‘I have nightmares that I’ve dyed it again!’
Beverly Clark, 52, from Surrey, felt liberated when she ditched the dye. ‘Inches away from the mirror, I parted my hair and inspected my hairline for greys. This was a regular ritual as I’d aged.
I met my husband, Graeme, when we were 23, and we both had a few grey hairs then. He just ignored his, but I was already dyeing mine.
For years I was a brunette, but I often wondered about going natural. “No, grey would age you,” hairdressers insisted, so I dutifully kept dyeing my hair every few weeks.
After years as a full-time mum, I took a degree in performing arts in my 40s. Wanting to post pictures on a casting website, I looked at photos of me with my dyed brunette hair and felt exhausted. So many years of maintenance, and who was I even kidding?
“Go for it, Mum,” encouraged my son, Alexander, 25.
So, I took the plunge and started growing out my grey hair. For a while, I dyed it blonde, too; a half-and-half look! It was pictures of this look that I posted on a casting website three years ago, and it was from there that I was head-hunted by Grey Model Agency.
As time went by, the grey grew out completely and I stopped dyeing my hair altogether. Aged 50, I was a grey-haired model!
It’s the most liberating thing I’ve ever done, and suits my grey-blue eyes better than any shade I could get from a bottle. My grey is so precious to me, I sometimes have nightmares that I’ve dyed it again!’