Celebrity Beauty

22 Celebrities With Gray Hair Who Are Fully Embracing the Look

“I cannot tell you how amazing it is to feel free.”
SALMA HAYEK GRAY HAIR
Cindy Ord/Getty Images

Every day more and more celebrities with gray hair are saying no to covering up their natural color.

Gray hair, once a sure sign of aging that seemingly didn’t appear on famous women, is quickly becoming embraced by all kinds of celebrities. For Andie MacDowell, whose gray hair started coming in when she had to skip salon visits during quarantine, it’s about that salt-and-pepper look—just like the men in Hollywood, who have always been allowed to age without much fuss.

“At the very beginning of quarantine, my hair started growing, and every time my kids would see me, they kept telling me I looked badass with my gray hair,” she revealed to Glamour. “When I pulled it up in a bun, all you could see was the salt-and-pepper, which is what I am, you know, dark and silver. I like to compare myself to George Clooney because, why not? I’ve been saying for a while now it was time for me, personally, to make that transition because I felt like it was appropriate for my personality and just who I am.”

Allison Janney said getting rid of dyes and wigs is a kind of freedom, telling Drew Barrymore, “I cannot tell you how amazing it is to feel free. Free from hair color and hair extensions and hair tapes and blah blah blah…. To be able to run my hands through my hair…and appreciate…it’s just, it’s heaven.”

If you’re not ready to go all the way there yet but want to try incorporating gray into your look, there's a process called gray blending that lets you do just that. It’s a transitional style that uses your natural grays kind of like highlights, while also preserving colorful undertones.

“In the past we have seen trends dominate fashion, such as the perm era, the highlight decade, balayage, vivid colors, and tonal work,” says Robert Eaton, technical director of Wella Professionals. “Now there is a move toward natural hair enhancement, and gray blending is the new movement in hair color.”

For inspiration on that look and more, here are some of the celebrities with gray hair who have embraced their natural color—and are totally pulling it off.

  • salma hayek gray hair
    Karwai Tang/Getty Images
    1/22

    Salma Hayek

    Hayek, who recently shared her surprising trick for covering gray hairs, chose to embrace her natural streaks of white while sitting courtside at Wimbledon.

  • Gilbert Carrasquillo
    2/22

    Katie Holmes

    The Glamour cover star showed off her gray roots with a chic side braid while out and about in New York City.

  • Dominik Bindl
    6/22

    Anderson Cooper

    We literally cannot imagine the newsman with anything other than a full head of white hair. Short-silver-hair king.

  • Emma McIntyre
    7/22

    Bonnie Raitt

    Making white-streaked hair a thing since the 1970s. Raitt has poliosis, a rare hair condition that zaps melanin from certain parts of her hair. The singer has said that the streak came in when she was 24 and started “expanding” as her career took off, so she dyed the rest of her hair red around the streak, making that front piece a part of her signature look.

  • Hollywood To You/Star Max
    8/22

    Allison Janney

    Fed up with extensions and dyes, Janney is now all-natural when she's not on set. The actor revealed to Drew Barrymore, “I cannot tell you how amazing it is to feel free. Free from hair color and hair extensions and hair tapes and blah blah blah….” We love that ash gray color.

  • Rich Polk
    9/22

    Rita Moreno

    At 92, Moreno looks as vivacious as ever, with silver hair in a short, choppy style.

  • Jon Kopaloff
    10/22

    Steve Martin

    The Only Murders in the Building star went white at a young age and never bothered with dyes, and we can see why. The look just suits him.

  • Rodin Eckenroth
    11/22

    Diane Keaton

    Forever an iconoclast, Keaton is the definition of aging with style. She had black-and-white hair for a while, but now prefers an allover light shade to complement her always kooky style.

  • Matt Winkelmeyer
    15/22

    Jamie Lee Curtis

    Jamie Lee Curtis is all about keeping it real. “In the world, there is an industry—a billion-dollar, trillion-dollar industry—about hiding things,” she shared on Instagram. “Concealers. Body shapers. Fillers. Procedures. Clothing. Hair accessories. Hair products. Everything to conceal the reality of who we are. And my instruction to everybody was: I want there to be no concealing of anything.”

  • Frazer Harrison
    16/22

    Morgan Freeman

    Richard Gere, George Clooney, and of course, Morgan Freeman. Some actors just look better in gray, and Freeman, who got his big break later than many of his A-list peers, has always made gray so dignified.

  • Raymond Hall
    17/22

    Meryl Streep

    She’s gone gray for roles—Miranda Priestly’s icy hair, the gray balayage in The Giver—and now she’s incorporating gray into her blonde on the red carpet too. It looks “gray-t.”

  • David Crotty
    18/22

    Keanu Reeves & Alexandra Grant

    John Wick rocks that salt-and-pepper hair in his beard, and his partner, artist Alexandra Grant, has been rocking her natural gray since her 30s. “I went gray prematurely in my early 20s... and dyed my hair every color along the way until I couldn’t tolerate the toxicity of the dyes any more,” she wrote on Instagram about the potential health risks of hair dye. “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!”

  • Gilbert Carrasquillo
    19/22

    Stacy London

    The stylist shows that silver highlights on brown hair are a Do. Like Raitt, London’s pop of white is natural and came in early. “Nobody else in my family has it. I’m going to keep it. In my contract with Pantene they are not allowed to dye it,” she told The Baltimore Sun, per The List. Yep, this is a legally obligated streak.

  • Pacific Press
    20/22

    Blythe Danner

    Remember the days of the blue rinse? Blue-gray hair might work for some, but Danner shows that yellow undertones are not the enemy! 

Elizabeth Logan is Glamour.com's pop culture writer. Previously she has written for Vulture, The Awl, Reductress, Above Average, Indiewire and NoBudge. She is a graduate of NYU's Tisch School Of The Arts and the owner of one black cat. You can (and should!) follow her on twitter at @lizzzzzielogan.
Topicshair coloraginggray hairhelen mirrengeorge clooneyallison janneyjane fondadiane keatonsarah jessica parkerJamie Lee Curtismeryl streep
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