Going Grey

[mrsukyankee]

I'm 47 years old and I have been dyeing my hair for over 20 years to keep the whites at bay.  I don't know exactly how much white hair I have, but it's gotta be around 75- 90% for the top and sides and probably 50-75 for the back.  I have naturally dark brown hair that grows in with the grey.

Have any of you decided to go au naturel if you have greys/whites?  If so, how does it feel?  I'm going shorter with my curls and would love to stop dyeing it every 4-5 weeks, but I also worry that I'll look 'dumpy' or much older than my age (I look younger now).  I think my H would prefer for me to dye it (he's also prefer me to keep it long but that's not his choice).

[flex]

This is a good question because I've wondered the same thing myself. At what point to I accept my greyness? Do I let the unnatural color grow out? Do I need to have a silver dye to move the process along so I don't have light brown ends for weeks and weeks?

My MIL has beautiful silver hair since I've known her. I've been meaning to ask how she did it.

[ECB]

I'm 46 and have had the same thoughts. My temples are becoming really grey but the rest doesn't seem TOOOOOO bad. I mean, there is enough grey that I really do need to dye my hair if I don't want to look like I"m going grey.

I've decided I'll be dying my hair for awhile. I'm the oldest mom in my neighborhood/ school group and I really don't want to feel even older. The oldest of the other moms are about 42 and a majority are in the 36-39 range.

[dorothyinAus]

I hate to have my hair cut, and won't keep up any dyeing, so I'm going grey naturally. I like the way it's coming in at my temples, and for a long time I couldn't really tell if it was grey hair or blonde highlights. Now I see the grey, but they don't bother me. I think it looks kind of like a bit of natural highlighting. The only thing I feel bad about is as more and more goes grey, I'll lose my natural red/copper highlights and I like that flash of color in my otherwise dull mousey brown hair.

[flex]

Apr 24, 2016 15:09:51 GMT -5 tillie said:

I'm lucky (so far) because I'm a redhead, so I haven't had any greys yet.  It's just gotten lighter a bit, which I was glad rather than being the flaming ginger I was as a kid, lol. 

I've heard it takes redheads longer to go grey.  My mom is a redhead and she swears she has no grey hairs.


www.facebook.com/BuzzFeedVideo/videos/1461106100696934/

[Mrs.Rad888]

Apr 24, 2016 20:04:20 GMT -5 flex said:

Apr 24, 2016 15:09:51 GMT -5 tillie said:

I'm lucky (so far) because I'm a redhead, so I haven't had any greys yet.  It's just gotten lighter a bit, which I was glad rather than being the flaming ginger I was as a kid, lol. 

I've heard it takes redheads longer to go grey.  My mom is a redhead and she swears she has no grey hairs.


www.facebook.com/BuzzFeedVideo/videos/1461106100696934/

I dunno. I'm a strawberry blond and I've been growing grays since 30. Maybe it's the blond part that's causing the gray. Luckily, it's coming in more silver than gray, so it's just making my hair look lighter. I do occasionally have my red touched up when the silver gets too much and washes me out.

[Deleted]

mrsukyankee and you ladies who are thinking about going natural, I say DO IT! I colored my hair for years!!! Starting when I was in my 30's. By mid-forties, I'd guess I was mostly grey. The time and expense of coloring it EVERY STINKIN' MONTH finally got to me when I was 54.

WARNING: The process was a little drastic. First, I let the grey grow out as much as I could possibly stand over the summer. (This was with mid-length dark, dark brown hair, my "natural" color.) When I could no longer tolerate the grey roots, I cut my hair man-short. I mean to tell you, it was as short as I'd ever worn it. That was the worst of it.

From there, I grew it out. Rarely had compliments on my hair when it was dark brown, but now I get lots of compliments. I use a shine product every day and coconut oil frequently.

I am blessed with silvery grey hair. (Thanks, Dad!) The expense of coloring is gone, and I've never looked back with any regret. I know I'm fortunate. There's a lot of variety in grey hair. Maybe one of these days, I'll post a picture for a quick minute.

