The Better Blog

In 1956, Shirley Polykoff coined the ad slogan “Does she … or doesn’t she” for Clairol, removing the stigma of dyeing one’s hair and unleashing millions of women to openly and confidently choose what color they wanted their hair to be.

Fast-forward to 2020, where the latest slogan might just be “To dye … or not to dye” as lockdowns caused many women to start embracing their grays. 

Being in the hair-care business, we just had to take a closer look. We caught up with two 40-something female entrepreneurs whose gray-hair journey began in their mid-20s. Longtime friends, colleagues and now cofounders of Sway, a visual content studio in New York City, Nicole Hyatt and Rebecca Karamehmedovic share many loves: photography, dogs, travel and tacos—but their silver strands are certainly not one of them. In fact, their opinions on the matter couldn’t be more different. Nicole began coloring her hair the moment she spotted her first few grays while Rebecca has never once concealed her silver strands.

We get to the root of the issue. Here’s what they had to say:

Many of us believe that we have to wash our hair after every workout. The truth is, how often you wash your locks has a lot to do with your hair texture, type and your own preference. 

Many beauty experts say that it’s okay to skip your hair washing after a workout. Rinsing with water may be enough. In addition to saving time, skipping your post-workout hair washing every once in a while can actually be beneficial for your scalp health.

Scrubbing too often could disrupt your scalp’s pH and cause dryness, which could lead to uncomfortable flakes and itchiness. Conversely, you don’t want to skip too many shampoos — because, besides smelling, you may encounter scalp buildup, which can block new hair growth and cause other issues. 

Menopause is a challenging life stage for nearly all women, but it doesn’t have to remain a challenge. Ann is clearly one of those women who has cracked the code on how to thrive in midlife. We asked Ann what her secrets are to being her best self every day.

Most women find that their body doesn’t respond the same way it used to, with many experiencing little to no sensations when being intimate with their partners. Dyspareunia (pain during intercourse) is one of the most common reasons women aren’t as interested in sex after menopause, affecting almost 50% of postmenopausal women.

Women’s health care is more than contraception, pregnancy, Pap smears, menopause, or breast cancer. It’s heart health and diabetes care. It’s sexual health. It’s addressing Alzheimer’s, stroke, and cancer risk, and addressing mental health issues like depression and anxiety (which affect more women than men). It’s improving care of women after cancer. It’s helping women understand the importance of healthy lifestyle, diet, exercise, and weight management and their impact on future disease risk and empowering them to take steps to prioritize their own health habits as they age. It’s helping empower women to use their voice to speak up and actively engage in their own health care.

Becoming an entrepreneur has made me so much more disciplined and organized because I don’t have an assistant to help respond to my emails, book meetings, and schedule trips. But that’s alright because I feel so productive for everything that I accomplish. Furthermore, my day starts different every day —I’ve always gone to bed early, which means I’m up early.

As we celebrate the first anniversary of Better Not Younger on March 8th, I wanted to take the opportunity to share a few of the lessons I learned in this first year for anyone in their 40s, 50s or beyond who might be considering starting a second career.

As kids and teenagers we love the idea of getting older. We have an idealized, glamourized vision of what being a grown up looks like. But after we hit our 20s that all goes out of the window. As women, we all know how much pressure we feel to look younger given how little society allows us to age.

When I was 14, I shaved one side of my head and dyed my hair blue. Since then I’ve had blonde pixies, red disco curls and Goth black bobs. If I had an idea, I would grow it, cut it, crop it, color it. My hair was my palette and I was down to play. About 3 years ago, I started going gray.

For the first time ever, the forties and beyond are a time when we’ve already demonstrated what we’re capable of to others...but maybe more importantly, to ourselves. It's here we begin to feel a certain mastery over our goals in a way that inspires us to take new risks.

Have you ever thought about new hobbies that you would like to explore? I’ve always had a passion for food. To be more precise, the eating of food. I am well known for being the first to try out the new restaurant in town and the always-in-attendance guest at any friends or family events that involve food.