Embracing Grey Hair – Should I?
On average it takes 10 years before you are faced with completely grey hair.
Half of all people have a significant amount of grey hair by the time they turn 50.
I’ve put those facts at the top because it shows the problem all women inevitably face, and I say women because unfairly it isn’t a problem for men.
When hair starts to grey its one of the biggest challenges for women both physically and emotionally. My mum dyed her hair right through cancer treatment and beyond. When I told her, I was going to let my hair go grey she was horrified as were most of my friends.
I was in that cycle of visiting my hairdresser every six weeks for a root top up but only liking my hair for about two weeks before the grey started to show through again. It was costing a huge amount of money. Money, however, wasn’t the driver for me to go natural I just felt enough is enough. The last year in lock down I have thanked every day that I started the process early on. I bet the ‘grey’ problem has caused many women heart ache and angst over the last year and has resulted in a diminishing lack of confidence. When I made my mind up about 5 years ago it took a leap of faith and a lot of determination and some serious research which is the part I’m going to explain.
The options to change your hair colour are limited. Skin care has changed dramatically but dying techniques have only evolved slightly. We are basically doing the same thing the Ancient Egyptians did: using pigments derived from vegetables but now adding chemicals. These chemicals have an impact on your hair when used over time and many find they become allergic to them.
You can grey two ways.
My way of going grey…
I have or did have shoulder length hair. First up I had it cut shorter, not cropped but just short. I then went grey very slowly over a period of a year. Over that year I had more and more light hi lights in my hair but didn’t touch the roots. My hair didn’t look great at this stage and if I’m honest it was a bit of challenge. At one point probably 6 months in there was a period when I felt like giving up. My hairdresser was supportive and encouraged me to stick with it. I didn’t take before and after pictures because it really didn’t occur to me at the time. I wish I had because I could then have shown you the stages. I have been natural grey for 5 years now and I’m happy with what I’ve got. The colour suits my skin tone and I get lots of complimentary comments. You never really know what colour grey you are going to get and if you have dyed your hair for years you may not even remember your natural hair colour. We have greyer/white at the front and sides of our face because there is more oxygen to these points so the chances are that’s where you will notice the grey first.
My friend on the other hand …..
She went the full Monty in one day! You can see the before and afters. This is the dramatic approach, but she has the Shazam to get away with it.
This method does come with its own problems. The colour is stripped out of the hair using bleach and a toner is applied. What you should be aware of is that it is still a colour – its just white. So, you will still be in that round of going back to the hairdresser every six or seven weeks to get a toner applied. If you don’t the nice white will go a horrible yellow. What you won’t have is dark roots because your grey will be coming through. You will still need to grow out the white colour if you want to stop going to the hairdresser for colouring.
Grey hair needs a good cut, be it short or long – you need to wear it with confidence and own it. When you have a grey hair, it tends to be a bit dry and lack shine, this can be overcome with the use of a good shampoo. There are lots of shampoos and conditioners on the market for grey/blond hair and they are all purple in colour. It’s worth using one of these because it does make a difference to your hair. When buying a shampoo look for Goji berries in the ingredients as this acts as an antioxidant which protects your hair from the environment and Rose musk oil which also acts as a barrier.
I have yet to meet one person who would go back to the dark side once they start to allow the grey to come through. If you really hate it and you can’t live with the new you, it’s only a couple of hours in the hairdresser’s chair to reverse it.