international women's day Archives

Silver Sister Spotlight with Kristen Karlisch

July 13, 2018 ·

Celebrating another Friday with a Silver Sister Spotlight. Kristen found me on YouTube about a year and a half ago when she was just starting her gray hair transition. I thought she would be a great feature to inspire you ladies.

Kristen is a proud mom of two creatively kind girls (now tween/teen), wife and business partner to an incredibly talented interior and commercial photographer of 20 years. Originally born and raised in Houston and then moved to Dallas 25 years ago. Kristen feels so lucky that she gets to see the world and meet new people through her travels in the photography industry.

Silver Sister Spotlight with Kristen Karlisch

Photo Credit @stephen_karlisch_photo

Kristen says there are moments in our life that a big decision is made which shapes your destiny. I have had many but one significant one was changing my career at age 30 and then meeting my husband because of it. He has always encouraged and supported me in my many different interests. I love marketing, being in the creative visual field, I have been certified in teaching full comprehensive Pilates (although I don’t teach but practice) and also certified as a health coach from the Institute of Integrative Nutrition. I did the IIN year course to just educate us as a family to learn directly from the source versus reading articles and being confused. Highly recommend for anyone, it’s an amazing school and community. Much needed in this world of increasing health problems. My dedication has been to our photography career, however, I think teaching kids about entrepreneurship, saving and giving back is truly important. Our daughters are dabbling in the e-commerce world targeted to tween, teens on up to moms. It is empowering them with my help and they are giving back a portion of their sales to Pencils for Promise and fundraisers to support education.

Kristen with her husband Stephen in Italy

Q: Tell us when you first started seeing gray hair?

My mother found my first silver when I was 20. We were in California in a convertible sitting at the stop light, and I can still feel the sting from that strand of hair being pulled out by mom showing me my first silver with a smile. Thanks for the chuckle of a forever memory Mom.

Q: What were your initial feelings about seeing the silver?

I think we just laughed it off and then I just pulled them for the next ten years before I started coloring looking back I wish I would have had the confidence to let them grow. My paternal grandfather was all silver in his 20’s so I definitely inherited more of that gene.

Q: Being in a creative field do you feel that your silver hair is more accepted by your industry?

Absolutely! I receive compliments all of the time, however, owning it proudly makes a huge difference.

Q: What do you teach your daughters about beauty and aging?

I made the decision to start this journey two months before my 50th birthday. It had been on my mind for two years. I am glad our girls will have this memory as I fully expect them to have to face this decision one day. Many of my friends my age have shared with me remembering the time their mom decided to stop coloring and how much they admired their mom for making that difficult decision that society has shamed and labeled for so many years. Our girls have been VERY supportive and could see the negative effects of the chemicals that I was experiencing for years. I am truly grateful to them, my husband, mom, sister and other close family members for their support as I know many who have no family support. None of them felt I would be considered “old” or that “she has let herself go” or any of those other messages that are whispered or in our head. When I was in doubt for those first 6 months they were cheering me on and didn’t want me to give up. We try to live a pretty clean lifestyle with organic skincare, food, health, activities, kindness to others and gratitude. Our girls amaze us with the beauty they see in others that may be judged negatively by people. They are the friends that are there taking up for the kids being bullied, have a learning difference, who needs a friend and are in need of a little support.

Q: As a photographer, you see beauty through a lens do you feel like you see your gray hair beauty differently than the world?

Photographs were what helped me daily. I saved many images on my phone of women I admired that I found on Instagram, Pinterest, and private support FB groups. I saved those images and looked at those women I admired to help get me through those days that I felt weak and wanted to go back to faux color. My husband photographed me this time last summer on the beach. It was about seven months and the first time I had felt pretty again. He loved how I was starting to embrace my look and directed me, so I was showing my grey and silver confidently. That shoot made me want to secretly take up some lifestyle modeling representing women middle age with grey hair. It was a lot of fun.
As a photographer, I think it would be fun to do a portrait project of women 30-60 with their natural grey/silver hair. Photographs are truly inspiring, and it is definitely becoming more accepted to see younger silver sisters, and I love the movement that is taking place. It is pretty sexy.

