Since going grey, she's started posting hair tips and hairstyling tutorials on Instagram. And she loves the sense of community she's found there, with others who are in the grow out phase, as well as those who have totally transitioned. You can find her at @silverbysally

Helen has done lots of things in her life, and in keen to continue to do so. In the past decade she became an age provocateur, advancing a new stage of life, elderhood. Her TeDEX talk "Embrace Age with a Longevity Mindset" had more than 100,000 views in the first week, and she's also written a book "Reset: Making the Most of the Rest of you Life".

Her grey hair transition coincided with a major period of change in her life, with a relationship break-up, her grandmother dying, the early stages her own business, and choosing to sell up and travel full time all happening around the same time.

Now at 47, Meg loves her silver hair, and the life she's created.

Mia started her Instagram page in 2020, because she was frustrated by the lack of representation of people like her by fashion and beauty brands. The page quickly led to her being scouted by modelling agencies, and finding a community of silver sisters.

Sue grew her colour out in Lockdown, and found them middle stages of her grow out the most challenging. Whilst her family were very supportive, her work colleagues had plenty to say.

Five years in the making, her film "Gray is the New Blonde" had it's red carpet premier in 2020. Then, just as she was gearing up for a nationwide US theatre tour, the COVID pandemic had other ideas.

It took Minal quite a while to decide to go grey. Initially she had it it pencilled in for when she was 60. But last year, she decided that waiting another three years just didn't make sense, so she had the final colour in December.

Initially, her new salt and pepper shade took some getting used to, and she wasn't sure she liked it. The colour has continued to change over time, and Jo now loves the much whiter shade she has now.

Alexis chose to ditch they dye during her pregnancy, and has never been tempted to colour again, because she thinks grey hair is amazing.

At the time of recording, Alexis and her co-founder were in the process of developing an App, the Silvering Sage, to help women through their grey hair grow out. There's a waitlist you can join, that'll let you know when the App goes live.

Emily has been a sex worker for over 20 years, so I couldn't resist asking her whether men found her less attractive now that she has grey hair. The answer was a definite no, if anything she's attracting younger men now that she did before.

If you're interested in finding out more about Emily, she has a You Tube channel ThehonestfakeO. She also written a book called Sex is hard work, which you'll find on Amazon.

She's finding more and more of her friends are getting curious, and starting to ask how she made the transition. Although most of them don't yet feel brave enough to go on their own grey hair journey.

Catherine was living in New Zealand during her grow out, where there is a much more relaxed approach towards life, which includes attitudes towards going grey.

Angie stresses the important of being ready before you go grey. She tested whether it would work for her ten years before she took the plunge, by trying on grey wigs, which told she wasn't yet ready.

While she'd love to say that setting a good example to her daughters, is the reason she chooses not to dye. She is honest with herself, recognising that laziness, and the dread of the ongoing maintenance is the main reason she never got into dyeing to cover her greys.

Silvina went grey following a move to London in 2017, and has never looked back. Embarking on a modelling career, and becoming a grey hair influencer, who encourages others through their transition.

Sara and I have quite stripy hair, with some patches white and others our original dark blonde shade. Despite having less contrast than some, we were both very conscious of, and uncomfortable with, the demarcation line during our grow outs.

Julie's had breast cancer twice, and when genetic testing showed that it wasn't inherited genes that were responsible, she started to investigate other possible causes. That journey led to a passion for clean beauty, culminating in the publication of her e-book Clean.

She'd had a reaction to hair dye since her teens, and because of the chemicals it contains, it's the first thing she'd recommend giving up!

Emma works as a mobile barber, and one of the things we chatted about was her male clients' attitudes to going grey. And whether any of them are colouring their hair to disguise their greys.

Alison is passionate about keeping fit and strong. And at 68 is still being set, and achieving, challenging gym goals by her PT. She loves the gym, and plans to keep going forever!

Emma loves her hair in the Summer, when she here skin has a bit of colour. But can feel very washed out in the Winter, which she counteracts with red lipstick and brighter clothing.

Niki is a singer, songwriter and actress, who loves playing with the look, and has been enjoying experimenting with braids, and other styles that showcase her natural silver highlights.

Amanda's the only guest I've had who was tempted to send photo of her dog rather than herself for the episode graphic. Because she's so proud of him, listen in to find out why.

She'd always had her hair coloured at the hairdressers, and by the time she thought about buying a box dye to colour at home, they had all sold out.

Susan stuck with the grow out, because she was curious to see the end result... which she now absolutely loves.

We chat about how she keeps her hair in good condition, her love of fashion and bright colours, why her nickname at school was biddy, and more.

Jo had a change of career direction when she was 44, moving from being a freelance photographer to starting to build her coaching business. Her decision to ditch the dye was driven by a combination of looking to save money and being short on time and energy.

She didn't enjoy the grow out phase, particularly when she had a Pixie Cut to get rid of the remaining colour.

But all that changed when she was rushing to dye it one morning, and stopped for a moment to ask who she was dyeing it for.

Over the years, she's flitted between first natural looking dyes, then vivid pinks and purples. Now her hair is white grey again, and she doesn't think she'll be dyeing it.... but never say never!

Tina is all about making midlife matter. And has done everything from entering Mrs Galaxy UK (and posting about it on LinkedIn), to creating AWWA accepting who we are, with her friend Rachel Peru.

And it was the change in length, rather than ditching the dye which had the most reaction from her family and friends.

She feels more comfortable in her own skin now, than she has for years. And having natural hair is just a part of the person she is today.

