Why Gwyneth Paltrow Isn’t Ready to Let Her Hair Go Gray — Yet! (Exclusive)

Will Gwyneth Paltrow ever have a gray era? She isn't sure.

Earlier this year, the Goop founder, 51, responded to a fan inquiry about whether she was growing out her roots — which were silver at the time — by saying, “I don't know … I’ve just been lazy over the summer.”

Now, while chatting with PEOPLE for this week's cover story, Paltrow has an honest update on the future of her hair color.

When asked if she will ever ditch hair dye and go entirely gray, Paltrow tells PEOPLE, “I don't know” — but says she is “not opposed to it.”

"I feel like there's something really amazing about letting nature take its course and really fully embracing it,” she continues, adding, “I don't know if I'm totally brave enough to do that, but I'm very curious.”

When it comes to another anti-aging procedure, plastic surgery, she has a similar philosophy.

"I mean, again, I feel like women should really do what they want to do,” she tells PEOPLE. “Some people are really bothered by certain things and some aren't.”

“And I think for me, the way that I am thinking about it is I would like to be my age and I would like to embrace this next phase and not over-correct in an effort to look 28 or anything like that,” she continues. “I just am not interested in that.”

On the flip side, Paltrow also says that she is “interested in feeling amazing [and] looking the best I can.”

“So it's almost like they're a little opposed, right?” the actress says. “So it's like I want to fully embrace aging, but I also want to try to do it in a way that I feel like, ‘Wow, I feel really good inside.’ And so I don't know."

“I'm not sure ultimately where I'll go with it, but I do have a fantasy of just letting it all happen,” she adds.

Elsewhere in her candid conversation with PEOPLE, the Iron Man actress shared that she thought her life would slow down when she hit her 50s — and she was wrong.

“I had the erroneous idea that I would be able to downshift a little bit. But life is very full-on. It's been very intense,” she tells PEOPLE.

But she’s looking at the next era of her life with a fresh perspective.

“I believe that life, especially for women, comes in chapters,” she says, adding, “This is really going to be a new chapter for me.”

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The Oscar-winning actress also opened up about her blended family with writer-producer Brad Falchuk, whom she married in 2018. (She shares Apple, 19, and Moses, 17, with ex Chris Martin, and Falchuk, 52, has two children, Isabella, 19, and Brody, 17, from a previous marriage.)

Paltrow tells PEOPLE she has been cherishing quiet moments — cooking family dinners and enjoying TV time — at her home, but admits that blending the “Faltrow” family was no small feat.

“It’s hard, and it’s not intuitive, and nobody tells you how to do it,” she tells PEOPLE. “You just stick with it. Now it’s one of the things that brings me the most happiness in my life.”