Q: What is one thing you would want women to know that are starting out on their gray hair journey.

Luckily I had a very supportive stylist. I chose to use very fine sheer low lights on the cap of my head to help the demarcation as the grey and silver were growing out. For some, they chose to use highlights and some just go for it and do nothing but let it grow. Just know there are options (but please don’t try to pull the color out) but having a stylist support is so helpful in being successful especially in those weak moments. You have to get out of your head. The old messages of “ I will look old”, “what will people think”, “I let myself go” or “they are looking at my hair” are negative old messages from old ways of thinking. Believe me, vanity does get challenged but OWN IT and you will rock the sexy silver. Use support groups on Facebook if you have none, find the many silver sisters on Instagram and just try to make it past the rough 6 months. It does get better. Your hair will become so healthy, so soft (no more straw brittle hair) and lots of new growth. As my wonderful husband told me from the beginning, “If this makes you feel better then I am all for it. It’s just a color and you can choose whatever color that makes you happy.” Remember you are doing this for you, not anyone else.

Connect with Kristen on Instagram @kkarlisch

Silver Sister Spotlight with Hayley

May 18, 2018 ·

I am very excited to feature Hayley another Silver Sister from Australia; I am obsessed with booking a flight to this gorgeous country in 2018. Hopefully, I can make that happen.

Hayley is from the beautiful Gold Coast In Australia and has two gorgeous kids and happily married. When Hayley was younger, she worried about what others thought of her and suffered from body image issues, but after having a large cancerous tumor removed from her abdomen when she was twenty years old, it made her realize life is too short. Since then Hayley has tried hard to live in the present moment which is sometimes easier said than done. Hayley finds that Yoga helps her with living in the present and she makes practicing Yoga a priority.

Before having her kids, Hayley worked as a makeup artist and still uses her make up skills by volunteering with The Look Good Feel Better program that teaches and helps women battling cancer to know how to apply makeup and work with their skin after chemotherapy and radiation. When Hayley is not working, she loves to study Italian, and she currently sings in an Italian choir for fun. Traveling and learning about different cultures is one of her passions.

A few years ago she came across pictures of young women with natural grey hair who looked amazing. She thought, what if Mother Nature got it right? What if my natural hair color suited me? So she stopped dying it and has never looked back.

Q: When did you first start seeing gray hair? What were your initial thoughts?

I saw my first grey hair twenty years ago when I was sixteen! I wasn’t too fazed but a little surprised if anything thought it was funny. Being that young, there was never a feeling of “Oh no I’m getting older.”

Q: Being Australian do you feel Australian Society is more accepting of gray hair compared to America?

Australian culture is influenced by America, so I think the beauty ideals are similar. I have had overwhelmingly positive feedback and not one negative comment about my hair but Australians are pretty laid back, and if someone didn’t like it they’d never tell you to your face. I do feel like we see a shift here in what’s considered beautiful and diversity is genuinely embraced.

Q: How did you become a gray hair model with Silver Fox Management?

I read an article about Silver Fox Management and it caught my eye as my husband called me his Silver fox. I thought why not? I sent a photo in, and they replied. Silver Fox Management said they would love to sign me on. I’m also with Extra Edge talent, I’ve been doing some extra work with them they too are big fans of my hair, and it’s uniqueness. A casting director told me recently “Don’t ever color your hair; there’s no one else that looks like you!”

Q: You seem to be very passionate about supporting women, can you tell us how you share and encourage women to embrace their beauty?

I think a woman supporting other woman is powerful; we need to boost each other up. I also have a ten-year-old daughter; I want to be the best role model I can be for her. Embracing and accepting your true self and living an authentic life is a message I like to convey. It goes beyond hair and what we look like it’s celebrating our differences and experiences that make us unique. A few of my friends have recently stopped dying their hair, they don’t have grey hair yet, but they colored their hair because it’s just what they felt they had to do. I’m not against people wanting to dye their hair by any means but if women say to me that they are sick of going to the hairdresser every four weeks I encourage them to give it a go and see what happens. Nothing to lose!

