Hair goes grey. It’s a fact of life, but one that the entire beauty industry would like to pretend happens only to an unlucky few and should therefore be hidden from sight as far as possible. Of course, this is entirely untrue, but it is a societal mindset that is only now beginning to shift, largely after the pandemic forced many of us to forego trips to the hairdresser for months on end.
But before you worry about whether or not you should be doing anything about that grey hair, and how to go about doing it in a way that will make you feel fabulous rather than fake, let’s first consider whether embracing that natural grey hair means that your best colours will suddenly shift dramatically, or whether you can continue to wear exactly the same clothes as before.
Does Grey Hair Actually Change My Colour Palette?
The good news is that your hair is not, after a lifetime of service, suddenly going to turn against you and your natural palette, simply because you’ve gone grey. It is just not how our natural colouring works. As we go grey, we lose some pigment from our hair (and also from our eyes, lips and cheeks - the brightness of youth comes so much from that extra pigment!), but the pigment that remains doesn’t suddenly shift from being warm toned to being cool, or vice versa.
You might notice that if you are in a warm toned season (Spring or Autumn), that as you go grey your hair retains a slightly warm, creamy tone. Whereas the cool toned seasons (Summer and Winter) tend to naturally veer towards a much steelier grey, or pure white. Whichever you are, your hair will harmonise with your palette, although remember that your best colours within your palette might shift as your hair gets lighter.
If you’re going grey you might, however, feel like you’ve lost some of the ‘oomph’ from your colouring and thus your look, thanks to this drop in pigment. You might also find that colours that you’ve previously loved feel either overwhelming or, surprisingly, not ‘enough’ to brighten you up.
However, what we’ve found, over almost 20 years of working in the world of colour, is that it’s extremely unlikely that your actual seasonal palette will change - if you’ve hitherto suited the Spring palette you’re not going to suddenly become a Winter because you’ve gone grey, for all the reasons discussed above. However, it is possible your very best colours (often called your wow colours - most of us half half a dozen or so truly amazing colours) within that seasonal palette may well shift. You might need, say, brighter colours within your season, but it is almost certain (indeed, in our experience, guaranteed) that your broad palette will remain the same.
Let’s take a quick look at how the colours you need might change, depending on your seasonal palette. It’s impossible to predict exactly how your unique colouring will shift with age, but there are a few general guidelines which inform each palette and probably make a good starting point if your hair colour has shifted and you feel your favourite colours are no longer looking quite as good.
How do I embrace my grey hair whilst still wearing my best seasonal colours?
If you are transitioning from dyed hair to grey, the options are broadly similar regardless of your seasonal palette:
- Go cold turkey on the dye. You might want to get the existing colour stripped out, but this can be quite harsh on your hair. There will be an undeniably awkward phase as your dye grows out, but this is the most straightforward way to transition to grey, if you can get through the awkward bit.
- Have your hair dyed a similar shade of grey to your natural root colour. This will take some careful co-ordination with your hairdresser to select an appropriate shade, but it’s a one hit way of making the transition, and the delineation between your dyed grey and naturally grey hair should be far less awkward than option 1. It is, however, quite a sudden change to get your head around!
- Go for a gradual approach. Gradually have a few lighter touches added to your colour, reducing the amount of tone in them at each appointment, to gradually blend your grey with your existing dye colour. Even for Winters, who tend not to suit blended, tonal colours, this can be the easiest, gentlest and least scary way to transition hair, although it also takes the longest.
Whatever option you choose, a good hairdresser is invaluable to help you figure out your next steps and encourage you along the way. And a good cut, which feels like it belongs to you, can work wonders to boost your confidence while you’re getting used to a different look.
Grey Hair And Colour Seasons
Let us take a quick look at how the colours you need might change, depending on your seasonal palette. It’s impossible to predict exactly how your unique colouring will shift with age, but there are a few general guidelines which inform each palette and probably make a good starting point if your hair colour has shifted and you feel your favourite colours are no longer looking quite as good.
Grey Haired Springs
It is very possible that if you have generally been at the warmer end of the Spring palette (wearing camel, honey, tan and chocolate as your neutrals, and Spring’s Corn Yellow, Lime Green and Papaya as your brights), that you will shift towards the less warm end of the palette, meaning that your neutrals will become Bright Navy and Dove Grey, while your brights might become Confetti pink, Apple green and Aquarius. If you’ve previously suited the brightest colours in your palette, whether warmer or cooler, it’s possible that some of the softer Spring colours - Cornflower, Lemonade, Hyacinth - might now be better on you than those bold brights
Grey Haired Summers
If you’ve previously worn the deepest Summer colours, from Burgundy to Charcoal, you might find yourself needing at least a splash of lighter tones like Pink Ice or French Blue to lift outfits that previously worked well. If you’ve always worn the softest, palest Summer colours, you might, counter-intuitively, find that brighter Summer colours like Cornflower and Azalea Pink now bring you more to life.
Grey Haired Autumns
Many Autumns, regardless of their original type, find that they need softer colours within the palette as they go grey. Whether you suit the warmer soft colours - Hazelnut and Coral Haze, for instance - or less warm Heliotrope and Lizard Grey, is a matter for discovery! However, some Autumns do find that they suddenly need the lightest, brightest Autumn colours, like Coral and Lime, to feel their glowing best.
Grey Haired Winters
The most common shift for Winters is that the old faithful neutrals of Black and White stop working so well, and gentler Navy and Silver (or Ice Blue) work better. You might also find that where you used to suit the deepest, most intense Winter colours like Pine, Deep Claret and Indigo, you now need much fresh, clearer alternatives like Emerald and Scarlet. You might also find that previously unloved, and less cool, light Winter colours like Acid Yellow, Limeade and Aquarius, are suddenly invaluable for giving you back your brightness and zing!
