silver newbie with questions

I Have, for the past fortnight been deciding whether to just go grey/silver and stop the dyeing as I have to retouch every 4 - 6 weeks. My natural hair used to be jet black and for many years now, have been dyeing it blue black so you can imagine that there is no way to disguise the regrowth.  I still have black eyelashes and eyebrows are mostly still black.  I was on very strong pain medication for years, then cortisone, then 1 year on chemo' for immune problems, which I just finnished in January.  My hair seems to have thinned out considerably and gone silver or pure white. I did have a few greys very early on, but it has accelerated since being on the chemo.  I have a lot of thinning also, which is very noticable especially under flourescent lights. ( the shopping mall for eg).  At the moment my hair is blue black with 2 centimitres of silver roots, and down to my shoulders. I ve been trying to find a dark ash brown or a medium ash brown but they don't seem to exist anymore, the red dyes seem to rule.  The manufacturers of these products need to relealize that there are a hell of a lot of women, who cant wear these dyes, because they have too much red in their skin which can be caused by hormonal changes aka menopause for instance. I think l' Oreal used to make one. If they still do I havnt been able to find it in years.  The ash colors are really necessary I think.  I am also going to hunt down the best colorist in my city, and ask for his or her advice.  Personally I think Silver hair can look gorgeous, look at richard gere, and I saw a film with Vanessa Redgrave yesterday and she was completely grey and looked lovely.  I turned 49 last  Saturday and thought well there is nothing like a complete change, actually it would be a good way to be annonymous as nobody will recognize me.

I Have, for the past fortnight been deciding whether to just go grey/silver and stop the dyeing as I have to retouch every 4 - 6 weeks. My natural hair used to be jet black and for many years now, have been dyeing it blue black so you can imagine that there is no way to disguise the regrowth.  I still have black eyelashes and eyebrows are mostly still black.  I was on very strong pain medication for years, then cortisone, then 1 year on chemo' for immune problems, which I just finnished in January.  My hair seems to have thinned out considerably and gone silver or pure white. I did have a few greys very early on, but it has accelerated since being on the chemo.  I have a lot of thinning also, which is very noticable especially under flourescent lights. ( the shopping mall for eg).  At the moment my hair is blue black with 2 centimitres of silver roots, and down to my shoulders. I ve been trying to find a dark ash brown or a medium ash brown but they don't seem to exist anymore, the red dyes seem to rule.  The manufacturers of these products need to relealize that there are a hell of a lot of women, who cant wear these dyes, because they have too much red in their skin which can be caused by hormonal changes aka menopause for instance. I think l' Oreal used to make one. If they still do I havnt been able to find it in years.  The ash colors are really necessary I think.  I am also going to hunt down the best colorist in my city, and ask for his or her advice.  Personally I think Silver hair can look gorgeous, look at richard gere, and I saw a film with Vanessa Redgrave yesterday and she was completely grey and looked lovely.  I turned 49 last  Saturday and thought well there is nothing like a complete change, actually it would be a good way to be annonymous as nobody will recognize me.

Look at it this way.  A very popular style among teens and tweens now is blond in front and brown in back.  So we are on the cutting edge of style naturally! 

 

As far as conditioning goes, the only part of your hair that really needs conditioning is the ends.  I don't apply conditioner higher than my ears. 

I use Shimmer Lights shampoo for gray hair.  I use a leave-in conditioner that I get at a salon; I think it is Paul Mitchell.  I am trying the Pantene Silver product, but left it at my mom's when I went to visit my in-laws so I've only used it once.  Pantene makes my hair feel wonderful, but it does tend to go flat after a while. 

 

 

 

I think your best option would be to go to a salon and talk to the professionals.  I think if you got lowlights, heavy at first and then gradually less and less, it would look like you were going gray naturally but very rapidly.  Or you can stand the stripes until it has grown out to a length you can tolerate. 

Look at it this way.  A very popular style among teens and tweens now is blond in front and brown in back.  So we are on the cutting edge of style naturally! 

 

As far as conditioning goes, the only part of your hair that really needs conditioning is the ends.  I don't apply conditioner higher than my ears. 

I use Shimmer Lights shampoo for gray hair.  I use a leave-in conditioner that I get at a salon; I think it is Paul Mitchell.  I am trying the Pantene Silver product, but left it at my mom's when I went to visit my in-laws so I've only used it once.  Pantene makes my hair feel wonderful, but it does tend to go flat after a while. 

 

 

I used the Shimmering Lights this morning and my silver really looks lovely
Frankly I usually stick to ingredients that are more natural so what I might do is shampoo my hair with my other shampoo and then use the SL on the front/sides where the gray is. Thanks for the tip about the conditioner only on the ends, good idea. My gray tends to look dry easily but as you mentioned alot of conditioners cause the hair to go flat I did buy some Roux White Minx mousse, I was reluctant as its full of chemicals but I did use it on front and sides this morning and perhaps that is also helping the color to look so nice.

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I use Shimmer Lights shampoo for gray hair.  I use a leave-in conditioner that I get at a salon; I think it is Paul Mitchell.  I am trying the Pantene Silver product, but left it at my mom's when I went to visit my in-laws so I've only used it once.  Pantene makes my hair feel wonderful, but it does tend to go flat after a while.