Kate Middleton's grey hair shock: Why THOSE pictures caused such worldwide attention

Just a tiny hint of greying at the roots was enough to send the world's media into overdrive.

Kate Middleton

stepped out at the British Legion Event for Poppy Day yesterday showing off her trademark glossy brunette mane, with a few silvery-grey strands visible along her middle-parted hairline.

Fans of the Duchess of Cambridge were quick to lambast critics who claimed the minute show of grey caused Kate to appear anything less than picture-perfect - with many, quite rightly, arguing that looking after a new baby and attending official engagements were paramount to hair appointments.

But while the furore over Kate's locks has been put down to a world obsessed by her every move, today it's been revealed that it could be the result of powerful gender stereotyping - all thanks to hair colour.

Judi James, a leading body language expert, told Yahoo Lifestyle that hair has been used for centuries to "define" women, acting as powerful descriptions of who we are.

"Our obsession with hair is an evolutionary issue," she said.

"Because women sport bald, fur-free bodies and faces, our hair acts as a ‘flag’ to define us - creating a kind of verbal shorthand for stereotyping."

Judi explained that the terms 'blonde,' 'brunette,' 'redhead, say a lot more about ourselves than just our hair colour.

"The word ‘blonde’ is a powerful female descriptive term, as are ‘brunette’ and ‘redhead’,'" she told us.

"They get used lazily to describe age, personality and sexual appeal. And sadly so do the words ‘grey haired.'"

So does this go some way to explaining why an online storm erupted yesterday over Kate showing off a couple of grey hairs?

"One reason why we dye our hair is to prolong our youth and avoid the kind of age-stereotyping the crisp white-haired perm cliché produced in previous generations," Judi continued.

"Kate is young and stunning, which is perhaps why allowing us a peek of something associated (unfairly) with old age might have caused so much attention."

Interestingly Judi adds, such criticism of locks doesn't tend to be as 'shocking' about the opposite sex.

She went on: "William can’t do much about losing his hair, but it can still shock some people that a woman like Kate would forget to do her roots!"

Judi added that criticism of Kate's natural locks also reveals the truth about the current obsession for 'fake' seemingly perfect locks, thanks to extensions and hair colouring.

"Does it matter [that Kate showed off a few grey hairs]? Of course not," she said.

"Although cue a load of 'gush' about her being a ‘busy young mum’ etc.

"What it does is prove how hair-obsessive we are; with our current trend for extreme ‘fake’ in terms of colour, hair extensions, fake buns and straighteners making us raise our hands in horror at anything as charmingly natural as this."

Are you outraged that Kate Middleton's locks caused such a furore? Tell us over on Twitter, now.