"Going grey gracefully…and letting yourself go…there is an enormous difference!"

- Quotes Master Stylist Vicki Ogden-O’Fee

 “Silver/Grey” is the “New Black”

You don’t have to be 65+ to go grey gracefully and join in on the latest "Silver trend"!

But you do need to have a hair stylist that understands grey hair and can give you expert advice and hairstyle.

It is very on trend for females of all ages to rock different variations of silver-grey-blonde-ash hair. There is no age barrier for young or old to embrace this trend. Some of the ways you can add this look into your style are using the following hair colour techniques.

  • Soft toning blend in silver hair
  • Pre-lighten and balayage
  • Full head powder lightener and toning
  • Foxing
  • Age blending
  • Slices, foils and colour placement

For years women (and some men) coloured their hair when it turned grey, but there’s a growing trend of women embracing a more natural shift in hair colour, embracing silver and using the very latest in “no demarcation, new technology colour systems”. That still enhance your style, give shine, but not the nasty regrowth line of times gone by.The deciding factors include:

  • Getting tired of the time and expense of getting hair coloured every few weeks as soon as those horrid greys show.
  • A desire to avoid the chemicals used to colour-treat hair.
  • Change of lifestyle, which may include more travel, this means not wanting to have to find a new hairdresser in every city/port you visit.
  • Income may have changed as we retire or semi-retire.
  • A different view of beauty and embracing maturity and its natural beauty.

"Social media sites like Pinterest, Facebook and Instagram have many pages showing women of all ages proudly wearing silver-grey hair with blending tones, soft shades, and beautiful hues like Sand, Iris, Silver, Dove, Lilac, Silver Ash at all lengths, too. Get inspired and search the net, talk to your stylist and have a change!" Says Vicki Ogden-O’Fee

Soft toned violet hues in “Pixie Bob Style”
Soft-toned violet hues in “Pixie Bob Style”

Soft-toned violet hues in “Pixie Bob Style”For women who want to ditch the dye and transition to silver grey hair, there are a few ways to make this happen. Like any change with hair, be prepared for it to take a little time.
 Clients must know going into it, it’s a process and you just to have patience with it. It’s no different than if you have a short, pixie haircut and you want to grow it out, you’re going to go through some stages that you’re not comfortable with. It’s going to be the same as transitioning out from single-process hair colour to embracing your beautifully soft blend silver grey.

Going Grey
Short cropped and sexy with silver slate lights

Short cropped and sexy with silver slate lights.The first few weeks of the roots growing out is the most frustrating time, as the line between the coloured hair colour and grey can be stark, depending on the darkness of the colour. To deal with that, we suggest sorting out a regime with your stylist, be sure to choose a stylist/salon that really specialise in grey silver hair work otherwise you may have one step forward and ten backwards. An initial appointment to set you on your way to going grey gracefully maybe a little bit more of an investment than your usual root touch up appointment but the results will speak for themselves.These are some of the steps we suggest setting you on your way to “Going Silver Grey Gracefully and Beautifully”...

  • Start thinking about your target shade
  • Will it suit you? Try colour swatches against your skin tone
  • Will you need to change your make up?
  • Maybe its time to refresh your wardrobe as well!
  • Should you wear more makeup? A brighter lipstick?
Enhance your look with a fabulous lipstick
Enhance your look with a fabulous lipstick
  • If you wear glasses maybe its time for an upgrade to some stylish funky new glasses to set off and enhance your new hairstyle.
Grey hair with glasses
If you wear glasses, Make them count!
  • Don’t let other people’s opinions put you off. A style that may not suit your friend may make you look amazing. Remember we are all individuals and your hairstyle should reflect your personality, individuality which should suit you and your lifestyle.
Advice on going grey
Friends don’t always know best, seek professional advice.
  • Start going lighter in your base colour, this may take several visits, depending on your hair depth, budget and time.
  • Highlights can be added to give an overall lighter look.
  • Age blend colours are amazing at blending colour demarcation lines.

How quick and easy it is to bring in your natural grey tone depends on the length of hair and colour, a woman with a short, layered hairstyle could bring in her grey in four to six months, as keeping the hair trimmed helps to cut away the old colour.It is easier for women with blonde hair to move to grey than for women who have darker colours. With blonde hair, a stylist can weave in highlights to let the new growth mingle with the former colour.

straight-fringe
Many different hair processes for all hair types.

For women with darker-coloured hair, a colourist may weave in lowlights to allow the grey to come in. Depending on the texture of the hair, we might use a colour remover. It removes the depth of colour then we replace it with a lighter colour to get closer to the grey and then lowlight and weave it back in. 
The process to go grey is the same for women of all ethnicities, as a colourist looks at the texture of hair and the hair cuticle. Thicker hair lets the hairstylist be a little more aggressive with hair-colour processing, while the colourist needs to be more careful with thin hair, which can break. This is where we always recommend Fibre Plex treatment.

For women who want to go grey cold turkey or who have always used hair colour from a box at the supermarket, here are some tips...

  • Stop using a shampoo that is for colour-treated hair, yes you read correctly this is the only time you can use “crap” shampoo. Shampoos that aren’t marketed as colour-protectors can start to strip away colour.
  • Have a consultation with an expert stylist who will be able to suggest blending colours, semi- and demi-permanent colours as well. These will give it a more translucent colour and won’t have as high of a chemical or peroxide level” as permanent colour. As the natural grey grows in, it will be easier to see how much is grey and how much of the hair has an underlying colour. Special shampoos can help even out the tone of grey hair, to cancel out the brassiness or yellowness of grey, and bring out the brighter and whiter part of natural grey.
  • Schwarzkopf has many salon products perfect for this, such as...
BC Good Bye Yellow “The master of all Silver shampoos”
BC Good Bye Yellow “The master of all Silver shampoos”

Schwarzkopf BC Silver range
Schwarzkopf BC Silver range

Schwarzkopf Blonde Me Cool Blonde Products
Schwarzkopf Blonde Me Cool Blonde Products

BC Excellium Beautifying for Silver/white hair
BC Excellium Beautifying for Silver/white hair

Vicki Ogden-O’Fee, master stylist at V For Hair and Beauty Merivale who works alongside our team is very passionate about upskilling and training the team with the latest looks, techniques and products from around the globe. This, in turn, creating fabulous colours, tones, hues, hairstyles and makeovers on woman of all ages.


There are so many options available these days. Consultations are complimentary at V For Hair and Beauty Merivale and well worth the time to get you going in the right direction for your desired look. Whether that’s Natural Hues, Avant Garde, Silver Blonde, Foxing or Going Grey Gracefully.

Going Grey Gracefully - V for Hair, Merivale, Christchurch
Going Grey Gracefully
Going Grey Gracefully
We don’t just do hair, “We do beautiful for all woman of every age”.