The Times (05/Sep/2007) - To dye or not to dye

(c) The Times (05/Sep/2007)

To dye or not to dye

Anna Massey, 70, actress

I was born chestnut red but my hair went grey when I was 28. I had to dye it immediately as I was doing Frenzy for Alfred Hitchcock. I put in lowlights until my fifties, when I decided to let it go, and I haven’t touched it since. I’ve never regretted it.

My hair is snow white now and people often say that they wish they could have my colour hair. I think one’s natural colour always looks better with one’s skin. And once you start dyeing you can’t stop. I got really fed up with that, my roots showing every fortnight.

My profession normally demands coloured hair but you can always wear a wig. I played older women early on – a 60-year-old when I was 40 at the National Theatre, for instance – and people did tell me that I’d get more parts if I dyed my hair.

But I don’t care. Age is so irrelevant to me. In any case, you only have to look at someone’s hands and you know their age. The ageing process is something that happens to us all.