April 2020 | HARPER’S BAZAAR | 217PHOTOGRAPHS: LUCKY IF SHARP
http://www.harpersbazaar.com/ukBE AU T Y BA Z A A R
hy is it that however many new grey
hairs sprout from our hairlines, we never
seem to be any the wiser about how to
manage them? As a beauty editor I, possibly more than most, can
adopt some level of agency over how my skin ages, choosing whether
to leave it to Mother Nature or the latest doctor on Harley Street.
But when it comes to going grey, I will admit to a touch of confusion.
In my early forties and confronted with my first silver streaks,
knowing that by the age of 50, one in two of us will have half a head
of grey hair, I find myself wondering how easy it is for anyone to
grow older gracefully...
One friend exhausted with the constant maintenance involved in
covering up her roots tells me that she is tempted to go fully grey but
can’t quite take the plunge, as her children collapse in tears every
time she threatens to put down her hair dye. The problem, according
to the behavioural psychologist Professor Carolyn Mair, is that ‘we
live in a youth-obsessed society where the norm is to eliminate any
sign of ageing. Not taking advantage of the many opportunities to
maintain a youthful appearance is considered to mean not taking
care of ourselves’.
These days, however, feeling good in one’s own skin is consid-
ered the real barometer of beauty, which surely means practising
self-acceptance and self-esteem. Perhaps if I could find the confi-
dence to go grey on my own terms, I might be able to find a happy
space between taking a healthy, moral standpoint on ageing and
looking my best. After all, there’s no shortage of role models: some
of the world’s most desirable women, including Salma Hayek, Jamie
Lee Curtis and Diane Keaton, have chosen to embrace their greying
hair. And closer to home, I have my own poster girl in Catherine
Hayward, the fashion director of Esquire, who has elected to sport
a fashionable streak of grey since her early thirties.
‘I just seemed to go with the flow of what my hair wanted to do,
going lighter at the front and dark at the back,’ Hayward tells me. ‘It
was like Debbie Harry’s style, and just a little bit rock ’n’ roll. While
I hated the frizz, I really didn’t mind the whitening. In the past year
or so, I’ve noticed others beginning to feel the same – I’m constantly
stopped in the street by women asking me how
I achieved the look.’
The answer, apparently, is through a lot
of trial and error. ‘The challenge with
greying hair is its texture,’ she says. ‘I getthrough tubs of conditioners and masks that I sleep in, and I’ve had
a weekly blow-dry in my local salon for four years now. When I’m
travelling for work, I schedule hairdresser appointments around
the shows, and always go for a blow-dry when I arrive in New York.’
Indeed, going grey requires a total rethink of our bathroom shelf.
As hair loses its melanin granules, it can begin to change shape and
become deprived of its elastic properties. ‘It’s a myth that greys are
more coarse – in fact, they are finer, though the texture does shift.
Simultaneously, production from oil glands on the scalp slows,
leading to a drier feel,’ explains Dr Joseph Cincotta of Federici
Brands. Dry locks, being unable to reflect light, can lack shine, so a
greater focus on smoothing and glossing treatments is needed.
Cincotta also recommends selecting formulas suited to fragile or
even coloured hair, as well as shampoos designed to minimise the
discolouring effects of certain minerals found in tap water.
Then comes the question of how to maintain a shifting spectrum
of shades – blending your salt-and-pepper roots until your full head of
hair goes entirely grey (as a blonde, I know all too well that this
process can take years). Hayward spent over a decade painstakingly
finger-painting her roots, save for her signature streak – a weekly
habit she decided to abandon last year, though ‘not before finding a
wonderful stylist called Marley Xavier at Josh Wood, who finally
understood how to manage the grow-out properly,’ she tells me.
Xavier, a master colourist usually found backstage at Miu Miu and
Marc Jacobs, calls it his ‘lip glossing’ for hair, weaving in darker
strands at the roots, blurring out the tide mark between your new
grey growth and the dye job you want to leave behind.
My own colourist, Adam Reed, informs me that making the tran-
sition to a full grey look is becoming far more achievable, in part
because of a cultural shift, but also because the big beauty compa-
nies have developed some excellent products to ease the process.
‘Colour is so incredible now that it needn’t take weeks or months of
growing out your hair, dyed or otherwise,’ he says. ‘I can enhance
your natural shade, and just warm up the grey and blend it in so you
don’t see any roots or regrowth. It doesn’t have to be about covering
up greys – I can create a softness that looks so feminine.’
B ut no a mou nt of g o o d pr o duc t s or s t yl i s t s c a n t a ke t he de c i sion
for us; in Hayward’s words: ‘You have to make the leap your-
self.’ Fortunately, thanks to pioneers like herself, society is finally
beginning to accept that a woman with grey hair
can be just as much a silver fox as her male
counterpart. As Professor Mair declares- ‘not being young doesn’t mean we’re
not youthful’.
W
From left: Nutriplenish Multi-Use Hair Oil, £30, Aveda. Smooth Conditioner, £38, Virtue at Space NK. Follicle Boost Hair Density
Ser um , £ 96 , Monpure. Barbiere Illuminating Shampoo, £ 35 , Acqua di Par ma. Shimmer ing Silver Conditioner, £ 6 .99, John Fr ieda.
Serie Expert Silver Shampoo, £12.90, L’Oréal Professionnel. Color Care Whipped Glaze Light, £24, Living ProofS
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