Q: What has been the hardest transition personally for you going gray?

I had very long dark hair, so I chopped it off to above my shoulders. I didn’t feel like me without long hair, but It didn’t take long to grow back. At first, I was worried what people would think, but as I went along, I cared less and less. You have to rock the skunk look!

“Worth $49 Unlimited.”

May 14, 2018 ·

This blog post is inspired by a company that stole this picture below of me recently to advertise their company in a sponsored post on Instagram. They told me that they could buy my pictures for “$49 with unlimited usage.” Not true but I am not going to get into the legal issue of using copyright photos without permission in this post, however, I will get into how you value your worth.

Who do you allow to tell you what you are worth? Society? Your job? Social Media? Your peers? Your husband/boyfriend/partner? Making bold choices in life takes a particular type of person and personality, and everyone is capable of developing this type of attitude.

I spend extended hours planning and scheduling my photo, shopping and styling clothes for the right “look” for the shoot, doing my hair and makeup, creating a “theme” for each photo session and paying my photographer. Nothing comes easy when you are building original content for your brand. Having a company take my photos and use them for their benefit without permission is just unreal to me but seems to be a new reality. No responsibility, no morals, no honesty take, take, take. A company telling me I am worth 49 dollars was amusing to me but what happens if I took that to heart? What if I started to believe that? The book I am reading currently You Are What You Think, says it perfectly “Words, said either in the privacy of the mind or spoken aloud, are powerful.” What are you saying to yourself about your worth?

I wrote about how we have a whole new type of insecurity because of social media. We place value on ourselves because of a number on our account, a number of followers, google analytics. Think about that for a second and say it out loud. How ridiculous does that sound? I get it when it comes to building your company and brand image, but numbers and followers are not the entire picture. You have so much to offer this world ladies; it doesn’t start and stop with social media.

I am going to share with you a couple of practices that I have found to be helpful when you need a break or if you feel like everyone else has the “Gorgeous life,” “Perfect family” “Best body.”

Take a 24-hour break from all social media (yes, believe me, you can do it, and you might like it). Breaks will give you time to switch off your brain and the constant scrolling.
Want a more extended break? Delete the (Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat, etc.) app not your account from your phone. This way you won’t feel tempted to get on and download everyone else’s life.
Grab a cup of Dream Dust and download a guided meditation app (I love using Mindful Meditation right before going to bed) on your phone to replace the time you spend on social media. Night time rituals like these will give you time to regroup and be inspired by YOUR life not everyone else’s life.
Put your phone in another room before going to bed. Waking up and checking your social media before your eyes are even open sets the tone for the entire day and this might not be positive for you. Replace checking your feeds with breathing techniques, five-minute meditation or writing in your journal on your intentions for your day, week, month.
Spend your time reading a motivating book. Maybe you want to write a book, or you want to learn how to get to the next level in your job. Spend your valuable time feeding your brain and getting productive, positive information that will advance your career and enhance your life.

These are just some suggestions, ask for what you are worth, don’t second guess yourself and always know that YOU and only you are the one that decides what you are worth.

*some links are an affiliate

How To Get a Gray Attitude

April 25, 2018 ·

Ladies I get it, going gray is not fun no matter what your age. All the stereotypical statements go through your head that people say from “I am so old,” “Grandma Hair,” “Frumpy old lady.” You name it you’re thinking it. So what are you to do? Default to what society says is beautiful and young? Allow your negative self-talk to keep you from being true to yourself? Or keep on dying your hair, so it looks entirely unnatural for your age? Maybe give up and add more toxins every two weeks so that you can feel accepted? I think NOT.

I know gray hair is not for everyone, but I don’t think I need to remind everyone that Beauty Reinvented is all about women that WANT to go gray.

