The youthfulness that comes with being a natural redhead is undeniable. Not only are you fresh-faced from your year-round SPF use, but your ability to hold onto your red hair shade for longer is another huge perk. Instead of going grey like most people, redheads generally go through another phenomenon: achromotrichia.
Indeed, it has a name. Put simply, ‘achromotrichia’ is defined as the absence or loss of pigmentation in the hair.
Thanks to genetics, gingers tend to retain their red hair colour for a lot longer, skipping out the greying stage that most other people experience. And, if they use henna-infused red hair products, they can expect to keep their shade boosted and maintained for longer, too.
The way it works, is when red hair follicles stop producing their warm, ginger pigment, the colour begins to melt away from red through a glorious spectrum of faded copper to rosy-blonde colours, through to silvery-white. It’s a sight to be seen, giving an almost autumnal effect as your red hair moves into its ‘silver fox’ phase.
SHOULD I EMBRACE MY FADING RED HAIR?
You can either embrace the achromotrichia or decide to keep your red hair looking vibrant for longer. Either is beautiful.
For this, you could find yourself a tip-top stylist to help you colour-match a dye with your natural shade, but this is a high maintenance option due to inevitable regrowth and upkeep (dyed red hair actually fades faster than other dyed shades). Instead, using henna-infused hair products that work with your starting shade help to enhance the vibrancy of the existing reddish highlights and lowlights in the strands, maintaining your ginger shade for longer.
Remember: whichever option you go for, you’ll always be a redhead at heart.
2 comments
I’ve kept my red actually alburn hair blonde for years , but in order convince my 12 year old granddaughter to grow hers to a longer length we had to deal. She’s like you go natural, so not knowing what I would get into being 50ish almost 60 Idid as she asked, and much to my surprise it’s still alburn. Needless to say even though my mom wop also had natural alburn had turned a lighter shade of red with a few whitish streaks in front the only one I have is the one streak at the nap of my neck that I was born with… Pleasant surprise I must say.
Ps
My maternal grandmother’s hair changed hardly at all.
I’ve kept my red actually alburn hair blonde for years , but in order convince my 12 year old granddaughter to grow hers to a longer length we had to deal. She’s like you go natural, so not knowing what I would get into being 50ish almost 60 Idid as she asked, and much to my surprise it’s still alburn. Needless to say even though my mom wop also had natural alburn had turned a lighter shade of red with a few whitish streaks in front the only one I have is the one streak at the nap of my neck that I was born with… Pleasant surprise I must say.
Ps
My maternal grandmother’s hair changed hardly at all.