White Hot Hair

This post is a follow up to last week's.
It's rare for me to rave about a brand I model for but this one is different. White Hot Hair is a new range of hair care products created by a grey haired woman, Jayne Mayled, for grey haired women who embrace their grey. It launches on June 3rd, but the website is already up and there is a Facebook page and also Twitter. I meant to wait until Monday to write this post but when I got the brochure yesterday followed by  complimentary samples today - I wonder why they were sent separately? - I just could not wait any longer.
You may wonder whether I have been hired to push the product. No, I have not. I have modelled for it and it has been the most satisfying and fulfilling modelling job ever: as a grey haired woman, it touched me deeply at a personal level. I wanted to have access to products I could trust to work on my long grey hair and this one is the right one, at last. It is a range, as opposed to just one product which you need to match with another one from a completely different range and not specifically devised for grey hair.  I occasionally use platinum blonde ranges, such as John Frieda.
Don't get me wrong, products for grey haired women are already available, such as various silver shampoos, from Aveda to Touch of Silver - the latter is a mini range. But funnily enough they are not routinely stocked by normal stores, and some are only available from specialist, professional hair care shops or online.

It is liberating to embrace grey and throw away the dye bottle. But grey hair comes in different shades, some darker, some much whiter, and needs a lot of attention. I love my hair long - thus I defied the taboo on having long tresses at my age, as well as that of not colouring - and I love it shiny and white, perfectly clean. How can that be achieved? With hard work.
I am into swimming and swimming is bad for your hair, regardless of your colour, because of the chlorine in the pool. So I have devised a whole routine of caring for my colour - I regard grey as a colour - using argan oil when I swim and when I am out in the sun I revert to using head scarves, 1950s style, tying the scarf under the chin and back, on the nape - think Grace Kelly! I hate the yellow streaks of discolouration and if necessary I am happy to use a silver toner, to tone the discolouration down (had to do that when an inexperienced hair stylist used cheap straighteners, burning the ends of my hair. I was fuming!).
So when I was asked to model for White Hot Hair I was delighted. I tried the products in the range and found them absolutely right. I love the smell, love the texture. There is everything in there, apart from hairspray - I use it frequently.
Another necessary item to care for grey hair is a deep cleansing shampoo, but that does not need to be just for grey hair- or does it? I would have also liked a silver toner, to help with disasters such as burning by straighteners or discolouration by the sun, as an emergency remedy. Wella Colour Fresh has some good ones.

As Jayne points out, grey hair is like a magic key that opens new doors. You bond with women over their grey. I was at my GP today trying to make an appointment to have my knee seen by a physiotherapist - I am getting some weird pain when I climb stairs. One of the doctors was sporting a headful of white hair. I looked at her and she smiled. She knew exactly why I was looking at her and at that moment we bonded, without even speaking.
Grey hair is a lifestyle. I am grateful to Jayne Mayled for bringing out these products and I hope that for once blonde haired women might try them out too, just as we silver foxes do with the platinum blonde ranges. And who knows, it might encourage women who hang on to their dye bottle to take the plunge. Colouring is a bit like smoking: you give it up when you are ready. And you do not have to, if you do not want to, but if you do, there is no need to regard it as giving up on beauty and style. On the contrary.

(All photos modelled by Alex B. and taken by Daniel Ward for White Hot Hair)