I started going grey when I was really young. It’s a hereditary thing with me – both my parents had a lot of grey very early. For a while, I didn’t do anything and just let the grey come in, basically out of laziness more than anything else. But at some point, the grey really started to irritate me and I began dyeing my hair at home. I just dye it to cover the grey and it’s not that time-consuming. There are still weeks when the grey is coming in and I just wait to dye my hair out of laziness once again, so chances are you’ll see me with grey roots and I don’t really care. What is my point with all of this? I don’t think women – specifically younger women – should be grey-shamed. What does it really matter? It doesn’t, at all. So even though Duchess Kate has many faults, I never really cared that she shows off her grey roots every now and then. But Kate’s grey hair really bothered “hairdresser to the stars” Nicky Clarke.
The Duchess of Cambridge was happy to let a few of her glossy chestnut locks go grey while she was pregnant with Princess Charlotte, but hairdresser to the stars Nicky Clarke has urged the future queen never to do so again. Clarke, who tended the tresses of Princess Diana and the Duchess of York, among many others, says women should never let their hair lose its colour, although different rules apply for men.
‘Kate needs to get rid of her grey hair — it’s not a good look,’ he tells me at a party at his Mayfair salon. ‘She does have amazing things done to her hair and it can look great, but unfortunately it’s the case for women — all women — that until you’re really old, you can’t be seen to have any grey hairs.’
Prince William’s 33-year-old wife revealed a small patch of silver in February when she was six months pregnant. It is widely believed that mothers-to-be should not dye their hair for fear of inhaling noxious chemicals, which could pass through to the baby and lead to birth defects.
Nicky, who still boasts his famously thick head of blond hair at the age of 57, says grey would be ‘disastrous’ for Kate.
‘It’s different for men,’ he says. ‘Men can go grey in their mid-50s and still be considered attractive — it’s the whole silver fox thing — but it’s not the same for women. Kate is such a style icon that even a few strands of grey would be a disaster, so I highly recommend that she cover it up. I hate grey hair.’
It is not the first time that Nicky, who received an OBE from the Queen in 2008 for 30 years’ service to the hair styling industry, has criticised Kate’s tresses. Before she married into the Royal Family in 2011 he said of her hairstyle choices: ‘She’s not the most adventurous, is she?’
If Nicky’s hoping to take over from Kate’s current hairdresser, Amanda Cook Tucker, the crabby crimper’s going a funny way about it.
Grey-shamer! In truth, I’ve always thought Kate’s rare grey-root appearances were part of some convoluted PR scheme to make her look more “normal” and like she’s NOT spending hours upon hours every week getting her roots done, getting blowouts and yes, getting weaves put in. Even if we’re just listing complaints about her hair specifically, Kate’s grey hair doesn’t even make my top-ten complaints. So on this… yeah, I’ll defend her. It’s not the end of the world that she (or any woman) shows off their grey. And this dude sounds like a misogynistic douche.
Photos courtesy of WENN.
I completely disagree with this hairdresser. The irrepressible Bea Arthur would come at this bro for his ignorance.
Me too. What a load of crap. I love grey hair. Mine is half grey half black and I adore the look. Miss hairdresser to the stars can suck it – if you want to coulour your hair, do it! If you don’t, don’t !
Ha ha ha! Hairdresser to the stars! Well, not so famous that the world doesn’t know your gender, Nicky.
Bea Arthur was a very attractive lady, in my opinion – grey hair or not. She had such a presence about her that made her command attention – I just loved her!!!
As for Kate, I think her grey hair is the last thing anyone should criticize her for. She is lazy, spoilt and generally as useless as the “G” in lasagna.
Her hair does not matter but the fact that her outer appearance is all anyone ever mentions in reference to her, is very sad and says a lot about how pointless it is to have her in a position where she could do a lot of good if she wanted to.
The g in lasagna isn’t useless; it’s what makes the ya sound after the n.
Kate’s not completely useless, either; after all, she’s provided the next generation of royal heirs and she sells out lots of clothes for British designers.
I completely agree with you, Kaiser, and all you other ladies: What does it really matter? This “Hairdresser to the Stars” needs to shove one of his combs in his gob, bite down hard and shut the farque up.
A few months ago, The Australian Women’s Weekly (a monthly mag, as it happens…) had a feature on several women who flaunt their greys. Some were completely grey, others in various stages. They looked absolutely stunning. I’m going to do a search and see if there’s a link.
