Age 41 & all my hair regrowth is grey. What can I do to reverse this?

[Janesygal]

I can't afford a root touch up every 6 weeks. It's seriously depressing, all my regrowth is grey, I have dark brown hair... Can this be reversed naturally?

It does a pretty good job - the conditioner seems to deposit more colour than the shampoo. Greys are golden brown, which blends in brilliantly on my hair but might not be as good if your hair's super dark - mine's more chestnut brown.

This is the key - you do have to put some colour around it. Hair much healthier though, much less hassle, and lots of money saved. It is certainly becoming far more ‘socially acceptable’ now too, for those who care. Plenty of women looking fabulous with grey hair.

I had light brown hair and used highlights for years to hide the grey. OP, perhaps lowlights might help if you are just starting to go grey? It will help the grey blend in as it grows?

Now my hair is home dyed pink; it's so easy and gets so many compliments.

You could try Youthair Color restoring conditioning crème

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Just use a home box dye

Use a different shade of the same colour each time and it looks really natural

I’m probably around 20-25% grey and I’ve neither the cash nor the patience to have my hair done at the hairdressers every 6 weeks, so I use a semi-permanent box colour on it.

Ha, I'd love to do that but I think my mum would think I was having some kind of breakdown. I often think of buzzing it off and putting a bright purple dye on it....I really want to see if it works on the grey

Most women I know at this age go grey or get a few greys. I highlight my hair blonde as does a best friend of mine but another friend before used to do a dark brown box or salon colour but now gets highlights. I couldn’t see with her why she paid for salon colour which looked exactly the same as her box colour but her money, her choice.

If it helps Amazon do repeat subscriptions, you can order the dye you want in the colour you want, at a set length of time. So you always get the same colour, say every three weeks. And you get it cheaper, usually 5%off

Having said all that, I embraced the grey through lockdown one. I dont regret it. I'm now white, grey and some brown at the back.
I dont think it suits me, but I also dont care, I'm free of the time and cost of colouring my hair and the associated costs like trims and towels and cleaning the bathroom that looks like an abbatoir after colouring, or alternatively going to the hairdresser and spending even more time and lots more money.

So now as I like very short hair, I get it wet cut every 6/7/8 weeks for the princely sum of £20.
I make that a whole lot cheaper than 4 weekly cut and colour which I needed cos the rate my hair grows.

What was that stuff you could buy called Grecian 2000, then there was Lady Grecian??

Was that a dye?

I use glosses as it fades more naturally so you don't get as harsh a regrowth line

I got my grays early. I'd estimate I'm now 30% gray, but most of it is around my face. At not quite 50, I'm too young to let it grow out.
My natural hair is auburn (I was a redheaded kid) and I am pale and freckled, so I started dying my hair with henna about 15 years ago. I mix it myself and the mix has changed with years, now it's lighter and not as red. My DH touches up my roots every three weeks or so, as my hair grows quickly and I have a lot of it.

On the positive side: my father's gray hair was magnificent, shiny and white, and I think I'll embrace it when I'm grayer than I am.

I started getting greys at 23 and within a couple of years most of my fiends who didn’t dye their hair were also getting greys - don’t think it’s recognised that you start going grey A LOT earlier than magazines would have you believe. 10 years later I have got a bit of grey but it’s odd strands and a little streak. I never covered it up - can’t be arsed and it’s expensive. I also like my natural hair colour so just accept the grey bits!

I have friends who have decided to embrace the grey, and others who refuse to. I’m a refusnik, lol. I do a mixture of box dye and hairdresser through the year. I have gone blonder over time as it’s easier to hide the grey. No f’ing way am I going grey, lol, I am not someone who would suit it. One of my friends looks absolutely amazing grey. The rest look older - just a fact..

I’m late 40s with naturally dark brown hair and quite a bit of grey. I don’t have the time for frequent hairdresser visits. Blonde wouldn’t suit me.

my hairdresser has just done dark highlights in my hair to break the grey growth up a bit. She reckons I’ll only need it doing 2 or 3 times a year which I can live with. But there will definitely be grey visible still with this method.

I'm in my 50s now (started going grey at 30) and will have no problem with going fully grey OR looking washed out. Who cares? Im fully middle-aged, I have no issues with that at all.

I got fed up of having to do my roots every few weeks as it started to look very patchy & I just didn't have the time so I've had t section golden highlights & in between all over colour every 7-8 weeks. I absolutely love it & hides the greys brilliantly

The problem is that when you have dark brown hair, and your grey is nearing white, you end up with a four inch wide white parting after 8 weeks. I have to do mine every 7-10 days now! And I’m allergic to most box dyes so I have to pay twice as much for a hypo-allergenic one. Getting old sucks.

Thanks @Bodeganights I'll look on amazon. Superdrug usually does 2 packs for something like £11 so works out a bargain when I get it! I plan on getting lighter and lighter and eventually growing it out completely. I reckon im about 50% grey now and have just turned 40. I've noticed a big increase recently and my eyebrows and eyelashes have also suddenly faded a lot too!

Just go with it. Grey looks fab and far better than godawful box dyes.

That is so true.

I’m early 60s and have hardly any grey, had a colour 3 months ago and just looked all I see is much darker roots with a few grays, weirdly I’d have to have my hair dyed a lot darker than it is to embrace my gray - just luck of the drawer really, my younger sister would be totally grey if she never dyed it, says she gets grey roots showing after a fortnight 😐

Hi I’m a bit older than you but same issue.
I buy a dark brown box dye in my colour and squirt just enough into a bowl to do my roots and apply with a brush.
I get about 5 applications from one box.
Its just part of my routine and I usually deep condition or colour gloss my hair at the same time.

I've got dark hair that started greying a few years ago. I left it at first, thought the silvery ones looked quite pretty, the wiry white ones really not!

But I dyed it this spring and looked miles better tbh. Just loads younger and healthier. It does matter to me, so I'll carry on dyeing for now.

I think if you had really dark/ black hair often almost white can look better than dark blonde. My friend had black hair going grey so she bleached it up to a level 9 and put a really ashy light blonde toner in. It looks great on her- basically it’s platinum.
When the grey roots start coming in it blends really well. You can get Shrine drops or other toners to keep it ashy. Loads of young women I work with have various shades of pale ashy grey/ lilac or pink too.

I'm with you on this tbh. I am as a pp suggested upthread, someone who is quite content to look tidy and healthy as far as possible. I've never been particularly invested in looking fashionable, or young. I'm active, and have a good work/life balance, and I don't think changing the colour of my hair would impact on any of those things.