Maayan says her natural hair color has always been dark, but when she started noticing the grays in her early 20s, she began dying it black to cover up the roots. "I feared it looking drab, and wanted to maintain a glossy black," she says. "Coloring my hair was just a matter of habit — I never stopped to think about growing it out, or what that would mean."

After an accident left her bed-ridden for eight weeks, Maayan was unable to keep up with her regular hair color maintenance, so she got a taste of what going all the way gray could be like. "I noticed that the gray was sparkly, and a nicer look than I expected," says Maayan. "I always talk about how it's important to stick to your natural look, and to emphasize what makes you unique and beautiful — I felt like this would be a perfect time to embrace that idea."

Photographed by Amelia Alpaugh