Well… to each her own. But frankly, when my roots really start to show I see a mousy, prematurely aging woman in the mirror. The gray washes me out, along my hair line it starts to turn my five head into a six head and no matter how I style it it always looks like I’ve let myself go to a certain degree.
This is not to say that I don’t adore certain images of women with gray hair, thick, silvery or snow white and cascading down their backs. I’ve never seen someone who actually pulled that polished look off in person though. Mine is a frizzy, fly away, wicked witch of the west kind of thing that does not look so chic.
I think my main conundrum is getting from the roots to the all over gray stages without giving in and coloring it again. If I let it get all the way there I could treat it to a blow out and have it look nice… maybe? But getting there is rough. Anybody else go through that awkward stage with grace?
mistake
Yassssss! All hail the original Queen Bea!
Ugh. And we all wonder why she spends sp much time on her appearance and staying thin.
It’s jerks like this
She probably is surrounded by people like this. If only she went back to her pre-engagement toned body.
She’s done several big weight losses, always to gain William’s attention. She has been dying and highlighting her hair since she was a teenager. Her natural color is a mouse dark brown, and now it is mouse brown with lots of gray. She is a person who has always spent a lot of time and money on her appearance, it isn’t related to the last four years.
At the end of the day, the color of her hair is irrelevant. I care that she be professional and keep it out of her face on the FEW occasions she shows up to work. This article again highlights that all there is to talk about about her is her appearance, because she refuses to work.
This article again highlights that all there is to talk about about her is her appearance, because she refuses to work.
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exactly. big yawn.
Her navy wedges and underwear are things that “can’t be seen.” If she wants to walk around with greys or purple bangs (cool, but it would never happen) then who cares? IDGAF about this self-important twit’s opinion.
Forget the grey hair non-controversy, why does she insist on wearing such hard-looking makeup? It ages her terribly!
She reminds me of a relative I have who also has the mega harsh eye liner thing going, and I always wondered how does one GET that look. Well come to find out, it’s tattooed on. I wear a lot of makeup sometimes, including top and bottom liner, and it never looks this way. So either Kate has some sort of super liner that only ever looks this hard, or she may have it tatted on.
It’s not a tattoo. It’s liquid eyeliner. If you’ve ever applied it it goes on really thick and doesn’t come off easily.
Kate’s eyeliner is seen both in and out of her waterline. Also at varying lengths. 1/4, 1/2, or 3/4 across her lower lid. You can’t make a 3/4 length a 1/4 length when it’s inked on.
Also, the colors change. Sometimes it’s been brown. Other times black as night.
This rumor has no foundation in truth.
I’ve seen many women age themselves terribly from too much makeup. Get a facial, use better face products, but for god sake, stop with the caked on makeup!
My mom is in her 60s now and still has that really harsh eyeliner. She’s talked forever about getting it tattooed on to save time but I’ve always managed to talk her out of it. She looks really terrible with it but it’s just how she’s used to seeing herself now so she’ll never ease up on it.
Oh for pete’s sake. What a load of bullcrap. Grey hair happens and if a woman doesn’t want to dye it for whatever reason it’s nobody’s business. I’ve got a few here and there, a couple friend started going full-on grey in their 20s. This is just one more example on a seemingly infinite list of “things women are expected to do but men aren’t” in the name of appearance. Ugh. Buttholes like that guy make me sick.
You bitch.
He sounds like a delight. Maybe women can’t be seen with grey hair until they “really old” but honey, that personality of yours shouldn’t be seen in public either.
“It is not the first time that Nicky, who received an OBE from the Queen in 2008 for 30 years’ service to the hair styling industry,..”
He got an OBE for doing a job for 30 years? Huh?
I started getting grey hairs at 14, so he would really hate me.
I was in my early twenties when the first gray hair was spotted. Not by me, but by my office partner in grad school. He pulled it out and we presented it to our dissertation advisor on a plaque, claiming he was the cause. Our advisor pointed to his bald head and blamed both of us for that….
Anyway, the hair dresser is just a fool. Gray hair is normal, especially at her age.
Great story!
I’m so fed up from this grey shaming attitude! I stoped coloring my hair when I turned 30 (almost 2 years ago) and I could not be any more prouder of my grey stripes!
“It’s different for men.” Ah, the familiar cry of the misogynist! How grateful I am to Nicky Clarke for being so open about his ridiculous double standards so I can be sure to avoid buying his products in future.
@Watcher x10000
Exactly! It’s sexist bull$h!t. A woman who dares to look her age is “disastrous” and somehow unattractive? We, as women, should all bow down to the altar of youth so that others can stand the sight of us. If I saw this man in person, I’d kick him in the shins.
