Have you embraced grey hair or are you still colouring it?

Grey or nay?

Have you embraced your greys or are you still colouring your hair?

In a recent poll via Connected Women, 67% of women over the age of 50 haven’t embraced their grey hair. With hair starting to go grey in our 30s and 40s, that’s a long time to hide those pesky greys.

What causes grey hair?

According to Harvard Health, hair doesn’t ‘turn’ grey. Once a strand of hair is a particular colour, it will stay that way unless it is dyed. After the age of 35 hair follicles produce less colour, so when that strand of hair falls out it will be more likely to grow back grey.

Can stress cause grey hair?

This is a highly debated question! There is very little evidence to indicate that this is true, however one piece of research by US scientist Dr. Ya-Chieh Hsu using mice has shown that in response to a fight or flight situation, hair follicles are impacted and the pigmentation producing stem cells can be lost. Without stem cells available to produce pigment cells, the hair will go grey or white.  

So, can we now legitimately blame our grey hairs on our kids!?  Or our husbands?😊.

What happens when you pluck your grey hairs out?

Ok, I am guilty of this! When I see a grey hair in the rear vision mirror at the traffic lights, I almost always pluck it out, but there is really no benefit in doing this. Not only will it simply grow back grey, but according to Trey Gillen, hairstylist and creative director of education at SACHAJUAN in Sweden, you can also traumatise the follicles which could mean NO hair grows back. My hair has been naturally thinning as I’ve gotten older, so I will not be doing that anymore!

‍When is the right time to go grey?

This is something that only you can decide. If your hair is dark brown or black, your greys will be more noticeable, so you’ll need to have regular (two to four weekly) trips to the hairdresser to cover them up. At some point you will most likely grow weary of trying to stem the tide and it will be time to just embrace the grey. You will know when you’ve had enough!

One celebrity who has not yet had enough is Brooke Shields, who will cop the two to three weekly trips to the hair salon in order to avoid grey hair. And who can blame her? At 57 she looks as gorgeous as ever.

If you have lighter hair, then your greys will be much less noticeable. Lighter hair gives you a much longer window between colouring appointments in the initial stages of going grey, and later you can use the greys as ‘herringbone highlights’ as per Sarah Jessica Parker’s beautiful mane, which is wonderful way to gracefully embrace going grey.

Media attitudes towards grey hair

Media write about what sells, and what sells is appearances. If you google Helen Mirren, the incredible actor in her 70s, two of the top news stories are about her grey hair, which seems crazy. She is in her 70s and you would expect her hair to be grey.

Regardless of the media’s attitudes and whether celebrities choose to embrace or not embrace their grey hair, we can all make the decision for ourselves as confident, incredible, self-assured women.

Let us know, are you grey or nay?

Written by Phoebe Adams, Head of Connected Women, a role which she absolutely loves! Phoebe also thrives in her role as mum to three daughters who she parents with her husband Toby. Originally from NSW, Phoebe and her family now live in Perth, WA and love the change of scenery!

To relax Phoebe loves to exercise, relaxing with a crime fiction book or enjoying some downtime with girlfriends.