Dear Millennials, Welcome to Your 40’s
Hair care at mid-life
If your name is Michael, Jennifer, Jessica, Ashley, or Emily, chances are high that you were born between 1981 and 1996. According to Statista, Millennials were the largest generation group in the US last year. Our numbers are estimated to be 72.2 million. Around the world, there are 1.8 billion people in our age group.
Does your back hurt yet? How’s your sleep? Did the “Dad bod” get you, too? Are you thinking about how to take care of an aging parent or pay for your children’s college education?
The first millennials turned 40 in 2021. As we reach mid-life, our needs as consumers are changing right along with us.
This morning, I had the chance to speak with Allison Conrad and Jay Small, the founders of Arey Grey. Allison’s personal experience discovering grey hair and consulting Jay - her then stylist - led the duo to research and rethink how we address loss of hair pigmentation, the reason our hair follicles go grey.
The result is “The Wrinkle Cream of Haircare,” a trademarked, research-driven line of hair products to slow and reverse loss of hair pigmentation. Bonus benefits? Stronger, thicker hair. As my hairstylist remarked in my last visit to the salon, “Every woman that sits in my chair complains about how much hair they are losing.”
Arey Grey’s “Not Today, Grey” supplement blends B and D vitamins with calcium, iron, selenium, copper, and antioxidants. In June, I took my first dose. At about $35 per month for an automatic refill, I figured the $1-per-day experiment was worth running for six months.
I’ll always remember the moment I found my first grey hair. I was sitting in my car, using the tiny mirror in the visor to look at something. But when I glanced in the mirror what I actually found was a white hair. I was 29 at the time.
In the eight years hence, life has “lifed.” Meaning, not slowed down or gotten any less complicated. Research suggests than the IRF4 gene only accounts for about 30% of why we go grey. Trust me when I say that the other 70% did me in.
Thanks to my dark hair color, every white strand sticks out. The thing about supplements and slow change is this: it happens so gradually that you usually miss it. It takes the observation of a friend you haven’t seen in a year, or the side by side of a photo to realize - maybe I did change.
This was the case with my investment in Arey Grey. I had planned to give it to the end of the year to decide whether to continue using it in 2024. Their marketing materials state clearly that the change can take a few months to visualize or notice. It wasn’t until the eve of my inaugural trip to see a colorist in the Bay Area that I noticed that my hair had actually re-pigmented. In fact, when I ran an informal poll on my Instagram account, 71% of respondents said that I didn’t need dye. Though I had far fewer greys, I was still self-conscious. My compromise was a demi permanent dye, which is longer lasting than semi-permanent dye but much less damaging than permanent color because it’s ammonia free. It left my hair extremely glossy.
My use of Arey Grey has shifted into its next phase: how long can I go without needing a re-up of hair color? I expect that under my dark and shiny new-do, my hair follicles are continuing to re-pigment, opening up the possibility that as my dye slowly washes out and blends with the half-inch of new growth each month, that I may be less grey, post-dye. Wouldn’t that be wild? A little temporary cover up while my hair reverse ages? I *love* how modern options are opening up possibilities that didn’t exist a decade ago. And apparently so do the venture capitalists who invested $4.4 million into Allison and Jay’s company in 2022.
If you’re exploring how to manage thinning, greying hair at mid-life, know that it’s not just “salt and pepper” or an endless cycle of at-home or professional “dye.” There are “supplements” and “serums,” too. In fact, here are my personal favorites: To the Root Serum, Live-In Mist (the perfect after-shower de-tangler), and Mend (a new leave-in conditioner with heat protective properties). Want more proof? Check out the company’s impressive results on their website.
As an Arey affiliate, I earn from qualifying purchases.