Anyone NOT died their hair when it started going grey?

[MedusaIsHavingABadHairDay]

I'm 44. I have coloured my hair for years.. you name it I've been it! Permanent, semis, Henna..... however my last colour was over 6 months ago and surprisingly hasn't left noticeable roots.. just a bit lighter on the ends like sunshine lightening. I am currently growing my hair again and it's just touching my shoulders with a side fringe that is also growing out. All good, and it's in a LOT better condition for leaving the dye out, as is my scalp.

I have a sprinkle of grey hairs on the top, but not lots, however my parting has now got a very definite 'Mallen steak' of white hair! I actually quite like it, and am contemplating not having it coloured and seeing how it looks in another 6 months!

BUT I don't want to look old and frumpy!

Has anyone else gone..or stayed natural, and if so do you feel you are perceived differently? Am I nuts?

In an odd way I see the white streak as the next stage of being me, but I don't know anyone who has gone grey naturally except my own mother!

I don't recall a time when dying your hair was unacceptable - was that back when people wore wigs? [Big grin]

I look about 10 years younger without my grey so I have it done professionally every 7 weeks and love it!

I have quite a lot of grey...as my children helpfully point out I cant imagine having to mess about dying it becuae once you start you have to keep going really...I do get it highlighted 2/3 times a year but thats about it. I like the white hairs - they contrast with my dark brown tache

My hair is really dark with about 30% grey I think but I find it just looks so dull if I leave it natural. Am currently colouring a full head every 4 weeks and still have a grey parting by week 3. Have no idea how to go grey gracefully as I think it will look horrendous if I try to grow it out

My Mum always says that. 'I'm going grey gracefully!' Well, I'm not Mother!!
Shoppingbags my hair looks dull these days too with no colourant on it. Grey hair is a lot coarser and 'kinky' I think. I hate it!

i never have - i quite like mine

i agree with solo not all over-40s dye their hair or do it badly.

like solo i'm 40 and don't have much grey and friends always assumed i dyed it as they'd been colouring theirs for years. i've recently started using semi-perm colour which like solo's is similar to my natural colour so it's not that noticeable and there's obv no regrowth.

not sure what i'll do long-term when i go more grey. i don't think i would suit grey hair tho i agree some women totally rock it.

Cake I just looked at your profile and your hair is gorgeous!!

I was going to beg some of you to upload pics of your hair - then I saw Cake's luscious chestnut cascades and decided I'm out of my league :(

Mine's iron grey. I colour it with 'natural baby blonde', hahahahah I was blonde originally so, what with increasing whites filling in as highlights, I guess it looks OK but not natural. If it goes white all over, I'll bleach it to fuck and then let the white grow through. But I don't know what to do if it stays grey? Using a dark blonde / light brown looks better at first, but within a week or so starts getting patchy.

Have any of you seen any sensible advice on this?

i forgot those pics were there but thank you solo and garlic!

pics sound a great idea tho garlic. so hard to visualise hair from descriptions on posts but it sounds as tho loads of you have the holy grail that is amazing, cool grey hair.

I think the best way to deal with grey so much depends on your natural colouring and how much grey you have.

The fairer you are (naturally) then the easier it is to blend grey, and the less obvious the regrowth is. If you're fairish it's probably worth investing in highlights / lowlights to blend grey as they will last a couple of months at least without looking badgery.

If you have warm colouring it's also easier - you can put a blonde or light brown semi on top of the greys to blend them in which is a cheapish home option, even if you have to do it reasonably frequently to hide regrowth.

If you have cool colouring and dark hair it's a nightmare to cover grey once it gets past about 20-30% at the front. Blonde highlights look yellowy and rubbish, and if you use dark dye, the regrowth is really obvious. Also the ends of your hair tend to end up much darker than the hair near the roots, which accentuates the fakey washed out look. So prob the best option is to dye dark (and often) for as long as you can bear it, then go cold-turkey grey, which can look very good with cool colouring. IMO anyway!

I'm struggling with this issue too. I would love to let my grey show through - if only to save me a fortune at the hair salon. But my hair is probably 50% grey - a mixture of steely grey and pure white. I think it will be very ageing on me. I have it dyed a warm brown. I keep thinking about home dying but not sure I can be bothered with the faff of the mess and I wouldn't know where to start with which products to buy.

I'd like to think I could rock it like <a class="break-all" href="http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?q=sarah+harris&um=1&hl=en&sa=N&biw=1786&bih=908&tbm=isch&tbnid=3MhzDyCHFx-ZXM:&imgrefurl=www.whatwearewearing.com/category/sarah-harris/&docid=H7kNe2t_blIW7M&imgurl=www.garancedore.fr/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/sarah_harris-560x322.jpg&w=560&h=322&ei=7owiT4-1BYra8AOq5qzSBw&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=1466&vpy=185&dur=1035&hovh=170&hovw=296&tx=199&ty=94&sig=114495978327772719395&page=1&tbnh=109&tbnw=160&start=0&ndsp=56&ved=1t:429,r:11,s:0" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Sarah Harris, writer for Vogue but am worried I would end up looking more like my gran :(

cakes what is sock bun hair?

Will post a pic later.

valium oh tis amazing heatfree waving/curling technique, much acclaimed on MN. check this out:

i do it now and then but will do it more regularly when my hair is longer again (is at it's shortest for years in the pics as it stopped growing when i was pg) so i can get a better wave.

I AM GROWING MY HAIR AGAIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!