Why Grey Hair is White Hot Again

Unless you have been living in Life in the Boomer Lane’s clothes-to-be-ironed bag for the last five years, you might have noticed that more and more women’s heads are turning grey. This is not because the planet is going to hell in a hand basket, but rather, because having already tried and discarded every conceivable hair color, younger women have noticed that older women look really good with grey hair. And, having noticed, they wanted in on the action.

Huffington Post credits several reasons for this phenomenon in its article, “Why Grey Hair is White Hot Again.” LBL doesn’t understand the inclusion of the word “Again” in the title, since she was never aware that grey hair was ever hot, but she will not dwell on this. Here are the reasons cited by HuffPo for the popularity of grey hair:

 1. It’s a silver medal 
According to Cindy Joseph, a grey-haired 60-something model, “I call it silver instead of gray, because gray has a negative connotation. Gray mood, gray day. But silver is considered very special and very valuable. So whatever shade of silver you have, call it silver.”

Sorry, Cindy. LBL isn’t getting the point. Grey is grey. You can call it whatever you want to, but it’s still grey. And what’s with the “grey mood, grey day?”  Grey is a fabulous color, in its own right.

2. It saves time and money

Not necessarily.  Only If one’s hair is naturally grey AND the grey color is attractive.  The twenty and thirty-somethings sporting luxurious grey locks are spending just as much money to achieve that look as they were to be blond, green, or whatever other color they were before they went grey. LBL, even though she has accumulated an astonishing number of years under her belt, has so little grey that it would cost her a lot to join the grey brigade.

3. It can look pretty darn amazing

Right.  And it can look pretty darn scary. It’s hair. Some days, it’s great.  Other days, a hat or large paper bag is your best friend.

4. It’s empowering and freeing

Again, not necessarily. If it’s natural grey, then yes, it’s empowering and freeing. If it’s artificial, it’s no more empowering and freeing than fuchsia or any other color you’d choose to make your hair.

 5. It doesn’t have to be boring

LBL loves this statement. But she loves it for hair of any color. No woman, no matter her age, needs to have boring hair. Unless she chooses to. And that’s a whole other issue. And those people shouldn’t be reading this blog, anyway.

 6. It makes you stand out

It can, unless you are in the audience at a Bob Dylan concert or at Denny’s for the Early Bird Specials.

The bottom line is that younger people have insinuated themselves into our sacred territory, and LBL isn’t sure she likes it one bit. She feels like everything is up for grabs now. Soon, the fashion industry will discover sensible shoes and full coverage, support bras. People will start wearing fake hearing enhancement devices in their ears and apply fake age spots to their hands. And everyone will be constantly misplacing their phones and their car keys and answer all questions with “I really can’t remember but I’m sure it was swell.”