DOESN’T DYE – AND PROUD OF IT

Anna Massey, 70, actress

I was born chestnut red but my hair went grey when I was 28. I had to dye it immediately as I was doing Frenzy for Alfred Hitchcock. I put in lowlights until my fifties, when I decided to let it go, and I haven’t touched it since. I’ve never regretted it.

My hair is snow white now and people often say that they wish they could have my colour hair. I think one’s natural colour always looks better with one’s skin. And once you start dyeing you can’t stop. I got really fed up with that, my roots showing every fortnight.

My profession normally demands coloured hair but you can always wear a wig. I played older women early on – a 60-year-old when I was 40 at the National Theatre, for instance – and people did tell me that I’d get more parts if I dyed my hair.

But I don’t care. Age is so irrelevant to me. In any case, you only have to look at someone’s hands and you know their age. The ageing process is something that happens to us all.

DYES BUT WISHES SHE DIDN’T

Maureen Lipman, 61, actress

On the one hand, I’d love to grow out my dyed hair as I hate hairdressers. I went grey in my forties and I hate going every three weeks – it turns your hair into a coconut mat.

All the women I admire are grey. They look fantastic and they’re often quite feisty. They’ve let it go grey as a decision, not because they’re powerless. Men never dye their hair – why should we have one set of standards for women and one for men?

On the other hand, all grey hair is different. A mane of white hair with tanned skin looks great, but mine’s more of a dirty grey.

We shouldn’t have to dye our hair, or wear heels, or corrective underwear. But we do. Hair dye has released women from being old. When I did The Pianist with Roman Polanski he sent me to his hairdresser in Paris to get all the pigmentation taken out of my hair and it went a sort of pale green – horrendous. I sneakily had dye put back in it immediately and wore a wig instead.

DYES — AND PROUD OF IT

Sandi Goddard, 61, managing director of Goddard Delaney, a marketing agency

I look a lot younger than I am, as I’m not very wrinkly. So when my hair started to go grey I just wasn’t ready for it. Maybe at 80 I’ll go grey again but I can’t see when I’ll really be comfortable with it. I tried to go au naturel a few years ago, but hated it and my husband admitted afterwards that he was relieved when I dyed it back.

Most women I know in the business world do dye their hair as well. Women in whichever industry don’t want to see themselves as being old enough to have grey hair. They want to be viewed in the same light that they’ve always been. It’s a personal rather than professional pressure.

I started dying it as soon as it began to go grey, when I was about 54. But I really don’t see what the problem is. My husband has been talking about dyeing his too, although men often feel they can’t. Dying your hair is just part of your personal decoration. Of course we do it – just like we paint our nails.

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