A Grey Journey – Part 1: How it began…

A blog from Karoline (@grasshouse_hair) who has started a journey to specialise in grey hair. In this first part in a series of blogs, Karoline tells us how her grey journey began and what first sparked her interest in grey hair.

The first person I ever fully transformed into grey was my mum. By the time she turned 40, she was naturally about 70% grey and had to colour her roots religiously every four weeks. When she was in her mid-40’s, we started the transformation to grey. It started as something fun but eventually became a necessity due to the early greying. When she developed psoriasis—a dry, itchy skin condition—colouring her hair became even more challenging, with sores appearing on her scalp from the chemicals, making the process painful.

This was 20 years ago, and at that time, going grey as a woman was often seen as a sign of aging or even “giving up” on looking good. Fortunately, my mum, an incredibly strong and gorgeous woman who never cared (and still doesn’t) about others’ opinions, thought we should try my idea of embracing her grey hair.

We began by highlighting her hair lighter and brighter over 3-4 sessions before finally toning the now light blonde to a stunning silver. This transformation allowed her natural grey to grow out seamlessly into the look she still rocks today. As expected, there were negative comments and opinions—something that always happens when someone does something out of the ordinary, especially back then. But the compliments far outweighed them all!

Seeing my mum embrace her stunning natural grey, looking younger and more confident, made me realize the power of enhancing rather than covering.

Since 2020, during the COVID years and the countless lockdowns, people everywhere have had to rethink and reinvent many aspects of their lives, including how we colour our hair. This has led to a shift towards working with what we have, making our natural hair part of our identity while still feeling like ourselves—perhaps more than we have in a long time.

Since then, there’s been a clear movement toward embracing grey hair and the beauty it carries. The days when only men were labelled “silver foxes” while women were considered witches are long gone. Men still look great with their greys, but so do we!

Does that mean everyone needs to go grey? Absolutely not! But there are so many ways to invite grey into our lives rather than dreading it, and the possibilities truly excite me!

Keep a look out for part 2, the things we can do to enhance our grey hair.