Female celebrities’ most minor hair modifications often make headlines, but the fuss around Sharon Osbourne’s new do gave me pause. After dyeing it a vibrant burgundy red once a week for 18 years, she is now the chic spitting image of The Devil Wears Prada’s Miranda Priestly, pictured with a luminous white bob. Just a week before, Jane Fonda visited the same colourist for a stylish grey pixie cut for the Oscars.
Osbourne had reportedly felt “obligated” to dye previously, according to colourist Jack Martin, due to her role as a host on a US chatshow, The Talk. How little we see grey and white hair on primetime television – on women at least. This is either because they are much younger than the men they host with or dyeing to appear so. Usually, it is both. Think about it: Phillip Schofield and Holly Willoughby. Piers Morgan and Susanna Reid. Karren Brady and Alan Sugar. I have never seen a hint of grey on a female X Factor judge, but Louis Walsh has had white hair since it began in 2004. The Great British Bake Off seems to be one of the few places where silver manes among the judges are not gendered.
Unlike the gradual greying we celebrate in “silver foxes” such as Jeff Goldblum or Steve Carrell, many famous older women suddenly stop dyeing after a long-coming “sod it” moment. Jamie Lee Curtis said she abruptly quit after wondering: “What the eff am I doing putting a chemical on my head that burns?” Osbourne’s decision was unlikely to have been taken lightly; the academic Mary Beard fronted an entire Radio 4 documentary called Glad to be Grey, in which she spoke of the backlash she receives for daring not to dye while on TV. In 2012, Fiona Bruce said she doesn’t let her grey hairs show when reading the news; eight years later, it is still the case. Much of the hubbub surrounding Keanu Reeves’s “age-appropriate” girlfriend was undoubtedly down to her hair colour. She is eight years younger than him, but far greyer.
Society makes the odd allowance, for majestic actors such as Helen Mirren and Judi Dench or elegant, older models in high fashion campaigns such as Carmen Dell’Orefice or Iris Apfel.
Cara Delevingne, Rihanna and Lady Gaga have all sported #grannyhair too, a look that once dominated Pinterest and Instagram: because a shock of silver is celebrated when it is on someone so young it’s unlikely it’s natural. A few years ago, when grey braids were all the rage, a friend’s grey-haired mother’s decision to have them done was met with surprise; it was deemed something for millennials, since middle-aged women were supposed to be hiding the grey.
Hats off to Osbourne and Fonda: this is one hair trend I hope sticks.
