Grey hair special - grey vixens, women proud of their grey hair

Thursday, 15 November 2012

In my search for images for my posts about grey hair in men, I came across far fewer of women. Their rarity got me wondering about the social conventions, pressures and influences that require women to dye their hair, when most men go grey.

Looking at these images (many of whom you will know) I'm struck how rarely we see grey-haired women in their forties and fifties; I wish we could see more.

[Ed. Since writing this post I have started a board celebrating grey-haired women on Pinterest - see here].

I don't know where these images came from originally; please let me know if I've infringed any rights.


















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10 comments

  1. Sissy15 November 2012 at 16:48

    How about Emmy lou Harris, she's been beautifully silver for decades. Seriously, all of the older women that I work with dye their hair, I guess I'm lucky I'm light blonde because mine blend really nice, and I actually had my first one when I turned around 18 - I love my silvers and earned every one of them, so there!
    (p.s...nice post, thanks!)

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  2. Michael16 November 2012 at 11:28

    These are all beautiful women and you can tell that they are comfortable in their skin and with their hair. Missing from your list was Carmen Dell'Orefice. She's still a working model at age 80 and she's gorgeous. Here's a link to one of her images.
    Mike

    http://lifestyle.ezinemark.com/carmen-dellorefice-worlds-oldest-working-model-turns-80-7736cbc6b823.html

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  3. Chicatanyage17 November 2012 at 04:11

    Lovely pictures. Very inspiring. Thank you. From a grey vixen!

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  4. L'age moyen18 November 2012 at 05:18

    I have spent much time pondering this and believe employability is a huge factor. there was much more grey around my mother' s generation. Men still have the advantage here especially in the senior ranks where grey hair translates into experience and confidence. One of the last bastions of sexism. we now have to break the grey ceiling. One damn ceiling after another.

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  5. Mathy201218 November 2012 at 10:31

    Great post ! It is wonderful to see that elegance and beauty are ageless.

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  6. Myrmecia23 November 2012 at 10:42

    Magnificent gallery! I come from Australia - if these women were Australians, they would all have dyed their hair . . . . and spoilt everything!

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  7. Grey Fox29 November 2012 at 13:13

    Thank you for the comments. I've included additional suggestions. GF

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  8. Monique Low14 January 2013 at 14:11

    I love these ladies. I don't dye my hair and the first greys are creeping in, but I would prefer to just leave it and these beauties are a real inspiration.

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  9. Judy Heminsley9 June 2013 at 01:57

    I think L'age moyen is spot on - it seems there is a fear of older women in the workplace and grey hair is the most obvious marker of age.
    Not always accurate, though - my first silver hairs appeared when I was 12 and by my early twenties I had a wide white streak at the front. People used to ask if I dyed it!
    I got fed up with colouring it years ago and got far more compliments when the boring brown grew out.
    But I do feel that some women find such overt silver hard to take. There has been a belief that gradually toning down natural colour to an elegant blonde is the way to age with any dignity.
    The women in the photos are all beautiful and glamorous - I hope that those of us who are less favoured with beauty will soon also be accepted as we are.
    My principle is that life is too short to dye!

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  10. Gill15 August 2014 at 03:57

    I stopped dyeing my hair a year ago. It's completely grey now and I'm really happy with it.

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