A website in the United States that advertises men's hair-care products describes going grey as a badge of honour, a symbol of lessons learned, a reflection of sophisticated taste. When you think of grey, think of Paul Newman, who is just as attractive with grey hair, or Sean Connery, who has given up toupees for a sexy balding look with grey on the sides.
Women in the public eye need even more courage to be grey, but Honor Blackman, the former golden-haired Bond girl (she played Pussy Galore in Goldfinger in 1964), is one who has opted for a silver look. In September last year, she even helped launch Grey Chic, a hair-care product aimed at "celebrating greyness".
And there's Judi Dench: the Oscar-winning dame is an icon for white-haired women everywhere. Recent photos of Helen Mirren show the actress is not afraid to let a few grey streaks mingle with the blond. And as for Germaine Greer: she would have to, wouldn't she?
It might be a long time before silver-haired Irish women (and men) are so confident about seeing grey hair as something to be respected, but growing numbers are rejecting hair dyes and choosing to go grey gracefully.
For some women, the decision to stop being slaves to their hair colour can be one of the most liberating experiences of their lives. For others, fears about the harshness of the chemicals used in some hair dyes have prompted them to abandon artificial colourants.
Stephen and Gina Antczak addressed fears about the potential long-term damage that commonly used colourants can cause in their recent book, Cosmetics Unmasked - Your Family Guide to Safe Cosmetics and Allergy-free Toiletries. They claimed that "permanent" hair dyes contained some "potentially damaging ingredients", but admitted they had not found any evidence that any of the ingredients they were concerned about had caused cancer in humans - "yet".
The clinical psychologist Marie Murray says women who have decided to go grey naturally are generally strong, courageous and full of self-esteem.
"They have a real sense of demanding that people accept them as they are rather than what society dictates they should be," she says.
The age at which hair starts to lose its pigment is believed to be genetically predetermined. Murray says that just because a woman wants to maintain her original colour, it does not necessarily mean she's unable to accept the ageing process. "If you go grey in your 20s or 30s, you have an absolute right to retain your own hair colour. It doesn't mean you're lacking in self esteem."
Murray says the reason why a woman chooses to dye her hair is more important that the outcome of the decision. "If you colour your hair because you feel compelled to for the sake of others, because you think you'll be loved or highly regarded, that's not a good decision."
The context in which women decide to dye or not to dye is also important. Those in certain professions, who have invested a great deal in their physical appearance over the years, can feel under enormous pressure to maintain a youthful look. Some of them come to dread the ageing process. Not all women feel this pressure, however.
"If you're in a loving, stable relationship and you're always accepted for what you are, obviously it's easier to make the transition through the decades. It's a matter of context," says Murray.
Michael Doyle, creative director at the Peter Mark hair salon in St Stephen's Green Shopping Centre, says attractive grey hair rarely comes naturally.
The average woman will have to work hard to achieve the glamorous silver tresses modelled by actresses such as Honor Blackman.
"There's a certain type of grey hair that looks beautiful, but it's hard to achieve. Nine times out of 10, it doesn't happen the way you want it," says Doyle.
"It is rare for a head of hair to go grey evenly. There is a tendency for grey hairs to pepper the front of the head while the back remains darker.
"Pigment cells located at the base of the hair follicle produce the dominant colour of youth. As we age, the pigment cells die and colour is lost - a process that takes between 10 and 20 years.
"Grey or white hair, which is in fact colourless or non-pigmented, also tends to be very absorbent. This means it can pick up smoke and car-exhaust fumes, which turn the hair an unattractive yellow colour.
"So you can enhance what nature does, but nature doesn't always deal a fair hand."
Doyle thinks fears about dangerous chemicals in hair dyes are unfounded. "Sometimes there's scaremongering, but the amount of colour that would have to seep through your system to be dangerous would be phenomenal."
Marie Richardson, from Co Limerick, hasn't regretted turning her back on her bottle of hair dye last year. She was adamantly anti-hair dye in her youth, but the prospect of appearing grey in her sister's wedding photographs made her reconsider.
"I was seven months pregnant and was like a large ship in full sail. The only thing I could do was to keep my head looking as well as possible, so people wouldn't focus on the bump," she jokes.
So Richardson's hairdresser convinced her to have a "light rinse". "That was the beginning of a period of 10 years of absolute purdah," she says. "I'd sold myself in spite of myself. The tyranny of it! I thought: 'How have I got caught up in this crazy business, and who am I doing it for?' "
The turning point came when Richardson went skiing in Switzerland last year. She crossed over to Italy for a few days and was impressed by "all these attractive women who weren't dyeing their hair".
Some of them had streaks of their original colour blended into their grey hair, which Richardson found a more natural look than the flat colour favoured by most Irish women. When she got her holiday photographs back from the chemist, her mind was made up. "I was horrified at how dyed my hair looked. I said: 'That has to go.' "
Now, Richardson would encourage any woman contemplating dyeing her hair to think twice before committing herself to the regime of the colouring process.
"It was one of the most liberating things I've ever done for myself, getting rid of that tyranny."
Richardson feels that many women fail to look as attractive they could, because they insist on trying to recapture the hair colour of their youth.
"As women, we have to trust that we can be attractive and pleasing to ourselves and our partners and allow nature to work in harmony with our personalities."