At the age of 47, after coloring my hair consistently for more than a dozen years (and by then needing to do it every three weeks), I decided to stop. This was in some ways precipitated by a move to live full-time at my weekend home in the Catskills. I still make weekly trips into the city to meet with clients and see friends, but my life was evolving and the amount of time I had to sit in a colorists’ chair was limited.

Here are a few things that made it hard to go through with this change:

1. Not knowing a single person my age with gray hair.

2. Fearing that it would have an impact on my work. (I’m a creative consultant to brands, many of them in the world of fashion and beauty.)

3. Extreme vanity.

And here are a couple of things that made it easier:

1. My incredibly supportive husband, who insists I am always beautiful to him.

2. My colorist, who urged me to stick to the plan of going cold turkey, even when I waffled and begged him to give me blending highlights. But on the flip side, I was saving hundreds of dollars every month.

I won’t lie to you, the transition was awkward and it took a lot longer than I thought it would. And yet I have absolutely no regrets. Business is booming and I get more compliments on my hair now than I ever did. I don’t want to turn this into a polemic, but I do want to encourage anyone who’s on the fence about going gray to give it a whirl.

Nothing staves off aging better than getting out of your comfort zone.