Xaviera's SILVR Story

I started going silver at 16. My father turned silver very young and he had beautiful hair. It was striking.

I had an ash chestnut hair colour so you couldn’t really see the silver. It blended in, however, I only started dying my hair in my mid 30s because I dated a hair dresser for like a minute and he convinced me to dye it one shade darker. I was in love!!! From then, I continued to dye my hair darker and darker until it was pretty much black well into my mid 40s.

I was now trapped in the dying cycle. My hair grew so fast and at 3 weeks, I was using sprays for my crown and crayons for my side burns trying to keep it under wraps. I was considering moving my dye jobs to 2 weeks and started to fantasize what it would be like to let it go. The new trend with young women was a platinum blonde and I started to consider going that route.

My life, vacations, big events eventually revolved around my hair colour. Funny how that happens. As I got older, I started to see silver as a time stamp. I was in an endless merry-go-round and I wanted off, just didn’t know how to get there.

Then we were sent home due to Corona on March 16th 2020. No one knew how long we would be in this situation, so when the calendar reminder to dye my hair went off, I embraced, not having to touch up my silver growing in. Then the next reminder and the next.

Just over 2 months after being sent home, I had a park date with my mom and sitting across from her, the sun shinned on my hair and she said, she could see my father’s beautiful silver shining through. My father had passed away in 2011 and the thought I had his silver locks made me feel close to him in some weird way. That thought has carried me through until now. Around the 4th month, you could see that what I was doing was intentional and it actually made me feel powerful in my womanhood. It was like, “look at what I’m doing!” I felt strong and brave and I loved this feeling of acceptance for exactly who I am. Who would have thought that the simple act of not dying my hair could be such a monumental life changing act of self love.

Toronto ended up being shut down for over 2 years. By the time I went back to the office, I was a brand new woman. I wasn’t just a different hair colour. I left as a young lady and came back as confident, trail blazing woman with confidence to spare.

I wish this feeling for every woman.