Going grey

[Sweetiepetal]

I'm 37 & have had the odd grey hair since 18. I've got so many now that keeping my natural dark brown colour is getting expensive. I used to be able to keep it in check with those root touch up kits but they are just not enough anymore. I'm nervous about using home dye kits in case I make a mess of it.

Do I go grey gracefully or keep on dyeing it?

Go grey! Freedom!!
I went grey at about 38/39. Just love not having to worry about roots and dye!

I think that must be your choice. Some women look fabulous and very chic with grey hair. I do think they are in the minority though.

My hair has been going grey for years. I'm not sure how bad it is now because I spend a fortune having it colored I will go to my grave poor but with lovely hair .

I'm still fighting the good fight at 46 and use home-dye kits (it's very hard to make a mess of it - they're very straightforward). Sooner or later I'll have to admit defeat but I know it will add 10 years to me. I'm thinking early-50s? What I am doing is going lighter and lighter (currently "Dark Blonde") so that when I bow to the inevitable it will be less of a change.

It's your choice but as someone with the same problem/colouring I couldn't go grey.

I don't want to look old and unkempt at 32 And grey roots look particularly bad on darker hair.

I'll suck up the minor expense and hassle for my long glossy chocolatey locks thank you!

I'd love to try it but I think I would look terrible! I'm very vain about my hair - I figure I can't do much about my face but at least I can make my hair look good !

What kits do you use Hassled?

Hello, a little bit late but if anyone is still watching this one......

I've dyed my hair since my early 20's, was still at school when the first ones appeared!! Anyway, hopefully helpful.....the best way by far that I found to maintain a beautiful colour without breaking the bank was this........

I found a lovely tame hairdresser, I confessed at the start to not wanting to spend ££££ on it every month was up front about wanting to do it part myself and part at the salon. I got her to do it a few times to get the colour just right and she told me basically what it was and what brand. I then bought the colour in bulk and developer via a hairdressing supplies place online (could also have gone to the local place) and invested in a decent applicator brush, bowl and gloves. For every time I went in to see the hairdresser I did it 2 or 3 times myself and having the colour in that format meant that our colours matched/ toned well (I think I used a colour just lighter than that the hairdresser used as it is easy to make slightly darker but not so to lighten a too dark mistake!!!). The other bonus of this approach as opposed to the kits was that if I needed to do a quick touch up in between times I could mix just a little bit and tidy things up easily. Latterly I found another lovely hairdresser who worked from home so she did the professional job but I supplied the colour which was cheaper again than the above!

I recently stopped dying it out of curiosity to see how I'd feel about it and so far I'm suprised by how little it bothers me. There is so much of it grey now that it is a very striking silver colour particularly on top which I'm thinking is lucky!!! I've adapted the way I wear it a bit for the growing out period but hope to ultimately just grow it out to long again. I'm being a bit more careful about looking more generally groomed and am maintaining a low level tan with one of those moisturisers with a little bit of self tan in them which definately helps add glow. I do sometimes do look at the multicoloured hair and whince but a few more months and hopefully come 2013 I'll be all grown out and have a better idea of how I feel about it. Oh, and I'm 38 so around the same ball park age wise.

Sorry for ramble, hope helpful!

I stopped dyeing at 43 and wished I'd stopped earlier. I love my grey hair! I have it very well cut and I look after it so it looks good. (The money you save on dyeing can be put to having a really good cut.)

I have very dark hair naturally, and really there weren't any good colour options. Black dye makes you look like a teenager; dark brown would be a different colour from my natural look - anyway your skin colour changes as you age, so the colour would need to change anyway over time, anything with red or yellow in looks horrid with my colouring, the only thing left was ash, but that's not as nice as grey -- and it yells 'I'm desperately covering my grey hair with ash dye!'.

But my natural colour, which is now anthracite with silver streaks, looks lovely and very striking and unsusual if I say so myself. And while people say that you can't tell a good dye job -- yep, you always can.

I've been grey since I was at senior school though always dyed it. I am not 40 and I have had grey hair for the past 5 years and its the best thing I have ever done!

Lots of people comment on how nice it is and that it doesn't actually look grey - but blonde. I use a shampoo by l'oreal which is specific for grey hair and its great too.

I love my grey hair and that is about the only thing i do love about myself so that was a big thing for me to admit!

I'm 33, I've had grey (well, white is a more accurate description) hair since aged 12. Premature greying is in my family. I have my roots done every 3-4 weeks at the salon and get a 20% discount for being a regular client. In between appointments I spray the roots with bumble & bumble hair powder, which is available in various colours. This disguises the white hairs when they first emerge. I used to dye my hair at home, but after doing it for many years it had absorbed too much colour and had become very matt and black. I then went professional to get all the colour stripped out and have kept it up since, I feel it's well worth the money.

My natural colour is very dark brown but I reckon I must be 70-80% white now. Hell will freeze over before I let myself go grey! I feel way too young at 33 to be grey, and can't see that changing for a long time.

I have had a few since about 27. If you have dark hair Lush henna is great as it enhances the natural colour and makes the greys go blondish or gingerish depending on the shade. Also makes hair very shiney! It's abit of a faff and makes a mess and is also permanent apparantly although it fades. Worth thinking about for some people.

Been going grey since mid twenties. I am very grey underneath the dye. My own colour is hazel brown, and I dye it medium golden blonde. I have to do temples more regularly as the grey is very resistant and they came up even more golden.

I topped up last night and for the first time pre treated with hydrogen peroxide as supposedly that opens up the hair cuticles and left it on 45 minutes to hoping my temples stay coloured a bit longer!

I hate being so grey and can't see me embracing it for a long while yet. I look like me once my hair is done, when it is growing out I just look tired and older than I really am.

I often do a Demi permanent too, as can change tones and they also blend in greys but fade over time - Casting and Boots Botanics are good.

It is a personal choice, you could try growing out and see how you feel?

I'm 39, and white at front, grey everywhere else having grown out the dye last year. I love it and get a lot of compliments on it.

Really? I'm 37 and would love to stop dyeing my hair but haven't plucked up the courage. Been going grey since twenties and must have spent a fortune in hair dye over the years. An Asian so grey roots on dark hair look awful and unfortunately show through very quickly so also the issue of having to dye them frequently. Also have a big issue with all the chemicals I am applying to my scalp on a regular basis. Someone persuade me the time is right to stop!

Honestly stop!! Life goes on with grey hair. My DH says it shows confidence and that I am secure about myself.

I'm another who started to go grey very young, must have been about fifteen.
Best thing I ever did was stop dying it in my mid twenties. It's pure white now. I spend the money on keeping it well conditioned & shiny with a trendy style. People who haven't known me forever assume I pay good money to get it this colour & describe me as platinum blonde, not grey.
All these benefits without the hassle of keeping up with roots, I recommend it.

Actually, personally I think nothing looks more ageing than dark hair with the hint of grey roots against the paler skin tone that develops with it. Mostly when you see two women together, obviously much of an age, one who dyes & one who doesn't, you don't think oh, what a difference in age for two friends. They still look as old as each other, just try looking & see if you agree.

If you want to do it, I would start googling short haircuts. Once you've got one, switch to temporary hair dyes, the Nice & Easy 8washes for example, they're quite difficult to stuff up on short hair. That way, you can grow out the permanent hair colour and just let the temporary one fade iyswim. No badger!

I think you might like to make more effort with other things though if you go grey, eg wear mascara, wear stylish clothes. Otherwise there's a certain element of invisibility - older women are usually the bottom of people's radar sadly.