...to think dyed grey hair looks shit?

[FourBagsOfMiniEggs]

I’m so fed up. I’m 30 and have been going grey since about 22. I’ve got frizzy, wiry greys sprouting out all over my head and I just feel so sad about it. I scrape it up in a bun or use a headband a lot of the time, but I hate all of these wispy greys. I feel like I look so scruffy. If I had straight glossy hair it might be different but I’ve always had very frizzy hair.

Anyway, I’ve been thinking about dying it and then I realised...dyed grey hair always seems to look shit! You can always, always see the grey regrowth shining through and the colour looks unnatural. I also think maybe it’s more ageing to dye it, particularly for me aged 30?

Has anyone managed to dye their grey hair successfully and NOT have it look shit? Anyone else gone grey early? Any tips on embracing it? I hate this frizzy streaky grey in-between. I feel like it’s too early to just give up on my hair but I just feel so low. It’s no fun going grey early 😣

[quote FourBagsOfMiniEggs]@greystriped your hair looks amazingly healthy! Wow! What do you do to it to keep it in that condition?!?[/quote]
And thank you! I am very low maintenance. I wash with shampoo and conditioner from Lidl and I don't own a hair dryer.

That's it.

OP seriously many people around you have dyed grey hair, just buy a box due and decent conditioning treatment. I can recommend L’Oréal excellence and a keratinsmooth weekly treatment

Dyed grey hair can look fabulous - if done correctly. How that “done correctly” can actually change for the same person as time goes by if they get more and more grey particularly so if their grey hair is resistant to taking the colour.

I say this from experience

I started to go grey in my 20s, using box dyes. As the amount of grey continued to become predominantly grey, I couldn’t use box dyes anymore as too much dye would end up in already dyed hair creating a lighter tone at the root, darker on my longer hair (have long hair), so started getting it done professionally. As my hair grows quickly and I was mostly grey, after a week or so, the fabulous hair colouring would look odd with a halo effect of grey. That’s the time grey hair does not look good if dyed m. Note - my original hair colour was dark brown. So the grey shows up strongly against the dark brown hair

In order for it to look good, dark brown block colouring could no longer be used and the colourist suggested multiple highlight and lowlights. Looks fabulous again.

So to your OP, you’re both YABU and YANBU as it depends on amount of grey and colour hair is to be dyed.

(Really miss my dark brown hair though)

I've been dying my grey hair myself for years using a box dye. I get complimented on it and it certainly doesn't look shit.

@greystriped

"But you hardly have any grey! This is what I mean, it's not the same having some grey and having every single hair on your head grey by your mid 30s. A bit of grey can look great (yours looks lovely), for me, I wasn't prepared to have an entire head of grey (dirty sludgy grey) hair at 35. Blonde worked as a solution to endless dyeing and regrowth."

But you are missing my point. My hairdresser noted it was starting and we prepared for it. I had to grow out a lot of dye, and I would rather have a natural, gradual and subtle going grey than have to grow out dye when my hair is all grey.

After watching my friends obsess, shocking roots and having lots of hair care routines, I decided that was not for me. And I am 42 BTW. My hair is starting to change rather quickly.

By the time I realised how much grey I had under the dye I was basically totally grey. I wasn't prepared to be completely sludge grey at 35. It doesn't suit my face, it just makes me look about 20 years older. Some people go completely grey quite young quite quickly and it doesn't suit them.

I have naturally dark hair but some very obvious streaks of white. I usually use a box dye and it looks no different from getting in done in a salon tbh, especially as it's all one colour. I use the same permanent medium brown each time (no hints of red), apply using a bowl and dye brush (cheap from Amazon) and section each piece out so I know it's even and all covered. I also only do the roots to stop the ends going darker. I put a thin layer of Vaseline around my hairline to stop any dye going where it shouldn't.

It seems pointless to pay for a dye job unless it's balayage or highlights, a straight up one colour everywhere can be done at home. My hair grows so fast I'd spend a fortune at the hairdresser if I didn't do it myself.

Hairdresser here ! If u colour the hair to dark or to ashy it can look really bad ! U need to know your colours in the hair dye and skin tones ect , my advice would to use a semi to begin with it won’t completely cover 100% but it can blend them out with having a harsh regrowth line and u will have the added shine hope this helps xxx

I am older but I gave up dying my grey years ago so am now about 75% grey. To stop the grey looking sludgy I use a purple shampoo once a week or so. That is about the maximum effort I am prepared to put into it.

Think your title is rude.

Why don’t you dye it all grey(silver)? It was fashionable a while back (maybe still is). On a young person it will look cool and the regrowth maybe won’t notice so much.

I have mid brown hair and am going grey, semi permanent won't cover it any more so I normally get a permanent colour in the salon. I have a colour that is the same depth but one shade warmer than my natural colour so it doesn't look harsh against my skin but still looks natural-I hate that unnatural burgundy colour that some people go for.

During lockdown I have successfully done my roots at home with salon grade cokour- Wella koleston colour and developer bought from amazon. Friends have commented it looks great and completely natural. I do use Philip Mitchell (?) elasticiser once a week as a deep conditioner as the colour dries it out.

If you dye it at home.. you can buy salon quality dye at Sallys ( online or shop after lockdown ) . They stock some, but not all , of the brands that salons use. It is important, i think they said to me , to not just use the colour but also a natural base shade so that it gives something for the colour to stick onto ? Say if you wanted a dark blond it might ba base 7 . Bases I think are the natural level of shade and tone the tone.. but am sure someone will come along and explain better.
So if you just want a natural brown it might be say a base 5 but if you wanted a warm brown it wd be base 5 plus a warm tone .

