Distinctive and elegant, gray has it all. That being said, I'm not a fan of gray hair. I find it odd that once my silver hair starts growing out, I'm no longer the brunette I once was. But I have no patience for consistent coloring sessions ... And the wisdom of Hilary Barton Morgan will pave the way.

One Tree Hill fans will know that the 41-year-old actress is blonde, but Barton Morgan has been rocking the gray lately. And there's plenty of meaning behind her decision to go natural: During an appearance on "The View" on Saturday, October 7, she discussed her decision to "grow it all out" after co-star Joy Behar called her hair "beautiful."

"It's weird that when you're a teen drama actress, there's this expectation out there that you want to be 17 forever," she said. 'I didn't always like being young. There were some dark moments. So this idea that I could level up and be the salty one in the room was exciting to me."

Barton Morgan went on to name some of his white-haired heroes, including Bea Arthur, Ruth Gordon, and Betty White. 'Those are the people I wanted to be,' he said. So it helped that I went gray early."

In another previously published essay, Barton Morgan stated that she first dyed her hair when she was in middle school. Later, she was told she needed to bleach her hair to "look like a star," causing a mullet moment in 2004 after her hair fell out in clumps. After years of hating the "cosmetic" look of hair dyeing, her husband Jeffrey Dean Morgan gave her silver hair, and she decided to try it herself.

"As the silver grew out, I loved how I looked - perhaps for the first time," she wrote. 'I loved the color of my eyes and skin.' Of course, the author of the soon-to-be-released Grimoire Girl is not the only one who likes the look.

In a September 2023 Instagram post, Barton Morgan shared a hair update and set of photos, noting that her colorist, Amanda Guido, mixed gray with ice blonde. 'Yes ma'am. You look like a daddy," her husband commented, adding a line of heart emojis and the sweet words, "Always."

In another comment, a fan said that Burton Morgan inspired her to change her hair too. 'If HBM can rock it, so can I! (even if I'm only 30!)" It was written. May Hillary's passion for gray inspire us all.