How bizarre that Sharon Osbourne and Jane Fonda going grey makes headline news around the world. Sharon is 67 and Jane is 82 for goodness’ sake.
But for women — and, yes, this is strictly applicable to females — grey hair is still a rarity, especially if you’re in the public eye. While men such as George Clooney, Brad Pitt, and even my co-presenter Piers proudly sport their salt-and-pepper sideburns, how many famous grey women can you name?
Sharon Osbourne took the plunge this week. She spent eight hours with the same colourist who dyed Jane Fonda’s silver crop, having her iconic deep red hair stripped down to a striking platinum white. She looks incredible — and so much more modern.
But, at 49, I’m not ready to go there. You will never see me presenting Good Morning Britain with grey hair.
Susanna Reid, 49, who has been dedicated to dyeing her hair for 20 years, explained why she won’t be glad to go grey, pictured: Susanna on Good Morning Britain for a feature on ageing
BBC presenter Miriam O’Reilly has said that, when she worked on Countryfile, it was made clear to her that she was expected to have ‘youthful locks’. She said: ‘Once when my grey roots were visible on set, I was offered a can of black paint to cover them up.’
In 2009 she was dropped from the show and later won a case against the BBC for age discrimination.
Thankfully, we’ve moved on a bit since then. I can’t imagine any TV producer telling a presenter to cover up their silver streaks nowadays.
And yet, you can still count the number of women you see on TV with naturally grey hair on one hand — only Mary Beard and Carrie Gracie spring to mind. But you won’t see me join those pioneers.
Older women have made massive progress on TV, but this is one barrier I’m not breaking down. For the time being, I’m keeping the silver under cover and embracing the brunette — not because I have to, but because I want to.
And, while I’m sure it would be interpreted as a feminist statement if I embraced the natural me, I believe it’s feminist for us all to look the way we want to look. Years ago, I was advised by a producer to dye my hair. I was in my early 30s and had only a few greys. I have done so ever since, and my children joke that they have never seen the ‘real’ me.
To be fair, I have no idea what my natural hair colour is any more — and I have no intention of finding out after 20 years of dedicated dyeing. I go to a local salon every few weeks to have my roots done when they have barely emerged.
Dyeing takes time, but I catch up on work while I’m having it done and adore that ‘just stepped out of the salon’ feeling afterwards.
One of my closest friends complains I spend more time at the hairdresser than I do with her, but I’m with 51-year-old icon Jennifer Aniston, who has pledged to keep her colour until the end.
Susanna (pictured) revealed she may lighten her hair over the next few decades, however it will be 30 years or more before she goes grey
‘I’m not gonna lie,’ she said recently, ‘I don’t want grey hair.’ Jennifer’s hair has always been one of the defining elements of her style and I get that.
A few years ago, I wore a grey wig for a feature on ageing on Good Morning Britain. Not so much a makeover as an exaggerated make-older. In a world where we value youth and don’t see middle-age as a time to let our youthful selves go, looking in the mirror was a huge shock — I couldn’t wait to get that wig off.
Let’s face it, both Jane and Sharon have had good cosmetic work done to their faces and their hair has been styled by the best hairdressers in the world.
My mum is 80 next year and looks beautiful with her grey-and-black-streaked bob. She was 71 when she gave up the dye, and said she loved being ‘grey and authentically me at last’.
And, at 82, I concede Jane Fonda looks more stylish and elegant with her grey crop than she did with her blonde mane.
Over the next few decades, I will lighten my colour. I may even go blonde. But it will be 30 years or more before — like Jane — I say ‘yay’ to the grey.
Who wouldn’t want to wear their PJs all day?
Female students of Rugby School (pictured) have begged to keep their Edwardian-style, so they can continue to wear PJs underneath
Most mornings I wake up so early that I jump into the waiting car still wearing my pyjamas.
So I’m tickled by news that the female students of Rugby School have begged to keep their Edwardian-style, ankle-length skirts so they can continue to wear their PJs underneath them.
The school was looking at making the skirts shorter, but the girls say the dowdy, voluminous style is comfortable, warm and takes away the stress of worrying about how they look. School uniform was hated when I was younger — and girls rolled up skirts as high as they could get away with — but I’d be happy to wear my PJ bottoms on air now.
Bill was there for me at the beginning — I’m so glad he’ll be back on the sofa
Susanna revealed she’s excited to be reunited with Bill Turnbull, while Piers is away, pictured: the trio on Good Morning Britain in 2016
With Piers away, I’m so looking forward to being reunited with Bill Turnbull. Bill was the first presenter with whom I co-hosted BBC Breakfast back in 2003, and he was patient and full of great advice as I stumbled through my first shift.
‘Don’t let it knock you off your stride,’ he said as my first live interview went awry. ‘If you make mistakes, acknowledge them and include the audience — they always know.’ It’s advice that has got me through many a sticky situation — and I follow it to this day.
Bill has incurable prostate cancer, but is dealing with it with his usual positive outlook and good humour.
I know that, like me, the audience will love seeing him again.
Dreaming of a grown-up gap year!
As the first of my boys gets ready to go to university this autumn, I am starting to dread the empty nest.
The only silver lining is the promise I made to myself that, when I’ve sent my last one off, I’ll treat myself to a ‘grown-up gap year’. I’m thinking South America.
In the meantime, I have become one of those people who sees mums with tiny children in the street and has to stop themselves from saying: ‘Enjoy it — they grow up so fast.’
They really do.