One subject that I am always hearing about is whether or not to color your grays when they start springing up with more consistency. While this is not yet a concern for me, I know that it’s right around the corner and I decided to start fretting about it early (one of the many side effects of having generalized anxiety disorder — we get worrying done ahead of time!) My concerns are as follows:

1. I am all about being natural, and I don’t really want to feel as though I have to alter something to such an extent to feel good about myself. What’s wrong with some grays? Also, I live in Brooklyn where women younger than me sport silver locks and look great. But am I personally ready to be as self-assuredly cool as they are?
2. I had always planned on using henna dyes, as they are natural, but I’ve been told by multiple people that they do not work on grays.
3. Chemicals are scary y’all, and no I’m not an idiot that screams and runs away from anything with words I can’t pronounce in the ingredients list — I know that chemical compounds are a part of natural life, etc. But just the smell of those hair dyes, it just can’t be good, right?
4. Animal testing. I’m a pescatarian so I don’t have any huge moral ground to stand on, but I really truly hate the idea of animal testing without utmost gain (like finding cancer cures, etc.) I am also an animal rescuer, and something about rescuing one animal to kill another for cosmetics doesn’t sit right.

That’s about enough to keep me up at night, so let’s stop while we’re still ahead shall we? I decided to do something as simple as googling “natural hair color products” and pulled up this custom color brand called Madison Reed. They claim to leave out the “bad stuff” and do not participate in animal testing. However, are the ingredients really body-safe? We are putting this on our HEADS, after all. And does it work? Are you willing to be my guinea pig (hehe)?

If you have any suggestions as to coloring techniques, or if you yourself have wrestled with this quandary, please speak up in the comments!