Watching Becky G Embrace Her Gray Hair Helped Me Change How I See Mine

Refinery29

4 days ago

When Becky G recently went on TikTok and revealed weeks' worth of grown out grays down the front and middle parts of her hair, I realized something: I couldn't think of ever seeing another Latina celebrity around my age admit she has gray hairs. As the 28-year-old Mexican-American singer sarcastically talked about her 'old age' and being a 'viejita,' at least in the eyes of TikTok's generally younger user base, she tilted her bouncy hair downward and ran her fingers through silvery strands.
'No, I do not care that my canas are showing,' Becky says in the video. 'It's natural. I call them my sparkles and so I need my sparkle gang to pull up, because I know I'm not the only one that doesn't just feel bonita but is 'stressita' too.'
As a graying brunette, this helped me feel seen. I found my first silver strand in middle school and have been begrudgingly dying my grays since college. I found solace while scrolling through the thousands of comments on Becky G's video as countless other people commented 'sparkle gang,' shared their graying stories, and even replied with photos of themselves letting their grays grow out as well.
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"No, I do not care that my canas are showing. It's natural. I call them my sparkles, and so I need my sparkle gang to pull up."
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'Found my first gray at 14 years old,' Becky G wrote in her caption. 'Could be that I am the eldest daughter of a Mexican-American household, started working at 9, the fight-or-flight response, which involves the release of norepinephrine, can contribute to hair graying, simply genetics, or ALL OF THE ABOVE. No pues como que no voy a tener canas guys, like be for real.'
It's 2025 and still rare to see Latina celebrities open up publicly about having gray hair, let alone a Gen Z star like Becky G. In a Vogue 'Beauty Secrets' interview, actress Salma Hayek also recently shared that at 58 years old, she doesn't dye her hair. But when she does want to tame her 'rebellious' grays, she swipes on some Benefit's Roller Lash mascara. Latina creators like Heren Mercedes, behind Silver Curls, and Kat Lovelis are also making content to help other women embrace their grays at any age. Yet we know the burden on women to maintain youthful appearances isn't limited to Hollywood or the online world.
The stigma held toward Latina with gray hair permeates across age, income, and the many cultures that comprise Latine identity. Latine beauty standards generally mirror, if not amplify, Western societal ideals, which discourage women from displaying any visible signs of aging. It's not surprising women feel pressure to conform, given studies have found that women with gray hair are more likely to be perceived as less trustworthy and are likelier to experience ageism. These factors indicate that there's a social cost of not following beauty norms, explains Katie M. Duarte, a postdoctoral fellow in Latinx Studies at Smith College and researcher on the natural hair movement among Dominican women.
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"Latine beauty standards generally mirror, if not amplify, Western societal ideals, which discourage women from displaying any visible signs of aging."
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'Because gray hair is associated with being 'old' and, therefore, supposedly incompetent or undesirable, women with gray hairs are socially encouraged to dye their silver strands for a youthful appearance to combat these stereotypes. This is true regardless of race or ethnicity, as many women deal with the beauty standard and social pressures of appearing young,' Duarte shares. 'Women who forgo dying their gray hairs report that others consider them less competent in the workplace, more physically fragile, and less attractive. For some women, the decision of dying their gray strands comes from personal choice and preferences, while for others it is about avoiding these social stigmas of 'letting go' of their beauty and feeling socially invisible and, therefore, socially irrelevant.'
Duarte also calls attention to the role the media plays in reinforcing these standards. While beauty standards vary across Latine communities, generally, the ideal beautiful hair look for Latinas is understood as dark or blonde, long, straight or wavy (but not kinky), and it should be obviously styled, looking feminine and distinct from men's hair. Think: Eva Longoria, Jennifer Lopez, Karol G, Shakira, and Selena Gomez.
While dominant beauty standards will continue to privilege straight over kinky textures and presumably youthful, dark or blonde hair over gray hair, Duarte notes that the growth of the natural hair movement — in which some Latinas, especially Afro-Latinas, are accepting their naturally kinky, curly, or wavy hair — and moments of vulnerability from celebrities and influencers can help other Latinas accept their graying hair.
