Grey versus Gray

Grey and gray are different spellings of the same word. Gray is more common in the United States while grey is more common in other English-speaking countries. The pronunciation is the same and the meaning is still the same – it describes a color when used as a noun and as a verb as in ‘something turns gray/grey’.

 Both gray and grey come from the Old English word grǽg. Woah. Didn’t know that! Over time, many different spellings of the word developed and by the 18^th century, ‘grey’ became the more common spelling. Greyhound and Earl Grey tea are examples of usage of the ‘e’ where the ‘a’ is not interchangeable.

So why did we decide to spell grey with an ‘e’ when we are a U.S. based company? Well, it looks better with ‘arey’ and it is a nod to the European-based derivation of the word ‘stop’ from the French word ‘arret’ (prounounced a-ray).

Regardless of the spelling, and for the record, we are ok with either, the meaning of the word still describes an aging process of the hair that we are focused on improving!