t an excuse to spruce up your wardrobe I don’t know what else is.

Amintronians, our site exists to support, encourage and foster new friendships. It’s a place for those who are 55+ (and those who love them) to meet one another, talk about shared interests and maybe even plan to meet over coffee or wine. We talk here about real life issues and going grey is a question many of us have wrestled with. Be supportive of friends who are boldly going where no one has gone before because after all, what are friends for? As for family members – as you celebrate the holidays together, remember what your mamma always told you and if you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all!