I was grey from about 28, and have always dyed it. I decided that I'd had enough of the dye, and grew the colour out but the hairdresser I was going to recommended using highlights to mask it all. 18 months later, I had over processed horribly textured hair and was almost blonde (I'm a cool mid to dark brown naturally). It took seeing a photo to realise how bad it was.

So I went to another hairdresser, who did a drastic cut, several conditioner treatments and then applied an all over dye in a really good colour for me. I have the odd highlight over my T section just to add some texture. If you have a good salon colour, the difference in condition is amazing. My hair is now really soft, in great condition and I just use a root kit in between hairdresser sessions.

I'm newly 50, and found the complete grey really aged me and make me look drained.

I have salt and pepper hair - at the back and underneath it's still got lots of chestnut brown, but the top is going grey. I look grim without a colour BUT I'm allergic to hair dye. I use Superdrug colour conditioner - £1.99 a bottle. I found the darker brown ones made my greys go dark orange so now I use either the blonde one or the copper gold one which gives a warm tone to the greys and lifts the rest. Usually it just gets done in the shower but sometimes I mix it in with a mask and leave it a bit longer. I'd love to be completely white like my sisters but I think that will take another 10 years!

I think completely grey looks fab. Or white...even better.

I started going grey early so have been dying for more than 20 years now and am fed up. My natural colour is pretty much black and is very cool toned. From the years of dying the ends fade to blorange and gives such a harsh demarcation line.

It is only really very grey along the hairline, its salt and pepper through the rest so bleaching the ends to white wouldn't help. I wish I would have known that lockdown was going to last a year and just never bothered dying it again! I like the idea of growing it out and using a coloured gloss to tint the white hair maybe a steely grey that would look good with the black. Its getting to that point though especially as I can't afford to spend time and money at the hairdresser regularly.

I am thinking of pretoning the ends with a blue shampoo to cancel out some of the orange and then using Shades EQ gloss in Iron to blend it all through and give the sort of look I am after. No idea if it will work though. I know it will wash out if it doesn't work but it just feels like more money down the drain!

I follow a colourist called Jack Martin in the USA. He does amazing work but is rather out of my price range - especially with the flights!

@malificent7

I think completely grey looks fab. Or white...even better.

Me too!

I think grey on some people looks great. On me it looked shit. I am naturally dark but started getting my hair lightened about 15 years ago ( am in my 50s). My hair is light blonde now. I go to hairdressers every 2 months for colour and highlights. Having to use a box dye currently. Hate it.

I'm naturally dark brown and going blonde would not work for me as a solution to grey coverage - it just does not go with my skin tone, which is cool with pinky undertones. My hair is white/grey at the front and on top, still dark brown at the back. When it's the same colour all over I'll stop dyeing it.

@malificent7

I think completely grey looks fab. Or white...even better.

But again, only if it suits the person concerned.

If someone young decides to change their hair colour, they and the colourist will decide what colour, based on the person's skin tone. You don't colour hair black if their skin tone won't take it, for instance.

Same with grey. It looks great on some people, and on others, like me, it looks awful and just makes them look ill.

I misread your thread title and thought it said green!!!

But dyed grey hair, no I don’t agree, it doesn’t always look shit.
Nobody knows that I have grey hair unless they’ve seen my roots!

I have to use a semi permanent dye now as I have developed a sensitive scalp but the colour matches my natural colour well and creates my natural tones and highlights even when it fades.I’m naturally a chestnut brown and use medium brown in L’Oréal casting creme. I only have to dye it when the roots come through.

If the colour is too harsh or doesn’t match your skin tone then yes it can look crap but on the whole the majority of people you see out and about will have dyed hair but you wouldn’t even notice as it’s been done well.

I went grey at the beginning of lockdown as really couldn't be arsed with the faff of dying any longer. Thought it was a good time to experiment and after recommendation on a thread on here, used a colour stripper as poster said it hadn't damaged her hair. Best thing I did, didn't take eveything out, older henna hair still had remnants, but totally softened the regrowth line. Hair is in great condition now and I'm so happy I ditched the dye.

I'm 'early' grey too, first greys when I was twenty. I've never dyed it, but I do pull out any particularly obvious greys but that can't go on forever! I don't want to embark on thirty years of permanent dying because I have really fine hair and it can be very harsh on delicate hair. One of my aunts (same hair as me) dyed all her life and now has really thin hair. Another aunt didn't and hers is much thicker.
I'm really interested in the henna idea though. Does anyone know whether henna is gentler on your hair than permanent dyes?
I'm happy to go grey, but not til I'm at least forty 😆

I am mid 40s , I started going grey at 19 and have frizzy hair. I was pretty much fully grey by 30. I dyed it for about 10 years but my hair grows really really fast and I just couldn't keep up with it. There is NO WAY I could afford to get it done regularly at the hair dressers. In the end I have just had to accept it. But I totally get it. I don't feel great. Am also fat and exhausted..

I've tried henna and it turned my grey orange. I was using pure henna, not a "henna " box dye.

Is very good for conditioning your hair but unfortunately didn't cut the mustard for me. Would love to hear more from people who have successfully covered grey with henna. I have very dark hair naturally