Glad to be grey!?

Hello, all Seniors. Me again!  Just been reading all the horror stories about the things that can go wrong when people dye their hair. I used dye for over 20 years before I stopped. Luckily, I never had any major disasters, unless you count the reddish brown colour that was professionally applied.  It faded to pink!  I quite liked it though.

Would love to hear from anyone who has any grey.  Do you like it or hate it?  Will you dye it or not?  And why? Just feeling nosey today!

Mine is very grey at the front and still brown at the back. Wierd.  I don't think I'll ever dye again as this is me. My face is very young so some people actually think the white hairs are dyed streaks. 

 

Newbie here.

I'm Sharon, age 67 with grey/silver/white fine straight, just past shoulder length hair.

I have decided at this late date to let it grow to wherever it will...

I told my granddaughter I am going to grow it down to my feet, and she says I'll look wierd...she's 9...LOL...

Just learning about proper hair care, and things like dusting and cones...

Hope to lean much from all you nice people!!

S.  

Hi. I'm Mary in Scotland, have been dying my hair black since I was 15 and now decided to stop. (am 55 now) - Am panicking a wee bit in case I look ridiculous, so I need a lot of support here ! lol  . The hair is short , grey roots, brown mid length and black towards ends...I hate hair

My hairdresser suggested putting in thin highlights to soften the line between the dyed brown stuff and the lovely new grey and brown natural growth. I let her do it, and it definitely helped.  I resisted the urge to have it repeated and have put up with multi-coloured hair for 9 months.  By Easter, I'm expecting to be very happy with the results.  Reading all the threads about grey hair really helped. I also "googled" on grey hair and found a few sites that offer positive comments instead of the usual "the world has ended, I've just seen a grey hair!".

I look at this site regularly. If you feel yourself weakening when you see boxes of hair dye, come back here for some moral support.

my god sugarloaf I am glad you're here ! lol I know I will redye...I have done this umpteen times before and am too weak! -- we sound like the AA lol !

Hey everyone......new to this site. I need help. My hairdresser doesn't seem to know how to handle aging/gray hair. I just want a color like Joan Lunden, Barbara Walters, Mary Hart, etc. She keeps saying it isn't possible......any suggestions? I am 57 and hate menopause!!!!!

I had a hairdresser like that.  What they really mean is they don't know how to handle the loss of income when you stop the regular dye sessions.  I went through this about 3 years ago.  I had fallen into the trap of letting my hairdresser use permanent dye on my hair.  This was dark brown so looked awful when the grey roots showed.  As my hair grows very fast, I was paying a fortune every month to have it dyed.  That was obviously her plan all along.

My hair is thin and fine and letting it go totally gray would just make me look really "old". Right now it is about three shades......light blonde(not a pretty color) caramel lowlights and dark brown lowlights. I read that gray hair needs to be "softened" with peroxide developer for about 5 minutes before applying color. I just paid $120.00 for a hair cut and supposedly a few lowlights. It was nothing like I asked her to do and no one could even tell I had done anything but get a hair cut. I keep telling her that my hair is getting thinner, but she just shrugs it off. She agreed to do it again for free, but in the long run, I need another hairdresser. She just doesn't have enough experience, even though she owns the place........lol.

there are plenty of hairdressers....I finally got my hair fixed. I had to have it lightened twice and a lot cut off, but now its an odd colour --not blond but not brown either, its a sort of beige, and the grey roots are now an inch long and hardly show at all. If it goes brassy I will go back once in a while to have it toned down, but so far it it's very nice.

My natural hair was thick and glossy.  Years of dye made it flat and lifeless.  I threw good money after bad trying to cover up the damage with even more dye.  Now, since stopping the dye, my hair is healthy again. 

Hi everyone! I haven't been on here in a long time and I know this is an older topic, but just wanted to add my 2 cents and maybe it will encourage someone to "go gray" and love it!

I, like so many other women, had colored my hair for a LONG time (over 25 years!) and am now 62. I look much younger and people always tease my husband that he must have robbed the cradle...LOL Anyway, about a year ago, I decided to quit the dye jobs because my hair in front was thinning and I was doing it every 2 weeks to cover the gray. It used to add body to my hair but the last couple years or so that I colored it it looked flat and dull. I think menopause changed my hair as well as all the years of coloring. I have naturally dark ash brown hair but I always colored it a rich, reddish brown. When I was living in CA I use to have my beautician do it and she had a "formula" that she mixed and it looked beautiful. Of course, I also paid $100.00 every 6 weeks to keep it that way. After we retired and moved from CA I could never find anyone to duplicate her "formula", even though she gave it to me before I moved. Then I started doing it myself and it looked OK but never like she used to do it.  I continued to color it myself for the next 7 years until I started noticing the thinning and "hard" looking color. I decided to go lighter and put in some highlights. It helped soften the look but I was concerned about my thinning hair. I had to make sure it didn't get sut too short on top or you could see my scalp! YIKES!!!

Then I decided I was going to go "au naturale". I got on the web and found a wonderful web site (www.goinggrayandlookinggreat.com) and saw how so many women had gone from their dyed hair to beautiful gray that I knew I was going to make the journey. I have had blonde highlights for about 5 months and it does help with the transition. I am not brave enough to get it all whacked off at once, so every 5 weeks I get another inch cut off. I have maybe 2 more cutting and it will be done.....YEA

Right now I wear my hear short but plan on letting it grow shoulder length. I see I am a salt and pepper gray and it is very silvery. I have changed my makeup and it has made a difference. I get compliments even though I still have some blonde highlights left. Most of the brown is gone.

Don't get discouraged. My hair is more healthy than it has been in a long time. Where it was thinning has filled in and is nice and think now. I use Pantene Pro-V Silver Expressions a couple times a week and Alberto VO5 for gray hair at least once a month. I put it in after I shampoo and dry my hair and just leave it in all day. I usually do this when I know I'm going to be around the house all day.

Hope this helps.