Big fat hairy deal. I’m in my mid 20s and I’m going gray. In some places it’s more white actually. I dye when I have the time. Pro salons forget it. I’m a retail slave and don’t have the money. This guy can kiss my grays.
It’s just hair. Even a hairdresser shouldn’t care this much about somebody else’s hair.
No one should be shamed for that. I love my skunk streak. Most people think it’s light blonde highlights A hairdresser tried to shame me over it to upsell me. She lost me as a client and I told the managers I would not return. This hairdresser seems both mean girling and fame hungry to push themselves.
And dyes rarely will match your natural tones. In a few weeks it makes the grays and natural hair color stand out even more.
As a natural redhead, I started getting white streaks at 16. I had a wonderful hairdresser (a woman) who, when I went in to see her in a panic over my whites, told me I was worrying too much about it and to let it go. She said it gave me character and she wouldn’t color my hair just yet. It wasn’t until in my 30s and much of the red darkened into a mousy brown that the white hairs really stood out and I started to color my hair. Now I feel like I’m trapped in a cycle with my hair. How do people with dyed hair have such shiny, healthy-looking locks?
Colleen
Simple. They keep coloring. Renewing the color and possibly adding in gloss treatments.
That sounds like a great hair dresser you had!
I dyed my hair when I 1st went gray. To pull yourself out of that cycle makes for a long adjustment/grow out period and it’s not fun. Then you learn to love your hair again and save boat loads of money!
I did it. I went grey very young as well — started in my teens. I colored through my mid thirties, then said hell with it, let my hair grow out, got lowlights to blend in the grey hair, then when it was long enough I chopped it all off, let the lowlights grow out and let my grey flag fly.
It’s my trademark. When I was looking for a job a few years ago I let someone talk me into coloring it and hated it instantly. I could not wait for it to grow out so I could cut off that crappy dye and start over.
I’m almost totally grey now except for the nape of my neck and I will not dye my hair again. The color pops out much more than my childhood color and when it’s smooth it’s silvery and beautiful.
the only thing that bothers me, is that he says men look good with gray hair. no mate, they don’t really, it ages men as much as it ages women.
that said, I think a good haircut and using some toner can make gray hair appear nicer. my mum started to go gray in her 20s (i’m glad i have my dad’s genes so none so far), and stopped dyeing when she was in her late 40s. i don’t think i’d ever have to balls to do it myself, but it’s a personal choice.
Depends on the person. Does it age me? No, I don’t think it does. But then I’m lucky in that I have a fabulous shade of grey. I also don’t think it ages anyone any more than wrinkles and bad living do.
And, with all due respect, I do not need toner to make my grey hair look “nicer”.
Agree. I’m now in my 30’s and people still think i’m early 20’s. And some men I know have grays, but I’ve never been very aware of their hairs or thought they looked older than they were.
Other factors at play. IMO as you age the big hallmark is your skin. Certainly not gray hair, but it does have the stigma of being associated with getting old.
I think he’s looking at haircolour in completely the wrong way. Using haircolour to look younger makes as much sense as using botox to look younger. You’re not fooling anyone, but if done right it can be a great beauty tool.
Amen.
Confidence and being comfortable with yourself plays a huge role too!
But yea. You’re not fooling anyone.
Sigh…heaven forbid a woman age naturally and have a few gray hairs. Dye it or not, it’s no ones business but the wearer.
Unless they make the claim they don’t dye for any kind of gain.
I’d prefer she decide on ONE hair colour and stick to it instead of going from dark-to-light and viceversa all the time. But that’s just MY preference and she can do whatever she wants with her hair.
This hairdresser needs to sit down.
“decide on ONE hair colour and stick to it instead of going from dark-to-light and viceversa all the time” — LOL, but that’s what I do! I dye my hair when I get bored and want a change, and if my grey hairs happen to get covered that’s just a bonus. 🙂
This guy just sounds like a jerk of the highest order.
She has so many issues for supporting her role. Roots are not one of them.
If anything this article helps her publicity as people will rush to her defence. And her and William will use this as an example of how the media is mean to them and how they need more vacations.
“Kate is such a style icon…’
BWAHAHAHAHAHA
It’s called the Kate Effect. Women everywhere are growing gray roots to be just like her.
She’s no icon, but she sure moves product. Because of that, I hope she keeps the grey; young, grey haired famous women are very rare. I don’t understand why women have this obsession with dyeing. It looks worse than grey hair 70% of the time!
