Gray Headbands = Wisdom, Stability, Elegance
True, the gray sweatbands you are looking at don’t show dirt and go with everything. You made a practical choice. But there’s more to this color, which has been described as the colorless color. Gray is the color of wisdom and knowledge.
Just think of detective Hercule Poirot and the “little gray cells” of his magnificent brain. It makes sense to keep them warm with gray headbands.
What Is Gray?
Gray is the middle color between white and black. White is considered the totality of all colors, and black the absence of color. So gray is the neutral between these extremes.
The word has been used for over 1300 years. It comes from grai or grei in Middle English. So appropriate since gay is in the middle of the spectrum. It originated as an Anglo-Saxon word, graeg.
Gray and Variations
Gray has a huge number of variations, organized as achromatic grays, off-grays, cool grays, and warm grays. Some color purists try to say that white and black are actually shades of achromatic gray, but that’s pushing it.
Achromatic grays include Gainsboro, light gray, silver, medium gray, dark medium gray, Spanish gray, gray itself, dim gray, gunmetal, Davy’s gray, and jet. Off-grays include platinum, ash gray, battleship gray, nickel, and charcoal.
Cool grays are cool gray, cadet gray, blue-gray, glaucous, slate gray, gray-green, and Marengo. Warm grays are puce, rose quartz, cinereous, rocket metallic, and taupe.
Gray or Grey?
It seems appropriate that a color that is considered indeterminate and indecisive would have two common spellings. In the U.S., it is usually spelled “gray.” In Britain, it is “grey.”
One easy way to remember which country favors which spelling is this:
- England starts with an “e” and they prefer grEy.
- America starts with an “a” and they prefer grAy.
So in the UK, rugby players use grey wrist sweatbands. In the U.S., they wear gray wrist sweatbands. And both work equally well.
Back in the early 1800s, some color purists said “gray” was a cool cinereous color with a strong dash of blue. “Grey” was more neutral in its shading. But this idea lost ground quickly.
The blockbuster 50 Shades of Grey left many readers wondering which spelling was best. But the fact is, it’s just a different way to spell the same thing. In English-speaking countries, both are correct.
Are you wondering if there really are 50 shades of gray? Actually, the human eye can distinguish 500 shades of gray. But that might have made too long of a book.
The Psychology of Gray
At first glance, the psychology of gray isn’t too appealing. It is associated with being indecisive and a fence-sitter. It connotes conformity and not having much personality. Bummer.
But looking deeper, gray is the color of durability. It is classic, refined and sleek. It is the color of real authority. Gray has dignity. It is conservative, but not at all costs. It values knowledge and shows wisdom.
It has perfection built-in. Because it sits at the exact center of the spectrum, it is considered the perfect neutral. That’s why it often gets used as a background color by designers. You could say that gray sports headbands and gray sweat pants make a perfect background for a give-it-your-all workout. The color lets your efforts take front-and-center, not your gear.
Color psychologists say gray creates expectations and can be unsettling. But at the same time, it is motionless, solid, and calm. It is reserved and quiet. Perfect mental state for a great game.
Gray and Your Personality
If you love gray, you probably have conventional ideas and preferences. You are stable and tend to downplay emotional outbursts. You most likely choose softer, more neutral colors as well as gray. It’s not likely you have lots of orange, purple and pink in your closet.
You may have low energy at times, but you are calm and in control. That means you focus your energy efficiently, getting more out of what you have than others with huge blasts of energy. You have a stable base of energy to draw from on a constant basis.
You tend to choose light gray for relaxing situations and dark gray for serious circumstances.
Gray in Your Life
Gray lovers often choose gray cars, which send a message of elegance. Think of the Gray Ghost, the iconic Rolls Royce. A gray car says, “man or woman of the world.”
How about the Grey Poupon Rolls Royce? Gray Poupon is the top-of-the-line mustard. Elegant mustard! In a TV commercial from the 1980s, one gray Rolls pulls up alongside other gray Rolls on the street. The passenger in the first asks the passenger in the second, “Pardon me, would you have any Grey Poupon?”
Gray suits are one of the standards for men, though blue has gained headway.
Gray Goblins
Goblins, elves, and other tricksters are often garbed in gray. In Lord of the Rings, Gandalf is called the Grey Pilgrim. Scenes take place in Gray Havens and the gray mountains, Ered Mithrin. Several characters are called the Grey Elves.
Gnomes in Scandinavian mythology are always dressed in gray. The belief is that they are harder to see that way in the twilight. The better to get away with their dirty little tricks.
Gray and Sports
Baseball teams used to dress in gray when they played on the road. The reason was purely practical. In the late 1800s and early 1900s, players couldn't wash their uniforms very often when they traveled.
The clothing got dirty quickly. By choosing cloth for the uniforms made in dark gray, they could hide the dirt. Though you can’t help but wonder about the smell after a couple of games.
They wore white uniforms when playing at home because they could get them washed right away.
The Canadian Football League championship trophy is called the “Grey Cup.”
Ohio State uses scarlet and gray for its colors. Huge numbers of amateur and professional sports players wear gray sweatpants and basketball headbands because they don’t show the dirt and grime that comes with an all-out workout.
If you’re in a gray mood, lighten up. You are actually dependable, elegant, wise, and stable. You are the heart and soul of your team. So use your little gray cells and outsmart those garish, flamboyant competitors in flashy colors.
