anyone fancy going grey next year?

[notactuallyme]

so, i've been toying with this idea for ages (am nearly forty) but always end up dying it. i thnk i'm going to go for it - anyone want a support thread for intermittent updates?

Hmm, the reason all those women look good (attractive?) on those links is because they are, well, attractive. And have tanned skin = very key to grey hair looking good, I think. I'm not brave enough to actively choose to do something which would make me look washed out.

But we are also very attractive, SwedishEdith

Do you think men with grey hair look washed out? Or are we just not used to seeing women under 60 with grey hair?

white grey with some iron type colour and 80% all over.

I think that's it farside - when you think about it, it's always women wearing makeup/ covering up spots/ dyeing their hair etc - maybe when we were more financially vulnerable and in need of a man it became the norm? Now we can liberate ourselves and join them as equals! [rallying cry!]

Oh, good question TFS. Had a think about this whilst watching Casualty and noticed Charlie Fairhead (appropriately, ) and concluded that he did look washed out. But, yes, you're right, we're probably just more used to it with men and less critical.

I love this thread.

One of the men at work is the same age as me. He has gradually gone salt and-pepper grey over the last couple of years. I'm still dying mine.

My husband keeps telling me to stop dying it, and I'd love to. I'm definitely losing the war. Up til now I've only had the odd grey hair, which showed through the dye in about 10 weeks. Now I have a LOT and they start to show through in a matter of weeks.

The only thing is, the lady at work who has just decided to stop dying hers and go grey is 15 years older than me. I'm 38 and don't feel ready yet. (But wish I did!)

It definitely seems to be the case that skin fades as we get older, so we reach a point where we look a bit weird if we keep dyeing our hair its original colour. That certainly applies to me at 50.

I appreciate that quite a few on this thread are still in their 30s - although I think grey hair combined with young(ish) skin can look really great.

I've forgotten what point I'm trying to make.

Grey hair = win-win all round, maybe, no matter what our age?

I'll steer clear of the colour removing products and stick to my plan.

I was asked where I had my hair done yesterday and told my badger stripe mallen streak is cute and super cool.

I think I'll need a 'cool' hairstyle to pull it off without looking like an old lady. I love KellyOsbourne's look.

2kids - but has she generally decided to stop with all the effort, or just the grey? I think if you do makeup/ decent style/ clothes you don't look frumpy. I had very short platinum hair a whle ago and it looked good! I'm planning to go grey first and then decide what to do....

Can I join hair last dyed in October and going to be able to go hair dressers for 10 or so weeks, certainly not to sit for 3 hrs when she does my colours,due to having surgery just before Christmas . Am naturally dark with red highlights at the minute it's a shade lighter with lighter reddy blonde highlights but even now have lovely silver parting. Plan is to leave it then get it cut in April.

Welcome, auntjpetunia, the more the merrier. You've done well to manage since October, and April's not too far off.

I've only just started and it's going to take a year to grow my dye out because my hair is a shoulder length bob. I'm on this thread for the long haul.

My naturally brown (with a lot of grey) hair was last highlighted with lighter brown and caramel tones in July. Have not been able to afford to have it re-done and am now deciding not to.

What can I do to strip the remaining colour out, or do I just go through the painfully slow growing-out stage?

I'm in for the long haul, too, TFS. I'm using the Pro:voke 'purple ' shampoo range and am looking forward to a more natural me. Mind you, I do ensure that I now wear make-up - never used to - so that I don't look washed-out.

I was told vosene shampoo is good for lightening your hair, gonna check that's right and maybe start using that! Used to love the smell when I was a kid.

my sides are very grey....... and i still have 3 or 4 inches of coloured hair to grow out but tthe overall condition is lovely. I too feel liberated from the rigmarole of dying and never being satisfied. my roots always came up lighter than the main colour even when done professionally, soemthing about head heat affecting the dye....

so i was always unhappy....

Now i feel like i'm in charge!

Have only had positive feedback so far, but to be honest, i dont think many people have commented on it.

I think curly hair helps hide the transition!

baby shampoo is apparently really good for removing colour - my hairdresser warned me against it ages ago.
off to work now - will report back any funny looks at my 'letting myself go' ....

Ha ha notactually - since my last top-up, the semi-permanent in my hair has faded somewhat (it won't wash out completely). I went into one of my jobs today for the first time since mid-December and the receptionist did a face and said "OMG - you look really different!

Different?

I'm not even grey yet.

Only comment ' you can always dye it back '

Oi! Am I on my own here! Am slowly turning grey...

Still here, still here.

I've had some compliments tonight on my hair colour - admittedly the setting was a candelit room where the grey roots blend in with the home-made highlights.

I don't look so hot in natural light.

Haven't caved in though - still feeling very "grey power-ish".

No. Not a fucking chance. Haven't read the thread, just the OP. sorry.

No! No! You should never dye it back! After two years of pain and looking frankly quite shit, why would you DO that? Just to have to do it all again, one day?

My advice would be to anyone finding their first few greys now would be LEAVE THEM. The trauma, at 46 of trying to keep the badger at bay on my dyed dark hair is just awful!

I am fairly dark haired naturally but I went grey quite young and I am now probably 50% white/grey, mostly at the front.

I have no idea how it would look, if I could ataully let it come through - maybe I'd hate it. But the most I would EVER recommend for someone in my situation is that they wait until the grey is about 25% and then start on a programme of mixed coloured soft highlights to blend the grey. That way it is a gradual process.

Honestly I feel like a hostage to my permanent all over medium dark brown. And it never looks that nice anymore, even when freshly done. The depth of colour is not the same and it looks patchy and uneven, my white roots are through after 2-3 weeks and I can't seem to find a hairdresser to get hte shade just right any more. I am thoroughly fed up with it.

If I was skinny I'd have the whole lot cropped off and start again, but at the moment I'd look like a football with a pea on it.

I've got my fortieth birthday party tonight. Over a hundred people coming, some of whom I haven't seen in ages. Currently have three to four inches of grey 'highlights' along with a Rogue-style white streak at the front.

Part of me wants to henna it all before tonight so that I look younger and cooler, but then I'd be undoing seven months of 'growing out' and would have to start all over again.

It doesn't help that I've gained a stone over the last seven months, either. Slightly worried that everyone will just assume that I'm no longer making any kind of effort.

Oh I really hope your party went well!
Know what you mean about the short cut - I would look odd.
Have a v lovely day planned for march 1 and an thinking about whether I am brave enough to go very short so I don't look stripey.

I can't do it.

I've tried and I don't mind the stripey look so much (have been getting a lighter base colour on my dark brown hair) but I would be white on top and dark underneath. I just don't think it will suit me at the moment and at under 40, I don't think I'm ready yet. I have ordered great henna for grey hair that I used to use (one major factor for another dyeing was the ppd in hair dye that made my head feel are really tight, almost painful, for a couple of hours after dyeing). I will watch the thread with interest and will be back eventually.....

threebeeonegee cant you wear a hat? a facinator? a scarf? a thick headband?

Get the wash in wash out purple coloured fashion hairspray... then everyone will think that you are as mad as a box of frogs especially if you match it with a purple teacosy hat!