The quest for eternal youth is so exhausting. Grey hair is completely normal and natural. It will happen to nearly everyone.
If someone prefers his or her original hair color and wants to cover the grey, good for them. But the idea that women should be compelled to cover their grey is just silly.
This hair dresser must not follow trends in hair dye because that is the latest craze – dyeing ones hair gray.
My life goal is to have hair like Emmylou Harris. Her hair is everything.
Oh whatever, grey hair is perfectly fine and I’m glad she rocks it occasionally. That hairdresser is a jerk.
…Says Nicky Clarke, with the hairstyle of an ’00s boyband reject.
I got my first grey hair when I turned 19. I sort of hope I won’t bow to the pressure of dyeing it once more greys crop up, because I think grey or white hair can look gorgeous. Meryl Streep in Devil Wears Prada is ultimate hair goals.
When I first saw these photos some time ago, I thought it was a dichotomy that Kate would get her hair styled by a hairdresser but that she and the hairdresser wouldn’t mention the gray roots.
I read that she gets natural dye. Then I’ve read that she stops dying her hair when she’s in the early pregnancy stage, which I find odd because again, she uses natural dye anyways.
On top of this, she’s been reported to leak to peasants bits of news about her pregnancy when she’s out mingling with them, like gender and such, when she’s not supposed to leak any info.
Imo, something like a pregnancy is what she thinks connects her more to her position in the BRF. And coming from a family with lifelong social climbing ambitions, of course she’d want to blab it out as soon as possible, because she’d think it establishes her place within the BRF even that much more. To her and the Middletons, this is the ultimate news next to the engagement and wedding.
Also, I think she uses her looks or appearance to send messages publicly to people, like she’s done when William dumped her.
So I think it’s a possibility that when she lets her gray roots show, it’s not due to being afraid of using the natural hair dye she regularly uses, but that it’s her way of telling the public she’s pregnant but can’t officially come out and say it.
These photos of her gray roots were taken, iirc, during her early pregnancy. Correct me if I’m wrong.
I doubt Kate and her hairdresser (who reportedly, iirc, comes to her when she wants) weren’t able to find 10 minutes to apply natural hair dye to her roots.
The length of gray roots in these photos looks like over a week or two of purposely not wanting to use hair dye.
Jmo.
you might be onto something………….
It is a good theory (pregnancy) but isn’t proven by these pictures. We’d need to find photos from Nov 2012 or Aug 2014 to see if it holds true. In this post, the two in the red coat are November 2013. Blue coat was when she was 7 months pregnant. The hot pink was from March 2015. Wait, didn’t she get the terrible 70s bangs just before the first pregnancy was announced?
I could see her deliberately not coloring her hair prior to a rare royal engagement. PR sympathy plea to make people forget she has 2 nannies and a $300 hour hairdresser. “Gee, she’s just an overworked SAHM like me!” kind of thing.
Kate dyed while pregnant.
Those sympathy tired Kate photos were angles. Some less touched up or less flattering overall went to Kate being too tired caring for baby/new mom stuff articles. Same photos or same events were touched up with a heavy hand like all the others and went with sunny articles about Kate working and bouncing back from child birth.
It’s all in the angle/spin.
I don’t see a problem with using the great privilege she has – a hairdresser on standby. If anyone, she can afford it and the master himself or herself will be happy to have such a major client. So it’s a win-win. It’s not about being perfect all the time as a woman. It’s more like using what you got – if you can afford a fridge, why not use it?
I started getting grey hair when I was like 22. My whole family greys early plus we have a hereditary grey front streak (think Stacey London). I happen to like it and think it gives me character at my age so his dude can suck it.
If this dude didn’t have his head so far up his arse he’d know that grey is the new blonde. It’s actually “in” to show your greys instead of dying them. I stopped colouring my hair about 5 years ago and love it. My hair has never been healthier (and think of the money I’m saving). I see my grey hair as a badge of honour….I’ve earned every last damn one of them!
YEA JADED!!!
Love your grays! We’ve all earned them.
There is a spray for all hair colors that you can spray on over the grey in between colors to cover grey. Works great.
Grey shaming? This whole shaming thing is getting ridiculous. I really don’t care what color her hair is. What she needs to improve is her work ethic.
I am no Kate fan.
However, public figure or not…a woman having a few gray roots makes her a candidate for shaming?
A man, on the other hand…is distinguished, sexy or embracing his mature age!
