CURL STORIES / ELAINE
After years of colouring her new growth every two weeks, Elaine decided to let her grey curls grow. Her reason for keeping them is refreshingly simple: she likes the freedom.
When we asked Elaine what people misunderstand about natural hair, she took the question beyond curl pattern.
For her, wearing her hair naturally also means allowing the grey to stay.
“I feel so free,” she told Curly Lifestyles.
Before growing out her natural colour, maintaining it meant returning to the salon roughly every two weeks as new grey growth appeared. Now, she lets it grow.
And for Elaine, that decision is about more than skipping a colour appointment.
Why do we still associate grey hair with looking old?
Elaine brought up a misconception that follows a lot of people who decide to stop colouring their hair: the assumption that letting grey show means they will no longer look good.
Research suggests that pressure is very real.
A University of Exeter study looked at women who had chosen to stop dyeing their grey hair. Researchers found a tension between wanting to look authentic and worrying about how others would perceive them as they aged.
Some participants reported feeling judged for appearing to have “let themselves go,” while also describing greater happiness in showing their natural hair. :contentReference[oaicite:0]{index=0}
Going grey can be a personal choice, but it happens in a culture that still puts considerable pressure on women to look youthful.
The Exeter researchers found that women were often balancing those expectations against a desire to look more like themselves. :contentReference[oaicite:1]{index=1}
For Elaine, natural means the colour too
There is often a lot of conversation around embracing natural texture while colour remains a completely separate decision.
Elaine’s version of natural hair includes both.
She gets to wear the curls that grow from her head and the silver and grey that now grow with them—without feeling obligated to cover either one.
I feel so free.Elaine
That may be the best part of her answer.
There is no complicated philosophy behind it. She likes her grey curls. She likes not needing to colour her roots every two weeks. And she does not believe grey hair automatically has to make someone feel old. :contentReference[oaicite:2]{index=2}
Watch Elaine’s Curl Story
Hear Elaine talk about growing out her grey curls and what wearing her hair naturally means to her in the video above.