From Sarah Jessica Parker to Carolina de Monaco: the vindication of gray hair

With the passage of time, gray hair is inevitable, but over the last half century it seemed indisputable that women should dye them as soon as they appeared, either by taste or by social imposition. However, in recent years more and more they decide to wear a gray or white mane, neat and shiny, or let some white hair light up among the others. With this new image, Sarah Jessica Parker could be seen this summer, in some photographs that led to negative comments about their appearance and that she has now rated in an interview on Vogue of misogynists. “I’m sitting with Andy Cohen, and he has a head full of gray hair and he’s exquisite. Why is it okay for him? I don’t know what to say to you! ”, Reflected the protagonist of Sex in New York, 56 years old.

Parker has been the last to pronounce on a trend that in recent times has been embraced by other actresses such as Andie macdowell —Whose gray hair at the last Cannes festival was the result of multiple comments to which she responded assuring that it is a “symbol of power” – but there are also several members of royalty and the aristocracy who have opted for white hair. On July 3, for example, Carolina of Monaco She appeared in the Monte Carlo show jumping competition accompanied by her daughter Carlota and his son, Raphael. The appearance of the little boy – seven years old and the fruit of her relationship with actor Gad Elmaleh-, which almost never appears in public. But the image of the 64-year-old princess, and specifically her hair, was also surprising. Carolina has gray hair. Something that had begun to be seen in November in the celebration of the day of the Principality, but which is now becoming more evident.

It is not just a question of aesthetics, of opting for a shorter hair or for a few highlights. Gray hair is something else. They represent a vindication, a way of saying that other forms of beauty are possible and of giving rise to the fact that the natural is beautiful, beyond the slaves of chemical dyes. White hair, in fact, is no longer just a matter of age: younger and younger women choose to let loose gray hair from time to time or not to dye it at any time. In fact, says the hair stylist Eduardo Sánchez, there is a trend, a certain fashion to leave hair undyed. “Yes, there are people who are encouraged, especially because it is directly related to an organic part, a feeling of liberation, of leaving the stigma by which they have been governed all their lives. They say: ‘Now I will be the one to decide.’ They stand as precursors of the liberation of that slavery ”. For the stylist, the fact that women like the Princess of Monaco or the Queen of Spain take the step generates that many others do. “Carolina is a public, aristocratic image … who claims that she is still just as elegant and pretty with gray hair. Yes, people cheer up when they see them ”.

In the monarchies, The custom of leaving the reeds or dyeing them seems to pass from generation to generation, which is an internal matter. At United Kingdom, for instance, Isabel II She made a smooth and natural transition between her brown hair and all-white hair, a change that took almost a decade to complete, from the early 1980s to the early, almost mid-1990s. The small gray streaks that began to be seen in her short, curly mane grew in the late eighties and completely covered her hair soon after. The queen has had white hair for almost 30 years, when she was about 65.

In the British royal family, the tradition seems to have taken hold, at least in part. His daughter Ana, 70, He mixes brown tones in his hair with a few handfuls of gray on the side, as his mother did in her early days with white hair. And while his eldest daughter-in-law, Camila (73 years old), has opted for a perfect blonde hair under which gray touches are sensed, the minor, Sofia of Wessex (56), He also shoots the blonde, but he is letting his hair show grayer hair on some occasions. The one who, on the other hand, does not let a single gray hair glimpse in his long brown hair is his grandson’s wife, Kate Middleton (39). It has them, as can be seen in an image in which the hair is removed, but it covers them.

Something similar has happened in Spain. The Queen Letizia She has become one of the few European queens of her generation to show off her gray hair. Although his dyes have always been natural and close to his chestnut color, in recent years it is common to see his gray hair throughout his mane. Something that also happened with his mother-in-law, Queen Sofia. During the eighties and nineties, the now emerita wore a hair streaked with gray in some moments, while in others (as can be seen in images of her children’s weddings, for example) she dyed it again. For some time now, he has been combining moments of more dye with others of gray hair, but it is not strange to see a streak of gray or white.

However, in other countries the monarchies are much more continuity in terms of dyes. It is seen in the Nordics: nor the queens Silvia from Sweden (77 years old) nor Sonia from Norway (84) have never been gray, and have always had dark and dyed hair. And his daughters follow in his footsteps: Victory and Magdalena from Sweden, 43 and 39, are still as brown and as blonde, respectively, as in their youth. AND Marta Luisa from Norway At 49 years old, she is as brown as her mother, Queen Sonia. Either Mette Marit, 47, has never left her blonde hair, almost platinum, undyed.

In Denmark, on the other hand, queen margaritaNow 81, she grew her hair white in a short space of time, just a couple of years, between 1991 and 1993, shortly after she turned 50. She has no daughters, but at the moment his daughter-in-law, Mary (49 years old) continues to bet on her long brown hair without gray hair.

On Monaco only the always elegant and observed Carolina has broken the tradition of the dye, that for now his sister Stephanie (aged 56) maintains. His mother, Grace kelly, preserved until the end of his days a blonde and shiny hair. But he died when he was just 52 years old.

For the hairdresser Eduardo Sánchez, straight hair, such as Letizia or Carolina’s, are more appreciative of gray hair, and they look better than curly ones, thanks to the fact that the cuticle is closed and shines brighter. In addition, he explains that they require intense care with special shampoos and masks to prevent yellowing. Let no one think of them as a sign of sloppiness, but rather as a very calculated form of expression.