Learning to love the ‘glamorous aunty’ look of my hair

When I was young, we had what seemed to be billions of Irish aunts. All were loud, lovely, glamorous and – I assumed at the time – absolutely ancient. It’s only since lockdown and the enforced naturalisation of my hair that I’ve realised most of them were probably in their 30s at most, but most had either pure white or salt-andpepper hair, which to a child meant old.

My father’s almost black hair started turning grey in his early 20s and I seem to have inherited that gene.

Since my mid-20s, I’ve spent a fortune, firstly having my naturally dark hair touched up, then when that became a bit like painting the Forth Bridge, getting highlights then going gradually blonder at the roots so the darker colour underneath didn’t show so quickly.

It’s a well-worn path for many, I know, but it still comes as a bit of a shock when you suddenly realise after many years and many salons that, although you still think of yourself as brunette, you have blonde hair. I remember thinking ‘How did that happen?’

A few years ago, I left my hair for a few months to see what happened. I hoped that when my natural colour came through I’d look like film star Dame

Helen Mirren, but it turned out I looked more like her great-granny. My natural hair colour was a particularly unflattering mix of greys which made my skin look like putty. I went straight back to the hairdresser.

Fast forward a few years to a national lockdown looming and the almost unimaginable threat of high street salons being out of action for an indefinite period. But guess what? To my surprise, when my natural colour started coming through again, it was a pure white with some strands of black, which suited my skin tone so much better than the bottle blonde.

Last week I was reunited with some family members I hadn’t seen since before lockdown and when a couple of them casually mentioned I was the spit of a couple of the more glamorous of the billions of aunts, I decided to take it as a compliment.

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I thought I’d look like Dame Helen Mirren – more like her great-granny