Look how grey I am!!!

[EyelinerQueen]

Story so far:

Have always been darkest brown. Started going grey at 24. Spent a fortune covering it.

Decided in January to bleach it and dye pillar box red. The bleach ruined my hair so I shaved it all off and decided to let it grow in grey.

I'm (only?) 33! I was recently diagnosed hyperthyroid due to Grave's Disease and have read a few articles that say there might be a connection between my premature grey and my thyroid.

Anyway now I just have to wait for it to grow grow grow. is my glamorous grey idol .

Anyone else embracing the grey?

I've been reading The Highland Fashionista's blog but her knock-kneed poses and dodgy outfits have put me off. Any other grey bloggers I should know about?

[Helpys]

It's a lovely colour- and it looks soft too. I have very wiry white hairs.
that that's your growth since January!

[EyelinerQueen]

Yeah I buzzed my head (number 1 all over) on the 26th January - thank you pregnancy hormones .

I do have good hair. Healthy and thick and shiny. It may not be the colour I wanted to have at 33 but I think any hair that's in good condition with a good cut will look nice!

[TheFarSide]

I've embraced the grey at the age of 52 - been growing it out for a year. I suspect I was almost as grey as you in my 30s but I had been dyeing it since then.

It's grown out completely since this pic. I am so much happier with it - it suits my skin tone and I save so much time NOT dyeing it.

Grey hair is fab, and especially so on younger women.

[MyrtleDove]

I think we have similar hair growth rates!

I am just going grey, though my hair is so dark I only generally see the bright white hairs (I am 25). Was it the same for you, that you noticed the bright white hairs first? Hair is also darkest brown.

Neither parent has started going grey yet so I am a bit at it all! But can't be bothered with the expense and hair-ruinage of fighting the grey.

[EyelinerQueen]

Yes Myrtle I used to only have a few along my parting. I plucked them out .

Before I hit 30 there were far too many to pluck without giving myself a bald patch .

I miss my long dark hair and full fringe but the expense and hassle of constantly dyeing was really getting me down.

FarSide - your hair looks really lovely

[MyrtleDove]

Yes FarSide your hair is so lovely and shiny!

Eyeliner when I saw the first one it was just one little fringe hair and I thought it was a random white hair (I sometimes get them on my face and ears, little white bristles) but alas no! I plucked the first few out mostly out of curiosity, but trying to be good and just letting nature take its course. Really hard not to pluck them all out though!

[500smiles]

FarSide your hair looks like it is blonde rather than grey - I am envious

[TheFarSide]

Thanks everyone for your compliments. After years of dull flat home-dyed hair, I'm finally beginning to "enjoy" my hair again.

For inspiration, the Going Grey Looking Great group on Facebook has women of all ages with grey hair.

[EyelinerQueen]

Oh I deactivated my FB last month - wild horses couldn't drag me back there

It's hard to find sites about going grey that aren't aimed at more mature women. Maybe I need to start my own!

[StantonLacy]

Have you see the 'How Bourgeois' blog?

The lady whose blog it is has just the most gorgeous grey hair and has written loads about it:

howbourgeois.blogspot.co.uk/?m=1

I'm with you on the early greys - 37 and have finally managed to grow out my dye...took me nearly a year and a half though, very jealous of your super fast hair growth!

[EyelinerQueen]

Oooh I like that blog Lacy! Thank you

[Bexicles]

Eyeliner I have very very dark hair and got my first grey hair at 16! I am in my 30's now and have a mallon streak which I dye every couple of months. I'd love to be grey all over so I could just ditch the hair dye!

The lady in the YouTube video is stunning.

[OublietteBravo]

One of the bloggers here:
thingsmymothernevertaught.me/category/hair/
decided to embrace her grey hair too.

[Coumarin]

Ooh I really like the colour Eyeliner

We're a similar age. I started getting the odd grey hair in my early 20's. I also have naturally dark hair but I've been dying it various shades of brown since. Last year I left it to grow out a bit as I was getting colour build up and I realised just how much grey I have. Still not enough to 'go grey' so I'm still colouring it but one day I'll go full grey

I know of sisters who all have long grey hair (think they're in their 60s) and it looks utterly fabulous.

[Milmingebag]

Your hair colour is beautiful. I am currently growing mine out. Have 1/2 inch natural and nasty blorange ends. Very tempted to whack it off with the clippers as I have the badger going on.