[aMrsin09]

I've been 100% white/silver since I was 37/38.  I'm just thankful it's still curly.  I've heard horror storries from curlies of the greys coming in straight
When I do decide to go natural, it still won't be "natural" 
I'm pretty sure I decided on Pewter or a Pewter /Silver

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[MixedBerryJam]

I colored when I was younger, then stopped for probably my 40's and early 50's. I originally had a gorgeous auburn color but it looked too unnatural when I colored to hide the greys, but it darkened to mousy brown by then. At 53 I was probably 50-50 grey/brown and went blonde and I've been blonde ever since. I love natural grey hair though and always compliment women who rock it. I love my colored streaks (green for spring at the moment) but I really want to go back to natural grey/white. I'm almost 100% if my roots are any indication. Maybe I'll steal your idea aMrsin09 and go silver via a bottle and let nature take it from there. I can still have my wild streak in silver!

[mags]

I was just talking about this Thursday at work. I am probably 80% white...white...white. I am so sick of coloring it every 4 weeks. I've been talking about it with hairdresser, friends, coworkers, and they all say the process sucks, and that I'm too young to go grey.
I do like the coloring it pewter idea! Im thinking once I retire that would be a good time.

[seabitch]

I am still dying mine every 6-8 weeks and it is a total pain. Now that it is spring and I went back to blondish the grays (around my temples) aren't as noticeable when they come in. Summer sun seems to help them blend in. Yay summer!

[mrsukyankee]

Apr 25, 2016 4:19:53 GMT -5 aMrsin09 said:

I've been 100% white/silver since I was 37/38.  I'm just thankful it's still curly.  I've heard horror storries from curlies of the greys coming in straight
When I do decide to go natural, it still won't be "natural" 
I'm pretty sure I decided on Pewter or a Pewter /Silver

Hahaha - I actually just pinned that top photo so I can show it to my hairdresser next time!  And yes, my white curls aren't straight but they are a bit less super curly than my dark hair.

[Mrs.Rad888]

Apr 25, 2016 4:19:53 GMT -5 aMrsin09 said:

I've been 100% white/silver since I was 37/38.  I'm just thankful it's still curly.  I've heard horror storries from curlies of the greys coming in straight
When I do decide to go natural, it still won't be "natural" 
I'm pretty sure I decided on Pewter or a Pewter /Silver

I also have curly hair, and it's mostly still coming in curly, but I do have some of what I call "Einstein hairs" which just get fucking nuts. They're really coarse and mostly frizzy, with no curl, just some kink to them. They remind me of Albert Einstein's hair.

[mortomo]

I say 'go for it'! The worst that will happen is that you decide to go back to dying it again.

I'm 46 and have been coloring my hair for the last 6 yrs or so. I had a bad allergic reaction to hair dye about 6 mos ago and the only solution that my hairdresser came up with is to pull my hair through a cap and then apply the color as a highlight/lowlight. I've done this once so far with a dark blonde and will be alternating with my natural light/medium brown color. I will always have grey showing since she can't pull ALL of my hair through the cap. It now costs me twice as much each time to get my hair colored because it's considered a highlight due to the cap! I really wish that I was OK with going natural.

I don't have enough grey hair to go grey. My hair has only a little bit of grey sprinkled in which is just enough to make my natural color look blah.

[shoeaholic]

I'm 54 and I started doing highlights to my mousy blonde/brown hair when I was about 40. I had no grays but my hair just looked dull. Then I went to high/low lights because it was getting too blonde. Then about a year ago I got so sick of the 4-5 hour hair appointment between the foils and the cutting so I decided to go to a single process. Now I just get root touch ups every 6-8 weeks. After all this time I can just tell my roots are some combination of mousy brown and grey but it never gets more than 1/2 - 1 inch of roots showing before I get it colored so I have no idea how grey I really am. And I don't want to find out any time soon. LOL.

