Will I look haggard if I don't dye my grey streaks (I'm 37)?

[naturelover]

Apart from the seemingly huge cost in time and money and the general faff of it, I'm undecided about the whole principle of dying my hair. I know, I know, everyone does it (or so it seems) but I wouldn't do botox so why would I dye my hair?

When I have dyed my hair (semi-perm) it never looked natural to me and I wondered if looking "fake" was worse than looking old. Also, a flat slightly-too-dark colour definitely made me look tired and pale. I'm naturally mousy.

What works for you? And do you feel at all conflicted?

FWIW I pay attention to my appearance in other ways, am slim, fit, skin ok, wear subtle make-up, groomed, wear nice IMO clothes, not frumpy.... I just want to be age appropriate and yet elegant.

Totally agree with you. First greys at sixteen. I seem to have been dyeing hair for ages. But the retouches seem to get more and more frequent and it's v. expensive.
Quite like the idea of going battleship grey. But apparently that is one of the most difficult things to achieve. I haven't done any proper research yet.

And currently I use semi-perm colour as it fades and the regrowth is not so noticeable then. And it's not as expensive as the hairdresser. But I am spending a fortune on conditioner.

I think whatever you do, it should look as though it's meant. And I should probably take my own advice on that. It's just a whole lot of work.

I find if I choose a colour a couple of shades lighter than my original colour. Whatever that was. It doesn't look quite so fake.

Either that or get the hairdresser to do it and have some highlights put in.

Well, you won't look haggard but it will be ageing. If you are worried about it looking natural go to a good salon and have a few similar colours put in, or high/lowlights

I'm 31 and have my roots done every 7/8 weeks due to greys peeping through

i do mine at home, every 2 or 3 months, takes 45 mins, would be quicker if i didn't have long thick hair, costs about £6. but i've been doing it for about 15 years, went grey very early, so i don't think of it as a faff at all. as to colour, my 'natural' colour was a very dark brown, but i use a warm chestnut type colour which works well and doesn't show the regrowth too badly.

I am naturally dark haired and started noticing greys at 22. 35 now and probably 40% grey around temples - less elsewhere. I have caramel and blonde highlights through to try and blend them. It is a faff though and costly. I am trying to leave it longer between salon visits but there is no denying that my hair looks better with the greys gone!!!

If you're going to start dying, go lighter not darker. Or have some highlights that the greys will blend with easily and which will help with not having to faff about as soon as roots appear. And then, when you are ready to go grey, it's less of a dramatic change.

Re the haggardness - some women look great grey; they can really suit it. I know that the grey ages me by about ten years, so cover up obsessively - pathetic of me, really. I should be embracing my age.

Thanks everyone!

My own mother dyed her hair until her mid-sixties before going dramatically silver and it looks fantastic - but obviously I'm younger than that and do want to look slightly younger than my true age.

I think highlights and/or lowlights will look good but the expense of it makes me wince. I'm a SAHM so choosing to dye my hair means I can't afford new clothes more than a couple of times a year. We'll be on one income for a few years yet, unfortunately. But I've been disappointed so far by home and salon attempts at semi-perm though at least the root growth was subtle.

As I always say when this topic comes up, I love my grey hair. I love it far, far more than I ever liked my dyed hair, and my hair is in better condition and flatters my skin much more than when it was dyed. Now, when I look at dyed hair all I see is dye. Highlights never look natural, they just look like highlights. Ok, if you like them, but not like a natural hair colour.

With the money I save on dyeing I can have a fantastic cut and more new clothes. What's not to like?

Have a look at this site to see what the other side is like.

I'm 39 and one hair cut away from being dye free, and totally white at the front, grey elsewhere. I get sooo many compliments about it, and I think it looks great too

Yay for grey!!! I gave up the torture of dye sessions two years ago and I love the colour and freedom of my grey hair. I am 41 and proud to be grey rather than a fake brown with white roots.

I don't like going grey and my dc's complain about seeing my grey hairs if i leave it too long between sessions.I have caramel and blonde highlights which blend in the grey subtly.Surely if you don't want to have highlights done semipermanents are much improved now as even my 12 year old finds subtle colours for her really long hair.I do agree about going one or two shades lighter as you get older though as apparently colouring lightens a bit with age.

Ooh, I put a new thread on asking the same question so I'm glad I've seen this thread. I home dye, and have done for nearly 20 years, I'm 35!

I haven't dyed my hair for nearly 3 months and there is sone ok colour under all the rubbish, but i ca definately see the cobwebs, so am thinking of letting them creep through....

Oh, the tension, it's almost as exciting as when I realised my eyebrows were plucked just a bit too thin and decided to grow them back a bit thicker! The drama!

IMHO I think it's really really aging.

My mum is about 40% grey and it looks dreadful if she doesn't dye it.

My gran has white hair which looks great but she is 77!!