Grey hair

I am profoundly interested in grey coverage. Not just that of my mother, and relatives over the age of 35, but shockingly for my 23 year old self.

Not content with going through what I like to think of as a second puberty in the baptism of fire that is adulthood (Uni doesn’t count) my body has crowned me with some early onset grey. The fact that this coincides with a leap in cup size makes this all the more confusing.

This does seem like quite the confession, but thankfully, I’m not alone. Well, I am when I tell friends who still have fresh colourful folicles à la their 13 year old self, but I personally know at least 2 other non-ironic grey hair bearers who can understand my pain.

Weirdly, I already dye my hair. So the fact that I have even found these hairs is shocking in itself. But they have managed to worm their way through my glorious blond highlights to the extent that on a recent visit my hairdresser dramatically cut the greys out of my head. Even he was shocked (he screamed). Brilliant.

So, solutions are:

• Bleach all hair and suffer the consequences
• Highlight my hair more regularly (expensive)
• Dye my hair grey all over, ironically and to be ironic all in one
• Not give a shit (and accept that I can only date men shorter, older or blind-er than me – actually quite a substantial pool)

Out of these options I have opted for number 2 and am still hoping on the 4th, but as with everything aesthetic should I care? Does anyone actually notice one or two greys? Is grey hair the final taboo and I am inadvertently the edgiest girl at the party?

I am surveying everyone I know for their thoughts. To be honest it can be a touchy subject – many of my male friends are looking down the barrel of male pattern baldness, so in terms of gender divide there isn’t one; if anything guys have it worse. Yet in society men’s grey is lauded, and often even preferred. ‘Silver fox’ ring any bells? That’s the office male dreamboat, not the respective female who will most likely have dyed her hair to emulate a more youthful appearance. I want to be a Silver Fox. ‘Foxy’ is surely a word that our sexist language labels females with anyway.

Let’s talk some benchmarks. Is this in any way normal? Well after scanning sites such as the reassuringly named onaverage.co.uk I have received the alarming news that ‘the average age that people turn grey is around when they’re 30 or 35 years old.’ So that must mean that I am a prematurely turning grey, by 7 years. The site also informs me that it takes 10 years to turn grey. So by 33 I could have full coverage. Great.

Nature gives us hair for about 23 years and then cruelly takes, or fades, it away. Or am I a butterfly shedding its vain colourful cocoon?