Gray, gray, go away — come again another day!
That used to be the motto for most women with prematurely gray hair, but now that celebs are intentionally dyeing their locks silver, young New York ladies are starting to follow suit.
Last fall, Kate Moss debuted some accidental gray streaks (turns out, it was a highlight job gone wrong) that sparked a salt-and-pepper trend now being rocked by the likes of Kelly Osbourne, Pink and Lady Gaga.
And the trend has now trickled down to Manhattanites, according to Joel Warren of the Warren-Tricomi Salon in the Plaza Hotel.
“We’ve had a handful of girls in their 20s come into the salon in the last couple weeks asking for gray hair,” he says. “One of them brought a picture of Kelly Osbourne in to show us what she wanted.”
“It’s a process that can take a few hours — to bleach out the hair and then put a toner on it, which is what actually turns it gray and, depending on the length of your hair, usually costs about $200,” says Warren. “We prelighten the hair to a pale yellow and then use a [gray dye], L’Oreal Professionnel INOA 9.1, which is ammonia-free.”
NYC fashion designer Katie Gallagher, 23, has been dying her mane gray since high school.
“My hair is naturally really light blond, but I dye it gray about every six weeks and experiment with different toners for various shades of gray,” she says.
But trend followers, take note: It’s not easy being gray.
“When you have unique style and carry yourself well, it looks great,” Warren says. “Otherwise, you just look like an old lady.”
Suzanne White, a 39-year-old freelance art director who lives in the East Village, started going naturally gray when she was just 17 — and is now shocked to find herself at the vanguard of a beauty movement.
Although the look may be unconventional, she admits, “I get the fun of it. It’s a really interesting juxtaposition of being old — and being young and beautiful.”