50 Shades Of Grey – My Hair Journey

It seems crazy to think that I have been “grey haired” for more than two whole years.  This picture up there was taken in August 2015 when I was trying to perfect a 5 minute make up look.  And while my make up look is still basically the exact same (as you can see in this little tutorial video), my hair has been through all 50 shades of grey – and more.

I remember when I took the plunge and went grey.  I was absolutely panicking in my chair at Stylebar.  What if I hated it?  What if it totally didn’t suit me even a little bit?  What if it all fell out?  (Only joking on that last one, I knew I was in very capable hands).

Actually while I was sitting there, I couldn’t help but think of that time just after Kyla, when I dyed my hair a dark brown and cut a fringe.  What an epically bad move that was.  Not only did my own kid not recognise me when I came out, the colour made me look like a vampire.  And not in the Twilight way.  I was not glowing.

Going grey…

No matter how brave you are feeling, seeing your hair turn a very unnatural shade of yellow is going to freak even the most bold of my hair changing brethren.  And this, being the fundamental step in the going grey process, had me all aflutter.  And me, being me and totally not a bold or adventurous person by nature, sat very quietly trying not to have a little panic attack.

All the freak out was totally not worth it though, because the change was exactly what I wanted.

Now two years and 4 months later, I still adore my grey/silver hair.  It just feels like me.  Like the me I was supposed to be.  In fact my mother was fully grey by 30 so I was holding out hope that mine would go that way on its own, but it’s holding out on me.  Which means I need to give it a little helping hand.

It doesn’t always stay grey though.  I went through a phase where I wanted the grey to turn a pretty shade of lilac and instead of using the Nak blonde shampoo and conditioner, I used gensin violet.  It was not even close to what I envisioned.  At one point I remember self consciously walking to an event at the Waterfront with blotchy BRIGHT purple hair.  Boy did I get a few side eyes!

Purple hair

(the toned down version because I think I was too embarrassed to take a picture of the worst of it)…  Oh no wait.  Found one

Why stop there though?

Playing around with the colour was fun!  So I started playing around a little more.  From adding some pink highlights to the bottom of my hair, to washing it with a pink conditioner, to dyeing it completely pink.

Going PINK…

Admittedly I don’t think the pale pink works as well with my naturally red face as the purple/silver does, but it was fun to try.  And I particularly like colour that would go in but rinse out after a couple of washes when I was tired of it.  So I tried the Nak Vintage Pink Conditioning treatment (results are the middle picture up there) that turned my hair a lovely shade of pink.  It’s still one that I use on the regular because not only do I get the pink, I also get the silky soft hair after the treatment.

The thing with playing around with colour and being in love with rainbows, means that you can’t just stop after pink and purple.  Why not just go full rainbow?  Exactly!  There’s no reason why not.

So I went full rainbow!

This was easily one of my most favourite looks of the lot.  Mostly because I love a good rainbow, but also because I loved how the colour looked against the rest of the grey hair.

For a little while now we’ve been back to the usual grey  but I’m still very much in love despite the fact that my children want me to go back to “being normal and blonde”.  But sorry for them, I’m going to be wild a free a little longer, thank you very much!  Also I quite honestly don’t even recognise myself with that blonde hair anymore.  I adore my grey and I wouldn’t have it any other way!

I don't usually wake up before 8am on a Saturday, so when I do you know it's for something amazing! This morning was spent feeling like a total babe whilst alternating between prancing around the forest like a fairy and becoming the fairy queen. With @tapestry_ct and @shante_hutton working every aspect of the art direction photography I was in the best hands! Cannot wait to see final shots. Thank you for the behind the scene sneak pics @tapestry_ct! #rosesforthorns

A post shared by Cindy Alfino (@cindyalfino) on Oct 28, 2017 at 10:14am PDT

However, having “different” hair means that I have to ensure that I look after it properly.  If I go without using a good quality conditioner, my hair feels like straw.  Which means that I want to introduce you to one of my favourite hair care products.  They look after silver hair, but every other hair type too.  They are called Nak.  The products leave your hair feeling great and you can rest assured because they do not test on animals, nor do their products contain any animal by products.

Obviously you aren’t going to get my silver/grey hair shampoo (unless that’s your vibe).  So you can choose from the Hydrating, Nourishing or Body N Shine options.

Also while I have you…  Do you see this little button…

If you love our blog, then won’t you take 2 seconds out of your day to go and vote for us quickly?  I’d really appreciate it!

WIN AN NAK HAMPER WORTH R550!

CONDITIONS:

• You need to enter through the Rafflecopter widget below so that I have a way of tracking that.
• PLEASE MAKE SURE THAT YOU ACTUALLY DO ALL THE STEPS THAT YOU TICK OR YOU WILL BE DISQUALIFIED.  Sorry to shout at you like that but apparently it’s necessary.  Just play by the rules and stuff.
• You need to live in SA or have a South African delivery address
• If you have won a giveaway on 3 Kids, 2 Dogs and 1 Old House in the last 6 months, you may not enter

This NAK giveaway is our fourth 10 Days Of Giveaways prize on the blog.  But there have been others that have been hidden in our Instagram stories, on our Facebook page and on Twitter that you might have missed.  There’s even one that relates to Pinterest.  Luckily there’s still so much more to come.  If you want to make sure that you increase your chance of winning on all the other social platforms, make sure you follow along.

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