Embracing grey hair

Grey hair – do you love it or loathe it?  Are you a silver fox or a salt’n’pepper fan?  Starts at Sixty explores what you need to know about all that is grey and beautiful.

What is grey hair?

Your hair goes grey when it stops producing its natural pigment.  The hair cuticle is thicker & coarser than your normal hair.    Following blonde hair on the colour chart  is grey hair.  Blonde hair is considered to have no pigment but grey hair has 100% no pigment.

What causes grey hair?

Going grey is not age-related.  People can start to go grey from as young as 18 years old. Some people are even born grey! Going grey is mainly due to genetics but can also be due to hormonal changes, illness or stress. More often than not you will find that you tend to start going grey around the same age as your mother or father did.

Myth Busted

I had always thought that people with dark hair go grey earlier than those with light hair. Hairdresser Beckie Hall, of Unsurpassable Hair & Make up in Seven Hills Qld www.unsurpassable.com.au

assures me that this is not the case as “grey hair tends to show up more in people with dark hair whereas it is harder to notice in those with fairer hair”.

When should I  embrace embrace my grey?

Choosing to go grey differs for everybody. Sitting next to me in the hairdresser, client Carmel explained to me that she had been fighting “battleship grey” for about two years before deciding to embrace her grey at around the age of 65.  After going grey it did take Carmel a little while to get used to it but now she couldn’t be happier. According to Beckie Hall “there comes a point when you will just be ready, when you feel like not fighting what naturally wants to be.  For most people you will find that this time is right when the ratio of grey hairs to non-grey hairs exceeds 80%”.

How do I go grey gracefully?

The best way to go grey gracefully is to ease into it.  Ask your hairdresser what the best approach for you may be.  As a general rule, Beckie says that “Everyone looks at their best within 2 shades of their natural hair colour whether that be two shades lighter or darker”.

Here are a few examples of how to make grey work for you:

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• Disguising Grey

Both Jane Fonda & Catherine Deneuve are transitioning into their grey glamorously. Aim for a lighter level with your full colour tint & add more highlights while still exposing some natural grey.  Another way is to switch to foils which will break up the solid base colour.  Foils are a good way to expose your natural grey while still adding colour, which will achieve a multi-tonal blend.

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• Salt’n’pepper

Roseanne Barr looks better now than she ever did don’t you think? Both ladies have used contrasting light & dark foils to achieve their looks.

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• Short & Funky

A lot of women opt for a short, funky hairdo like Judi Dench & Jamie Lee Curtis.  Aside from lightening out the darker tones with foils, these results are achieved by using different toners like champagne.  Subtle lowlights are then applied to put some depth back into the look.

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• Blonde

Keeping your hair gorgeous & blonde can be achieved by using a very light level tint for full coverage & adding a few highlights.  Foils can also be used to achieve this look by incorporating various colours such as caramel blonde.

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• Cool & Clean

To achieve these clean looks, your hairdresser can lighten out all of the pepper with a full head of back-to-back foils.  Another option is to use an on-scalp bleach.  Beckie says that clean grey “may only need as little as a blonde shampoo to tone your hair counteracting any unwanted tones”.

What are the advantages of going grey?

There are two main advantages to going grey.  Firstly, grey hair is a lot less maintenance.  Less trips to the salon are required & your expenses are minimised.  Secondly grey hair looks bright.  Beckie says that “after blondes, grey is the next level of eye-catching hair colour that you can have”.  “The great thing about grey hair is that it grabs more light”

Going grey and looking fabulous has a lot of different looks as you can see.  They key is to find what works for you.  So when it is your turn to go grey, remember to embrace it as it is your time to truly shine x

Have you let yourself go grey? What kind of grey are you? Tell us in the comments below…