In conclusion
I hope that this article has answered all of your questions, and that you feel encouraged to see going grey as an adventure and a chance to explore and learn more about your best colours. This is the beginning of an era, not the end of one.
Will My Hair Going Grey Affect My Seasonal Colour Palette?
Hair goes grey. It’s a fact of life, but one that the entire beauty industry would like to pretend happens only to an unlucky few and should therefore be hidden from sight as far as possible. Of course, this is entirely untrue, but it is a societal mindset that is only now beginning to shift, largely after the pandemic forced many of us to forego trips to the hairdresser for months on end.
But before you worry about whether or not you should be doing anything about that grey hair, and how to go about doing it in a way that will make you feel fabulous rather than fake, let’s first consider whether embracing that natural grey hair means that your best colours will suddenly shift dramatically, or whether you can continue to wear exactly the same clothes as before.
Does Grey Hair Actually Change My Colour Palette?
The good news is that your hair is not, after a lifetime of service, suddenly going to turn against you and your natural palette, simply because you’ve gone grey. It is just not how our natural colouring works. As we go grey, we lose some pigment from our hair (and also from our eyes, lips and cheeks - the brightness of youth comes so much from that extra pigment!), but the pigment that remains doesn’t suddenly shift from being warm toned to being cool, or vice versa.
You might notice that if you are in a warm toned season (Spring or Autumn), that as you go grey your hair retains a slightly warm, creamy tone. Whereas the cool toned seasons (Summer and Winter) tend to naturally veer towards a much steelier grey, or pure white. Whichever you are, your hair will harmonise with your palette, although remember that your best colours within your palette might shift as your hair gets lighter.
If you’re going grey you might, however, feel like you’ve lost some of the ‘oomph’ from your colouring and thus your look, thanks to this drop in pigment. You might also find that colours that you’ve previously loved feel either overwhelming or, surprisingly, not ‘enough’ to brighten you up.
However, what we’ve found, over almost 20 years of working in the world of colour, is that it’s extremely unlikely that your actual seasonal palette will change - if you’ve hitherto suited the Spring palette you’re not going to suddenly become a Winter because you’ve gone grey, for all the reasons discussed above. However, it is possible your very best colours (often called your wow colours - most of us half half a dozen or so truly amazing colours) within that seasonal palette may well shift. You might need, say, brighter colours within your season, but it is almost certain (indeed, in our experience, guaranteed) that your broad palette will remain the same.
Let’s take a quick look at how the colours you need might change, depending on your seasonal palette. It’s impossible to predict exactly how your unique colouring will shift with age, but there are a few general guidelines which inform each palette and probably make a good starting point if your hair colour has shifted and you feel your favourite colours are no longer looking quite as good.
How do I embrace my grey hair whilst still wearing my best seasonal colours?
If you are transitioning from dyed hair to grey, the options are broadly similar regardless of your seasonal palette:
Whatever option you choose, a good hairdresser is invaluable to help you figure out your next steps and encourage you along the way. And a good cut, which feels like it belongs to you, can work wonders to boost your confidence while you’re getting used to a different look.
Grey Hair And Colour Seasons
Let us take a quick look at how the colours you need might change, depending on your seasonal palette. It’s impossible to predict exactly how your unique colouring will shift with age, but there are a few general guidelines which inform each palette and probably make a good starting point if your hair colour has shifted and you feel your favourite colours are no longer looking quite as good.
Grey Haired Springs
It is very possible that if you have generally been at the warmer end of the Spring palette (wearing camel, honey, tan and chocolate as your neutrals, and Spring’s Corn Yellow, Lime Green and Papaya as your brights), that you will shift towards the less warm end of the palette, meaning that your neutrals will become Bright Navy and Dove Grey, while your brights might become Confetti pink, Apple green and Aquarius. If you’ve previously suited the brightest colours in your palette, whether warmer or cooler, it’s possible that some of the softer Spring colours - Cornflower, Lemonade, Hyacinth - might now be better on you than those bold brights
Grey Haired Summers
If you’ve previously worn the deepest Summer colours, from Burgundy to Charcoal, you might find yourself needing at least a splash of lighter tones like Pink Ice or French Blue to lift outfits that previously worked well. If you’ve always worn the softest, palest Summer colours, you might, counter-intuitively, find that brighter Summer colours like Cornflower and Azalea Pink now bring you more to life.
Grey Haired Autumns
Many Autumns, regardless of their original type, find that they need softer colours within the palette as they go grey. Whether you suit the warmer soft colours - Hazelnut and Coral Haze, for instance - or less warm Heliotrope and Lizard Grey, is a matter for discovery! However, some Autumns do find that they suddenly need the lightest, brightest Autumn colours, like Coral and Lime, to feel their glowing best.
Grey Haired Winters
The most common shift for Winters is that the old faithful neutrals of Black and White stop working so well, and gentler Navy and Silver (or Ice Blue) work better. You might also find that where you used to suit the deepest, most intense Winter colours like Pine, Deep Claret and Indigo, you now need much fresh, clearer alternatives like Emerald and Scarlet. You might also find that previously unloved, and less cool, light Winter colours like Acid Yellow, Limeade and Aquarius, are suddenly invaluable for giving you back your brightness and zing!
In conclusion
I hope that this article has answered all of your questions, and that you feel encouraged to see going grey as an adventure and a chance to explore and learn more about your best colours. This is the beginning of an era, not the end of one.