Meet Lynn Rizzo. Many of you know her as @grayawhile, where she shares her gray hair grow-out journey and has created a powerful space for women ready to take the plunge themselves. Her decision to embrace her natural silver hair sparked something much bigger. She’s built a thriving community across TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube, supporting and inspiring others along the way.

An Occupational Therapist by trade, Lynn recently walked away from decades in corporate healthcare to choose passion over predictability.

That personal transformation led to a deeper sense of liberation—one that’s empowered her to take bold risks and live more authentically. Read on to follow her remarkable journey.

People want to just hear a little nugget to kind of keep them going, offering quick encouragement, whereas long-form content requires more effort to stay engaging. I'm stretching to find what else I can tie into the silver hair journey, besides methods for going gray.

Right. Although those are the topics that people are really searching for though and there's a huge appetite for them. When did you start talking about your gray hair journey on social media?

My “Ditch Day”, the day I stopped dyeing my hair, was February 9th, 2020. I call it my Ditch Day. The Instagram video where I really talked about it had its sound muted, and I was like, oh my gosh. But I was thinking of creating something called What Is Your Ditch Day? Maybe we can revive that because I think it's kind of cool.

That is so cute.

I first met you on TikTok how did you grow your community there?

I was actually afraid to go over to TikTok at first. My sons were on TikTok, and I'm like, "I'm too old to be on TikTok," or, "I don't want to go over there because I hear people are rude and nasty." But honestly, I haven't really had that much negativity on TikTok.

I started off doing maybe one or two videos here and there, and then I got a little OCD about it. I'm not going to lie—I got to the point where I was like, "Okay, once a week. I have to post a video once a week." Well, that's a lot.

Then something happened where I just sort of gave myself a little bit of grace, realizing nobody's sitting around waiting for @grayawhile to post. I can taper back, because when I do post a video, I want it to be impactful. I want it to have a lot of thought behind it and reach people in a deeper way.

How did you learn everything? Did you just teach yourself how to do it all? It's a lot. What keeps you going?

Like I mentioned, I left corporate America. Which honestly has been my dream since I was in my 20s: to not have a corporate job. And being a single mom, especially with the healthcare situation... I mean, I could go on about the healthcare system in America. But basically, you're tied to your employer because of insurance.

I did the straight-and-narrow thing while I was raising my kids. They're older now—they still live with me—but they're older, and I'm like, this could be my time. And so I did a series of things to kind of prepare for this. It wasn't just a big risky woohoo leap. I have no debt—that’s one thing. 

That is really admirable, and it’s like you’ve made your own path. You planned for it. It’s not like you’re some trust fund baby with a silver spoon in your mouth. It took real planning and intention to pave this path for yourself.

And why not get off the hamster wheel when you can and try something new? Good for you. That’s so amazing. I actually really love that. There’s something really empowering about the fact that you did that.

Yeah, I’ll know when I’m ready to go back—if I’m ever ready to go back. But right now, I feel like... I don’t know. I posted something about this recently—women in our age category, there’s this collective "What am I going to do with this part of my life?" And it can’t just be more of the same.

I always say: shove a pencil into that hamster wheel, make it stop, and jump off. And that’s kind of what I’ve done. Maybe this is my version of the red Corvette midlife crisis.

I don’t know—I feel like that’s more reckless. This isn’t reckless. This is more like giving yourself a gift—making space to try something new.

Yeah. You totally get it. I told my boys—we were having a conversation about it—and they were like, “Do it.” Gen Z. Although, I am working harder than I ever have…

Right. I totally get it. Yes. I love it. So tell me—what were all the thoughts and the process behind going gray?

I think it’s a similar story to what a lot of women go through. It’s not like I had a dye allergy—though a lot of women do. It wasn’t anything like that. And I wasn’t trying to give a middle finger to the patriarchy either, although I’ve been known to lean that way.

More than anything, I just didn’t want to spend the time, money, or effort to go to the salon anymore. So I started dyeing it at home—just doing a single-process color. Sometimes I’d end up with hot roots because I didn’t really know what I was doing. And even when it looked okay at first, after a while the roots would show. But not just that—the color itself would start to look… ick.

I’ve always had long hair. I talk about this in my videos too—how I used to believe that if you went gray, you had to do a pixie cut, or shave it, or go super short. I didn’t know how to go gray. I really didn’t. 

But then I saw all these women who were doing it, and there was this whole community. They were so supportive, and they all said the same thing: It’s worth it. Get through it. It’s so worth it.

And I was like, Wait—they’re keeping their hair long? That was huge for me. It got to the point where it became more important to me to keep my long hair and just go through the process… And once I felt like I had permission to do it that way, I was finally able to say, Okay, let me try this for a little while. 

What you said about the length—there’s something about having long gray hair that feels different, right?

