Within the past decade, gray hair has transformed its awful, tired connotation from something that you frantically try to cover up before anyone notices to a hairstyle you might like — and even embrace.
Because women such as Linda Rodin, Stacy London and Jamie Lee Curtis have shown off their naturally gray strands proudly over the past few years, it’s opened doors for celebs including Rita Ora, Rihanna and Lady Gaga to play around with the trend — as well as countless other women who went gray before they’d have liked.
In any case, there’s no reason that a man’s natural aging process should make him look distinguished, while the very same thing makes a woman look like they’ve given up. So whether you’re a natural gray or your silver strands are the result of a good dye job, here are 12 quotes that prove gray hair is majorly chic.
“It's great to have gray hair. Ask anyone who's bald.” — Rodney Dangerfield
“I want to be who I am now. I rock my gray hair because it is a blessing. I colored mine for many years, but I've gotten compliments from so many men and women about being brave enough to sport the gray. I even wear it on the cover of my record. I am comfortable in my skin and I want listeners to feel that as well.” — Regina Belle
“I love to see old women. I love wrinkles. I love gray hair.” — Alber Elbaz
“There’s a reason why forty, fifty, and sixty don’t look the way they used to, and it’s not because of feminism, or better living through exercise. It’s because of hair dye.” — Nora Ephron
“It never occurred to me to be like 'Oh now my hair is gray, I had better adapt to that.'”— Linda Rodin
“There was a deep sense of insecurity that I traded the gray streak in for as sort of a badge of honor. Now, I even have a gray clause with Pantene, where I said, ‘You can do whatever you want to my hair but you can't dye my gray streak.’ It’s a part of me!” — Stacy London, Into The Gloss
“In a time when so many men are dyeing, I think these guys see a silvery still-in-the-game dame as a kind of relief, like they could let their hair down, too, should they have any.” — Kathleen Rockwell Lawrence
“After getting a buzz cut — I style my hair short, so this was an easy transition — we discovered that my natural gray color was light, bright, and becoming. I began to feel lighter, younger, and sassier. I started to feel more authentic, — Dawn Doherty
"It is not by the gray of the hair that one knows the age of the heart." — Edward G. Bulwer-Lytton
“I’m extremely low-maintenance with my hair. It’s either long or short. I started going gray at 26, but I wasn’t confident enough to let that happen yet. When I was 37, I moved to France and I thought, ‘I’m anonymous here. I can do this.’ And I let it go gray, cold-turkey.”— Catherine Walsh Coty
"Nobody has said ohmygodyouwentgray!! Because the thing is, it isn’t. It isn’t white, either, or silver — not quite, not exactly. But it is a glorious color.” — Vicki Woods
“I called my brother, who is 10 years older than me, and he said, ‘At last! You accept!’ Accept what? ‘You accept your own beauty!’ He said, ‘I like white hair.’ And I said, “I thought men hate white hair!’ And he said, ‘No! Men hate women who hate themselves.’”— Sophie Fontanel