Embracing the grey in your 20s 30s 40s

[Unicornshopkeeper]

What made you finally stop covering your grey hairs? How long did it take to fully grow out and are/were you happy with the result?
I'm going to stop having my shoulder length hair coloured, but I'm worried that at 41 I'll look old before my time and people will think my 1yo is my granddaughter

I’ve seen some women look great with grey hair but it’s also because they dress great and just have the right vibe etc. If I went natural I’d look like a frumpy grandma instead of just the middle aged mum I am. Proceed with caution.

Im 43, no way will i be embracing the grey anytime soon, really ageing , but each to their own!

32 and stopped dyeing my hair 2 years ago. Started going grey 10 years ago.
I look old, but I don’t have the time or energy to be bothered. Or the money really.

58 still no grey on my head everywhere else tho lol...as soon as it appears I will stop dying it black and probably get it cut really short..

I started going grey at 25 and stopped colouring my hair at 35, a bit over 5 years ago. I'm lucky, the grey is well spread and I've been asked (by hairdressers) if I had it dyed this colour! I don't dress particularly well (t shirt and black skinnies today) I am far more classic than high fashion, but it works for me. And Tbh, I'm past caring what people I don't know think of what my hair looks like.

I've never coloured my greys and think I look exactly my mid-40s age. I have no desire to 'look younger'.

Never coloured my hair, now quite grey in my early 40s. I have natural dark brown hair and have never seen that colour over grey hair look anything other than obviously dyed.

I started being more conscious about what I was eating and putting on my skin and it just seemed counter-intuitive to then use a load of toxic chemicals right next to my brain. So I last dyed my hair nearly a year ago. There is a huge #grombre movement on instagram if you are on there which has great ideas. And I also no longer care what other people think. Me having grey hair has no impact on their lives.

Also in the 'couldn't give a shit' brigade. I have better things to do than worry my hair is ageing me.

I'm 33 and wonder the same thing. Last time I went to have my ends trimmed, the hairdresser said I really confused her age wise, acne (PCOS) and grey streaks at the same time. Problem is, my hair responds really bad to any kind of colour, just goes straw-like and breaks, and it happens with herbal dyes too, so I'm toast. Took me a good 9 years to grow it back after it had to all be chopped off, so I'm not risking anything.

I found "academic style" goes best with it, kind of gives authority type image when you can't go age reversing. Think black waterfall cardigans, crisp shirts, batwing tops, 3/4 sleeve dresses with lace up shoes, blazers, statement jewellery, wacky glasses and, most importantly, carrying yourself with pride.

I decided to stop dying my hair just over a year ago. I was having to dye it every 3 weeks and I cba with that so I stopped. I follow a great page on Instagram that embraces grey hair called Grombre. My DP was not so keen with my decision but it’s my hair and he has just as much grey and doesn’t dye his hair so why should I? There are days when I love it and days when I hate it and days when I don’t think about it at all. I turn 40 in two weeks.

I have literally just taken a photo of my hair as I thought the colour looked particularly good this time round.

I have probably 50% grey. Started going grey in my teens and am now in my forties. The hairdresser puts in three colours which blends the grey in nicely. A caramel blonde, a bleach blonde and a brown closely matched to my natural hair colour. I only have it done every 12 weeks and you don’t see any line of grey coming through inbetween time.

I’ve obscured my face 😬

Can’t see the photo but I know it sometimes suddenly appears.

Started going white around 13 I stopped dyeing it in my mid 20s it's now about 75% white the rest is still golden blonde. I often get asked who does my hair
I guess it just depends on how it works for you
Oh and shoulder length hair will take about a year to grow out

Have you considered going blonde? Covers the grey and looks very natural even when my roots are coming in. I get it done every 3 months.

I went grey late 20s.
Continued to dye it dark brown until a few years ago when I had an allergic reaction to a dark dye.
Let it to go completely grey, looked awful, felt awful.
Last couple of years I have used a blonde colour (very cautiously) and I feel so much better. I was blonde as a child/teen so the colour is not alien to me and actually really suits my skin tone.
I felt properly frumpy when I was grey.

I'm 42 and have quite a lot of pale grey/white hair - most prominent at the front/temples but scattered throughout the rest too. My hair colour is dark blond/light brown so it blends quite well - I think of it as natural highlights! First grey hairs were when I was 29 and I've never coloured it beyond the odd set of subtle highlights.

My main concern is keeping it in decent condition as it's definitely getting dryer and more brittle. I use a special shampoo and conditioner once a week which is supposed to keep the grey/white bright and an intense moisturising conditioner once a week too.

42, with loads of grey (in dark hair). i‘m an experienced professional, no way i want to look like a junior employee! Get the right hairstyle and it looks great!

I stopped dying mine towards the end of my 30s, thinking that if I let the grey grow in when I still had a relatively young-looking face, I'd still look reasonably similar at 60. By the time I was 43 I was looking closer to 60, so I started dying it again and the amount of people who stopped in their tracks the first time they saw me afterwards and told me I looked 10-15 years younger means I'm going to keep doing it for a few decades yet! I do go to a hairdresser and get it done properly with foils now rather than a L'Oreal box at home.

Thank you for all the responses

I'm going to check out #grombre colly and trillian thank you

sheshoots your hair looks bloody amazing! I'd be on cloud nine if mine looked like that ever in my lifetime

I don't think blonde is for me sadly, I have english rose colouring I think breakfast

Oh no! owl

I became seriously ill and lost quite a bit of hair, I then became allergic to hair dye. Five years later it’s grown back though it’s not quite as good as before. No dye for five years does mean it’s in lovely condition though.

DC say I look old. I think I look distinguished . Then I point out all the things DC prefer about me over the other mums (including the dyed up, coiffed & groomed sort). I am surrounded by bottle-hair-colour women at work, many obviously older (even much older) than me. I puzzle at them. When I was a kid it was bad form, naff, for a woman to dye her grey away or try to look younger.

Also, I was bullied as a kid so kind of start out assuming many ppl are determined to disapprove, judge, mock & ridicule, no matter what I do, so it's waste of time to try to 'look good'. May as well do as I please. I think that's partly why I never dyed the grey out. I would have had to start at 19yo. Didn't trust whatever was in hair dyes, either.

I got fed up with the time and expense involved in colouring about 2 years ago. Gradually phased out the colour with the help of my excellent hairdresser through the use of highlights and rinses and should be clear of the last of the dyed parts on my next haircut. I also developed quite a bad skin allergy to one of the dyes, which helped my determination! I’m actually really pleased with how it’s turned out. I wasn’t quite as grey as i’d assumed, and the condition is SO much better now - many fewer split ends so I don’t have to spend as much either on hair products or cuts. I’m happy to look the age I am.

Stopped colouring my hair 4 years ago, because of the damage.
Now I am in early 30s and absolutely refuse to colour them for that few grays. But i am lucky that my weird colour hides them well.