Washing that gray right out of your hair (to borrow from the famous song) is no longer a 1)mandatory part of getting older. So asserts a growing 2)cadre of American women who are embracing their naturally silver hair tones.
Letting 3)tresses go gray (or white or 4)saltand-pepper) may not be the Hollywood way, but it’s become a hot topic for real women all over the country. Seeds of a 5)colossal shift in thinking―away from the 6)arcane 7)preconception that going gray means “letting yourself go”―have already 8)taken root.
Going gray is the most commented-on theme on More magazine’s website, which caters to women over 40. The Today show recently featured a seven-minute 9)clip about whether it’s “okay to go gray,” and how to do so gracefully. And recently published books about 10)ditching dye-jobs 11)for good, including 12)Diana Lewis Jewell’s Going Gray, Looking Great! and Anne Kreamer’s Going Gray: What I Learned About Beauty, Sex, Work, Motherhood, Authenticity, and Everything Else That Really Matters, continue to sell 13)briskly, and (in the case of Jewell’s book) have inspired the formation of online mini-communities based on a shared belief that going gray is more than okay.
Jewell’s 14)tome, a how-to guide to transitioning to silvery 15)shades, inspired a website of the same name that launched in 2008 and now boasts more than 2000 registered members. The site―which covers topics including various ways to grow out the gray (the brave embrace a 16)pixie haircut, while others suffer through a period of 17)calico color) and how to find 18)complementary 19)makeup for the new hair 20)hue―also includes a 21)slew of first-person stories and photos from its members.
Jewell was a 22)bottle-blond with 23)highlights when she started the project but boasted 6 inches of gray roots by the time she finished it. “That first 24)focus group I held inspired me to go gray,” she said.“I interviewed all these women, and I thought there was really something really special going on with this community.”
The site’s spirit of 25)camaraderie (regular users 26)jauntily refer to themselves as “Silver Sisters”) has even inspired some members to organize “minimeets,” social get-togethers held in different cities.
“They feel they know each other through the site,” said Jewell, “and they organize these events by themselves.” The last two mini-meets were in Cape Town, South Africa―evidence that the movement has, on a small or large scale, gone global.
Feedback from friends and family has been 27)overwhelmingly positive, said Fleishman. “People have said, ‘I think it’s really 28)gutsy.’” She’s also noticed more women letting themselves go gray at a younger age recently―but admits that she might be more 29)attuned to it since doing so herself. “I’ll be at Trader Joe’s shopping, and I’ll see several women with gray,” she said. “Sometimes I think there’s a little wink and a nod between us, like a ‘30)You go, girl’ sort of thing.”
Considering how deeply 31)ingrained the message of “gray equals grandma” is in American culture, not covering gray could be considered 32)downright 33)rebellious―a turning away from the 1950s 34)Clairol generation, when women started home coloring 35)en masse. “From that point on, women were 36)brainwashed into thinking that to look young they have to color their hair,” said Jewell. “Clairol did a 37)fabulous job of it. We grew up seeing our mothers and grandmothers religiously dying their hair. We got that message.”
Of course, the no-dye trend has yet to 38)infiltrate the Hollywood 39)sphere, which almost 40)singlehandedly sets the national tone on beauty issues. 41)Meryl Streep went white for her role in The Devil Wears Prada, but she’s always baby blond on the red carpet.
42)A clutch of slightly older celebrities―including 43)Jamie Lee Curtis, 44)Helen Mirren and 45)Diane Keaton―carries the torch for 46)chic silver styles.
But, oddly enough, gray has become a hot color among the young-and-47)trendy set recently. It’s an 48)oddball trend―and one that’s likely to burn out quickly―but could potentially lend support to a larger 49)whiteout in popular culture.
Lynn Hyndman, co-owner of the Purple Circle salon in 50)Los Feliz, which specializes in 51)envelopepushing cuts and color, said she’s had younger clients request“52)gunmetal gray and sometimes 53)lavender” 54)locks recently.
As for more mature 55)Angelenos going gray, Los Angeles-based 56)hairdresser Neil George, said he hasn’t seen an 57)uptick in women embracing their true roots. “I have a few older women clients with gray hair, and they always get a lot of compliments,” he said. “Women always come up to them, saying, ‘I wish I could do that.’”
