The Brighter Side of Gray Hair

Washing that gray right out of your hair (to borrow from the famous song) is no longer a 1)mandatory part of getting older. So asserts a growing 2)cadre of American women who are embracing their naturally silver hair tones.

Letting 3)tresses go gray (or white or 4)saltand-pepper) may not be the Hollywood way， but it’s become a hot topic for real women all over the country. Seeds of a 5)colossal shift in thinking—away from the 6)arcane 7)preconception that going gray means “letting yourself go”—have already 8)taken root.

Going gray is the most commented-on theme on More magazine’s website， which caters to women over 40. The Today show recently featured a seven-minute 9)clip about whether it’s “okay to go gray，” and how to do so gracefully. And recently published books about 10)ditching dye-jobs 11)for good， including 12)Diana Lewis Jewell’s Going Gray， Looking Great! and Anne Kreamer’s Going Gray: What I Learned About Beauty， Sex， Work， Motherhood， Authenticity， and Everything Else That Really Matters， continue to sell 13)briskly， and (in the case of Jewell’s book) have inspired the formation of online mini-communities based on a shared belief that going gray is more than okay.

Jewell’s 14)tome， a how-to guide to transitioning to silvery 15)shades， inspired a website of the same name that launched in 2008 and now boasts more than 2000 registered members. The site—which covers topics including various ways to grow out the gray (the brave embrace a 16)pixie haircut， while others suffer through a period of 17)calico color) and how to find 18)complementary 19)makeup for the new hair 20)hue—also includes a 21)slew of first-person stories and photos from its members.

Jewell was a 22)bottle-blond with 23)highlights when she started the project but boasted 6 inches of gray roots by the time she finished it. “That first 24)focus group I held inspired me to go gray，” she said.“I interviewed all these women， and I thought there was really something really special going on with this community.”

The site’s spirit of 25)camaraderie (regular users 26)jauntily refer to themselves as “Silver Sisters”) has even inspired some members to organize “minimeets，” social get-togethers held in different cities.

“They feel they know each other through the site，” said Jewell， “and they organize these events by themselves.” The last two mini-meets were in Cape Town， South Africa—evidence that the movement has， on a small or large scale， gone global.

Feedback from friends and family has been 27)overwhelmingly positive， said Fleishman. “People have said， ‘I think it’s really 28)gutsy.’” She’s also noticed more women letting themselves go gray at a younger age recently—but admits that she might be more 29)attuned to it since doing so herself. “I’ll be at Trader Joe’s shopping， and I’ll see several women with gray，” she said. “Sometimes I think there’s a little wink and a nod between us， like a ‘30)You go， girl’ sort of thing.”

Considering how deeply 31)ingrained the message of “gray equals grandma” is in American culture， not covering gray could be considered 32)downright 33)rebellious—a turning away from the 1950s 34)Clairol generation， when women started home coloring 35)en masse. “From that point on， women were 36)brainwashed into thinking that to look young they have to color their hair，” said Jewell. “Clairol did a 37)fabulous job of it. We grew up seeing our mothers and grandmothers religiously dying their hair. We got that message.”

Of course， the no-dye trend has yet to 38)infiltrate the Hollywood 39)sphere， which almost 40)singlehandedly sets the national tone on beauty issues. 41)Meryl Streep went white for her role in The Devil Wears Prada， but she’s always baby blond on the red carpet.

42)A clutch of slightly older celebrities—including 43)Jamie Lee Curtis， 44)Helen Mirren and 45)Diane Keaton—carries the torch for 46)chic silver styles.

But， oddly enough， gray has become a hot color among the young-and-47)trendy set recently. It’s an 48)oddball trend—and one that’s likely to burn out quickly—but could potentially lend support to a larger 49)whiteout in popular culture.

Lynn Hyndman， co-owner of the Purple Circle salon in 50)Los Feliz， which specializes in 51)envelopepushing cuts and color， said she’s had younger clients request“52)gunmetal gray and sometimes 53)lavender” 54)locks recently.

As for more mature 55)Angelenos going gray， Los Angeles-based 56)hairdresser Neil George， said he hasn’t seen an 57)uptick in women embracing their true roots. “I have a few older women clients with gray hair， and they always get a lot of compliments，” he said. “Women always come up to them， saying， ‘I wish I could do that.’”

美發潮流：優雅地變白

“擺脫你的白發”——這是上世紀八十年代紅遍美國的伊卡璐染發膏的廣告詞，但是如今，遮蓋白發已不再是步入老年的必備舉措了——美國越來越多女性如此聲明道，她們坦然接受頭上的銀絲。

任憑“三千煩惱絲”變灰、變白或是花白也許不是好萊塢熱衷的那一套，但對全美的真我女性來說，這已成為一個熱議話題。觀念發生了翻天覆地的變化——頭發變白意味著“放任容貌衰老”這樣的偏見已被顛覆。

接受白發是女性時尚雜志《More》網站上最受熱議的話題，該雜志以年過不惑的女性為目標受眾。NBC電視臺的早晨節目《Today》最近就制作了一期時長七分鐘的短片：“無懼發絲花白”，教人如何“優雅地變白”。而最近出版的幾本書也提倡大家永遠拋棄染發之舉，其中包括戴安娜·劉易斯·朱厄爾的《頭發變白，美麗不停頓》以及安妮·克里默的《頭發變白：美貌、性別、工作、為人母親、真我及其他值得看重之事》。這些書持續熱銷，以朱厄爾的書為例，它促進了一些網上微型社區的建立，社區內的人都有著一個共同的信念：頭發變白，何止“還行”。

朱厄爾那本關于如何應對頭發變白的書促使了一個同名網站的創立——這個網站于2008年建立，目前已有2000多名注冊會員。這個網站的討論話題多種多樣，從如何自然應對白發（與其遮遮掩掩地讓頭發半黑不白，不如大膽剪個俏皮超短發）到如何配合新發色打造一個合適的妝容，還包括許多會員的親身經歷和照片。……