'I'm 38, and there's a reason I don't dye my grey hair.'

For most women, the idea of going grey is something to dread.

It’s seen as a clear indication that you’re reaching a certain point in life. That you’re stressed or have teenage children. That you’re, well… getting old. But what happens, if like Cecilia Rose, you don’t have that window of 40-odd years to enjoy the freedom of natural hair, and instead, start going grey at 18, when you’re supposed to be busy dying your hair fluorescent colours and getting some of the worst cuts of your life?

“My hair has gone grey quite young, but what are you going to do about it? You just make the most of it,” the now 38-year-old lawyer told Mamamia on Saturday.

“A couple of people have said they think it’s really good that I’ve embraced my grey, but I don’t really think of it that way, I think of it more as accepting what I’ve got and working with it.”

Like many people who go grey when they’re young, Cecilia says the trait ran in the family.

“Mum and grandma went grey early, dad was grey at 27 and is now fully white; it was just something I was used to, I guess.”

But like all major body changes, Cecilia says learning what works generally, and what worked specifically for her in the grey hair department took time.

For example, dyeing over the grey with a darker shade is a no-go because the colour only lasts around two weeks before touch ups are needed. Ash and blonde colours, however, work a treat and the variations are far more flattering and offer a more subtle look.

"It's also a practicality thing as well," Cecilia says. "It just seems a bit ridiculous to dye your hair every two weeks. I don't have time for that."

Listen: Zoe Foster-Blake is all about the hair and beauty routine time savers. Post continues... 

Perhaps the most advantageous aspect of going grey young, though, has been the benefit is has offered Cecilia in her career.

"Because I'm not that old people find it quite hard to place me. Lots of women say that they really love the colour, but in my work I have a cross-section of people that I deal with, I find that men, particularly older men find it difficult to place me," she says.

"They often ask me how old I am, which is something you wouldn't normally ask in a work situation, but I think that they do it because they're just a little bit unsure about placing me or how to interact with me, and I think they need to get an age to gauge how they interact with me. That's the impression I get, anyway."

Do you dye over your grey hair? Let us know in the comments...