DOUBLE STANDARD
Question: grey/white hair is hereditary in my family and It started coming in in my early twenties–I have to be honest, it’s caused a lot of anxiety for me. Because I never wanted to, nor had the money (nor thought it was very healthy), to color my hair I’ve always just plucked these hairs out with tweezers. Now I’m afraid I’ve ruined my chances of the grey/white even being covered when I eventually start to dye it because the tweezed hairs come back so thick and kinky and seem like they will be resistant to taking color. I feel like I totally screwed myself by dealing with it this way! I wish I could be all natural and proud like some of you guys, but my anxiety won’t let me 🙁 If anyone has any advice for me I’d be so grateful!
A good hairdresser will be able to dye your hair the way you want.
If you do want to grow it out, there are some webpages that may give you inspiration and tips. I stoped dying 6 months ago, it’s a pain to grow it out and these help me. Good luck.
I know someone who had grey highlights put in her hair, so that as her color grew it out it blended in and looked more natural. And it actually looked really nice on her!
Tweezing your hair will not make the grey more resistant. Grey hair is more coarse than your normal hair.
Nicky Clarke is old news. He hasn’t been relevant for over a decade. He probably wants a publicity boost for his supermarket shampoo brand. He needs to STFU and go away.
I started going gray in my late 30s and am about 50% gray now. My natural hair color is black so it’s very noticeable. My hair is very fine and very soft and very straight. I colored at first, but I hated the texture and feel changes dye made to my hair. Even though the gray is slightly coarser, I still like my hair as is.
I do have a younger looking face (I can still get carded when I’m wearing a hat (not that i look younger than 21–young servers are paranoid about serving underage and err on the side of caution)), but often get taken for older, strictly because of my hair. I’m in my mid 40s, and all of my friends are coloring their hair (except for my sister!!!). Dude was right about one thing, because almost all women are coloring their hair, gray means 55+, not 40+ as it used to.
But blondes can get away with going longer between touchups than I can, and I just want to do other things with my time and money.
Not that it didn’t give me a pang when as young cashier asked my friend (4 years younger than me) if she was having a nice day out with her mom(that would be me.). Oops!
Ha! Nicky Clarke has been trying desperately to become a celebrity here in the UK for about twenty years. Just another attempt to get press.
I’m not going to defend the hair-dying rights of a woman who has neither a job nor a willingness to work. For someone who thinks it’s enough to look pretty and smile for the cameras for people to throw money at her, she should get off her *ss and get her roots done. End of.
+1 million, Bea
I’m sure some will criticize the two of us, but I can’t muster up an ounce of sympathy for this woman. She is my exact age and while I teach middle school in the inner city in a district where teachers are under attack and subsequently receive no praise at all for the backbreaking work they do, Kate is praised for wearing a skirt that doesn’t fly up. Nope. If she worked more, people would pay far less attention to what she looks like and way more attention to what she does. Notice, for example, how the words used to describe Angelina Jolie changed as she did–people have moved away from words and phrases like sex kitten and vixen and now use words like humanitarian, courageous, etc. Kate too has the power to change her own narrative. What she lacks is the desire.
+2, Bea and Resa.
The thing about tattooed eyeliner I am told is it ages with you, so people think it is that stark, but it fades quicker than a regular tattoo because your eyes water, however it is very painful,that is some ultra sensitive tissue. Just the little bit I know about the subject, I thought about it but I am such a wuss!
My own preference is for untouched hair color, but I really enjoy the pinks & blues & lavenders people are doing these days.
I love my grey, but it’s so diffuse and my natural color is a dirty strawberry blond that it just looks like more blond. But it is true white and I can’t wait to have a head of pure white hair just like my grandpa. He went totally white before 35, I’m 43 but still pretty patchy. I wish it would come in in concentrated areas so I’d have stripes.
Ugh this story makes me so self-conscious about my grey. I started getting grey hair at 21, and it’s gotten worse and worse. I’ve gotten highlights every semester since high school, and so I just kept up the color. But for the last couple of years, my hair dresser has had to dye all my roots and then follow up with highlight in a two-part process, and then 6 weeks later do highlights, alternating. It’s a huge time commitment, and I start seeing grey at like 4 weeks! I hatehatehate it. If I go to one color and skip highlights, you’ll just be able to see the grey that much sooner, so I’m stuck with this routine. My hair does look good thanks to my hairdresser, but I really wish I didn’t have to be so high maintenance about it. I’m scared of what my hair would look like without it. I’m 31.
I do have this product called Color WOW… it looks like eye shadow, but it’s for covering up roots and grey temporarily. It stays in until you wash your hair. It is a game changer for me.