Yeah, because… we all pictured Bea Arthur from The Golden Girls. I even did a video about that once, using this woman from the '80s with that classic rounded hairdo that was so popular back then. That was the image I had in my head—kind of grandmotherly. May as well throw on the apron and bake cookies!

And I’m just not there yet. I mean, look at me—I’m in leopard print right now. That just wasn’t the vibe. And in my mind, going gray meant I had to cut my hair short like that. But I’ve always had long hair, and the idea of cutting it off and going gray at the same time? 

Emotionally, that would’ve been too much. I think I would’ve just thrown on a wig and stayed home.

Yeah, totally. I think you’re so right. It’s something we kind of subconsciously feel, but I hadn’t really articulated it until now—that long gray hair actually carries a different energy. Okay, so tell us: what was your grow-out method?

I went cold turkey. I wrote it on my calendar. It’s actually still on my Google Calendar, and it pops up every year—“Six months without dye.” I can’t remember the exact date, but I set a goal: six months cold turkey, just to see what it would feel like.

Then COVID hit, and weirdly, that kind of helped. I was a frontline healthcare worker, so I was wearing a bonnet at work and no one really saw my hair. Every day I’d come home like, “Did it grow today?”

At six months, I saw the calendar reminder and thought, “I don’t want to dye it now. I’ve made it this far.” So I kept going. Around the nine-month mark, my ends were turning this horrible brassy color—the lifted hair was turning orange. 

I made a video on this—the banding was real: yellow, orange, just awful. Eventually, I went to my regular hair stylist, not some big-name color blender. I said, “Remember when you used to do highlights? Can you just do that from here down? Don’t touch the silver hair.” 

She looked and said, “Your hair is growing in exactly where I would’ve placed highlights naturally.” So she did it—just some lowlights and a toner. The toner washed out quickly, and I kept using dark silver tone every so often. Blue shampoo, too. I tried all the things. But eventually, you know what happens? You just stop caring so much.

At first, you’re obsessed with your roots. Then the dyed ends start driving you nuts. But eventually, you start focusing more on the silver coming in—and that’s when things shift. You start noticing your pattern, your color, and connecting with other women going through it.

The community became such a big part of it for me—seeing women newer in their journey reminded me how far I’d come. And I could encourage them. It really was everything. So I just kept getting regular trims. And at my length, it took four years to fully grow it out.

Really? Wow. Wait—how long is your hair?

Four years, mainly because my hair is very long—down to my waist.

Oh wow, your hair’s way longer than I thought. Did your hair texture change during this transition?

I’ve always had wavy/curly/do-what-it-wants hair. But now? I need way fewer products to bring out the wave. 

My hair is just so healthy. This is straightened… and then I got caught in the rain today… and I’ve been scrubbing a toilet. laughs I go into curly season in summer—heatless styling only. I might start that earlier this year, because now that I’m fully grown out, 

I actually like the waves. It’s so strange. I used to hate them.

That’s so interesting. I feel like people often discover they have wavy hair during this process. So your texture stayed the same, but now it just behaves better?

I think about that a lot.

I thought about it on and off a couple of years. Every time I dyed it, I’d think, “Ugh, here we go again.” My grays are all in the front, so I saw them immediately. I’d mix just a little color and do the part I could see. Who knows what was happening in the back? It bothered me so much.

I had been dyeing it since my early 20s. First it was highlights—Friends was big, everyone was doing it. Then I started covering grays too. Eventually, I was doing single-process color and no highlights, so the gray really started to stand out.

So yeah—from early 20s to 50. That’s a lot of chemical. And the biggest fear that held me back? Looking like a Golden Girl. Even though I’m probably older than the Golden Girls were! But it’s that fear of looking old, even if you don’t feel old. And that visual reminder right on top of your head? It’s hard.

At that time, I didn’t appreciate silver as a color. I still associated it with aging. Now, I just see it as a hair color. I know so many younger women who have silver hair, naturally or by choice. It’s not about age anymore.

Totally. So now that you’ve embraced it—what’s been the biggest surprise?

That the journey to silver has empowered me in ways that have nothing to do with my hair. What started as insecurity—hide it, cover it—turned into one of the bravest things I’ve ever done.

I hate that it even requires bravery, but it does. Mostly because you have to get past your own inner critic. Most people don’t care nearly as much as you think they do.

Once you get out of your own way? You can do anything. Quit your job with no backup, take a risk. I’ve heard from women who got sober, left toxic relationships, lost weight—all after going gray. I never expected that.

People say “it’s just hair”—but it’s not. It’s transformation. It’s symbolic. You can tell people, but like raising kids, you don’t get it until you go through it. It’s a journey for a reason. It’s slow for a reason. It prepares you emotionally.

Wow. That’s your soundbite right there. So powerful.

Because women are judged so much on looks,for a woman to say, “I’m not doing this thing society tells me I have to do to stay relevant”? That’s radical.