Hi! Welcome back – time to check in on the going gray progress. Here I’m at the 17-week mark.
September to January feels like a really long time. Looking at how much my hair has actually grown out, reality has set in about the pace of going gray. When I read some blogs about people who have been there and done that, they mention things like it taking 24 months or OMG 5 ½ years on the journey to gray!
Yikes, when I decided to go gray, I estimated how long it was going to take based on how much my hair grew out in between each coloring. I used to color my hair every 5 weeks. After 5 weeks, it always seemed so obvious and a lot of outgrowths. My modest estimate was that my hair grew out about a ½ inch every 5 weeks. I was aiming for being mostly gray within a year. Maybe the outgrowth was closer to a ¼ inch every 5 weeks? Either way, hair grows at its own natural pace. Right now I’m at about 2 inches of gray.
Even if my optimistic assessment of how long this was going to take may just be off a bit…I’m pretty darn excited about the progress.
Time to live in the moment, embrace and focus on the exciting parts about this stage. If you’re thinking about going gray and want a ray of hope that you can go gray too and live through it, you’re going to love this stage!
4 things to love at 17 weeks:
- Love how soft your hair feels at this stage. My hair is so incredibly soft now, even the colored hair. I’m thrilled about how much healthier my hair feels and my scalp doesn’t itch like it used to after coloring.
- Love washing your hair. No fear about washing the coloring out of your hair anymore. I’m not afraid to wash my hair. When I was coloring, I would methodically plan when to wash my hair, so as not to “fade” it too quickly before the next coloring. Now, I could care less. Well…actually, now when I wash it, I’m secretly hoping it is fading. Washing the color completely away isn’t happening as fast as I thought it did in the past. Some of the permanent colorings are lasting. In a certain light, I can definitely see the reddish tones or auburn coloring from past hair coloring appointments.
- Love that you confronted your emotions about going gray early on in the stages. In retrospect, I was more fearful of going gray in the early weeks than I am now.
- Love how confident you are becoming. You can’t hide the gray now, no matter what you do, it shines through. Well, maybe you could try hats? I’m not really a hat kind of gal, but if you are, maybe that would work to hide it? If so, share a picture, I’d like to see how it works for you! Really, though, this is the best part. Don’t be shy, just go with it. Be yourself, remember you aren’t losing who you are as a person just because your hair is changing color.
Good graycious, be excited, your real hair color is coming through! Embrace the change in color and love it, every single strand of hair!! See you again soon!