How did you handle going from no 1 buzzcut-hats or did you brazen it out?

I have an very unique pattern emerging. Since my hair has been a nightmare to cover I figure it is going to be a strong, bold silver.

You are right about the lack of inspirational blogs. I don't belong to Facebook but you can still check photos on Going gray guide and going gray looking great. Pinterest has some great boards. Cafe gray is worth joining too.

[butterfliesinmytummy]

This is my hair, no dye for about 8 weeks, just a couple of doses of colour b4. Starting to wibble and missing my chocolate colour hair, have a smart meeting tomorrow, don't let me succumb to the lure of the hair dye box!

[EyelinerQueen]

Thank you Mil . I have been wearing a few 50's style headscarves but mostly it's been a case of brazening it out. I am a total makeup fiend so have been spending even more time on my face to try and make up for having no hair. I wouldn't buzz it again (I definitely prefer and look better having longer hair) but it's been a liberating and interesting experience!

I'm hoping eventually for something vaguely glamorous that'll fit with my 50's style.

butterflies Don't do it!! Your hair looks fab and really natural and even. Stick with it!

[KosherBacon]

Your hair looks fab! Awesome growth since January too. I love the Highland Fashionistas hair too- sometimes more than her clothes.

I'm inly about 5% grey but it's all around the front. At 33 I too have decided to stop dying it as I hate the look of my dyed hair- it's either patchy, too dark or too reddish. There's nothing wrong with a bit of grey as long as you look groomed.

[Milmingebag]

Going to try and hold out for another month as an inch shouldn't feel so drastic.

Butterflies you have a splendid colour coming through. Look at all those streaks and natural highlights. It will look even more beautiful when the blorange isn't reflecting on it.

[butterfliesinmytummy]

Thanks EQ and Milmingebag. It does get easier I think and I'm getting more meticulous about looking groomed, wearing bright lipstick etc as I think grey can lend itself to a more "let myself go" look that I'm determined to avoid!

I have used raw honey and distilled water to tone down red left by henna in the past, might have a go at that to get rid of the brassy blorange tones that I hate.... recipe here

EQ there's definitely space for a grey platinum website for younger women ... are you tempted? I think natural hair thanks to a backlash against chemicals and toxins is going to be big!

[MyrtleDove]

Does anyone know of a sulfate-free blue/violet shampoo for grey/white/platinum hair? I am very at Lush for not making sulfate-free shampoo!

[Deathraystare]

Well I have not given in yet and I am 54! Infact I am off to the hairdressers on Thursday to get rid of the greys for a while anyway.

However, on othr peope grey can look fabl I think as long as it is cut well and has a shiny bounce about it, it can look good.

I am weak!

[Milmingebag]

I really don't like the 'given in phase' with respect to grey hair. I admire women with grey hair all the time -it can look astonishing.Can't say the same about dyed hair because it always looks dyed. Always.

The thing is there are loads of women on here who, if they could wake up tomorrow grey,would. It's the grow out that is so hard to get through and why some women reluctantly go back to dye.

In my experience with hair dye it is usually too intense to start with,fades out by the second week to a passable colour,by the third weak is blorange and by then the roots are out in full force. It's a treadmill. If you are really grey the chances are that your skintone had mellowed too so will really look great.

I just don't understand the negativity. I'm 38 and have been greying since I was fifteen. That's a lot of chemicals over the years and I can't say I have ever been at ease with my hair over that time due to the rigmarole outlined above.

[EyelinerQueen]

It's depressingly true Mil.

There are always posters on the grey threads on here saying they'll never 'give in' to it and that grey hair is automatically ageing and witchy.

I know because I used to be one of them . Oh denial.

I now look at women and think that obviously dyed hair (particularly dark hair) looks far far worse than any natural colour could.

I am still (relatively) young and (relatively) pretty. I'll still be pretty with grey hair. More importantly I have enough confidence (even if it is misplaced ) to do what I want with my hair and confidence is a huge part of what makes people attractive.

[WitchWay]

I'm very grey at the front & mostly leaving it alone. Salt & pepper elsewhere - more pepper than salt - & I'm dyeing that back to my original very dark brown - well, the lovely Wayne is dyeing it for me every six weeks - so I have a broad silver streak through my fringe which I really like. Not sure where I go from here though