Going Grey Might Be Cool, But Going Lighter With Age Makes Me Feel Younger And Happier
Google blonde hair and you’ll soon discover that, according to my 17-year-old daughter’s generation, blonde is “cheugy” (i.e., desperately uncool). Grey hair, on the other hand, is trending.
In the opening scene of Sex and the City’s reboot, And Just Like That…, the show’s lead female characters, now in their mid-50s, are seen debating Miranda’s newly grey hair. The script mirrored the impact the pandemic has had on women’s hairdressing habits.
Long story short, a swathe of women the globe over decided not to resume their usual highlights routine once salons reopened and grey pride took hold. Leading hair colourists adapted to the sentiment by offering hybrid colouring techniques to meld existing blonde highlights and fresh grey roots into one elegant mane of “gronde” (grey/blonde) hair, while sales of at-home hair colourants dipped accordingly. “Demand for hair colourants has been subdued by the pro-ageing movement, with older consumers opting to embrace their greys rather than cover them,” says Samantha Dover, Mintel’s Global Beauty Analyst.
The truth is, in 2022, grey hair is not only de rigueur, it’s seen as a sign of female empowerment. Two fingers up at ageism, if you will. Wella Professional even developed an in-salon colourant aptly named True Grey that intensifies grey tones, which, let’s be honest, is quite something for an industry that became rich on the premise that women will pay whatever it takes to disguise their grey roots for as long as possible. In theory, I’m all for it. After all, grey is one of the most sophisticated neutrals – it’s deemed the epitome of good taste to paint our walls any one of Farrow & Ball’s putty-imbued hues, so why not our hair?
Following the crowd, albeit tentatively, I attempted to dial down my cheugy strands by dyeing my hair a shade of dark brown with a few strands of blonde peppered through the ends to minimise the shock. Considering my endless quest for brighter, lighter locks, my colourist, Cetera Lamb at John Frieda, who’s been dyeing my hair a creamy champagne shade for the past few years, tried to dissuade me, but being blonde “at my age” suddenly felt out of step with the current mood. Besides, I had begun following the stylish grey-haired tribes on social media, including fellow beauty and fashion editors who’d triumphantly embraced their silver locks post-lockdown and, for the first time, I was inspired to lean in the same direction. Grey hair can even be a wardrobe game-changer, apparently, opening up a world of bright colours that contrast beautifully with silver.
My new hair colour wasn’t grey, exactly, yet without the scattering of wheat-coloured highlights nestled in between my regrowth, within a couple of weeks of leaving the salon my grey roots were on full display. I had mixed emotions: on the one hand, I felt a sense of freedom, on the other, I felt dull – inside and out. Blonde might be unfashionable, unfeminist even, but if you’re pale like me, some degree of blonde is a complexion booster.
Besides, grey hair isn’t without maintenance and can be susceptible to brassiness. “It’s not as simple as growing out your roots. I mix the grey with a few highlights or lowlights in the client’s natural colour, with glosses and toners for shine and vividness,” explains leading hair colourist Josh Wood.
Honestly, unless you’re prepared to undergo a long, curated transition to full-on grey, going lighter with age is the surest way to look and feel youthful, not to mention it’s a darn sight more affordable than cosmetic procedures and arguably more effective. “The key to hair colour as you age is to go brighter – it’s softer on the skin,” says leading hair stylist Sam McKnight, who argues that brunettes can also benefit from some warmer tones as their skin matures. “Dyeing hair dark to cover grey roots is harsh on the complexion. Brunettes can add some softer, brighter tones that will add radiance,” says McKnight. Larry King’s London salon has introduced a new colour, Riviera Brunette. “We’re really seeing a focus on embracing rich, luxurious brown tones; to soften and highlight the face, we add face-framing lighter pieces that subtly contour and brighten,” says King.
As for my own hair, it didn’t take long before I booked in with my colourist to break the news. “Let me guess, you want to go back to blonde?” she said with a raised eyebrow. A cautionary tale: going back isn’t as straightforward as throwing peroxide at it – the darker the base, the more difficult it is to lift.
Still, Cetera has skills that reach beyond a rote head of foils. Like many creatives, she has the rare gift of getting to what’s really beneath the brief. “I want to feel happier, more energised. Less sad looking,” I told her. “So, we’ll mix warm buttery tones with pale creamy ones – like you’ve been on holiday,” she assured me, before covering my entire head in highlights, subtly blending the two shades in the most eye-pleasing way, placing lighter bits at the front of my face to give glow. When it was rinsed out, there was yet more colouring to be done. Balayage (freehand colour) was applied where the sun would naturally hit, before applying a gloss to boost shine.
It took four hours to complete, but the end result was worth a month in therapy. Like a squeeze of lemon, my new sun-bright highlights have freshened up my dreary mood and enlivened my complexion in a way even good skincare can’t.
Grey can look chic and empowering. But I’m just not into it. And that’s OK, too.
