Hi, my name is Carla, I´m 46 and silver. The Right Hairstyles Magazine has posted a couple of empowering gray hair stories and I also want to share my journey, which was epic. Moreover, I learned LOTS of useful tips, especially for readers who don’t know where to start their transition.

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First Grays and Seeking Inspiration

I started going gray at 14 years old; my first silver hairs were on the sides of my head and, through the years, they became more and more noticeable. In 2013, I really considered letting my natural gray hair grow. I looked for inspiration on the Internet because wanted to see real young women with natural silver hair. There was not much out there — just a couple of pictures of Sarah Harris that I found, and I loved her look — she had long silver hair and still looked cool. My husband has been my biggest supporter. Since getting married in 2005, he told me to go gray, but I was so scared of looking like his mother; he’s five years younger than I, so that was my main concern.

I knew that going cold turkey was not going to be the best thing to do. I had dark brown hair and, from what I could see, my roots were pretty white. I decided that bleaching was going to be an easier transition, and I also wanted to maintain my long hair — a couple of inches below my shoulders. I researched a lot about bleaching hair at home, but decided to go to a professional, instead.

When I told my stylist what I wanted to do, her face was a bit skeptic, but, at the same time, she was challenged by the task. She started the process: After a couple of hours, she washed my hair, and it was orange; after another bleaching, a couple of hours later, my hair was light yellow but completely damaged; it started to break and had a gummy texture—she then told me she had to cut it. I knew that was a possibility, so she cut my hair in a bob and used purple shampoo to tone it and told me that I should not wash my hair for a week and return for another bleach. After a horrible week of not washing my hair, not recognizing myself in the mirror, she did another round of bleach resulted in immediate transitioning to gray hair.