Redheads and Achromotrichia: Do Gingers Go Grey?

Natural red hair goes through a phenomenon that usually sees it fade through strawberry blonde or rose shades, before turning white or silver. It’s called ‘achromotrichia‘, and it’s totally different to the salt-and-pepper grey that most other people experience.

It’s all thanks to our ginger genetics, and how they handle pigment.

How does achromotrichia work?

Simply put, achromotrichia is the absence of pigment in the hair. But while non-redheads gradually go grey and then perhaps to fully white hair, redheads actually retain their ginger colour for a lot longer, skipping out the greying stage. Sometimes they ‘brown out’, and sometimes they fade through a beautiful spectrum of strawberries and peaches.

There are ways to maintain your red colour though, such as the wise use of henna-infused hair products for redheads. Through a low level of henna, you can keep your gingerness for longer in a natural-looking way (much better than reaching for the dye).

When our red hair follicles stop producing its gingerish pigment, we instead fade from red through a glorious spectrum of faded copper to rosy-blonde colours, through to silvery-white.

So the next time someone asks you whether redheads go grey, you can confirm the classy fading of ginger hair to silvery-white, and educate them on the ways of achromotrichia.

And remember: no matter what happens, you’ll always be a redhead at heart.