美发潮流：优雅地变白
“摆脱你的白发”――这是上世纪八十年代红遍美国的伊卡璐染发膏的广告词，但是如今，遮盖白发已不再是步入老年的必备举措了――美国越来越多女性如此声明道，她们坦然接受头上的银丝。
任凭“三千烦恼丝”变灰、变白或是花白也许不是好莱坞热衷的那一套，但对全美的真我女性来说，这已成为一个热议话题。观念发生了翻天覆地的变化――头发变白意味着“放任容貌衰老”这样的偏见已被颠覆。
接受白发是女性时尚杂志《More》网站上最受热议的话题，该杂志以年过不惑的女性为目标受众。NBC电视台的早晨节目《Today》最近就制作了一期时长七分钟的短片：“无惧发丝花白”，教人如何“优雅地变白”。而最近出版的几本书也提倡大家永远抛弃染发之举，其中包括戴安娜?刘易斯?朱厄尔的《头发变白，美丽不停顿》以及安妮?克里默的《头发变白：美貌、性别、工作、为人母亲、真我及其他值得看重之事》。这些书持续热销，以朱厄尔的书为例，它促进了一些网上微型社区的建立，社区内的人都有着一个共同的信念：头发变白，何止“还行”。
朱厄尔那本关于如何应对头发变白的书促使了一个同名网站的创立――这个网站于2008年建立，目前已有 2000多名注册会员。这个网站的讨论话题多种多样，从如何自然应对白发（与其遮遮掩掩地让头发半黑不白，不如大胆剪个俏皮超短发）到如何配合新发色打造一个合适的妆容，还包括许多会员的亲身经历和照片。
朱厄尔本人的金发是染出来的，还挑染了，她吹嘘道，在她写书这段期间，新长出来的白发根就有15厘米。“我召集的第一个焦点小组里的人鼓励我让头发自然变白，”她说，“我采访了这群女性，发现这个小团体真的有一些特别之处。”
这个网站发展出的“姊妹之情”（活跃用户得意洋洋地称自己为“银丝姐妹花”）甚至给一些会员带来灵感，她们在不同的城市组织起“小聚会”和见面交流会。
“她们觉得是网站让她们走到了一起，”朱厄尔说，“于是自发组织这些活动。”上两次聚会在南非开普敦举办――这表明了这样的活动，从某种程度来说，已逐步走向世界。
朋友以及家人给予的反馈都非常正面，弗雷什曼说。“人们反映说，‘我觉得这很大胆。’”她还发现，现在有更多女性即使少年白头也不遮盖白发，但她承认，可能是自己不染发了，就更留意到周边的这股潮流。“我在乔氏连锁杂货店买东西时，会看到几位白发的女士，”她说，“有时我会注意到我们互相眨眼和点头示意，就像在说‘想做就做，姐妹’之类的话。”
考虑到美国文化中根深蒂固的观念：白发等于衰老，不把白发加以遮掩就被视作冒天下之大不韪――这可是对上世纪50年代“伊卡璐”一代的背弃，那个年代的女性全都自己在家染发。 “从那时起，女人就被灌输一种观念：要想年轻，就得染发，”朱厄尔说，“伊卡璐对这一观念的宣传非常成功，我们从小就看到自己的母亲以及祖母坚持不懈地染发，我们就是从她们身上得到这样的信息的。”
当然，这股“自然风”还没完全渗透到好莱坞圈子里，而好莱坞可是全国美丽风潮的一面强力旗帜。虽然梅丽尔?斯特里普在电影《穿普拉达的女王》里面以一头白发的角色亮相，然而，踏上红地毯上时她总是一头浅金色头发。
而有一小部分稍微年长的名人――像杰米?李?柯蒂斯，海伦?米伦还有黛安?基顿――则是高举白发时尚火炬之人。
但是，奇怪的是，白发近来在年轻一代时尚“弄潮儿”当中可是相当走俏。这股奇特风潮瞬间走俏，却也很可能转瞬即逝，不过其对流行文化中“银丝为美”的现象却是一种潜在的支持。
“紫环”发型屋位于洛杉矶卢斯费利斯区，该发型屋无论剪发还是染发都奉行大胆创新的理念，该店的持有人之一林恩?海曼说道，最近她的一些年轻客人要求染成“暗灰色，有时带点淡紫色”。
提到越来越多年长的洛杉矶人顺其自然，任由发丝变白这一倾向，在洛杉矶当美发师的尼尔?乔治说，他还真没见到太多女士满意自己头发的本色。“我有几个白发客人，她们一直备受称赞，”他说，“总是有一些女士走到她们跟前说，‘我希望自己能直面白发。’”