Stopping colouring my hair

[mumtomaxwell]

I'm 39 and my roots are almost entirely white/grey. I was born with dark brown hair and have maintained that colour since I started going noticeably grey in my early 20s. Am now considering letting it grow out to my new natural colour - white! WWYD?

[mumtomaxwell]

Lots of food for thought here... I do worry about it being ageing. However, it won't take long to do - I have a pixie cut with about 6-8 weeks of white roots already! I'm just trying to decide whether to dye it again or not. If it looks shit I'll just colour it again!

[ConkerTriumphant]

I so disagree that grey hair is dull and aging!

[badtime]

Poppy, by definition, if it is the colour it is growing out of your head, it is both your proper and your natural colour. The fact that you might have had other proper, natural colours in your life (like when as very young children people have blond hair, then as younger adults they have dark hair, and as older adults have grey or white hair) does not make any of these colours more proper or natural than the others.

I write as someone in their 40s with one small salt-and-pepper streak and about 5 other grey hairs (all of which is hidden by my fringe), so I'm not being defensive here.

[paulapantsdown]

I let mine grow out a few years ago when I had a very short pixie cut. It looked bloody awful.

Grew in longer, started dyeing again and will do so until I'm well into my 60's - 49 now. It's an expensive, time consuming bore, but hey ho! My hair is also thinning a little at the front and I think I would look more bald with white hair.

Do not go quietly into that dark night!

[Cisoff]

this blog inspired me to grow out mine. this woman is a perfect example of how grey hair doesn't necessarily mean an 'aged' look.

Grey hair is dull. And ageing.

Unless you're a bloke, and then it's distinguished.

[AllPizzasGreatAndSmall]

What I was trying to say - obviously unsuccessfully - is that unless your hair is grey from birth, it is not your proper/natural colour. Grey is what is left when your hair loses its proper colour.

But all those middle aged women with blonde hair are not dying their hair back to their natural colour, i.e. their undyed colour at 14, are they? I don't see hairdressers being rushed off their feet trying to keep up with demand for mousey brown.
Also if we do dye our hair back to our teenage colour those of us with very dark hair look unnatural and obviously dyed.
So even if we choose to cover our grey with dye very few of us choose/suit our original colour.

[SpookyPotato]

I wouldn't do it myself but if it feels right for you then do it! Sod what anyone else thinks.

[Tootsiepops]

Why are so many women on this thread so scathing about grey hair being aging? I surely can't be the only person who doesn't give a shit about looking older? Why is looking or being older so horrifying anyways?

Cisoff that was the blog that made me take the plunge too! I love her hair and that's the exact cut I have at the moment.

[tonsiltennis]

It's great if you can embrace looking older. There's a fine line between embracing it, and looking like you can't be arsed.

[anyusernamewilldo]

I am rocking this as worn by Julianne Moore at the moment, I love it and I would not say it is aging, at 48 I really do not care if anyone thinks it is anyway.
I grew my hair out a few years ago, was a pain, but I do not miss faffing around and straw like hair from 25 years of dying.
If you do not like it grey, just dye it again.

[tonsiltennis]

Julianne Moore is 55. I do not want to look 55, even when I'm 60.

And she looks younger and healthier as a ginge.

[liletsthepink]

Grey hair can look amazing but it can also look awful. It really does depend on your hair type, skin tone and condition of your hair.

I'm quite a bit older than you and still colour my hair because my hair is very frizzy and I'd look more like Albert Einstein than Judi Dench if I went grey!

[TheFreaksShallInheritTheEarth]

I'm about 1/3 grey at the moment, and when I let it grow in a bit I think it looked awful. Going back to dark brown all over really made me look better. Also, at 48 with 2 young children, I don't want to be mistaken for their grandmother! Ironically, I think 35 and grey I'd be fine with, my age not so much.
However, this is about you and what you feel happy with, OP. Give grey a try if you feel so inclined.

