By Katie May Ruscoe

"Going grey". Once it was something of a passive term – an event that inevitably happened to you, and which you then either simply accepted or waged an immediate intervention against – but more recently it's taken on a more active, empowered position.

Look to the influencer world - Grece Ghanem, Milva Spina or the divine Lyn Slater - or your favourite beauty and fashion editors, like Sarah Harris (formerly of British Vogue) or Sali Hughes (The Guardian).

Add in the many think pieces on the topic, and you'll see that the so-called "grey revolution" has been underway for a while now - accelerated, like so many things, by the salon-less era of Covid-19 lockdowns, and riding on a broader wave of body-positivity, authenticity and pushback against the time-honoured and absolutely relentless pressure on women to maintain youth and beauty by any means.

To 'go' grey is no longer a case of 'letting yourself go' (eww, retire this term) but rather just f***ing going for it.

Colleen's resident colour specialist Phillippa Hofman says she's seeing an uptick in clients looking to not just embrace their greys, but really holding space with that, and feeling power in that – a shift she puts down to both a wider trend toward natural, unfiltered beauty, as well as a desire for a more low-fuss approach, particularly #inthiseconomy.

"Coming to the salon every four to six weeks can be time consuming and a strain on the wallet; people are looking for something a bit more low maintenance."

There are of course a number of ways to go forth into grey, ranging from the nuclear approach (colouring to full silver or platinum) to raw-dog one (putting down the dye and simply letting nature run its course), but a new-ish, more transitional path is 'grey-blending', where greys are gracefully blended into your natural hair tone using a combo of highlights and lowlights.

Here, Phillippa gives the rundown on the technique and what you can expect from it.

(Of course we recognise that the choice to grey not to grey is a super personal one! If you’re team cover-those-bad-boys-up-forever then that’s cool and valid too.)

Grey blending can be lots of different approaches, you can add lighter and darker patches through foiling or simply adding a toner to enhance the silver or white tones.

Even when doing a more global colour, I like to use a semi permanent colour to blend grey but not completely cover it - this also helps with reducing a regrowth line and makes it easier to change the colour if you're wanting to do a grey transformation.

I would say that there is always something we could do to start the grey blending process, but if you’ve been box dying your hair black with permanent dye forever it might just be a bit more of a journey.

Yes exactly - it definitely depends on what the final outcome is and what we are starting with. I'm definitely a fan of a gloss though; adding an enhancing gloss that will add shine can do wonders on grey hair.

I think it depends on what step of the journey you're on. If you're going for a grey transformation then maybe one to visits a year to add high or low lights, then glosses throughout the year and a good cut is the dream.

A great way to maintain grey is to try to eliminate yellow or brassy tones, so a violet or silver shampoo is a great way to prevent unwanted tones.

I also love a conditioner or treatment that has a bit of tint built in while also being nourishing for the hair.