I am sure I am not the only woman to have brutally yanked out those first few grey hairs with a pair of tweezers.


There’s nothing 50 shades sexy about going grey — but no matter how grey-phobic you are, the tweezers aren’t your only option in dealing with and learning to embrace ageing hair.


COVER IT

If you want to banish those greys altogether, Chilli Couture senior stylist Tom Jarvis says 100 per cent coverage is absolutely possible.

“We’d use a permanent colour, which would mean if you were really grey with dark hair, you’d also have prominent regrowth, ” he says.

“Sometimes lightening hair to reduce the contrast between the colour and the grey is better in terms of maintenance.”

Mr Jarvis says depending on how fast your hair grows, dark colours would require touch-ups about every four weeks, whereas lighter shades could push out to six or eight weeks between colours.

Lee Preston Hairdressing senior colour technician Liam Baxter is wary of heavy colours that cover grey in one go, but can dull the hair.

“Some of the resistant mixes will cover grey, but the rest of the hair that isn’t grey goes really dense and dark and doesn’t look natural. It doesn’t glimmer or shine, ” the award-winning colourist warns.

He says he prefers to opt for a less resistant mix that leaves a bit of natural shimmer. “You have to do that a couple of times to get the full effect of it, ” he explains.


BLEND IT

Mr Baxter says he’d always prefer to accentuate grey rather than cover it.

“Often with grey hair, there is still a bit of natural colour in the back of the hair, so I’d add some of that colour through the front to give it a bit of texture. I’d also add in tones that work with your skin tone.”

Highlights are a great option, Mr Jarvis agrees. “If it is someone who doesn’t want a lot of maintenance but wants to blend the grey with their colour, a combination of highlights and lowlights helps soften the regrowth and keeps some of that natural hair in-between.

“If they want more of a global overall colour, we would use a semi-permanent. It isn’t designed to cover grey hair, it will simply blend the grey hair but that’s a much softer look.”


EMBRACE IT

If you’ve been colouring grey hair but are ready to make a change, do it slowly using a semi-permanent colour. “It will avoid you having that half grey, half coloured look, ” Mr Jarvis says.

If you’re ready to embrace the grey, all you need is a good shampoo and conditioner. “Some grey hair has a tendency to go a bit yellow-looking, so invest in a good purple shampoo or conditioner, like the Kevin Murphy Blonde Angel range, ” Mr Jarvis says.


CHOP IT

The way you cut and style your hair also makes a big difference to greying hair, Mr Jarvis says. If you are covering regrowth, try parting the hair in a deep side part but have the part angled diagonally towards the centre of the head, he suggests.

“A heavy sweeping fringe will also minimise seeing the regrowth.”

Also consider the hair’s length. “Grey hair that is long is quite ageing, ” Mr Jarvis says. “I would prefer to have a funky short cut rather than long grey hair tied up in a bun, it can feel a bit witchy.”

So ditch the bun, drop the tweezers and embrace a funky cut to flaunt those grey tresses.

 

© The West Australian