Many experts are wondering why: “Women can do so much to keep their faces and bodies looking young–there’s no need to think gray hair will necessarily make you look older,” says Rita Hazan, owner of the eponymous salon in New York City.

The color of our hair, skin, and eyes is determined by the same thing: the amount of pigment they have. The pigment that causes dark hair, skin, and eyes is called melanin. Melanin is made in special cells in the body called melanocytes. Well this gets into why we only see brown, blue, and green eyes (typically).

Redheads actually retain their natural pigment a lot longer than other shades, so there is no need to panic about going gray or white. Natural red hair simply fades with age through a spectrum of colors of faded copper to rosy-blonde, then to silvery white.

The age at which your hair turns grey varies a lot per person. There are people who get their first grey hairs in their twenties, and others that only start greying in their fifties. However, the average age that people turn grey is around when they’re 30 or 35 years old.

Camouflage roots. To avoid a contrast between graying roots and dyed hair, add highlights and lowlights (no more than two shades darker, within your natural color family), which will blend gray. Or cover up roots with a temporary concealer, which lasts until you shampoo.

By far, the easiest way to go gray is to get a short cut. The silver will naturally blend in with your hair color as your hair grows — if you even want to grow it out. Jamie Lee Curtis has had this short, chic cut for years!

There are basically 3 main ways to transition to naturally gray hair: to let it grow as it is and be patient (a.k.a the “cold turkey” method), to cut your hair very short and regrow it fully gray, or ask your hair colorist to blend your grays with the dyed hair color.

Check out the four best tricks you need to go gray gracefully when you decide it’s time to give up the permanent color.

1. Start with a consultation.
2. Make the chop—at least at first.
3. Use the right shampoo to avoid dull, yellowing gray strands.
4. Start regularly masking for healthy, hydrated gray hair.

Most women over 60 will at some point find themselves dealing with grey hair. While this is a natural part of the aging process, some women still find it hard to let go of their “original” hair color, and resort to dyes, highlights or other methods to avoid going grey.

The best way to work out which shade of grey will suit you is to find out your skin tone. To find out, check the colour of the veins on the underside of your wrists. If they look blue or purple, you have cool skin tones, so opt for pure white grey tone.

This step of the process can cost between $40 and $110 depending on the amount of colour required and the amount of processing time. Once this step is complete, we need to rinse and totally dry off your hair. The next step is adding the pastel purple/silver/grey.

The process of going grey from dark brown hair that is artificially colored is very similar to if you have natural brown locks. It is important to condition hair before bleaching and wait a day or two before bleaching again. You will still be able to achieve a nice grey color!

To get silver hair, you have to bleach your hair until your strands are almost white. The darker your natural color is, the more bleach sessions you’ll have to go through to lighten your hair enough to achieve that ethereal silver hue. The bleaching process can be very damaging to your delicate mane.

If you’re not down to go completely silver in 2020, don’t worry—this shade of blonde with silver undertones is going to be super popular in the coming months. It’s the perfect shade to dip your toe into the ice-queen realm. Just be sure to use a purple shampoo when you wash to keep your color bright.