Woman Gray At 31 Says She Used To Feel 'Ashamed,' Now Has Embraced Change

Nov 12, 2021 by apost team

Beauty standards exist in the world — whether we choose to follow them or not. They can be related to body shape and size or other physical attributes, but more often than not, they perpetuate harmful expectations for people the world over.

When we challenge beauty standards, we're helping to create a more open and accepting world. But nevertheless, it's not always easy to go against the norm and stand up for something you believe in. However, one woman from Somerset, U.K., is doing just that, and she recently went viral for challenging current beauty standards related to hair.

Pip Duma is a freelance makeup artist, so she's very familiar with beauty ideals. One day in 2019, she decided to go against expectations when she stopped dying her hair to cover her grays. Initially ashamed and embarrassed about her gray hair, which she'd been covering for years, Duma decided to let it grow out after becoming sick and tired of the regular dying schedule that ruled her life.

But one thing that the makeup artist didn't expect was how the experience would affect her psychologically as well as physically. As her hair grew out, her gray hair grew in from the roots. Not only did she fall in love with how it looked, but the entire experience also ended up being an empowering boost to her self-esteem as she began to accept her true self — gray hairs and all.

Inspired, she began documenting her journey on social media, where one of her videos went viral on TikTok, garnering over 1.8 million views. Now, she's inspiring women the world over.

The now-viral TikTok video features a montage of clips of Duma showing off her gorgeous long hair. Naturally black, her hair is accented with a smattering of gray hairs at the crown of her head. She revealed her story via overlaid text that read:

"I’ve been growing out my natural grey hair for 2 years. October 2019, when I was 29 years old, I decided I’d had enough of constantly dyeing my hair to cover it up."

The photos and video clips reveal Duma's hair in all manner of styles, including perfectly coiffed waves as well as a casual bun. She looks absolutely stunning in all of them, and her hair is incredibly striking and unique. The text continued:

"So I let it grow ... And let go of all the shame and embarrassment I’d ever felt around being so grey at such a young age. I let go of the stigma and idea of a ‘beauty standard.' And I’ve honestly never felt so free. I love my greys.”

Clearly, her video struck a chord with people everywhere, as it's since been viewed over 1.8 million times and received over 165,000 likes. In the video's caption, she wrote, "I couldn't imagine my hair any other way." Duma had an incredibly positive response from viewers. One person commented:

“Gorgeous! And I’m sure you’re helping normalise grey hair for other women, which is so valuable. There’s nothing wrong with our natural states.”

This led her to reply:

“Thank you! That’s exactly what I want to try and do, because it is normal, and we shouldn’t have to feel ashamed of it.”

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Another person said she started getting gray hair around the age of 14-15 and that Duma's pride in her gray hair made her feel "confident." Duma replied that she started getting grays around 12-years-old and while it used to upset her, she's "learning to love them now." Meanwhile, others commented that they paid a lot in a salon to get hair that looked like hers! One person wrote: 

"I just paid £200 (around $268) for this hair.”

In an emotional Instagram post from November, Duma opened up about her journey with accepting her gray hair. She wrote:

"It wasn’t the easiest journey, I spent the majority of my late 20s severely embarrassed and ashamed of these greys. I thought it meant I could no longer be beautiful and that people would make fun of me."

She talked about the moment that she decided to stop dying her gray hair:

"I spent so long covering them up and timing my hair dye sessions around important events, that it started to rule my life. So one day I literally just decided it was no longer worth the stress."

She says the hardest part of the journey was the beginning, but the outpouring of love and support she received from documenting her story online was what kept her going. She added:

"It spurred me on, it kept me going on the days when I felt ‘old’ and ugly and wanted to just dye over it again."

She ended her post by welcoming others to embrace their gray hair if they so wish and to know that there will be others out there that support them 100% of the way. She wrote:

"Screw the ‘beauty standard’, become your own kind of beauty."

What do you think of Pip Duma's acceptance of her gray hair? Would you ever consider following her lead? Let us know, then pass this on to everyone you know to show them that gray hair is incredibly beautiful — despite what society says!