Gray hair is nothing to be ashamed of. In fact, pure silver looks utterly fantastic. So fantastic that you might want to flaunt it in front of the world. And that’s what the Grombre community is all about at its core—celebrating gray, silver, and white hair, as well as helping women find confidence in their natural look.
Liberation and empowerment is the name of the game and below you’ll find women showing off their fabulous natural hairstyles, as featured by Grombre. Scroll down, upvote the photos that you liked the most, and be sure to drop us a comment below telling us all about your personal relationship with gray hair. (Personally, I used to be scared of turning gray, but it’s already happening, and I’m starting to look like a silver fox which is awesome in so many ways!)
When you’re done enjoying this stylish list, Bored Panda invites you to have a look through our previous posts about the Grombre community here, here, and here. And you’ll also find our recent post about ‘freeing the silver’ right here.
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“When I was 21, my sister was diagnosed with cancer — and my first stripe of white almost simultaneously appeared smack dab in the center of my head. We lost my sister a handful of years after her diagnosis after a long, painful battle. Within the same three months of losing her, my mother was diagnosed with cancer, my father had a massive heart attack and I underwent a mastectomy of my own. With every major event, more grays appeared. Amidst the chaos of life, I still found time to be horrified at this new addition to my hairstyle.I spent a decade fighting them, pushing back at every bright, wiry hair with chemicals and grim determination. But one day about 9 months ago, I was done. Life had been showing me my priorities in a not so gentle way — and I finally received her message. I no longer have time or patience to achieve an expected hair color. I’ve survived and thrived through so much worse than disappointing societal standards and expectations. Now at 31, I embrace my white hair and everything it stands for — every last hug, kiss or I love you, every tear or day that I’d have rather stayed in bed and didn’t, every war my family has fought and won. I am a warrior and my hair is a battle scar.”
“I started greying at the ripe age of 13. I dyed my hair all thru my 20’s and 30’s. At age 39 with my mom’s encouragement I let my grey go and now I LOVE my salt & pepper crown! With my mom, who doesn’t have IG.”
“I started going grey in my late 30s for a while I would dye my hair back to its natural grey. When I turned 40 I decided to just let my grey come through. I am now 51 and I love my all natural grey hair. I have completely natural hair which means I don’t use any chemicals. My grey hair makes me feel strong and confident. I like to show that a woman can have grey hair and still be sexy, beautiful and stylish.”
“We believe there are more important things in life than the beauty standards that women are so often told define our value, and we’re finding liberation and empowerment to live fully and celebrate the complexities that make us beautiful in each season of our lives,” Grombre defines its mission on its website.
With 231k followers on Instagram and 26k fans on Facebook, the Grombre community has nearly doubled its online following in around a year and a half.
“I never had the confidence to let my hair be natural. I covered those grays since they first started showing up at age 23. When I turned 40, my husband said I should just ‘let it go’ and stop coloring my hair. I told him I wasn’t ready for that, he said he respected that, but he wanted me to make a deal with him. He made me a deal that if I would let my hair be natural at age 50, he would take me on a dream vacation. I agreed, it was 10 years away! Long story short, I kept my end of the bargain (and so did he) and since allowing my silver to shine, I feel I’ve let my soul shine! I have more confidence at 52 than I’ve ever had. I love being so shiny!!”
“I had my first grey hair when I was 11 and I started colouring my hair black later in my teens. I never actually hated my greys; I merely loved the colour black and I wanted to fit in – I wasn’t aware of anyone at my age having grey hair. However, I was lacking the confidence to expose my true colours until I turned 30 – just over a year ago and I wish I had ditched my dye earlier. I feel liberated for not having to hide my silver waves (plus tones of money and time saved) which I adore and make me look unique.”
“I have been dying my hair for 24 years now, since I was sixteen and found my first gray hair. Growing it out has not been easy, once I think I’ve grown out of one awkward stage, I hit another one. I look to the grombre Instagram for inspiration. It has been 9 months since I’ve dyed my hand and although frustrating it has been quite freeing, and in this current climate I’m so glad I don’t have to worry about my hair.”
Earlier, I spoke about gray hair with Ahu Michaelides who had been featured on the Grombre Instagram account.
“We are a group of women from all around the world with different backgrounds and stories but we have a similar approach to society’s standards of beauty which is: ‘You don’t need to fit in to be considered beautiful,’” she told Bored Panda during an interview.
“I’ve colored my hair pink or purple for quite a few years now. It’s become a big part of my identity. I’d go in every few months to have my brown roots bleached out, to redo the whole thing fresh. Over the last several years, my husband became extremely ill and I became a caregiver. Then our marriage began massively unraveling. Then he died. Through all of it, I bleached and dyed. Through my stress, I bleached and dyed. It’s been nearly three years since his death, and only during my life’s huge exhale over the last year or so did I start to go lax on the bleaching. Imagine my surprise to find this, then, growing out. It’s like I finally let my body relax into all it had been through. This is my wisdom hair. My hard-won life lesson hair. And I love it.”
“I had been coloring my hair since I was 20. It was never quite the right color, roots would show within a week, I had to plan colorings around special occasions, overall a giant pain in the butt. My goal was to turn 50 with long silver hair. With a little nudge from my very supportive husband, I finally stopped coloring in 2017, and I just turned 50 with long silver hair that I have grown to love.
