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Irish Mirror
Irish Mirror
Entertainment
Amy Denman

Paul Hollywood admits he secretly dyes his hair to keep up silver fox look

Paul Hollywood has confessed he bleaches his locks to maintain his silver fox look.

The Great British Bake Off star is famed for his silver grey locks as well as his signature handshakes on the Channel 4 show.

And now after years of compliments on his do, he's shared the secret behind how he achieves his look.

The 56-year-old TV star has confessed while his hair is just "salt" and no pepper, an occasional trip to the hairdresser helps him enhance his look.

He revealed to the Fuelling Around podcast: "I go to the hairdressers because they’ve got to basically whiten the rest of my hair.

Paul Hollywood has confessed to dying his silver locks to maintain them (Channel 4)

"Years ago, I was very pepper. Then I was salt and pepper. And now I’m just salt."

Paul added how is proud to have embraced his natural silver locks, rather than opting to dye them to a darker colour, as his hair was dark brown in his younger years.

He said: "So many people out there, they colour their hair on telly. I’d love to name them but I’d never do that to people. But people know. People in the know, they know. Ultimately I’ve got God’s highlights."

The GBBO says he used to have 'salt and pepper' locks but now he is 'just salt' (PA)
The Bake Off judge says he's been blessed with 'God's highlights' (Getty Images Europe)

Paul joked he is "going disgracefully grey and white" and recalled how he began seeing greys in his hair around the age of 16, but counted his blessings that he hadn't gone bald like his grandfather.

He said: "I started going grey when I was 16… I was 16 and I was in school.

"You know, like the Peter Parker’s [boss in Spiderman], I think he was the editor of the Daily Bugle and he started getting white streaks. I was like that when I was 16.

Paul began going grey when he was 16 (mirror.co.uk)

"But I was lucky I’m not bald, as my Grandad was bald.

"My Dad is still around and he’s still got a full head of hair at 70."

It comes after the Bake Off star admitted he found being famous "horrendous" and revealed he had to grow a "thick skin" since rising to prominence.

Speaking to the Radio Times, Paul said: "I’ve always fought against the word ‘celebrity’, anyway. Right up to the age of 40, there was no way I thought I was ever going to be on telly."

He described how GBBO was never part of his plan but he had to adapt his life because of it.

Paul continued: "There’s no school to go to learn how to deal with the press, or your day-to-day life, and how to block it off without going crazy and getting upset. You can’t."

He began working on GBBO from its humble beginnings as a new show on BBC in 2010 and has judged every series since.

After four series on BBC Two the show moved to BBC One for three series before being transferred to Channel 4 in 2017.

Paul's co-judge Mary Berry then shared her decision to leave the show but Paul has continued to judge the competition alongside Prue Leith.

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