Lizzie loves her short grey hair, both for how it looks, and for how easy it is to look after. Perhaps a good thing, given that continuing to use home dyes was never really going to be an option when she down-sized from a six-bedroom family home to a motor home.

Part of Juno's current attitude to ageing was forged by interviewing women from around the World for her PhD. And seeing first hand how age celebrated rather than feared in many of societies she visited.

Rachel lives full time on a narrow boat, so low maintenance, environmentally friendly hair care is very much part of her routine.

She's 89, and almost certainly has fewer white hairs than I do!

Aishah has come a long way since that decision, creating the award-winning documentary film White Hair Don't Care, which challenges the rampant ageism in the beauty industry.

She had her hair permed for 39 years, before deciding to stop 10 years ago. Now her hair is completely natural.

As a result covering her greys has never been an option for Rachel, as it could quite literally kill her. As a result, she's comfortable accepting ageing naturally, but has had both positive and negative reactions from others about her grey hair.

She originally had pale red hair, which faded to blonde, rather than having obvious white hairs. She has only ever used temporary dyes on her hair, which she started colouring at the request of her spouse, because her fading hair made him think about his own ageing.

Helen first started dyeing her hair as a result of a comment her sister made ahead of her getting married. So, I couldn't resist asking her whether her sister still dyed her hair! 

Emma's enjoyed experimenting with her hair, since she first dyed it when she was 12. At the moment, she's having fun with the effects she can create with up dos and her two-tone hair.

Franca experimented with highlights in the early stages of her grow out, but she didn't love the look, so she's just going cold turkey now.

She stopped dyeing her hair in the Pandemic, following an unsuccessful home dye, while she wasn't able to get to the salon.

I've heard such a variety of ways of going grey from guests in my previous episodes. Along with tales of struggles some of them have had with yellowing hair. So I thought it would be fun to get some tips from my (greying) hairdresser Liam Carr, who is Technical and Style Director at Toni and Guy.

She doesn't always love the aesthetic of her grey hair, or the fact that it doesn't work well with some of the items in her wardrobe, but that is less important to her than being as sustainable and friendly to the environment as she can be. 

She's had her hair short for over 40 years, after finding blow dries, breast-feeding and getting to work on time a completely incompatible combination. And wisely choosing her son, over maintaining a sleek bob!

Tracey had a difficult perimenopause, and keeping her hair dyed through that time was one of the things that helped her through it. But now she feels back to being herself again, and ready to embrace her silver haired chapter.

Sarah has no plans to fade into the background, and loves to wear yellow, which brings her so much joy.

Like many of us, she choose to embrace her natural silver hair in Lockdown, and was an early adopter for grey blending.

Karen was horrified when she spotted her first greys, but also wanted to be taken more seriously in her scientific career, so came to the conclusion that keeping them would give her more credibility.

Lori is a former New Yorker, who now lives in Colorado. The sunny whether means she has to be extra careful with her lovely silver hair to avoid it yellowing.

Unlike most of my guests, she would like to have had a some greys when she was younger, to give her more credibility in the heavily male dominated environments in which she works.

She first started colouring her hair when she broke up with her first hushand, first as a bleached blonde crop, then later bright red. Her hand was forced into going grey, when her hair would no longer hold the bright red that she loved.

Toni to the drastic step of a very short haircut, to speed her journey to all grey, and still likes to keep her hair short. after the grow out, her hair was whiter than she would like, so now she adds some lowlights, to give more depth to her colour.

Caterina's grey hair journey was partially inspired by a woman with beautiful, shoulder length grey hair who she saw on a trip to New York.

She found her first white hairs in her teens, and wasn't happy, because she thought that was way too early. From her early twenties until her mid-forties, she dyed her hair to childhood brunette. Rather than going for a gradual grow out, Aoife had the colour stripped in a marathon eight hour stint at the hairdresser.

We chat about the important of considering your make-up and the colours your wear, when you choose to go grey. Plus the amazing Silver and Sassy event that Annie orgnised along with Rachel Peru.

Her grey hair journey coincided with a big change in her life, as she moved from being a teacher to becoming a writing coach for authors. The move to self employment means she's also much freer to express her personality, dressing in the bright colours and patterns that she loves.

Listen in to find out why Kate laughed when she was mistaken for her son's grandma. Why she loves bright colours. And how going grey has helped her feel more like herself.

Her style has also evolved to include a love of citrine yellow, which works beautifully with her skin tone and grey hair.

We talk about whether it's harder to go grey if you work in corporate, her accidental attempt at dyeing her hair a child, why she loves bright colours, and more.

I loved hearing how happy Dain is with her cropped grey hair, with no plans to return to dyeing, or straightening ever again.

She has Indian heritage and was expecting a backlash when she decided to stop dyeing, but everyone was actually very supportive, with no negativity at all.

Since going grey, Jen has reignited her childhood passion for acting, with her new hobby seeing her appearing in commercials, films and TV.

Enjoy a 20% discount on the film streaming cost with the code: happiergrey

 It’s a double-standard I’d love to change, and the reason for creating Happier Grey.

Each week, on the Happier Grey Podcast, you can hear me chatting to a different woman, who has chosen to go grey. In the hope inspiring and supporting you on your grey hair journey. We’ll be talking about:

·     Why they decided to go grey

·     How other people have reacted

·     Tips for growing the dye out

·     And much, much, more.

In this first episode, I talk more about where the idea for Happier Grey came from. And tell the story of how I came to have grey hair and why I'm truly Happier Grey.