Fed up with grey roots, is it time to go natural?

[mrsmontymoo]

I have been going grey since my teens and now that 40 is fast approaching I am considering stopping the dyeing. My hair seems to be falling out these days so the grey roots show more than ever. However most of the women I see with grey hair tend to be twice my age .

I think it can look really good - I saw a lady at the station the other day with long silver hair, very Kate Middleton like, but glossy and silver instead of brown. She couldn't have been more than 35-40. It looked amazing, really unusual.

I know though if I stopped dyeing mine I'd just look like a bedraggled witch! Which reminds me, must check if my roots need doing....

I am 45 and gave up dyeing my hair about 2 years ago.

I love it, but find it looks better when it is more groomed. If I let it go natural frizz curls then it sometimes looks a bit witchy.

However, quite a few people have commented on how they like it. Not sure if they are being polite though.

No! Just no. Unless you have an amazing face and skin to carry it off. Otherwise I don't think it will look good.

I am stopping too - fed up with it and I don't mind great hair!

I'm 39, and grew the dye out last year, and am now white (at the front) and silver grey.
I think I look great, and get loads of compliments on it

I think it depends on the grey you're left with. There are some stunning hair styles in grey, but you need to get the look right.

FWIW, I've highlighted my hair for the last 26 years (I'm 46) and I'm fed up with the cost and the time it all takes. I asked my colourist lady (probably not the BEST person to ask!) what she thought, and the reply was that my hair would look great from the front, but very mousy from the back. She suggested I waited a bit longer for the mousy bit to turn a bit more grey.

I think bad hair dye looks much worse than grey hair.

Blue, you could get platinum highlights in the mousey areas to brighten those. IME all the hairdressers were very negative about going grey till I'd done it

hairdressers have a vested interest in keeping you dyeing!
I saw a fab grey hairstyle recently - pure silver, sharp cut. Quite envious. Only have a few random grey hairs to date, and no telling what kind of grey I'm going to end up. The texture seems likely be fairly pubic unpleasant going by these.

I can confirm that CMOT's hair does look great!

I'm at the same stage as you OP (only a bit older) and considering stopping the dye.

I have recently changed from colouring my hair all over with a dark brown ( very similar to my original colour) to having toffee and dark blonde highlights instead. I no longer have a grey stripe down my parting but instead my hair has sections of grey, blonde, toffee and darker brown. Really pleased with it.

I have that too shopping but I am ready to grow the whole lot out!

I've been wondering this too, trouble is I'm only a bit salt-and-pepper really and mostly at the front, and my brown hair isn't as rich in colour as it used to be so it just looks dull, really. I do agree though that grey looks better than a bad dye job.

I'm going to give it another five years then grow it all out. I think you need at least 50% grey for it to work. Mine is about 30% I think

I have a thread in chat atm, I'm stripping all the dye out to see if I'm brave enough to go grey. I've noticed there seems to be a lot of people thinking about this.

shopping - snap, I have done the same.

I have a fab hairdresser from the US, and he recommended going "nude".

I used to have quite dark hair, and the contrast grey looked terrible at the roots. Keeping it dark brown made it much worse due to the contrast. I have been grey since I was 28, and would now be very grey at 42.

I only need the roots touching up every 8 weeks, and every other session I have a couple of lighter highlights. Mixed in with the grey they just look like lighter highlights. Towards the end of the 7 th week I don't feel self conscious at all as it blends beautifully. It just means I can't pull my hair back off my head without my bride of Frankenstein streaks showing. If I keep it down it looks fine.

Also , staying dark into middle age frames your face and makes more of a feature of ageing. I'm not paranoid about wrinkles, but somehow being "nude" deflects away from your facial imperfections.

It's hard to describe but if you see Annette Bening in "The Women" it's a similar colouring?

I could have written your post op :(
Am 40 in oct and have been going grey since I was 17.
I now need my roots doing desperately but no money to do it.
How does one go about letting the clue grow out?
Just leave it?
My hair is quite short...cropped at the back and longer layers at the front....

Mine was shortish when I made the decision to get rid of the dye. I grew it out for a bit till it was about half out then had it cut very short to get rid of all the dyed bits. I have now regrown it almost down to shoulder length.

I am 41 and have been my natural colour for two years now. I have a sprinkling of grey rather than being silvery all over.

I LOVE not having to dye it anymore. Much easier and cheaper! Its also more flattering to my skin tone.

I do make sure I have it cut regularly and have a much sharper, shorter style to keep it from looking too middle aged. Cut and condition are key.

Go for it - its great.

I have this exact same problem. I have dark hair and terrible roots, my head looks like a badgers arse. I have to dye it every couple of months and it started to look black, flat and ageing.

cocolepew I used one of those recently. It turned me light ginger which I actually didn't hate! I put an ash blonde on top to tone it down and it went back to being dark immediately. I wanted to see how much grey I had but it didn't work like that on me. I couldn't tell. Still, it's brown and not black now at least!

I might consider the highlights route. What I actually want is a dark sandy blonde/light brown all over but suspect that'll cost me.

Thank you Norbert

yes! I think it's time to go natural. What I am finding hard is this "transition" stage. I've not coloured it since March, and have about 2 inches of salt and pepper roots all over, and white roots at the front. I've had it cut into a short graduated bob, so I also have the underneath bit at the back salt and pepper now. The problem is that the ends are still dyed dark brown, but fading badly and looking orange. I did put a semi-permanent dye on the ends to try to improve the situation, but it didn't last long, and my hair is in no stated to put a permanent colour on at home. I'm half thinking of stripping all the left over dye out and then getting the hair dresser to bleach the fuck out of it and tone it to get the ends properly silver. Then I'll be salt and pepper on the roots and silver on the ends.

I started to go grey at sixteen.
Dyed it for years till I got fed up in my late thirties & decided to stop & see what happened.
Turned out it was white all over, not grey. I now wear it in a shoulder length bob with a slight wave. I've lost out of the number of times I've been asked by complete strangers where I get my hair coloured as they want to go platinum like that!
Even my dil in her twenties keeps saying she wants hers the same colour.
Try it, you never know, you might be surprised. It's certainly much, much easier than having to mess about with dyes or sit for hours in the hairdressers. I find it's far more flattering to my skin too than when I dyed it.

Lost count....auto correct

Disappointed horse, it says only to use a toner, 6 washes type thing, for the first few weeks or it will go dark again.

I've ended up a bleachy type of ginger, it sounds worse than it is! I'm leaving it a week or two then putting light blonde highlights in.