That age-old dilemma - letting my grey come through or not. What to do in the meantime etc HELP!

[NorbertDentressangle]

I am mid-40s and have a shoulder length bob. Naturally my hair is a very dark brown but now has lots of grey/white coming through.

For years I've dyed it using various mid-dark brown permanent home dyes. The trouble is these always start fading to that horrible orangey/red after a while and then my root re-growth is a really dark brown with the white/grey.

When we were abroad a couple of months ago the sun faded my dye making the grey more obvious and lightened my hair generally. I quite liked it in a way and thought that now was the time to go natural and let all the dye grow out.

It looks OK (ish) if its just been washed / styled but other times I think it looks awful and probably ages me.

I'm now having second thoughts and am on the verge of rushing out to Boots to get a dye again.

Are there any alternatives? Would a temporary colour be an option? Is there any way of doing low-lights at home successfully. I really can't justify a professional colour as it would be too £££. Or do I just keep going and let it all grow out?

How often do you wash/style your hair? I have blonde hair with definite grey (almost white) at the front and I think it looks fine providing I wash/style it every morning. I agree that the "washed out home dye with roots" look is pretty awful!

Having high and lowlights put through it would be one way of making it look more interesting - and would help with the regrowth sitution if you do decide to go grey. I have this done every 12 weeks ( alternate full head with half head) and at 56 very few people actualy notice I have any grey hairs at all. I budget £55 per month for my hair and this covers a cut every 6 weeks and the colour alternatve visits.

Bonsoir - I wash and style every other day but, as the weather gets colder and damper, it tends to frizz (even when just styled) so I notice the crapness more!

higgle -what colours would they put in mine? How light/dark would it go? I mean, my natural colour is very, very dark brown so I don't really want to go blonde overnight!

Currently I pay £35 for a cut every 7 weeks so I hate to think how much coour would cost. Also, once you start having something like that done am I then 'committed' and have to keep it up otherwise I'll end up with the same 'growing out' dilemma again?

You could have two or three colours put in, probably shades a bit lighter than your natural one, or one about the same, one warmer and one a bit warm blonde? It is quite expensive but I do put teh required amount on one side each payday so i have it there when I have the big payments for colour.

How about cutting more layers into your hair (ie have a more defined style than a shoulder-length bob) but going your natural colour, and then washing/styling every morning - which will be easier with shorter hair, and should help with the frizz? My hair is a nightmare to style when it gets at all long, but is fine if kept pretty short - a layered bob, quite short at the front.

You could try the college for hilights, or a mobile hairdresser. Mine is much cheaper than a salon.

I'd get some professional advice first, then take it from there - I stripped the colour out of my hair with Colourb4 three times, then toughed it out but was going for all grey, but your hair is much darker, so maybe going for a dk blond with higlights look initially would be best ?