Silver Hair Transition Story: Niamh

Niamh caught my attention immediately when I first saw her photos on Instagram. Sporting grey hair at a young age is a bold choice, and she pulls it off with style & confidence!

** Please Note:  This post contains affiliate links.  I only link to products that I personally like or that have been recommended to me by my silver sisters.  You can see my full policy here.**

My name is Niamh (age 32). I am a PA for an executive and I live just outside Dublin, Ireland. I am engaged to a lovely man and am getting married in September. He is my biggest supporter and always there to make me laugh and smile through everything.

I discovered my first small patch of grey hair at the front left side of my crown when I was 14 years old. 14-year old me was not particularly impressed, however, she accepted it as is!

My shock of white hair remained uncovered until I was 23 years old:

And not a single person had anything negative to say about the abundance of white hair sprouting out of my head!

Looking back I think a lot of people assumed I was dyeing it. People still assume that about my hair… which is funny considering the amount of time and money I spent between 23 and 30 on hair dye.

At 23, I began dyeing my hair for fun.

My hair grows super fast and I kept it in a pixie cut so I could cut all the dye out every 4 weeks and start from scratch with a new color. I loved it.

But over the years it became tiring to cover up my natural hair color. Eventually, I ended up dyeing my hair to match my pre-grey hair colour.

I always went to my stylist to dye my hair and she always did a great job but it was expensive and by the time I reached 29, I had to dye my hair every 4 weeks and use touch up sprays every two weeks just to keep on top of it.

At 29, I got engaged! I was so happy.

But in the back of my mind there was an anxiousness around my hair for my wedding day. Would I have to wlak down the aisle with a brown-stained scalp, or would I have to use touch up spray on the roots?

I decided it was time to make a choice.

At first, I continued dyeing my hair, but cut it up into a pixie again to ease off on the need to dye it ALL the time.

In August 2017 it was “now or never.” We had set the date for the wedding (September 2019) and I knew from experience that it would take about 2 years to grow out a pixie.

I didn’t want to walk down the aisle with dyed brown hair or a pixie, so I had to bite the bullet.

I was in a really corporate job and I worried about what they would think. However, since I had fast-growing hair, I decided to go for it.

I cut out as much of the colour as possible in the first cut and lightened the tips:

It took 3 cuts to get all of the colour out, but by Christmas 2017 I had a really short grey pixie:

Then I started the journey of trying to grow out the pixie.

This is not an easy thing but good cuts regularly and the fact I wasn’t also chasing the roots made it easier.

By Christmas 2018, I got to a bob and I am now well on my way to mid-length hair for my wedding.

During the transition to grey (and even still), I got a wide variety of comments on my hair. Most are really positive, some are not, but I try not to let the negative comments bother me.

I love being me and I am SO looking forward to walking down the aisle 100% authentically me.

The journey was tough but so worth it. If you are considering it I would recommend it wholeheartedly.

The first few months are the hardest but try not to let other people’s opinions sway you… other people’s opinions change so you can’t really rely on them anyway!! Just go with your gut.

Recommended Hair Products

I’ve no secrets to keeping my whites bright but I try to use a purple shampoo at least once a month (max 2 times).

I use a clarifying shampoo once a week, and I use a white- friendly gentle cleansing shampoo regularly.

Grey Hair Support

Best supports for me were my lovely fiancé, Instagram accounts such as @grombre, @jess_ic_ahhh, @katiegoesplatinum, @silver30s (and many many more) and the Silver Revolution Facebook group. All of the lovely ladies involved in these accounts kept me going.

Please don’t ever think that your greys will age you! Life ages you, but your greys are timeless!!

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