Being true to myself… As a grown up

before-after-going-grayI have spent years helping encourage Jordan to be herself. Be proud. Don’t hide. As I’ve focused on those lessons, I’ve spent a consistent amount of time hiding something about me: My hair color. I started going gray when I was 18. That was a while ago and through the years, my hair has gotten whiter and whiter around my face. It got so consistently glowy, I had to dye my hair every three to four weeks.

I’m not someone who has a lot of time to keep up with hair color. It stressed me out. I would get angry at myself for allowing it to continue. So this past December, I just quit. I started wearing headbands to hide the distinct line between the gray and brownish dye color in my hair. I wanted a solution. I really wasn’t sure what was the solution.

I had mentioned to my boss how I was working on going gray. She told me how our video team at AARP was hoping to do a video about going gray. It was a perfect fit. I got to be in a video about going gray.

I had a chance to work with Katy at Cristophe Salon in DC while the AARP team shot a video with Barbara Hannah Grufferman’s The Best of Everything YouTube series. With the help of my awesome friend, Sara, we told the story of my day of how #JenGoesGray on social media. Here’s how it went:

9 Comments

  1. Andrea on March 11, 2015 at 6:54 am

    You look beautiful. I love it!

    I barely see the gray! It just frames your face so perfectly. Yay for pretty!

  2. Quirky Homemaker on March 11, 2015 at 7:27 am

    Woo Hoo! Another Silver Sister on her way. I quit coloring cold turkey in 2012. I didn’t color to try to blend while I did it. The funny thing is, I got lots of compliments while I was doing it. Growing it out is the hardest part. I’m glad the salon was able to help you with the transition. I just pixied after 7 months and started almost completely from scratch. It is SOOOO freeing once the transition is over, though. No. More. Dye. Good Luck. You’ll love being gray. 🙂

  3. Walker Thornton on March 11, 2015 at 7:42 am

    Love it. I think women look better when they adopt the attitude and the natural color-the two go together in a way. We are strong intelligent capable women -traits not determined by the color of our hair! Bravo!!! And, it looks very good on you. I’m a bit envious about the eyebrows..as the gray has changed my brows too–that is one place where I am adding a smidge of color.

  4. thecubiclechick on March 11, 2015 at 1:00 pm

    I think you look absolutely beautiful. And it looks on good on you. Keep rocking 🙂

    • Jen Lee Reeves on March 11, 2015 at 3:41 pm

      Thanks everyone!! I’m hoping I can have fun with this.

  5. Anita Irlen on March 11, 2015 at 3:48 pm

    Your hair looks great! I am basically doing the same thing on my blog. Tomorrow, yes tomorrow, I’m having all of the dyed brown cut off. I will have very short grey hair. I admit to some fear, but like I’ve been saying, if I hate it, I’ll just dye it again. Wish me luck.

    Anita

    • Jen Lee Reeves on March 11, 2015 at 3:50 pm

      Good luck! I know you’re going to rock it.

  6. Raelyn on March 12, 2015 at 5:05 pm

    Jen….
    I just watched an awesome video on Robert Downey Jr.’s Facebook page about a boy named Alex who {Like Jordan} has a limb difference and was fitted with an Iron Man arm!! He, of course, had the privilege of meeting Robert Downey Jr.!! Anyway. I thought of you, Friend!! 😉
    Here is the link. https://www.facebook.com/robertdowneyjr
    Love you later, Raelyn

  7. […] would be super cool to feature me in my “going gray” process in a video. To do that, I had a chance to work with Katy at Cristophe Salon in Washington, DC to get rid of the dye line I had grown after I stopped dying […]

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.