Former Miss Ireland and Dancing With The Stars contestant Grainne Gallanagh has opened up about how she felt when she made the change from her signature long blonde hair to brunette locks.
The model always had blonde locks and admitted she adored them, until her hair began to become extremely damaged from all the maintenance that being blonde includes.
Grainne told us, “I had really long hair my whole life and when I went blonde it slowly but surely kind of went really damaged and I cut it all off and I love having long hair, it gives me such security.”
Because of the damage Grainne had to go brunette to build up her strength again, but this came with a different impact than just the external colour change, Grainne was no longer recognisable as the “blonde girl from Donegal”.
“Pretty much everything that I’ve done [in the media world] I had really long blonde hair. I went dark quickly, I didn’t ease into it because it was so damaged and blonde was just constantly making it worse. There were so many times when I was talking to people and it took them a wee while to realise who I was… [Your hair] is a little bit of your identity and it kind of gives you some security,” she explained.
But something that finally made Grainne begin to love her hair, and feel more herself was the help of extensions! Grainne is one of the muses for the new Voices campaign with Great Lengths and it was during their photoshoot in London last year that she finally felt like herself.
She explained, “I looked in the mirror when I had the extensions done and I was like ‘oh my god’ I am loving life! I felt like me and it just was so nice to look in the mirror and just be able to swish it around, I was just so happy! As soon as I had it in I was like ‘I wish this was my real hair’. I just loved it.”
The Voices campaign was created to provide a platform for their accomplishments, and to empower other women to have the confidence to make their voices heard and reveal their true selves.
Grainne wants to use her voice to change people’s perceptions of strong, successful women and ‘the idea that only one thing defines us.’
She explained, “I was always known as the blonde model and there is a bit of a stereotype in terms of blondes not being intelligent or whatever so when I changed I felt like I lost my identity a little bit but I was also like I’m me regardless and hair is not who you are. I have to just figure out who I am as well behind it. It was nice to be able to be a part of it with all the other girls and hear their stories.”
Having a good hair day truly can be the boost of confidence you need on a bad day, Grainne told us what her go-to pick-me-up hairstyle is when she needs a good hair day, “When I have extensions in and have them down and curled that is my go-to.”
Despite some perceptions around extensions, Great Lengths are not just for length but can be used for thickening, volume and colour. Particularly good for thin hair, Great Lengths leave zero damage on the natural hair and can be an amazing confidence boost and solution for women experiencing hair loss or thinning side.
If you’re curious or thinking of going long or thicker for summer, check out www.greatlengthshair.ie or @greatlengths_ireland for more information!