What I mean is that the things I used to wear for work were picked with black hair in mind. Not only to complement the colour but to "collude" with the colour. I had a particular image of myself and the black hair was part of it. The clothes I wore were part of the same image.
But now my hair is grey. It's a different image. It says something. Yup. My hair is speaking for me.
So I realised that I needed to change my style to reflect what my hair is saying. (If you think this is weird, just imagine giving yourself a radically different style hair or, more one for the guys, growing a wacky style of facial hair, and then imagine continuing to wear the same clothes as now...Your hair and your clothes would conflict. You might like that contrast but it would be a contrast that did not exist before you radically changed your coiffure. It would be new. Your hair would have spoken for you).
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| Granny Hair |
Granny Hair
One look you can go for is the "I've let myself go, I wear bed jackets now and shuffle about in slippers all day complaining about the young people". When I originally told people I was going to let my colour grow out I think some of them thought this is what I had in mind. But while I don't judge those who've decided to go this route, it was never on my list of options.
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| Devil Wears Grey |
A far more popular option is to go sharp and slick, like Meryl Streep in The Devil Wears Prada. It's a lot of black, a touch of animal print, great shoes and bags and a sharp hair style. Curly hair is never going to be sharp. So The Devil Wears Grey look isn't for me.
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| Grey Hippy |
Grey Hippy
A contender is the hippy look. Take a lot of hemp-based fabric, a tonne of beads and bangles, something a bit weird like a waistcoat or those trousers where the gusset hangs lower than your knees and zero makeup and you've got the basis of A Look. This is cool for me at festivals but won't work for work so it's never going to be my uniform.
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| Glamour Grey |
This is a fab look. Similar to the Devil Wears Grey but less severe, this is a classic look - great slacks, perfect make-up, big hair. It's rich and timeless and chic. So nothing like me then. Moving on...
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| Wild Grey |
Love this look. It says "I'm grey and I don't give a flying fig what you think about me. I will wear hot pink, I will wear statement t-shirts, I will wear massive orange glasses, I will add mohair and head-dresses and a massive ring made of green glass and I will buy it all from vintage shops, Oxfam and flea markets". As an emerging clothing upcycler, there are bits of this look I'm incorporating - upcycled denim jacket adorned with lace and gems, headscarves, bits of costume jewellery. But you won't catch me in pink mohair much as I admire those who are bold enough to adopt this style.
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| Mirren Grey |
Now we're getting close. Helen Mirren is such a cool dude. She can be glam one day and a punk the next. She wears what she fancies but always seems to stay true to who she is. Increasingly I'm looking to people like Mirren for my fashion inspiration - a bit of leather, a broken down t-shirt, a big coat and a "don't even think about it" look in my eye. The Mirren Grey isn't old or ageing, it's maturing like a great cheese or a fancy bottle of red. It just gets better and better...and it knows it!
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| Rocker Grey |
This is my number one choice. Grey hair and the rock chick look are a natural combination. There's something inherently rock and roll for me about grey hair - it is counter-culture, individual, jump on your Harley and drive very slowly through some dusty town. Denim looks great with grey as do t-shirts especially rock band and tour t-shirts a la Mirren). The rocker look is strident and confident. Nothing "little old lady" about it. And it is authentic. In my teens and 20s I sang in rock bands, I'm a massive music fan and I still turn the volume right up on the radio and rock out when Blondie comes on. The great thing about this look is you can turn the volume up or down on it too - t-shirt and blazer for work, t-shirt and leather for after work; natural make-up for day, heavy eyeliner for night; your best jeans for meetings, your ripped jeans for the pub.
Of course, you don't have to choose a look. You can wear what you've always worn. You can mix and match between the styles here and any others you like. And that's what's happening to me - I have hippy days and rock days and nondescript days where I wouldn't even want to give my "look" a name.
But Grey Hair is liberating. It's telling the world something about what's important to you, who you really are inside. Rather than your hair being a mask, your hair becomes a true expression of your self. Might as well enjoy wearing clothes that do the same thing.
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