From Almost Thirty Years of Dye to Natural Shine: My Gray Hair Story

I only ever remember seeing grandmothers with gray hair. I had so much shame around my gray hair, there were very few people in my life who knew just how gray I was and how often I was dying my hair to make it look dark.

Violet Simon

by Violet Simon

February 27, 2025 ∙ 4 min read

My name is Sarah Prewitt and I have spent over 15 years in the financial services industry, based in Atlanta, GA. I am 43 years old and ditched the hair dye in January 2022 at the age of 40. I let my hair grow from dyed black hair to my natural gray.

I was born with a full head of very dark (almost black) hair and blue eyes. I was always told how unique I was to have that combination. I felt like being a brunette fit my personality, and I love the look of rich and shiny dark hair! At 40 years old, I decided to embrace my natural hair colour and spent two years watching my hair grow from dyed black hair to my natural white.

In my early teens, I started to see gray hair – which was a stark contrast to my naturally dark hair. In middle school and high school, I played around with box hair dye, which at the time was what most teenage girls were doing. By college, I was regularly using box dye to cover the gray. At some point a hairdresser convinced me I should get blonde highlights – she thought it would help to mask the gray roots better.

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