Grey hair is nothing to be ashamed of. It’s also something more and more women of all ages are embracing, which has led to trending shades incorporating tones of grey. Last year we saw the rise of grey blending, while this year is going to be all about a new trend: herringbone highlights.
The grey hair revolution has been bubbling up for years, but Tom Smith, colourist, and Evo Hair’s creative director, credits the pandemic for the mainstream embrace of the shade.
“Since the pandemic, it’s wonderfully more acceptable to show your natural greys, and celebrities such as Jennifer Aniston, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Sarah Jessica Parker are leading the way when it comes to incorporating grey hair into their iconic hair colours,” he says. Though these women haven’t gone fully grey, they are instead starting to ease into grey by blending their roots into the shades we know them best for.
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The coolest part about this trend is that it doesn’t try to hide greys; it actually highlights them “using a herringbone pattern of highlighting,” explains Smith. “Various shades are woven in among the grey strands, giving a finely balanced mix of warm and cool tones. This really celebrates grey hairs by including them in a hair color design as an additional highlight shade.”
To get the shade yourself, Smith says to ask your colourist to include your grey hair into your highlight pattern. Ask for a blend of warm – and cool – toned highlights, and stress that they should be mixed in an irregular way.
“Not alternating each shade, but scattering and diffusing the various shades around the irregular pattern of your own grey hair,” says Smith. “Grey hairs tend to arrive sporadically and scattered — some even cluster into streaks, so work with this, rather than fight against it for a hair colour design that is totally tailored to you.”
Bella Cacciatore is the associate beauty editor at Glamour. Follow her on Instagram @bellacacciatore_.
This story was originally published on Glamour.com