Alexandra Grant, Artist (And Keanu’s Girlfriend), Highlights Health Risks of Hair Dye

Alexandra Grant has been working as a respected artist for years. But she was thrust under a particularly bright spotlight just last month, after she was photographed holding hands with Keanu Reeves at the LACMA Art + Film Gala. Grant has collaborated with Reeves for quite some time, and they were photographed on multiple earlier red carpets. But this one stuck! And now every time she makes a move, headlines blare about Reeves’ girlfriend. The widely-beloved movie star was publicly single for decades, and so the unveiled relationship has become an object of persistent fascination.

But Grant has chosen to use her newly boosted platform for good. Her hair, a lovely natural shade of silver, has become quite Internet famous—it’s still rare to see women in the public eye who don’t color their greys. And so she addressed the matter on Instagram, in a post that covered both the personal and the political.

Grant posted a screenshot of a Newsweek headline regarding a study of over 50,000 women showing that hair dye and chemical straighteners were linked to breast cancer. According to scientists writing in the International Journal of Cancer, women who frequently use permanent hair dye could be increasing their risk of breast cancer by up to 60%.

Grant pointed out that the “numbers are staggering, especially for womxn of color.” She then explained why she prefers not to dye her own hair.

“I went gray prematurely in my early 20’s…” she wrote. “And dyed my hair every color along the way until I couldn’t tolerate the toxicity of the dyes any more. In my 30’s I let my hair turn ‘blonde.’”

“I love and support that every womxn can choose how she wants to look at every age,” she continued. “But, if womxn are perishing from beauty standards… then let’s talk about those beauty standards. Love to all womxn!”

Kudos to Grant for spreading such a worthwhile message.