Photo Credit; Rick Gomez Photography

When you are feeling down, and very unattractive how do you pick yourself back up and get in the game? How do you feel confident when all your peers are sporting golden locks or rich chestnut hair? I have created a list for you ladies to print out and post to your mirror or somewhere you will see it on a daily basis. I am your biggest cheerleader because I felt everything you are feeling. I didn’t have a gray-haired role model that did videos or wrote a blog about it when I was first going through this crazy gray transition over two years ago.

When your gray hair journey gets hard, and you are at your last dark hair strand NOW that’s when you need to push for your gray and own it even more. You need to look at yourself in the mirror and tell yourself “This too shall pass.” Ladies, it’s a hair color that means nothing except for a bold, fierce and downright powerful attitude. If you dyed your hair pink, purple or green like a lot of women, not just teens are doing do you think anyone would care? So why do they care about gray? Think about that for a second.

Here is the plan, read this list below, print it out to give yourself the encouragement you need to get through each day. I promise you it gets more comfortable you have to commit and not look back.

I designed a couple of hats like the one I am wearing in this photo that is available on my website. Perfect for the days where you are just like I can’t take it anymore. It’s a fashionable statement to help you through the growing out period. You have seen me wearing this hat a lot on my Instagram. I love how I make a statement without having to say a word.

Woman Interrupted

March 8, 2018 ·

There is a definite feeling being a woman right now. Independence, power, boldness, opportunity, freedom, options, rocking gray hair right this minute at forty. I understand that International Women’s Day is about social, economic and political achievements of women but I feel celebrating your unique beauty and confidence is just as important. Self-love is significant and shouldn’t be overlooked. I never considered myself a feminist, but I have always had a bold personality with little filter. Being raised by a Greek father (need I say more) my defiance for control started at a very young age. I have a strong sense of independence maybe being an only child promoted this independence, at eighteen, I was on a plane headed for Europe to further my modeling career and determined to succeed.

Starting my own company in 2006 with less than the ideal savings to start a business, I was always pushing for more, expecting more and wanting more. Celebrating my ten years in business this year I was unapologetic about my decision to go gray at the age of forty and to reinvent my beauty. I wanted to empower women. What does that mean precisely “Empower?” It says to me that you do it first and share your experience, you encourage women to take the fear out and crush it. You blaze the unchartered dye-less hair strains and show other women that they can do it too. You lift women up and celebrate them. Until I broke out on the social media scene with my gray hair journey I didn’t think about the impact gray hair would have on others. The negative comments from women, the looks of disapproval or shock was a surprise to me. How could a hair color provoke such reaction? Its amazing to me that women will write negative comments on a daily basis on my YouTube channel voicing their disapproval of gray hair, aging and shaming another woman in a time when women empowerment, women supporting women is so relevant.

I am not interested in concentrating on the negative, giving life to this dated thinking and comments anymore. My mission is about lifting women up and helping them Own Their Beauty no matter what the reaction.

There is a rebirth within yourself when you allow. Allow your beauty to be what its meant to be to defy all beauty limitations and do YOU. I felt a rebirth, reinvention if you will when I stopped fighting. Fighting to force my body to get pregnant despite seven babies transferred through seven IVF procedures. Quit fighting the white roots with my black hair, stopped fighting against the flow of my life. The beauty, freedom, and acceptance started when I decided to let go.

“It’s not easy to let go, but until you do, you will always stay stuck.”

Women face incredible pressure to get married young, get pregnant at the right age, have the perfect career. Women are demanding more from societies limited thinking and beauty rules. Now more than ever women are feeling liberated with their age. Women are allowing wrinkles to be part of who they are, honoring gray hair as a power move, not an age-related stigma. Living authentic and accepting themselves.

Woman Interrupted - On Air Makeup Artist Nikol Johnson

Photo Credit: Rick Gomez Photography

On a day like today make it a point to give another woman a compliment, a smile, a positive comment on her social media feed. Together we lift women up; united through our unique beauty and acceptance.

Look in the mirror today and tell yourself, You are worth it! Tell yourself You are beautiful, Tell yourself You are Fierce and believe it.