It’s rare to see a woman in the public eye who doesn’t color her grays. So when artist Alexandra Grant — a 46-year-old with a mane of naturally silver hair — was thrust into the spotlight a month ago when she was photographed holding hands with her longtime collaborator Keanu Reeves, 55, people were intrigued.
And not just because some mistook her for actress Helen Mirren.
Grant posted Wednesday on Instagram about her decision to embrace her gray hair while warning about potentially harmful beauty standards.
In her post, Grant shared a screenshot of a Newsweek article about a study that found women who use permanent hair dyes could be increasing their risk of developing breast cancer.
“Wow. Today’s news…The numbers are staggering, especially for womxn of color,” Grant said, using the intersectional word “womxn” to be more inclusive to transgender women, nonbinary individuals and women of color.
“I went gray prematurely in my early 20′s… and dyed my hair every color along the way until I couldn’t tolerate the toxicity of the dyes any more. In my 30′s I let my hair turn ‘blonde.’”
Grant then shifted her focus to the Newsweek article.
“I love and support that every womxn can choose how she wants to look at every age. But/and, if womxn are perishing from beauty standards… then let’s talk about those beauty standards. Love to all womxn!”
Interestingly, a day before publishing this post, Grant posted a throwback photo of herself in college with her hair dyed dark brown. In the post, she joked that she might tell her 18-year-old self: “You’ll be a ‘blonde’ in your 30′s.”
We suppose giving her younger self a heads up that she’d be romantically linked to a Hollywood action star in her 40s wasn’t significant enough information.
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