I let my hair go grey at 38, AMA

[starsandstuff]

I stopped dying my hair at 38, I'm now 42 and it's been fully grown out for a couple of years and I love it! I sometimes see some people saying they might like to but they're unsure so AMA.

Love it.

I’m really considering doing this. Several things stop me... one, I’m fat, like really fat and I don’t want to look old AND fat. Interesting that was one of your concerns as well. Also I currently have asymmetrical hair so one side would grow out very quickly and I’d have to chop off the other side so I don’t want to be old and fat with super short hair 😐 If I lost weight I might be able to pull it off as being ‘funky’ but at the minute I think I’d just look dreadful.

However I really hate having to dye my hair every four weeks. So I guess I better pull my finger out and get less fat....

I’m only 35 BTW.

So being overweight and grey was a concern, but I do think that was more before I started.There is something honestly about turning your back on such a big convention that makes it easier to do the same for other ones. Like now I'm a person with grey hair, I'm also someone who has a bit more permission to be different if that makes sense? I mean it's all bullshit at the end of the day anyway. But actually I think you could rock fat and grey and assymetrical hair with a growing-out ombré because it actually all works together do you know what I mean? That actually sounds quite cool to me. I honestly don't mean any of that disrespectfully, and I use the word fat in the purely descriptive sense with no judgement attached. I mean it's like if you go grey you've deliberately stepped outside what you are "supposed" to look like and that way you just get to have so much more fun with it all. You can't hide with grey hair, you stand out, so now I think stand out as much as possible and own it

Hmmm. Gives me something to think about. I got to about an inch of roots last time by leaving it 6 weeks instead of 4.

Your hair looks great OP. I'm 49 and stopped colouring about 3 years ago. My hair is naturally dark brown but white is only mainly at my temples. I actually wish my hair was overall whiter than it is.

I'm in the group Gray and Proud on facebook. I've never posted a pic though!

I stopped colouring as I was concerned about allergies and also I really couldn't be bothered anymore.

Oh wow, it looks amazing.

Did you have an idea how grey you really were? I've got dark brown hair and when my roots are showing they're mostly dark with grey flecks. If I'm not grey enough, My concern is I'd just look like I can't be arsed, rather than I'd made a style choice.

You should post a pic! I don't think I've ever had my ego stroked as much and that was on days when I know for a fact it was looking like shite

I'm not growing mine out. I've got to the 8 week stage and chickened out as my Christmas do was coming up and it looked awful. i use a hair dye that's a shade or two lighter so the regrowth was very obvious.

Don't think I'm ready yet.

I didn't know exactly how much grey there'd be, but as I'd been going grey for 20 years at that point I thought it'd be a lot. If anything I thought it would be whiter as my roots always looked really white, but it turned out whiter underneath and more dark through the top than I thought. It's really hard to judge which was part of the fun of seeing it develop. Even now there are times when it looks much darker, maybe because it's longer so there's more of the dark streaks, and then when it's just washed it looks brighter overall.

Oh sorry, the "post a pic" comment was to @GaraMedouar, I meant to the FB group

Your hair looks AMAZING, OP. Inspirational.

I am so tempted to grow my grey out, but I'm nervous of the ugly big roots stage as I have a very public facing job.

Did you have to deal with any formal occasions during the time it was growing out? If so, what did you do with your hair then?

Your hair is beautiful OP, own it! :)

My job is not totally public facing, as in working with the general public all day, but it is client work so I'm dealing with people all day on a one to one basis. I was self-conscious at the start but to be honest no one said anything - my colleagues were worse! And I think you can brazen out anything if you try. Plus once you start it's funny how many people you notice doing it! I now have a total of 3 ex-colleagues and 2 current ones who are growing it out because they saw it turned out ok.

I had a couple of job interviews and I tied it up. By that point it was a good 6 inches of roots so it wasn't as noticeable in a ponytail as loose. Funnily enough, I recently bumped into one of the women who interviewed me for a job I didn't get, and she has nearly transitioned now and said I inspired her! So at least that's not why I didn't get it I had a few events, one a very fancy large family party for my DF's milestone birthday. I was maybe 9 months by then but after a while the demarcation line is much softer as obviously your hair growths at different rates - it's only the first few months when it's a dead straight regrowth line - so I wore it loose but curled so it kind of broke up the colour. It actually looked really funky. I miss the ombré stage at times!

OP your hair looks really lovely! Am on the same group as you and like you id recommend to anybody considering it. Every type of hair and age with loads of tips re styling, products etc. Did mine cold turkey and still have any few inches of old brown dye - but faded to more ginger now. Am almost scared to chop off those last few inches as I know that'll be it for my brown hair! I (mostly)love it too - find it so freeing and after the few negative comments mostly compliments.

I know what you mean. When I went for my big chop to get rid of the last of the dye I actually got very emotional seeing it on the floor. I was married before and it was like cutting off the last of my old life if that doesn't sound too dramatic. But it was very freeing also just to think "I'm done now."

Wow your hair is lovely. I am also naturally dark haired but when the grey started taking over I just went blonde. Not brave enough to go grey!

Honestly, if I can do it anyone can! I'm a wuss! Well actually, I was. Now I've done this I feel much more bad-ass

Do you wisk you had never dyed it at all or do you think that it would have look awkward bring mostly brown with a stray white hair here am there? (I ask because I have dark hair and only one white hair which I sometimes pull to the front in an attempt to look a bit older than I am sometimes and I want to go grey naturally but not sure whether I won't be able to cope with it. Also eyeborws/eye lashes? Are you letting them go grey or tinting?

My eyebrows and lashes are still dark - my eyebrows are actually jet black, although I've noticed the odd one or two white eyebrow hairs now and then I just pluck them.

I dyed my hair mostly for fun in my teens and twenties - it's been red, black, blonde, pink, highlighted, lowlighted, you name it! It was only the last number of years that I felt like I was dying it just to cover the grey and that's what got so tiresome. I have a friend with lovely dark hair who has literally 2 or 3 silver hairs and I think it looks beautiful, so natural and chic in a way. If I'd never dyed my hair and only started going grey in my 30s I'm not sure that I would have bothered with dying it but I can't say.

I have fair eyebrows - they were always a bit lighter than my natural hair colour, so with the grey they actually tone in really well.

I was 'dark blonde' back in my yoof. I worried the silver would wash me out but actually it's the reverse.

Yeah I think people think grey = blah - I definitely did. But it's a really flattering colour. I also think people's own colours tend to suit them, like with your eyebrows, it just works naturally without any messing about. I've seen people whose dyed colour makes them look drained because it's too harsh for them, not that there aren't beautiful hair colours mind you. Occasionally I think ooh I'd love a really bright red and it would take so well on the white, but I couldn't be arsed with the upkeep any more!

Your grey is beautiful. I also did the same and was so glad I persevered.

starsandstuff - I may post a pic at some point. I think 99% of the time the women look much better with their natural grey hair than the sometimes harsh dyed colour, particularly if dyed very dark. I still have white envy though, not so keen on my more pepper than salt hair.