To embrace the grey?

[DifficultSituation19]

I’m 38 and have been going grey for 15 years now. It’s got to the point where the top half of my head is all grey, but I think the bottom half is still mostly my natural colour (medium brown).

I’m getting proper sick of having it dyed...really it needs doing every 2 weeks as I have annoying little baby hairs around the top of my forehead which are the first to need doing again, but after three weeks I have noticeable regrowth all over the top half of my hair.

I tried highlights, as I thought that would make the regrowth less obvious, but I don’t think it did make it any less obvious, and blonde really didn’t suit me.

I am so bored of going to the salon/doing root touch ups at home in-between/covering any greys with the powder stuff before I leave the house. I’m wondering if it’s time to just give in.

The thing is, apart from the grey I do look young for my age, people normally guess my age at around 10 years younger, I don’t really have any wrinkles and I’m (vainly) worried that if I went full on grey I’d start looking really old.

Also, I don’t know how to go about it? I have quite long hair and the In betweeny stage could last for years! Or maybe I could get it bleached and dyed grey? Short hair looks awful on me so chopping it all off isn’t really an option.

@DifficultSituation999 - i promise its all my own colour. The only thing i do is wash it with a Touch of Silver shampoo twice a week

@DifficultSituation19 yes mine uses a toner too to keep it ash but it washes out eventually

That's lovely whatodo999!
That's the length I'm hoping to grow mine to.
I'm screen shotting you

I should add, it took me a long time of wearing my hair up to let my roots grow through long enough to get the cut i wanted without leaving any blonde and/or needing a colour put on to blend it all in x

@Cocolapew - screenshot away lol

When i first had mine cut, i went to the hairdressers with (i'm not kidding) 23 photos of short styles and wanting a bit of each style on my head

I'm starting to get some greys and kind of want to keep it natural but I'm not sure. I don't wear make up or spend a lot of time getting ready so I already look a bit older than I am (same age as you, OP). OTOH, I really can't see myself faffing around with dyes for the next 20 years so I probably will just let it go. My current solution has been to cut the grey hairs short if I see them, so at least they're less noticeable! I used to pluck them out but read some horror stories about how repeatedly doing that could mean they wouldn't grow back.

I'm of a similar age to the OP and started going grey at 17. My natural hair colour is almost black. I would say I'm around 30% white (as opposed to grey) and dye it around every 6 weeks, using root sprays in between.

I won't stop with the dye until there is enough white to maybe go ash blonde first before transitioning to full white. I'd then want a new hair style like a sharp bob (currently mid-length and straight) to keep it looking edgy. WhatToDo999 has exactly that I'm aiming for one day!

I'm not really interested in whether I look young or not, but I like quite a dramatic look (former teenage goth is still in there somewhere) and my dark hair contrasts well with my pale skin, so I'm happy with that for the time being.

I stopped dyeing mine 3 years ago - no more horrible roots showing, no expensive trips to the salon, no more home-dye jobs. People actually ask what I'm colouring my hair with - nothing, all natural! Funnily enough, it's taken years off me.

Oh that's beautiful Tighnabruaich

I also think you should embrace it and love it, get a gorgeous hair cut to suit your face and let it grow through. Or do what my aunt did and have it dyed silver and let the grey come in that way. Silver and grey are lovely and women with the confidence to embrace their appearance are refreshing and to be admired. Go for it OP!

@littlepeas my MIL also dyed hers black at 66 and it looks so harsh as she actually looks older and it's a clear dye job she looks so much better silver but won't do it. She had to stop dying her hair after an eye injury a few years ago and looked great but went straight back to black as soon as she could. Such a shame. My DM dyes hers auburn which is her natural shade and looks ok at the mo but she's also fighting the grey and I wish she would just embrace it and be fabulous with it.

I'm 47 and only have the odd one or two grey hairs so far, but I am definitely not going to dye when I go grey.

People say 'it's aging'. Well of course it is, because hair going grey is mostly something that happens when you get older. I just don't see why aging=looks crap. There are other pretty obvious signs of aging - dyeing your hair doesn't really fool anyone!

I was using highlights and occasionally all over bleach to cover up the white grey multitude on my naturally dark honey blonde but two years ago just stopped.

I'm mid fourties now and just can't be arsed any more.
It looked a bit shit until the grey was all the way to the end of each grey hair but now it looks like natural highlights.

I'm more concerned with white hairs in my eyebrows, don't like those.

I wasn't keen when my pubes started to follow suit either, especially when DH started jokingly referring to my "granny fanny". The bastard only has a few white hairs in his dark brown hair in the nape of his neck, the bit that gets shaved off after a haircut and no grey pubes or eyebrows and he's freaking older than me by a couple of years.

@57DifficultSituation19 thank you. I'll look into the products

Just got back from my hairdressers who has taken me through my process. A supportive hairdresser has made such a difference.

To those people considering it, it does take time but it’s so worth it. Highlights soften the grow out, I ended up looking ombré which looked like I meant it.

Because I didn’t want to go short it took 2 years from start to completely colour free. But as i’d been dying it for 25 years there were no quick fixes.

A lot of people on here are embracing it and I love you for it. It’s not apathy it’s being true to yourself.

Your hair looks great Mercedes, it's certainly not apathy, I think most women look better when they embrace it.

They certainly don't look 'whey-faced', I went for the buzz-cut approach about five years ago because I'm very lazy with going to the hairdressers. I love it, it's much more interesting than my original dark chestnut. It's still very salt and pepper with more silver at the back and sides.

Obligatory photo because I always pop up on grey threads!

My hair is very like yours naturally. I’m 41 . I have started having half dark brown and half blonde foils focused in my t zone/ temples. I have managed to go 6 weeks and neither my dark roots or silver temples are too obvious.

Hair innit.

My hair is black and I've never dyed it. I just can't be arsed.
It's going white and I have a mallen streak. I quite like it. I do not look whey faced.