2024 SI Swimsuit Rookie Nina Cash on Going Gray in Her Mid-20s

The Swim Search co-winner is ‘slaying the gray’ at 57.

Nina Cash was photographed by Ben Watts in Porto and North of Portugal.Ben Watts/Sports Illustrated

Nina Cash, co-winner of the 2023 Swim Search, has two mantras that she lives by: “Gone gray and still slay” and “Slay the gray.” In fact, she strutted in the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit runway show for Miami Swim Week last July while holding a beach bag printed with the former phrase. The Long Beach, Calif., native has turned both terms into her signature hashtags on Instagram.

The 57-year-old retired associate dean recently traveled to Porto and the North, Portugal, for her rookie SI Swimsuit appearance to work with photographer Ben Watts. She will use the opportunity of being in next year’s 60th anniversary issue to remind the public that women are beautiful at every age.

Changing the stigma around gray hair

Cash, who has an undergraduate degree in human services; a master’s degree in negotiation, conflict resolution and peace-building; and a doctorate in educational leadership, is a proud wife, mom of three and grandmother who is enjoying an “encore career” as a model.

Cash first went gray at the age of 26 while pregnant with her daughter, Harison, in the early 1990s. And while she says it still wasn’t quite “acceptable” to have gray hair then, she strongly believes that the stigma surrounding gray hair is much different today than it was back in the 1970s or ’80s, for example.

“Back then, the women appeared to be older, sadly,” she says. “I guess they had like a role that they had to play. So when you were 57, gray hair equaled old, equaled frail, equaled not sexy, equaled a lot of things. But it’s wonderful to see that SI [Swimsuit] is kind of smashing that old stereotype because, you know, I’m 57, I am happy, I’m enjoying life.”

While she dyed her hair for many years after first going gray, Cash stopped in 2019, embraced her natural hue and hasn’t looked back since.

“I was able just to let go and I feel so good, I really do. I feel wonderful,” she admits. “And it’s like I have a bunch of silver sisters out there in the world that we’re all just coming together. We’re showing our empowerment.”

Encouraging other women to “slay the gray”

Cash, who is inspired by fellow SI Swimsuit models like Kathy Jacobs, who co-won the Swim Search in 2020 at the age of 56, hopes to encourage other women to live life to the fullest with her rookie photos in next year’s magazine.

“It’s wonderful that SI is helping me and partnering with me to bring a voice to women like myself who otherwise would have thought this never could have happened,” she says. “I just want other women to know that you can achieve your dreams and it’s never too late. Sometimes people think, ‘I’m past my prime, it’s too late, I’m a has-been.’ You’re not, and I always believe it’s right timing. Some people think, ‘Oh, it’s bad timing.’ Nope. It’s right timing. Just remember that.”

Read more about Cash’s rookie photo shoot in Portugal here.

Make sure to follow SI Swimsuit on YouTube!