Lifestyle Style Kelly Ripa Says She Agrees with Cher That Gray Hair Is Not for Her: 'I Need to Dye My Hair' Kelly Ripa opened up about her gray hair journey on Friday's episode of Live with Kelly and Ryan! By Kaitlyn Frey Kaitlyn Frey Kaitlyn is a former Assistant Style & Beauty Editor at PEOPLE. People Editorial Guidelines and Dave Quinn Dave Quinn Dave Quinn is a Senior Editor for PEOPLE. He has been working at the brand since 2016, and is the author of the No. 1 New York Times best-selling book, Not All Diamonds and Rosé: The Inside Story of the Real Housewives from the People Who Lived It. People Editorial Guidelines Published on January 7, 2022 04:17PM EST Kelly Ripa. Photo: Gary Gershoff/Getty Images Kelly Ripa has been very candid when it comes to letting her gray roots grow out. During the height of the pandemic, the beloved morning talk show host even started a "roots watch" bit on her Instagram feed. But during Friday's episode of Live with Kelly and Ryan!, Ripa admitted to co-host Ryan Seacrest that she was attempting to hide some of her natural icy hue at the time. "During the early days of the pandemic, I had embraced my gray hair privately while publicly I was using brown eyeshadow to paint my roots some shade that wasn't Santa Clause white," Ripa, 51, said. "But in real life, I go, 'Oh, I look great with gray hair, you can barely tell,'" she joked while shaking her head 'no.' Live with Kelly and Ryan After dabbling with going gray herself and later hearing Cher say she will never go gray, Ripa said she decided that she wants to stick with blonde. "Cher was saying that gray hair is not for her. She is not caving in, she doesn't care about the trend — you know, people are embracing their gray hair all over the place. Everybody's embracing their gray hair," Ripa explained. "I need to dye my hair," she added. But she encourages other women to embrace their natural hair color if they wish. "I think certain people look great with their gray hair," Ripa continued. "I think it depends on the person. I really do." In May 2020, Ripa spoke on-air about managing her grays herself from home. She explained that the texture of her hair also changed while letting the natural color come in. "Gray hair has a different texture. Anyone with gray hair can tell you, it's very wired. It tends to stand up," she said, adding the ways she's tried to handle them: "These little clips, and you can see I've sprayed them brown too, these little clips really, like, hold the gray." Live with Kelly and Ryan Seemingly confused, Seacrest replied, "It looks blonde to me," to which Ripa joked, "That's good. That's excellent. It's all part of my sinister plan to fool you." Cher recently sparked the gray hair discussion when she told PEOPLE that while many stars tried the natural look during the pandemic, her signature jet-black hair is here to stay. "[Going gray] is fine for other girls," she said. "I'm just not doing it!"