AIMB to embrace the grey?

[DyddDewiSant]

I'm 57 this year. My natural hair colour is very dark brown, but I started going grey years ago and have always dyed it. I've had enough and have decided to embrace the grey! My hair is short and I've almost grown out the dye now, I'm getting used to it and rather like it.........but I've had some very strange reactions from some people who are horrified!!!
Have you embraced the grey? How did you find people reacted?

There's nothing more aging than someone of 65-70 or older dyeing their hair a uniform dark brown.
I embraced the grey during lockdown & it has faded to a sort of blond/silver mix which is weird as it was definitely mousey when I was younger & I always had blond highlights. My hairdresser is always going on about what a fabulous colour it is. I'll take that, true or not 😂

Ha, my mum also didn't approve! My DH and friends were also unsupportive when I announced my intention. It was as if I'd said I was thinking of removing a toe for vanity. I stuck to my guns though and I love it and I get lots of compliments or my "chrome accessories", "natural highlights", etc., best thing is my hair is healthy, unique and very low maintanance!

I'm 53 and growing mine out . It's long. I got fed up having to do my roots blonde all the time. It's alot less hassle and my husband and children like it. I am quite into it . Feels freeing .

I'm 39 and have greys around my temples. I'm just letting mine come in naturally. I have seen too many friends and family keep going with the dye longer than they'd wanted to because they were afraid of the inbetween stage of growing out the dye.

I also kind of feel like the reason having greys in your 40s is seen as "horribly ageing" is because for decades, we've expected women to cover them up. Like, we're supposed to have greys in our 40s, and the more people who just let it happen, the more society becomes used to the idea. I have no objection to looking 40 at 40, or 60 at 60; why would I still want to look 35?

I'm 57 too. I stopped dyeing my hair during the pandemic and will never go back. It was originally black, but I started dyeing it dark brown, then mid brown and finally ash brown. I hated the fact I got one week of it looking good, followed by a week of slight regrowth, then suddenly a grey stripe the size of a runway. I was constantly stressed about keeping the grey covered and used those spray things. Now it is silver grey with a few strands of black. I have never had so many compliments in my life, some from complete strangers. And plenty from younger people. Unsolicited compliments, believe me, because I'm a very quiet, introverted type. I don't think I look older. If I do though, I don't care!

I tried, but absolutely hated it. Then dyed it various shades of blonde but looked like death with them all. I have gone back to my natural dark brown.
I wanted to love the grey but it didn’t work for me unfortunately.

I stopped dying mine at 38 and I’m 43 (went grey in my twenties). I love it, it’s so much less hassle and I get lots of compliments on my hair colour.

I got my first grey hair in my teens and dyed it religiously until I turned 40

Then I started to question who I was doing it for and haven't dyed it since

I'm 47, I look 47 although my lovely daughter says I look younger I have thick healthy hair and I do not miss the 3 weekly roots sessions and the amount I used to spend on maintenance and hair treatments because my hair felt so coarse and hard to manage

No one criticises men for having their natural hair colour or labels them as lazy!

Getting older is a privilege so I'm not going to apologise for embracing it

Lazy? To have your own hair colour? How strange. And people who think they're knocking years off by dyeing their hair are generally deluded. I'm not saying dyed hair doesn't look good on loads of people, but it's not a magic bullet. You still have the same face.

Started going grey in my early 40s but kept dying my hair dark brown/auburn (pale complexion and hazel eyes if it helps build a picture!)

got fed up of dealing with regrowth with box dyes or £80+ at hairdressers every 5-6 weeks about 4 years ago (46). Grew out most the dye - I have shoulder length very thick, very coarse hair normally wear down and has a wave.

Since growing it out and hitting peri-menopause it’s gone much curlier which really helps soften the greys.

I tried something last summer after seeing a hairdresser do a consultation on Instagram with a lady growing out her dye/accepting the grey - the hairdresser said she could do something like a balayage and she’d only need to have it touched up about every 3 months - sounded like heaven to me. I had it done and very happy with it - didn’t go back for other reasons (financial and been busy in her available days).

when my hair was straight the steely cold silver tones did wash my complexion a bit. But with embracing the curl and learning how to manage it - it really softens the colour and I get so many compliments on my hair now.

you could always have it silver but maybe have your mum do some very subtle high or low light thingies to soften the effect? I’m not a big hair maintenance fan so no idea of all the phrases! 🤦‍♀️

I'm 37 and can't dye my hair so I've just had to deal with it. Could not give two hoots what anyone has to say about it, it's my hair so my opinion is the only one that counts. If looking at grey hair is so distressing to people that they simply must express their horror then I'll tell them just not to look at me.

Your complexion changes as you get older which is why people with dyed dark hair often look so awful, they stick with the colour their hair was when the were 20.
Men would never be having this discussion.

37 and I have a lot of grey. I only ever use semi permanent hair dye and often don't bother so the grey comes through periodically. Only one person has ever commented on it with a very insincere sounding "good for you"

Honest the trick is not to care. People will get used to it and stop commenting

If you have it done at the hairdresser, by a skilled colourist, they will blend different shades taking into account your skin tone and come up with the shade that looks most natural for you and it won’t be an overall flat colour. Box dyes are a very blunt instrument.

Meow!

They look like who they are - women with grey hair.

Which, incidentally, is probably in far better condition than repeatedly dyed hair.

@DyddDewiSant my mum also was very against it, but once it grew out she agreed it looked good.
I get so many compliments, which I never did on coloured hair, and people ask where I get it coloured! 😂

Each to their own but definitely not for me. I will never embrace the grey and will continue to dye it.

Dyeing it was high maintenance and I was worried about having thin straggly hair as a result of this

My hair is in good condition now

I am tempted to dye but then I think of the stress, expense and maintenance of it.

My life revolved around it in the last 5 years

Was auburn but never dyed my hair and am embracing the grey

I keep saying I will. I have long, almost black hair, with quite a lot of grey around the front.
Then I get about an inch in and can’t stand it anymore. It will take years for me to grow it out.

50 and got my first grey / white hairs in my early 30s. My natural colour is dark brown.

I’ve dyed it occasionally but never seriously. I’d never do the fading to blonde thing because a) I don’t want to use bleach and b) it feels like an obvious cliche.

I bet you wouldn't say this about a man who hadn't dyed his hair.

So when do you embrace the grey?
Im 66 and stopped colouring mine a few years ago. I only ever used a semi permanent and was quite shocked that my hair was a beautiful white when all the colour finally faded.
My MIL is 89 and still has her auburn hair tinted every four weeks and will never embrace the grey!

Depends, doesn’t it? Mine’s in a really sharp cut and I always wear make up, including red lipstick. Obviously I look like someone who doesn’t care that their hair’s grey but definitely not like I’m lazy or can’t be bothered. It’s pretty obvious from my overall presentation that I’m very much bothered about how I look and that considerable effort goes into it.

My natural colour was almost black. I spent many years dyeing it, but then went blonde 2 years ago. It's now 90% naturally white, but I have some blonde highlights. I'm 65. Having solid, dyed hair at an older age doesn't look good. Jonathon Ross, Nicholas Cage, and Paul McCartney, for example, look ridiculous

No, because unfortunately men can get away with grey hair much more than women can. They don't look washed out and older (thinking of the few women I know who have gone grey) they generally just look like men their own age with grey hair.