Zeenat Aman has fast become a Gen Z favourite. The actress has had fans throughout her illustrious career, but she unlocked an entirely new generation of followers when she joined Instagram a few months ago. Her warm, candid posts with detailed captions that captured her reflections on life, her career, and being a woman navigating this world, are like listening to an older friend imparting life advice. It also helps that Aman looks just as gorgeous as in her heyday ¨C with the addition of a stunning silver mane.?
In fact, the actress acknowledged as much in a post a few months ago. ¡°I didn¡¯t intend for my grey hair to be a statement, but a statement it has become,¡± she wrote. ¡°If embracing my natural hair is encouraging others to do the same, then I¡¯m all the happier for it. After all, life isn¡¯t black and white, it¡¯s grey!¡± Aman also called for other women to post their own photos with grey hair¡ a small step toward increasing visibility for women with silver strands.
Aman¡¯s posts represent the complicated relationship that women have with their hair. Anne Shirley from Lucy Maud Montgomery¡¯s epic novel Anne of the Green Gables speaks of the burden she feels to have to live with red hair and her struggles to fit in a society full of blonde and brown-haired girls. We¡¯re no longer in the 19th century, but even today, where we strive for individuality and self-expression, hair colour continues to hold a significant sway over how people perceive and judge each other.
In a world governed by ¡°left swipes¡±, where decisions are made in a jiffy, grey hair can be a liability for many women. Because in the sexual marketplace, grey hair is viewed as a decline in desirability ¨C but only for women. Grey-haired men thrive and are anointed with epithets like ¡°silver fox¡±. When everything from hair toppers to Instagram filters is marketed as a way to extend youth, grey hair acts as a disruptor.?
Still, the first appearance of grey hair in one¡¯s late 20s or mid-30s often marks a significant transition in life, a realisation that bodies change with age. One can either colour the greys, or embrace them as a symbol of wisdom, but the appearance of grey hair can be a catalyst for self-reflection, acceptance, and a reminder that change is inevitable. For some women, wearing their greys is a way to challenge society¡¯s notions about ageing and self-worth.??
For Hema Gopinathan Sah, a Mumbai-based writer, her grey hair represents a fearless embrace of the beauty of authenticity. She noticed the first few grey strands at 27, shortly after becoming a mother for the first time. ¡°It didn¡¯t affect me at all, but my grey hair turned out to be an incident for the outside world,¡± she told me. ¡°When I went for a reunion, everyone noticed my greys and made it a point to make me aware of them.¡±
Sah was even approached by strangers who ¡°felt attacked¡± by her looks and who gave her unsolicited advice to colour her hair and ¡°look more beautiful¡±. Once, when her son wanted her to look like the other mothers he knew, she even tried colouring her hair. But soon, she reverted to her natural self, with support from her family. Sah told me that today, things are gradually changing, as women in popular culture are unafraid to be their authentic selves. She has received messages of admiration and love from younger folks, particularly Gen Z, who commended her for defying stereotypes.?
Sah is not alone. A few years ago, Salma Hayek posted about her ¡°white hair of wisdom¡±, while Helen Mirren, Andie MacDowell, and Jodie Foster ¨C all with silver strands ¨C posed together at Cannes 2021. According to a 2022 article published in The Guardian, the hashtag #greyhairdontcare was used 500,000 times on Instagram and received 138.9m views on TikTok. And then there is Iris Apfel, who signed her first modelling contract at the age of 97, and now commands a following of 3 million.?
Closer home, celebrities like Lara Dutta and Ratna Pathak Shah have challenged conventional standards of beauty. Sameera Reddy actively posts videos on how she does not care about her grey hair. Another notable example is Neha Dhupia, who began embracing her greys in her early thirties and has spoken about the pressures women face to conform to unrealistic standards of beauty.?
Women with grey hair, from across the spectrum of life, have found expression through social media. Writer Seema Anand and Anjana, who goes by Sparkling Silvers, have a massive following on Instagram. The Instagram account Grombre, celebrates this natural phenomenon by posting pictures of women who decided to embrace this change. It marks an acceptance of the fact that women are not supposed to look the same forever.?
But what happens when these ¡°normal changes¡± are atypical? Jagriti Ojha, a professional from Hyderabad saw early signs of ageing while still in school, when 5% of her hair was already white. She often became the target of jokes, as her classmates called her an ¡°Old Lady¡±. Although it hurt then, as she grew up and the silver strands increased, she never felt like dyeing them. ¡°Now, they have become a part of my body, I¡¯ve realised I¡¯ll not be myself if I ever change the colour,¡± Ojha told me. ¡°Even today, at social gatherings people try to tell me about the number of greys on my scalp as if I don¡¯t know they exist, but I politely ignore them and move on with my life.¡±?
Like Ojha and Sah, other women have found the confidence to think less about greying. A 2021 research study by the University of Exeter, surveyed women who chose to embrace their grey hair to look natural. Although they felt authentic, they had to deal with the perception of being seen as incompetent. This is the double bind most women find themselves in, in many areas of life. If they allow nature to take its course, they are shamed. But if they try to conceal, they are accused of being frauds.??
I suppose there are never going to be any easy answers when being a woman has never been easy either. Maybe someday, attitudes towards what women do with their bodies will not be a subject of such intense scrutiny. We live in hope!
(Big Image Courtesy:?Zeenat Aman)