Have you heard the latest trend in fashion and beauty? Gray is the new blonde. That’s right, more and more young women are deciding to go gray—yes, intentionally—instead of donning their natural hair color. And honestly? We kind of love it.
Gray is a color of hair that most women dread—they associate it with becoming older, and therefore, not as young, fresh and hip as they used to be. Up until recently, no one would ever think to keep their hair gray, or what’s more, deliberately make their hair that color.
It all started with a woman named Martha Truslow Smith, a 24-year-old graphic designer who dyed her hair gray and began to post photos of her ‘do on her Instagram page that she deemed “Grombre.” (Get it?)
Most women love the phenomenon of young people dying their hair gray. But for others, they just have one question: “Why?”
For Smith, her “why” is simple. “I got my first grey hair at 14,” she wrote in an Instagram post. “Despite being raised by my two silver crowned parents, I quickly learned how to dye and have done so for ten years.
She goes on to say that every time she dyed her hair, though she was doing it for herself, she couldn’t help but feel a little apprehensive. “I found that with each dye I gained not identity and assurance but anxiety and a feeling of misrepresentation,” she explained. “I found an odd reassurance in the fact that I NEEDED chemicals and dye to feel beautiful.”
So in her mid-twenties, she decided to say to heck with hair dye, and embrace the grays for what they are: Beautiful!
It’s no wonder that Smith now has nearly 130,000 followers on her Instagram, all of who engage with her by sharing pictures of their own gray hair. The page is also known for its empowering comments people leave for Smith and the entire Grombe community.
“There is nothing quite like watching a follower begin her Grombre journey with (understandable) fear, watch her stick with it, and finally see her discover that moment where she ABSOLUTELY LOVES herself in this whole new way she never knew she could,” Smith says.
That doesn’t mean that everyone feels confident sporting silver locks. What about the people who swear by their hair dye to make them feel beautiful? Smith has no issue with this—in fact, she’s very “you do you” about it. “There is no shame in doing what makes you feel loved within the bounds of your health and means,” she says.
To check out all the gray-haired beauties, scroll through Smith’s Grombe Instagram. And if you’re feeling it, join her on the journey to “build a community based on the natural privilege of silver beauty (at any age!)” as she so eloquently puts it.
We’d love to hear your thoughts on “going grombe.” Are you a fan of gray hair on women of all ages? Would you ever join the trend and purposely gray up your locks?