Kicking the Dye Habit: Going Gray

SILVER FOX
How Jamie Lee Curtis's gray matter made youth-mad Hollywood do a double-take.

MC: When did you stop coloring your hair?
JLC: Seven years ago. I wanted to stop way before I did, but at the time I was a spokesperson for VoiceStream Wireless, and they didn't seem too interested in the idea.

MC: How did people in Hollywood respond?
JLC: Oh, I had people who were emphatic in their disapproval, insisting it would age me. Now they're all eating crow and saying how right I was to do it.

MC: Since you're in the public eye, was the transition hard?
JLC: It helps if you can be courageous and cut your hair off like I did. It's much harder to transition with longer hair, since then you're stuck with two inches of gray roots.

MC: Has gray hair had a negative impact on your career?
JLC: I don't think so. Right now I'm making a movie where I play a woman who works in the beauty industry. I offered to wear a wig, but the director chose to go with my natural hair.

MC: Have you changed your routine?
JLC: My stylist, Sean James, keeps my cut edgy and contemporary — otherwise I can go Bea Arthur very quickly. And I love Phyto Phytargent shampoo. It's the color of balsamic vinegar, but it adds the most incredible shine to my silver hair.