A startling situation was brought to my attention at the hairdressers a couple of weeks ago. I was getting my hair cut, scrolling on my phone and minding my own business (natch), when the stylist pointed out that I had a grey hair. I almost dropped my phone. I knew, of course, that it was going to happen; I just didn’t want it to happen so soon. My first grey hair. What do I do? As someone with dark brown hair who has never dyed it, I was out of my depth. The grey was very obvious against the rest of my hair and yet the myth of pulling it out for five more to come was at the forefront of my mind (it is not factually accurate but just in case!). It was not just the colour either, but the texture: wiry and coarse.
I wanted to get to the bottom of why this occurs. What causes grey hair and why does it feel like a different texture? “Hair goes grey when your follicles, tiny pigment factories, start shutting down,” explains colourist Hannah Gayle, who is based out of Hershesons Belgravia. “When there is less melanin and less colour, eventually, silver/white hairs appear; basically, your hair is saying, ‘I’m retiring from the dye department.’ Your DNA decides when your hair’s little pigment factories start clocking out and when pigment production slows down, the follicle can change, too. So grey hairs often grow coarser, drier, wirier and a little more unruly.”
Hair colourist Josh Wood adds that while the biggest factor is genetics, “there can also be other influences, including stress and overall health.” He adds that while some people “are lucky enough to develop beautifully soft, silky grey hair,” for others, “it can feel thicker, coarser and a little more unruly.”
In my case (and most commonly), grey hair appears at the temples and hairline. Wood confirms this as the norm: “Generally, the pattern tends to start at the front and gradually work its way towards the back of the head.”
So, it became my mission to find a solution to these first grey hairs. It seemed to me I had three choices with just the sporadic greys that had materialised so far: embrace them, blend or cover. Dyeing my whole head of hair seemed far too dramatic and costly. With that in mind, below are the tried-and-tested ways to shield or celebrate your greys.
Blending
“There are so many temporary solutions now for blending those first signs of grey without committing to permanent colour,” Wood tells me. “I like to think of it as having a whole wardrobe of wash-out solutions, which can be used to disguise and soften the appearance of those first few greys.”
The key, says Gayle, is “not battling the greys.” She advises to “work with them, not against them. Grey hair can be seriously beautiful and those silver strands can actually add softness and dimension. Going straight into full coverage can box you in later, so I’d keep it seamless, subtle and low maintenance. Let the greys be part of the look, not something we have to hide.”
She shares a top industry trick for when you need a quick-fix solution: “Try a little eyeshadow on the greys. It gives the softest, most natural-looking coverage without harsh products transferring all over your clothes. Just shade up from your natural hair colour. Then leave your hair undone.”
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