To go grey (but how?)

[KatzenRatzen]

I’m late 40s and until recently had no greys at all (my hair is light brown, no colour on it).

I’ve now started finding some greys and I rather like it- I think grey hair can look amazing and also like the idea of embracing the aging process. But annoyingly, most of my grey hair seems to be in my sideburns (are they called sideburns on women? I don’t mean I have a pair of mutton chops, just the hair above my ears). Am I going to look ridiculous with two patches of grey and the rest brown? Any way I can hurry the process along (without bleaching and dye)?

If you started going grey later, how long did it take to be completely grey? My gran is in her 90s and still has a shock of her old colour!

Dye your hair for a few years then shave it off completely. Chances are it'll grow back grey. If it doesn't then just repeat the process.

Pretty drastic

See avoid colourist, they can advise and blend only all in so it looks ok while growing in.

Same here, watching with interest

I went grey naturally and it didn't go evenly all over my head, I am overall grey now at 57 but still have brown streaks though they don't show unless you look closely. For me it took ages to move from brown to grey, just over a decade. But everyone is different in the pattern of going grey and in how long it takes. You can colour it if you don't like it after all!

You can’t speed up the greying process, or change how it looks colour and location wise without dye. You might get clues from the hair of any older family members with hair like yours, for me that’s my dad whose turned slowly and still has some colour in his mid 70s.

Use a Demi permanent to blend the greys and the brown. It won’t cover them but will blend it so it looks more cohesive.

My hairdresser runs free sessions for women wanting to go grey, see if one in your area does it

I've went grey about 9 years ago. I just stopped dyeing my very dark brown hair and covered up for as long as I could with root powder.

After while there was really too much root to do this so I just let it all grow out to shoulder length and had it cut, resulting in a grey bob type style then let it grow longer from there.

At that time many women were going grey like this, but in hindsight, it was frequently embarrassing and actually unnecessarily harsh, almost like self-imposed suffering.

If I was doing it now I would 100% go to the hairdressers and have my colours gradually blended in for a slow and less embarrassing transition. Speak to at least three hairdressers as they will probably all have different ideas and make sure you find one who genuinely supports going grey as, obviously, many don't.

There’s a great Facebook group called “silver sisters” about the transition of stopping hair dye.

I'm doing grey blending with highlights so it's a more gradual process. I absolutely could not cope with having to dye every 2 weeks and the band of different colour. I now can go ages and it doesn't actually look that grey but blonde. I've also been using semi permanent colours like pink and purple that's been fun easy to wash out and doesnt damage my hair. Grey/silver is the perfect colour to take on vivid or pastel colours really easily.

I did similar,just have hi lights 3x a year and all the greys blend in nicely. I don't mind just got by grey but have too much of my natural colour still and it looks a bit dull if I leave it.

I went from ‘possibly a gray hair here and there’ to ‘yup gray highlights’ by using purple shampoo. Obviously it didn’t change the amount of gray in my hair but it has made it much more visible.

my hair had been getting lighter for years with no visible gray

Those 'wings' of grey hair are common, natural and flattering as your facial skin because lighter with age.
I used to have artificial highlights at one point, very fine and in my natural colour but a tone lighter. They looked good, blended in the grey and gave my hair more body, but who knows whether it would have looked better natural. I'm in my sixties now, haven't had highlights for 5 years or so and my hair is about half a pale silvery tone that doesn't instantly look grey. It's nice, like having a mixture of highlights but without roots or the slight yellowing that used to happen to the dyed bits.
I'd stay with it and see what happens. It's easier to get colour put in than wait for it to grow out, even highlight colour.

I went grey for 8 months but i was growing it out naturally. They say it takes a year to get to your ear.
Well I didn't even wait that long, it looked awful on me, I have a pale/pinkish skin tone and it didn't suit me; it made me look more unkempt and yes I looked older.

I'm in my early 40s and I'm not ready to look old, plus trying to find make up and clothes that would suit the grey of my hair were tricky.

None of my friends (similar age to me) have grey hair, I find it so strange that mine grew in so white while all my friends have never coloured their hair.

I have blonde hair and think that makes a difference as you don't see the grey as much as if you've got darker hair.
I used to have mine coloured, then in the pandemic I let it just do its own thing. It has come through as a mix of the original blonde, some silver and some white. It took about a year to fully get there and it turned out to not be grey after all!

I shaved mine right off in lockdown, about a number 1 it was! I just did not see anyone till it grew out

I grew mine out in lockdown. It was patchy at first, I had grey wings and the crown of my head but still very dark brown at the back and underneath. It’s a lot more even now, five years later. It looks good, I’m glad I’m not a slave to the dye. I have very thick, wavy ear length hair and the greys work their way through the curls. Purple shampoo/conditioner help them shine.

Oh I tried the natural approach for six months then I cracked. Mainly because everyone was telling me not to do it, it looked awful etc. And it did but I reckoned the only way through it was through it. I e promised myself I’ll do it again when I’m 60 . I know people suggest getting highlights etc but part of the reason I wanted to go natural was I’m sick of spending £££ every four weeks .. and 2 hours in the salon!

I have the grey wings. I grew it all out during lockdown. It's startling and dranatic but looks great now its all grown out and I have these two thick, bright white streaks that I think look pretty cool actually. A lot of people assume I've deliberately given myself white highlights so it must look alright.

I just let mine grow out naturally. Had two tone hair for a year . Grey roots and brown ends . Looked pretty awful but I was fed up with everyone telling me to dye it or tone it so I just left it.