[mortomo]

Apr 25, 2016 11:12:52 GMT -5 shoeaholic said:

I'm 54 and I started doing highlights to my mousy blonde/brown hair when I was about 40. I had no grays but my hair just looked dull. Then I went to high/low lights because it was getting too blonde. Then about a year ago I got so sick of the 4-5 hour hair appointment between the foils and the cutting so I decided to go to a single process. Now I just get root touch ups every 6-8 weeks. After all this time I can just tell my roots are some combination of mousy brown and grey but it never gets more than 1/2 - 1 inch of roots showing before I get it colored so I have no idea how grey I really am. And I don't want to find out any time soon. LOL.

Prior to my allergic reaction, I was only doing root touch-ups every 2 mos and then highlighting about every other year (my hair grows out into a really nice subtle ombre without having to pay for an ombre!).  

[scout8]

Hmmm. I really have no plans to ever stop coloring my hair.

[sweetcheeks]

I would love to go all grey, but I doubt that's ever going to happen. At 87, my Mom was only about 75% grey. I can't even go 'salt and pepper" because my own natural brown has lost pigment and is almost a charcoal grey. 

[Mrs.Rad888]

I've had variations of a blue-green streak in my hair for about 2 years now. I may just decide to stop covering up the greys with red, and go completely teal. I may be the 60 year old with teal hair, it's a lot more fun than a normal color.

[mrsukyankee]

I decided not to go grey this time. I think I'll wait until I can stand to grow it all out or cut it so short that it won't matter. But here's my haircut.

[Mrs.Rad888]

Apr 28, 2016 9:55:31 GMT -5 mrsukyankee said:

I decided not to go grey this time. I think I'll wait until I can stand to grow it all out or cut it so short that it won't matter. But here's my haircut.

I was just thinking the other day that I will eventually get tired of long hair, and your new cut is basically what I have in mind for when that day gets here. I'll probably still color it teal, though.

[mortomo]

mrsukyankee I love your cut! It looks very nice on you and makes you look even younger.

[spindle92]

Apr 25, 2016 18:11:52 GMT -5 scout8 said:

Hmmm. I really have no plans to ever stop coloring my hair.

Same here.

I can live with wrinkles but no way will I stop throwing bleach on my roots.

[Gato]

I don't dye my hair, so the greys just kind of came in gradually and I didn't really notice. If anything, I kind of like the greys because they are white and pretty. My mom went from a died blonde to white hair around age 55, and it looked/still looks gorgeous.

[Mrs.Rad888]

As my grays come in, they are coming in more silver/white than gray. I just get it colored because I liked being a redhead! Well, and also because I'm a Seahawks fan-that's why I originally started with the teal stripes, but now I just like the teal for itself.

[TBM]

If I stopped coloring my hair it would be mostly gray, but the crown has absolutely no gray, so I would look like I was wearing a black yarmulke. I don't think that is a good look for me. ;p

Honestly, I am not even sure that my gray is even flattering to me. On occasion I let it grow out much more than I should, and all of the gray next to my face is not a good look. I'm not too surprised since I can't wear light/medium grays at all, but I am kind of disappointed. I always thought that I could rock the gray. I found my first gray hair at 21 and thought it was funny, and I started dyeing my hair when I was in my thirties, but not because of the gray...I just wanted a little change.

I remember my grandmother still having salt and pepper hair with a little darker crown when she was in her 80s. I don't think she had much gray at all when she was my age (59). Now that I think about it, her gray wasn't particularly flattering to her until it was snow white when she was in her nineties, so maybe I will be dyeing my hair for another 30 years. lol

[drloretta]

I just colored my hair last night, and will continue for a while. Unlike my mom, who has the most gorgeous white/silver hair (yet still colors it), mine is an ugly brown/gray that I'm not feeling right now. And everyone thinks I'm in my 30s, so I'll be hitting the bottle for a bit