Sometimes others may also see the advantages of features that we perceive as disadvantages. We have previously told you the story of model Toni Rybkina, who has Sturge-Weber syndrome, a congenital disease that manifests itself as port wine stains on her face. And today we want to talk about gray hair.
For many, gray hair is a sign of fading beauty, the appearance of which they want to delay. But for today’s heroes, gray hair has taken on a completely new meaning. Appearing at a very young age, she not only changed her appearance, but also taught girls to accept and love their own uniqueness, regardless of the opinions of others.
Once I was walking at a pedestrian crossing and my grandfather caught up with me, turned around and asked contemptuously: “What is this, gray hair?” Yes, these are them.
My first gray hair appeared when I was about 18 and appeared not on the top or back of my head, but just above my forehead. I immediately suggested to my mother to pull it out, but she dissuaded me, saying that for every hair pulled, there would be ten more. At the time I didn’t realize yet that this was the beginning of a complete graying of all my hair. And within a year, new ones began to appear.
Around the age of 20, I started having trouble accepting myself. There was already a significant increase in gray hair and I started painting over it. At first there was highlighting, then dyeing in one tone, different tonics, hair extensions, pink stripes. I tried as much as I could. And then, when there was even more gray hair, I did not have time for experiments. The beauty salon has become my second home; I used to go there every 10 days.
At 23 I met my future husband. When he saw how upset I was every time the white roots appeared, he suggested that I grow out my gray hair. That’s why I stopped dyeing my hair.
When I started raising him, I constantly wanted to give up everything and go to the salon. But I had a good support group; my family, parents and friends. I think I completely accepted my gray hair when I cut off my dyed hair. At that moment I finally realized that my natural gray hair was so cool. They also thanked me – they stopped breaking, they became thicker and stronger.
My mother also started turning gray at the age of 20. She doesn’t wear any make-up anymore. And my daughter is growing up. And if he also inherits the trait of prematurely graying hair, I will show him by example how to accept himself. When I like my appearance, when I do not hide anything, I am not shy, on the contrary, I show my strangeness, the child feels this.
There’s this saying: If people pay attention to you, they’ll spend a few seconds on this, and then another two minutes after that on some kind of discussion within themselves. So in general, everyone is only busy with themselves. And if you remember this, you will never care what anyone thinks about you.
Everyone in my family is grey. Relatives on both the mother’s and father’s side turned gray early. My first gray hair appeared in ninth grade. My classmates were already making fun of me because of my excess weight, but now they have another reason. Gray hairs resembled thin white threads, and their distribution increased greatly throughout the year. I even liked it at first, it caught my attention, but it quickly turned into a complex. I began to constantly cover my gray hair with henna, basma and everything else. Then I started painting. I walked around happily for the first 10 days after the salon, and after three or four days I started feeling confused again.
I once asked a makeup artist: “What if my hair turns gray?” She told me: “No, it doesn’t match your skin tone.” But I didn’t give up on this idea. Over time, I began to realize that I was looking at the roots turning white with curiosity rather than disgust. Moreover, platinum hair was also in fashion at that time. I imagined how my hair would turn gray and I would look like Daenerys. And eventually this curiosity won out; I stopped wearing make-up.
Growing up, people often asked me if I was sick with something, if I needed help. There were different predictions. One of my favorites is that I am a breastfeeding mom who can’t recover from pregnancy and start taking care of herself. In fact, everyone asked the same thing: “You are still young, you will have time to turn gray. Why do you need this? When I went full-grown, people had other questions: “Natural or dyed?” I now get a lot of compliments on my elf look. And I’ll tell you a secret, if you take care of your gray hair, it will turn from dull and hard to a real silver color.
While I was growing out my gray hair, I was constantly in tension due to side glances and negative comments. I noticed that I was becoming aggressive towards people; I asked them not to look at me. However, when my hair grew back, this tension disappeared and I felt completely relaxed. And it seems to me that beauty is manifested in this relaxation. When a woman is tense, nothing can embellish her – neither dyed hair nor natural hair. And when she’s relaxed, she’s beautiful in every way.
Photo: personal archive
Source: People Talk
I’m Roger Gritton, and I’ve been writing for the The Fashion Vibes for over 5 years now. My specialty is beauty news; I’m passionate about covering the latest trends, products, and innovations in the industry. In my time there, I’ve become known as an authority on all things beauty-related.
I love discovering new experts to interview, researching up-and-coming ingredients and techniques that are making their way onto our beauty shelves and highlighting people who are making a difference in the world of cosmetics. My work has appeared not only on The Fashion Vibes, but also several other publications including the New York Times Magazine, Allure Magazine and Refinery29.
