I've had grey hair for a while now. It began around the temples when I was young enough to stay in denial about it and took off in earnest after I turned 30. Now, because I was born with the shade of hair that, if it were a dye in a box, might be named "Weak Espresso" or "Middling Goth", I need the salon every six weeks.
I can stretch that to eight if I have to, but by then I've crossed over into "nude pottery model" territory, a mere strand or two away from donning a cheese-cloth kaftan, grabbing a handful of crystals and calling it a day.
But it's not just the poor grey ponies who must spend and suffer; anyone who enjoys blonde highlights knows this story. People like us are the reason hairdressers are now called "studios" and "salons" and even "bars."
The procedure to get the particular shade or coverage you want takes around three hours – minimum. It's fun but it's a chore, kind of like dating before the internet.
And this is precisely why hair salons now resemble clubs. You've got booze, you've got loud, ambient music, you've got mild flirting, ("OMG, this cut looks gorgeous on you, babes!") and at the end of it all, you've got women and men staggering out into the street, lighter of pocket, and dizzy from the experience.
Every six weeks, the same dance. Well, until very recently. In this, the dawn of the age of flying cars and personal gyms, comes a slew of alternatives.
Starting with micro-foiling. Instead of using the old brush, this method involves real human hands and a much more subtle approach. It's quick, it's low-maintenance and available right now in Sydney's very hip Esstudio Galleria.
But! Best of all this method means that your colour can be stretched up to 12 weeks. If you don't have time for the salon, there's always Evo's Fabuloso colour enhancing conditioner, available in six different shades to enhance and revive your colour.
If you're super time-poor you could try the old Root Concealer trick. I do this all the time and nobody is the wiser. You just spray it on like you would dry shampoo and it coats your hair for the day. But, just like good skin doesn't begin with creams, but with what you put in your body, good, lasting hair colour is dependent on your shampoo.
I know this because – real talk – I used to use anti-dandruff shampoo and conditioner back when I was a naive foal of a person and then I'd wonder why my hair, though soft as a puppy's ear, was losing its colour the very next week after having it done. It's about sulphates, guys. I don't want to sound like an activated almond conspiracy theorist but sulphates are bad for your hair.
Again, I'm going to recommend Evo to you because their Ritual Salvation shampoo and conditioner is free of all that nasty petro-chemical stuff and it smells divine and their packaging is heavily reliant on witty words as opposed to oily promises involving air-brushed models with CGI hair. Where's the fun in that?
