Grey Blending – Playful Experimentation

There’s been a whole lotta lip service paid to the celebration of grey hair. “Embrace your grey!” That’s all good and well, but there’s an implied accusation there–that if we don’t embrace our grey, somehow we are automatically playing in the chorus of ageism that plagues the beauty industry; or if we cover our grey completely, we are complicit in an act of patriarchal beauty torture that demands youth.

But there is a big middle ground that’s being missed in the binary battle of young vs. old in terms of managing grey hair. We don’t have to embrace it completely (no one has to embrace their hair color completely! That’s why they invented hair color!). Look at all the twenty something’s running around with rainbow and pastel and yes as you know even grey hair? They’re not embracing their naturally colored tresses either. Why? Because they are ashamed of mousy brown? Rejecting their cultural heritage? No! Because hair color is fun!

This middle ground is about working with the grey you have to enhance your overall look. Imagine taking your grey and laying over a velvety black background. See in your mind’s eye how the grey suddenly morphs into a sparkly silver? Or imagine a deep reddish-brown glossing over what’s left of your brown hair and turning your greys into a coppery wheat. Think Julianne Moore! A few strategically placed bits of a warm brown lighter than your base color but darker than your grey can soften up underlying skin tones giving off a warm youthful glow without trying to look young.

There are so many ways to mess around with what we have, hair-wise, and it only gets more fun when the greys come out to play!

Next time you go into your colorist to completely cover your gray hair talk to them about options of a more translucent color with some balayage highlights toned into a cool caramel or frivolous fawn. Of course, the world of color is your oyster… Wait. Oyster? Gorgeous color choice!!!!