Do I have grey hair or gray hair?
(and no, it is completely irrelevant here what shade of grey/gray we are talking about!)
First: both are correct, but gray is the American version whereas grey is British English. Both forms are used in both US and UK, but in America gray is simply more common and used about 80% of the time.
As I am typing this on my laptop with the British English Dictionary installed, the spelling gray is actually highlighted in red as spelling mistake, and the autocorrect wants to correct it to Gary! So there is my answer I suppose.
I was writing a character description of an Asian Immigration Officer who wears a wig which is very obvious to identify as a wig, mainly because does not really suit him due to the wig not allowing for a single grey hair. He is of that age where a few grey hairs should show. Now the setting of this scene is going to be an airport immigration office in an Asian country - so there is the question whether they would American or British English. But in any event, I shall stick to British English in my writing. As always, consistency is key, so once you decided on one spelling, stick to it. And best not to mix up American English and British English in one book / article.
Happy Writing
Peg x