[PatricianOfAnkhMorpork]

I'm 44 and a natural blonde. Well I was until the last couple of years when I realised that I'm slowly turning pure white and silver. Right now it looks like sun-kissed streaks and is toning in very well. Which is more than can be said for my eyebrows which are slowly vanishing as the hairs are also turning white!

I can't wait for my hair to all go white and I won't be dyeing it.

[myownprivateidaho]

I think you should do whatever you want. However, honestly, I think that most younger women look better with dyed hair than grey.

[cardibach]

tonsil I do not want to look 55, even when I'm 60 Eh? What on earth is wrong with looking your age? Or in this case, 5 years younger than it?
I have short hair and am working my way to my natural grey by way of colouring it grey and silver. I think I'm at the point where I can just let it be - it'll be Melissa McBride grey (perhaps slightly darker in the dark bits).

[GreatFuckability]

i paid a bloody fortune to get grey hair! do it, i think it looks amazing.

[RaspberryOverloadTheFirst]

I tried growing the colour out about 10 years ago, when I was 38. I started to go grey around 20 and was getting fed up with the colouring.

But I gave up and re-coloured, as the grey hair at the time didn't look right.

Now, Pretty much the whole of the top of my head is white, and while the back is darker, it'll be covered by the longer hair on top.

I'm wondering whether to strip the colour out and re-dye it white, and just let the hair grow out from there.

[CryingShame]

I agree with the poster upthread that it would look great if you went straight to grey, but the grey / brown mix is not good.

I keep being tempted to stop dueing mine - with dyed hair I'm starting to look more and more like my mother which for me is not a good thing. She's never wanted grey hair so ended up with a range of washed out brown then more blond colours. I mentioned this to my husband who was horrified that I might stop dying it - he just sees it as chosing to be old, although interestingly he doesn't dye his hair.

I think you need a shit hot hair cut to get away with it though.

[Justjoseph]

What I would say I say that every picture that has been posted showing how young and lovely grey hair can be, is a beautiful women with great bone structure.

Not everyone has a beautiful face and great bone sturucture.

[cardibach]

Crying it isn't a choice though, is it? You are the age you are. Can't change it. Grey hair is not always connected to age either - my dad was grey by his late 20s. And why are you 'choosing to be old' in some way while his grey hair means nothing of the sort apparently?
Attitudes to grey hair and to aging in general are just odd.

[Isthatwhatdemonsdo]

I was your hair colour OP. I got mine cut short, stripped out the old colour, put a blonde dye on it and then grew out the grey. Kept my hair short while growing out the blonde. My hair is all grey now and now I'm growing it. Much less faff now. Go for it.

[quirkychick]

I'm slowly doing this. I had very dark hair, pale skin and pale blue eyes but started going grey at 16. A couple of years ago I went a medium brown and earlier this year light brown. Over the summer it has turned very blonde. My next step is to grow it out, but I want to keep it long. People do keep coming up to me and saying how great it looks blonde, I think that's because it suits my skin tone better than dark, now. I'm nearly 46.

[Heathen4Hire]

I stopped dyeing mine two years ago. The grey comes through at the front, giving me natural highlights. My other natural colour is dark brown. I am 39 soon with only a few wrinkles so I get away with it.

My mum is in her early sixties and has a younger looking face, but dyes her hair. She says she doesn't want to look her age, but by dyeing her hair and cutting it into a bob, I reckon she looks older. She is also under the illusion that if she has started dyeing it, she can't stop. I say, it's a personal choice, but there is nothing wrong with going natural. I note the generation gap too.

[NuttyMcAlletun]

It's completely up to you. It's the same with blond or dark hair, it can look amazing or awful depending on your features, your skin tone and your style. One answer does not fit all.

I have started going grey, early 40s, but I have very young children. I don't feel like their grand mother at all, and refuse to look like one. I look a lot better and so much younger with hair dyed properly. (meaning done by an expensive hairdresser). I don't feel 40, and I don't want to look 40. I will probably go grey when my kids are late teens and/or starting university. In the meantime, they will have a young mum!