A woman has revealed she is ‘happier than ever’ after lockdown forced her to embrace grey hair after two decades of covering up.
Retired actress Georgia Zaris, 51, who lives in Surrey, first dyed her hair when she was 31 after she secured a job in a hair commercial and began splashing out £6,000-a-year in order to maintain her colour.
She was left gutted when salons were shut during the Covid-19 lockdown in March 2020 but within weeks, decided to embrace her natural colour and let the grey grow.
Georgia began documenting her journey on social media, quickly gaining 20,000 followers, and says she now feels more confident than ever, revealing: ‘For me, what started as ditching the dye has become about self-discovery – finding true happiness and falling in love with myself.’
Retired actress Georgia Zaris, 51, who lives in Surrey, has revealed she is ‘happier than ever’ after lockdown forced her to embrace grey hair after two decades of covering up (pictured left, with dyed hair, and right, her natural colour)
She was left devastated when salons were shut during the Covid-19 lockdown in March 2020 but within weeks, decided to embrace her natural colour and let the grey grow
Georgia explained: ‘When I was thirty-one, I got my first hair commercial. That was the first time I dyed my hair and haven’t stopped dyeing it since then.
‘The pressure to have ‘perfect’ hair in my industry was huge.’
She started regularly dying her hair varying shades of brunette twenty years ago, in order to fit in with each job’s specific brief.
She continued: ‘Most of the time, the job determined what shade of brown I was.’
Before the Covid-19 pandemic, Georgia would spend up to £6,000 each year to ensure her grey locks were covered, but she is now embracing the colour
The repeated colouring of Georgia’s hair meant that it soon became very dry and her hair commercial work stopped.
She explained: ‘However, my hair became very dry from all the colouring. The hair commercials stopped as my hair was considered ‘old.’
‘I continued to dye it as I thought that was what was expected of me. I then noticed a few grey hairs and then the struggle became real.
Georgia first noticed silver strands in her hair in 2000 and she continued to get her hair coloured by a professional once every three months.
Georgia said she often felt the pressure to have ‘perfect’ hair as an actress and dyed her hair for two decades (left, her hair before). In April 2020, she decided to let her grey hair grow (right)
Despite initially being ‘stressed’ and ‘worried’ about her grey hair at the start of lockdown, Georgia quickly decided to embrace the changing colour
As the years passed, Georgia found it increasingly difficult to keep on top of her grey hairs and ended up attending the salon every three-weeks to have her hair touched up only for greys to be visible at her hairline after the first wash – further drying her hair.
Georgia spent £250 on her colour, £60 on an Olaplex treatment and £35 on tipping various members of staff at the salon every three-weeks.
She explained: ‘When I started colouring my hair, I went every three months for a touch up – always in a salon, never at home.
‘As the years went by, my need to cover up the ever-growing greys was shorter and shorter.
‘I was going every three weeks and covering the hairline after the first wash. My hair was becoming increasing brittle and dry.’
When the UK went first into lockdown in March 2020 and hair salons closed, Georgia was obviously unable to get her hair professionally coloured.
Georgia explained: ‘When the first lockdown happened in March last year, I was so stressed. I couldn’t see my colourist.’
Stressed by the prospect of not being able to have her hair dyed, Georgia offered to attend an online tutorial with her colourist to try and maintain her locks at home.
She said: ‘It wasn’t that easy as the different colour/toner combination was so difficult you needed a chemistry degree to understand it.
‘I hated the thin line of grey that was forming around my hair line.. I was thankful I wasn’t seeing anyone.’
Georgia ditched the at-home dye and decided to start an Instagram page to document her going-grey journey
The retired actress is now determined to ‘nourish’ her hair by letting the natural colour grow out, after years of damage through dying (left, and right)
Instead of dying her locks at home, Georgia wore a hat or brown coloured hairspray to conceal the grey stripe that was appearing at her hairline whenever she left the house.
After almost a month of feeling stressed and worried about being seen with the grey hair growing through, in April 2020, Georgia decided to embrace her natural hair instead of covering it up.
She explained: ‘Then one day, I got up and decided I didn’t want to feel like that anymore and it was as easy as that. I decided that day that I was going to let my hair do its own thing.
‘I focused on nourishing my hair as there was so much damage from all the colouring. As time went on, I began to like what I saw.
As Georgia’s locks grew out, she began to like what she saw and felt more confident about her grey roots
Georgia said that while she didn’t ask for ‘anyone’s opinion’ when she decided to stop colouring her hair, her husband has been supportive of her choice
‘When I first decided to stop colouring my hair, I didn’t ask for anyone’s opinion – I made the choice for me.
‘My husband was onboard from the beginning telling me that if I was happy, then he was too.’
She decided to start an Instagram account, @georgia-goes-grey, where she now has an incredible 20.4K followers, to hold herself accountable in her silver hair journey.
Georgia started following other women who were embracing their natural grey hair and going through the same transition from dyed hair as she was and she instantly felt supported and inspired to stick with her decision.
After launching her Instagram page, Georgia was flooded with supportive comments and began to receive compliments from strangers in the street about her hair
But she explained: ‘My twelve-year-old daughter, on the other hand, was not so thrilled. She thought I would look old, unkept and people would make fun of me.
‘Unfortunately, she lived in her social media world which is not only toxic but unrealistic.
‘As my followers were increasing and people on the street were complimenting my decision, her attitude changed. She sees that I actually make more of an effort now than I did before.’
Explaining her motivation behind the Instagram account, she revealed: ‘I wanted to keep myself accountable.
The retired actress said she has been ‘blown-away’ by the amount of support from other women about her decision to grow out her grey locks
The 51-year-old said she feels like she can finally be her ‘authentic self’ after years of dying her grey roots and feels ‘happier than ever’
‘If it’s out there then there would be no shame and I couldn’t go back on my word. I started following other women who had already transitioned, then women who were at the same stage as me.
‘I honestly thought no one would care but what I found was a group of incredible women who were there to inspire, support and be there for whatever I needed.
‘I was so surprised at the amount of people who started following my journey. It still blows me away.
‘My account has become a place where I can be my authentic self – a place I can express what I love and a place where there is no judgement.
Describing herself as a ‘silver sister’, Georgia said she is now embracing her ‘grombre’, or grey ombre, natural hair colour
‘I realised I was hiding who I truly was just like the dye was hiding my authentic hair colour. Ninety-nine per cent of my followers are wonderful.
‘I get the odd comment from people who don’t follow me saying that I will look old or who cares about my hair. The other day a man left a comment hoping that I would get cancer. I have a public account so I take the good with the bad. The majority are great though.’
Georgia lovingly describes her current hair colour as ‘grombre’ – grey ombre – and she says that by embracing her natural colour, she has been able to become her authentic self.
She said she has found true happiness in doing this as well as saving around £5,865 in the past year through ditching the dye.
She said she has found true happiness in doing this as well as saving around £5,865 in the past year through ditching the dye
It will take around two-and-a-half years for Georgia’s hair to grow out completely so patience in this journey is key.
‘My advice to anyone wanting to ditch the dye is to understand the reason why you want to stop,’ said Georgia.
‘Be prepared for the ups and downs and to not sweat the small stuff.. This process is a marathon not a sprint and you must have patience. It’s just hair at the end of the day.
‘I want to continue having longer hair so the process will take about two and a half years. This sounds long but I am loving every bit of the journey.
‘I’m enjoying this ‘grombre’ at the moment and will miss it when it’s gone. Live in the moment and appreciate everything.’
Meanwhile Georgia is now planning to completely grow out her grey hair and believes it will take two years to ditch her brunette locks completely