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"Because gray hair is associated with being 'old' and, therefore, supposedly incompetent or undesirable, women with gray hairs are socially encouraged to dye their silver strands for a youthful appearance to combat these stereotypes."
Katie M. Duarte
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'For Latinas that have embraced their natural hair, many have also wanted to stay away from chemically altering hair treatments, like hair dye,' Duarte says. 'I believe there will be more Latinas accepting their naturally graying hair as those in the natural hair movement age into gray and silver strands.'
In Becky G's TikTok, she added that viewers might notice her grays in videos because covering her grays was expensive, time consuming, and because, ultimately, they are natural. When she asked others to chime in if they also have gray hair, one commenter, Annette Greenham, left a photo of herself — smiling while rocking long, styled gray hair — and wrote that she started getting gray hairs as a kid.
'I started growing gray hair in elementary school. I felt embarrassed that I had them at a very young age,' Greenham tells Refinery29 Somos.
While growing up in a multigenerational Mexican household, she saw her family members covering and dying their gray hair every few weeks, but no one ever explicitly talked about it. As an adult, she started dying her hair almost every two weeks as she felt the pressure to maintain her look for holidays and get-togethers. But in 2022, she saw people grow out their hair due to the Covid-19 lockdown conditions and she decided to let hers grow out as well.
'I feel so much better now that I let my gray hair grow out. My mom has now even started to let hers grow out, too,' Greenham says. 'I am happy with the decision of growing out my grays and I get a lot of compliments.'
We spoke with five additional Latina women who shared their journey toward accepting their own gray hair, how they have overcome cultural norms, and how this decision has impacted their relationships with loved ones and themselves.
Jacqueline Cordero, 34, California
I was around 12 years old when I became aware of my grays. Middle school was really stressful, but my mom reassured me it was my Puerto Rican father's genetics. There weren't many, but they definitely stood out against my long dark hair. Students and even teachers pointed them out. As I grew older, they showed up more. While I was in high school, I was no stranger to a straightening iron and quickly learned my grays were unruly. I could never really control them. Then in my 20s, as I began a career and real adult life, I had a mix of my hereditary grays and my stress-induced grays.
Society told me grays were a sign of stress and age and something worth hiding. My mother would always encourage me, saying they were gifts of wisdom. Still, she was influenced by U.S. beauty standards. Her face card has always been incredible, but societal pressures prevailed when it came to covering her grays. She allowed me to color my hair for fun, and even though covering her grays was a must, she never put that expectation on me for my grays.
As I'm navigating my new identity in motherhood and my 30s, I've thought about covering them up in an attempt to look more youthful. I'm grateful for my Trinidadian and Puerto Rican genes for prolonging wrinkles and other signs of aging, but the grays have become their own entity within my hair. My grays symbolize my heritage, my family. They represent all the growth I've made in my life. They are a reminder that I'm right where I need to be and showing up how I need to.
Anyuli Ramos Lopez, 33, Texas
The first time I noticed I had gray hair was around senior year of college. I was 22. At first, I was embarrassed and in denial that I was graying early. I would pluck them out, dye my hair, or just style my hair differently to cover it up. Straight out of college, I started teaching in rural Texas and our salary was not one to be envied. I was paying rent, bills, and bought a new car. I would go to a salon to get my roots dyed every six-to-nine weeks because of how fast my hair grew out and the price each time was $90. I tried to box dye my hair to help with the cost, but that was damaging my hair. Around the summer of 2019, I decided to embrace it and grow out my grays. I went to a salon and dyed a part of my hair that grew out platinum blonde so that it could 'blend,' and when Covid-19 hit, I just let it grow out.
Even to this day, my 83-year-old grandmother still dyes her hair to hide her grays. My grandfather on my paternal side had a head full of grays, so when mine started growing out, my father would call them brillos. He was proud that I had inherited this from his side of the family. I lost my father back in 2020 to the pandemic, and I feel as though my hair is a part of him that I can carry with me every day.
