What the HECK is 'Grombre' Hair and WHY are SO many people embracing it in 2024?

A new movement is emerging—one that challenges the conventional norms of hair color and celebrates the natural beauty of gray hair. Also a process many people choose to go through to get to their beautiful natural silver hair. Enter "grombre" a term that's been making waves in the realm of hair care and self-expression.

But what exactly is grombre, and why is it gaining traction among people of all ages and backgrounds all around the globe?

What the Heck is Grombre Hair?

At first glance, the term "grombre" might sound like a curious blend of words. But in reality, it's a clever fusion of "gray" and "ombre," two elements that are key to understanding this phenomenon.

Gray/Grey: Traditionally associated with aging, gray hair has often been viewed as something to be covered up or concealed. However, the grombre movement challenges this notion, encouraging individuals to embrace their natural gray hair as a symbol of authenticity and self-acceptance.

Ombre: A popular hair coloring technique characterized by a gradual transition from darker roots to lighter ends, ombre typically involves dyeing hair in shades of brown, blonde, or even vibrant colors. In the context of grombre, the term refers to the natural progression from one's original hair color to shades of gray or silver.

Many if not most people go through this process when they decide to ditch the hair dye and naturally embrace their grey hair.  The process entails naturally allowing your hair to grow out, no longer dyeing your hair.  Some people do this only until they can cut it a length suitable for them.  Others, like myself desire to maintain their length and let the grow out process progress until the hair dye completely is grown out or cut away.  So although this is often a temporary process and look, temporary can often mean YEARS with a multitude of different lengths in the balance of the old and new hair throughout the process.

The Rise of Grombre

The grombre movement didn't emerge overnight; rather, it's the culmination of a cultural shift towards greater acceptance of diverse beauty standards and a rejection of ageism and the idea that grey hair equals old or ageing in the beauty industry.  Social media platforms like Instagram have played a pivotal role in amplifying the voices of grombre advocates, like myself, who proudly share photos of their silver locks alongside messages of self-love and empowerment in attempts to normalize grey hair at all ages and phases of life. 

Embracing Authenticity

At its core, grombre is about more than just hair—it's a symbol of embracing authenticity and rejecting societal pressures to conform to narrow standards of beauty. By embracing their natural gray hair, individuals are reclaiming ownership of their appearance and celebrating the unique journey that has led them to this point. They also choose to go through a process that they know can be challenging but yet rewarding in so many different ways.

The Power of Representation

One of the most powerful aspects of the grombre movement is its role in promoting representation and diversity in the beauty industry. By showcasing a wide range of hair colors and textures, grombre advocates are challenging the notion that beauty is synonymous with youthfulness and that grey hair equals - old, encouraging others to embrace their own unique features.

The grombre movement serves as a powerful reminder that beauty comes in many forms. Whether you're rocking a full head of silver strands or just beginning to notice a few gray hairs, embracing your natural hair color is an act of self-love and empowerment.

Grombre not only teaches us about self-acceptance as it is a temporary process for most of us, one we decide to take as the natural progression to a full grey hair transformation. This way to going grey also reminds us that positive, healthy changes can take time and patience.

It also helps with the dialogue in our daily lives.  Often thrusting us into advocacy and conversations with others even when we weren't prepared for all of that. Because many people will be vocal about their thoughts and opinions on grey hair and ageing, we really get questioned about the choices and decisions we've made when ditching the hair dye and the whys. It can become quite evident early on that we will have to be strong in our decisions when sporting a grombre look because people have so many questions.  The grombre look creates a curiosity and questioning in others that the advocacy happens whether you want it to or not!

So here's to grombre and here’s to the those choosing to rock one: a celebration of gray, a testament to authenticity, and a reminder that beauty knows no age because grey hair starts as young as late teens and early twenties which we still don’t seem to realize because we have been taught by society to hide it unless you are OLD, like REALLY OLD. 

Is there any wonder why we as a society have equated silver hair with age?  It’s only after decades of dyeing and hiding our white hair that women are finally saying ENOUGH to dyeing their hair and being exhausted from spending so much money, time and life energy trying to hide it. But not anymore. We are changing the narrative and for many of us it starts with the grombre. 

We’ve had enough and I couldn’t be more thrilled to see so many people embracing their natural hair even as early as their late teens and early twenties. It's always easier when it's in fashion or a trend but this opens up the world to more profound and longer term acceptance in the movement. We'll take what we can get!

Through my grombre grow out, I've discovered a refreshed sense of courage, confidence, and self-love, and I'm proud to advocate for a movement that celebrates the beauty of authenticity. For me this is one of the final steps in a physical representation demonstrating what I have embraced inwardly for a very long time. Authentically accepting the fullness of me. And for many others it's one of the first steps to this!

Have you ever thought about ditching the dye and giving the natural grombre a try? Now is a great time to do it while grey hair and natural hair is all the trend! But that is a blog post for another day.