Natural hair trend is all white for women

Older women are abandoning hair dye and opting for an ‘au naturel’ colour in their autumn years in a new fashion movement taking hold in France.

The woman behind the ‘natural white’ trend is fashion journalist Sophie Fontanel, an Instagram ‘influencer’ who says she wants to put an end to ‘the dictatorship of youth’.

It all began two years ago when she decided to leave the hair dye in the bathroom cabinet. “When I started letting my white hair grow, I was starting to look more and more weird,” she said. “What helped me was that I was going on Instagram to show everyone this crazy woman look.”

This ‘crazy woman look’ got her many more followers, which now number 123,000.

“I talk to women who do not like dyeing very much, and I ask them why they do it? To please guys. But guys aren’t bothered by all that. Men, as they get older, go bald and develop pot bellies, and we look at them anyway!” argues Ms Fontanel, who also writes a weekly column in L’Obs called La mode pour tous (Fashion for all).

She has long been an admirer of white hair. “For 20 years I’ve passed women in the street with white hair and always found them very beautiful,” she told the newspaper.

The natural white hair movement that she inadvertently created already has a name, albeit an English one: ‘Going grey’.

“I see this white hair everywhere and I say to myself: “This is very good news,” said the journalist.

As for her own style and hair colour, Ms Fontanel calls it ‘blande’ – what she calls a sexy amalgam of ‘blonde’ and ‘blanche’.