Rita's SILVR Story

In 2008, at a memorial for a dear family friend who had died of Alzheimer’s, her ex-husband Mike shared his theory: decades of hair coloring may have contributed to her illness. He spoke of chemicals absorbed through the scalp and noted that women develop Alzheimer’s at higher rates than men. His words stayed with me, especially after, years later, losing my own mother to dementia.

By 2020, during COVID, more women were letting their gray grow out. I watched neighbors struggle through the transition and laughed along with Jane Fonda’s on Grace and Frankie, all while I sat in a salon chair every four weeks, inhaling chemicals for hours to look “natural.” That contradiction finally did it. Inspired by a beautiful friend with long snow white locks, I stopped coloring altogether, cut my hair into a pixie, and let the gray blend in naturally. It was easier than I expected, and freeing. Seven months later, one last pixie cut removed the remaining color. It wasn’t perfect at first (briefly channeling Bea Arthur by way of a poodle look), but after some tweaking, I caught my reflection at a cocktail party and stopped short. I barely recognized myself, in the best way. Compliments followed, along with the inevitable whisper: “You’re so brave.” I smiled. Brave wasn’t it. I was liberated.

Now my hair is softening, growing fast, and settling into salt, pepper, and silver, uniquely mine. And I’m in healthy easy mode at last.