To embrace the grey at 37?

[CherryGarcia23]

So I'm going grey. I'd say looking at my parting only, I'm at 25%.

I haven't dyed my hair since February this year. I'm considering going to a professional hairdresser to start dying a silvery grey to blend everything in.

I do not like the mousey brown / blonde/ grey that seems to be to go to in your 40's / 50's when a haiirdresser does a professional cover up.

AIBU to do this at 37? Everyone I have spoken to says wait until 50's??

Do it. I embraced mine in lockdown and never looked back. I previously dyed my hair everything from brown to pillar box red.

I like to think it looks stylish

Their age is irrelevant to the idea that they might have ‘ let themselves go’. What a pile of misogynistic crap that is. So sad to hear women spout it.

TheKnittedCharacter · Today 18:05

I think Sali Hughes as mentioned upthread is a good example of how harsh going grey can be. It does her no favours.

Actually I disagree with you on this 100%. I admit I had no idea who she was but a quick Google shows me her with her very dark dyed hair next to her much more natural looking grey and I think she looks SO much better grey. The dark just looks fake and hash to me. If say she (weirdly) looks younger grey.

I think go for it OP. You can always go back to your previous colour of you don't like it

The reason is because it makes multi millions ffs! Because you’ve been told you can’t look your best if you look older than 21. So you spend a fortune chasing that b
My point with Mirren and Dench is exactly that they are old - but still look fabulous.
Hating the association with ‘old’ is your problem. It’s very much better than the alternative.

I always think of Helen Mirren as being platinum blonde

I’m a similar age, 100% grey at the front and darker at the back and I’ve not dyed my hair in years. I’ve never liked what hairdressers have done to cover it so I stopped bothering! I have all this “you’re too young to be grey” shit. I mean I can’t be too young because that is my hair, at this age!

Sali Hughes brown hair was her natural colour. She's written about her ppd allergy which stopped her from using any brunette dye.

The dark was natural. The 'grey' is fake.

I went grey at a very very young age but always coloured my hair.

A few years back now (mid 30s) I dyed it blonde and grew out the grey.
I was fully grey for about 2 years and got loads of compliments (mainly from other women.)

Had a bit of a down period, though, and as a 'pep me up' - ended up colouring it again!

Every time I do my roots, I curse that I am back at the beginning. (I do my roots because I don't have the willpower for the grow out again.)

If you are ready - do it!

I agree entirely. I've also just googled her. Much better without the harsh fake box dye look. She looks lovely.

I agree with you @Jeffsmeffsmiff I had to google too but with the dark brown hair Sali always looks like she's wearing a lot of make up in pictures and the bright red lip stick and darkened eye brows make her look fake and overly made up. With grey hair the make up colours are muted and she looks more naturally beautiful. I much prefer that look and don't think it makes her look older. I often think that overly made up people look much older because it seems like they're trying too hard to look young and it doesn't work.

Mind you I celebrate being the antithesis of the Love Island look, I can't stand all that fake everything. I love getting older.

@ArsenicInTheAppleTart oh come on! The dark was natural at some point but clearly isn't any more! I'm sure when she was naturally dark she probably looked fabulous but as you age your skin tone changes slightly along with your hair. So people who rigidly stick to the hair colour of their youth often look like they sort of "clash".

There are quite a few women who were forced by COVID into 'embracing the grey' at my work. They all look older. I think pp is right, if you have the right skin tone then fine but if you're a pale English rose then you will look dead.

Sali Hughes pre-grey hair was her natural colour. Not a box dye. It's fine to prefer to grey but the grey is the result of bleaching and toning. It's not natural.

It was dyed originally. But she couldn’t use 100% grey covering dyes, and was becoming more grey, so decided to get it dyed grey to worry less about them showing through.

if you're a pale English rose then you will look dead.
I must look dead then. What a bizarre attitude.

Well if it's her natural hair then the photo must have been taken when she was actually younger so not a fair comparison. I still think she looks a a LOT younger in the second one.

Take it up with Hughes herself. She's written about it.

'All 100 per cent grey covering hair dyes are out of bounds, because every single one of them uses either PPD or its non-identical twin PTD, and I am dangerously allergic to both. I can personally vouch that nothing ruins a girl’s day like an emergency adrenaline shot, blue lights to A&E, heart monitors and a paramedic’s claim that “we thought we’d lost you”, and so consequently, I haven’t used a grey covering hair dye in almost a decade. I have tried every available alternative, from henna to root sprays to wash-ins, to ammonia-free this and organic that (neither has anything to do with the presence of PPD, so don’t be fooled and always, always perform a skin test), but not one of them did more than offer a nice shine and zero lasting grey coverage. My only options were to live with my mostly concealable salt and pepper temples, moving my parting a fraction every few months like some kind of hair sundial, or to adopt the attitude of “if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em”, and nuke all their neighbours with bleach.'

https://www.vogue.co.uk/beauty/article/sali-hughes-grey-hair

So if she hadn't died it dark in a decade then the dark picture must have been 10 years previously, no?

no. that's what her hair looked like when she decided to bleach it to grey.

I know, I started going grey at 16. Now 37 and don't dye it even though I've got very dark brown almost black hair. Embrace it I say, it seems so much hassle to be getting it done for many many years down the line

If you google salt and pepper hair it comes up with loads of marvellous images but let's be honest - how many women do we see looking amazing with it ?

Indeed. What a crime for women to look anything less than ‘amazing’. 🙄 JFC

Quite. I'm quite happy to look just OK. Which I do. If I dyed my hair I'd look OK too. Just a different kind of OK.

Helen Mirren has clearly had a facelift - so not exactly embracing aging is she? Funny how certain cosmetic procedures are acceptable, but if you dye your hair you're somehow letting the sisterhood down.

To be fair, most women don't look amazing, whether they have grey or dyed hair. Neither do most men. People who look amazing are a very, very small minority of the population. I'm not one of them, and odds are you aren't either. Looking amazing is not a realistic goal because it is 99% dependent on being born with the right genes for that.