I've come to truly love my grays. It symbolizes my individuality and how much I have grown in my own self-confidence. I'm not going to lie, I do smile and feel 'cool' when I get compliments from strangers. I love that I have used less chemicals on my hair, so my natural curls and waves have been able to come back.
Kat Lovelis, 30, North Carolina
I noticed my first gray strands at 15 years old. I immediately yanked them out because I didn't want to feel old. Growing up, I didn't really hear much about gray hair because my mom would always dye her hair. The ladies in my family would encourage me to cover mine up. I guess they didn't want to look old, and that pressure passed on to me, too. That sent an unspoken message that gray wasn't something to be shown. I grew up watching my dad have full gray hair, but he would cover it up, too. My mom always dyed her hair. No one really embraced it.
I started going gray at 29 after I decided I no longer wanted to keep covering them up. At first, I didn't like them, but as they grew longer, I started to love the salt and pepper look. Now, my family loves my gray hair and it has inspired my mom and sister to let their gray hair grow out. To me, my gray hair symbolizes loving all of me, even the parts that used to make me feel insecure. It's a daily reminder to accept myself fully and not feel like I have to hide or change to be beautiful.
I love that celebrities like Becky G and Salma Hayek are embracing their grays and encouraging others to do the same. Embracing my gray hair has helped me gain so much confidence. I used to feel embarrassed and try to hide them but now, I show them off proudly. They're part of who I am.
Samantha Carranza, 32, Texas
When I got my first couple of gray hairs at 28, I felt so confused. At 30, I noticed more grays coming in. I started to feel insecure when I realized I couldn't pull my hair back without the grays being noticeable. As a little girl, I noticed my grandmother always dying her hair to cover up her grays. I never heard her complaining about it, but my grandmother never exposed her grays in public. My mother now does the same. Looking back, I think witnessing my abuelita and my mami dye their grays had influenced me to want to do the same.
I recently got my hair professionally done and instead of covering my grays up completely, like I have in the past, I decided to blend in my grays with a new hairstyle. I had every intention to get my hair done and cover up my grays, but Becky G's TikTok post really inspired me and made me feel less alone.
I want to break the cycle by embracing my grays. It symbolizes strength and resilience. It reminds me of being a mother and of going through difficult seasons but still pushing through. I want to be able to inspire other women to love themselves completely. I have vivid memories as a little girl of when my great grandmother would visit from Mexico and I would brush her hair or run my fingers through her beautiful thick white hair. I want one day for my granddaughter to run her fingers through my hair.
Dulce Maria Rodriguez, 32, Texas
The first time I noticed I had gray hair I was around 17 years old. I would pluck them out of embarrassment. Around the age of 20, it started to get more noticeable and no one in my family embraced it. Funnily enough, even my dad covered his gray hair. I started dying my hair black or dark red with box dye at home because it's all I could afford. My parents didn't understand why I dyed it, even though they did the same thing.
Growing up in a Latine household, I was told gray hair was caused by stress. But I never understood why I was getting gray hair so young if I wasn't feeling stressed. Looking back, I realize all of the pressure I was under as a kid and understand I had grown used to underlying stress for things such as always needing to translate for my parents and getting scolded for not understanding everything. Hearing, 'Entonces para qué vas a la escuela!'
At 21, I took a more subtle approach to my gray hair. Instead of dying it one color, I incorporated highlights to blend with my grays. At first it was a style that was 'in,' but as time went on I started embracing it. Now, I feel like I have broken a cycle. Embracing my gray hair has been a journey. I am now 32 and I don't feel like I need to be embarrassed about my hair. I am lucky to be able to enhance it with the help from my hairstylist, but I feel empowered now.
I wish younger me was as open about her struggles with gray hair as I am now, but I feel like it's just the way we as women are. My advice to younger generations is to be open about your feelings about getting gray hair. It's valid to feel insecure and the emotions have to be felt, but it's hair. Speak to your family members and believe them when they say it isn't a big deal because we are all headed to gray hair at some point, but a few of us get our sparkle sooner.