would you dye this hair - with photo

[ladygoinggrey]

my few white hairs didn't bother me that much - until I noticed that among my friends, colleagues and female peers that No one, no one at All has grey hairs. I think I am the only one who doesn't dye it. Am I aging myself? I'm 36. should I dye it?

No! I've a friend who has very dark brown (almost black) hair with white streaks in and it look amazing! As does yours. I have no choice but to go grey (I'm 38) as I'm totally allergic to hair dye (think chemical burns allergic) so I'm getting a few streaks but my hair is muddy brown so it's all a bit dull. Yours looks lovely.

It's up to you. Most people do dye (cue hoards coming to the thread to say they don't!!) I looked round a meeting room once and every single woman had dyed hair.

I have a similar number of greys my hair is brown rather than darker.

I have it dyed every now and then but this is as much to brighten the brown. It's is a semi permanent so doesn't completely cover the greys but helps.

I do feel a bit self conscious when I've let the dye fade away for quite a while but it's the nicer brown that I miss more.

How do you feel about it? If you're not bothered then it don't think it's worth the effort.

I've found once I start dying I feel more self conscious about the greys.

Your hair looks lovely, but it's really more about how you feel personally. Maybe you could try a wash in/wash out hair colour and see if you like the look of it before anything more permanent.

Elle have you tried henna if you wanted to have a bit more colour on your hair? I use this and it works brilliantly on my fairly grey hair.

I would say it totally depends on how you feel about it.

I think your hair looks beautiful. But if the grey bothers you, then dye it.

But don't just do it because you feel you ought to/ because that's what my friends do.

thanks for the replies

patilla I feel completely fine usually, actually I am pretty happy with how I look most of the time. It only bothers me when

• I go into the office and I am literally the only woman without coloured hair. I worry it's one of those unwritten work style rules (conservative workplace) like, don't go into a meeting with bare arms or legs.
• I am a bit nervous as DD is starting nursery and no other mum at the open days had any grey hair

I put on light make up mostly and try and present myself smartly - but colouring my hair just seems so permanent and then - when do I stop? My hair is thinner at the moment anyway having had DD 6 months ago so I am loathe to batter it even more with hair dye.

Ok - I am going to step it up a bit with my clothes and keep my hair cut and tidy and see if I can brazen it out.

My hair is very dark like yours although I have a lot more grey - silver strands throughout and a thick mallen streak at the front.

I dyed it for around 8 years I think, a mix of salon jobs and home dye when I was feeling more hard up. Throughout that time I was never really happy with the colour. It often edged into slightly too dark territory, and as it faded I would get reddish tones which weren't natural to me.

The main issue I had (once I was a bit more grey that you) was that my grey roots would grow in very quickly and the contrast between my dark brown dye and the grey roots was really obvious. I needed to touch up every 2 weeks or so. Root touch ups every fortnight at a salon was prohibitively expensive and root touch ups at home left me with blocky, patchy overall colour. I missed my shiney, natural hair so decided to stop dyeing and just go with the grey.

Mostly I get positive comments, a few negative. My hair is healthy and I like how it looks which is what matters. I am 40 BTW. Your hair is naturally very beautiful and will, in my opinion, look very beautiful as it greys, so I say go for it. But you should do what feels right for you.

If it's of use, the best hair dye results I had were with Daniel Fields Watercolours in Oak. It was a very close match to my natural colour (same as yours from what I can see) with minimal reddish tones as it faded. It doesn't cover the grey strands that deeply so I found the dyed grey strands gave some nice tones and I didn't get that harsh blocky effect and looked really natural which was important to me. It would work well on the amount of grey you have now but won't cope as well when you start getting lots of grey (which could be years from now!)

Hope that helps!

I would leave it if I were you, you have beautiful hair.

I would use a semi permanent, I think. One close to your natural hair colour (they come up dark I think in general, so choose one a shade or so lighter). Of course, it's entirely up to you and I wouldn't judge negatively if I saw your hair as it is now. But if it were me, personally, I would dye it.

Oh no, don't dye it unless you really, really want to. It looks great as it is!

The faff and expensive of dying is massively downplayed a lot of the time, one can't just stop either.

Just dye those bits.

I died my hair in my mid 30s because it seemed to be the thing to do and I had a few greys! Now at 43 I am faced with root-retouch ups every 3-4 weeks. Not totally grey, but enough that they show. I hate it. I feel like I am on some horrible treadmill.

If you fancy a change get a few (and I mean a few) highlights.

I wish I had never started the full colour crapness and just let it grey gradually. I now have to go through the pain of growing out my roots. Like the first picture. Instead I could be swishing around something glamorous and sexy even if it is grey.

Or this. This is lovely. Beats slightly the wrong colour dye with grey roots.

It's up to you but I would dye it.

I'd leave it, I've got white hair coming through & I'm very meh about it.

Healthy, well cared for hair will look nice whatever the colour.

Have you seen the ranges people like keratase do for older hair? I suspect it needs more moisture than natural hair.

Personally I wouldn't dye your hair as I think it looks good

Theres no should, but if I were you I'd put a semi in.

I think the silver lines in your hair look really striking.

I think if you have very dark hair it is difficult to not look dyed - my mum's natural hair colour is jet black. However if she dyes her hair black it looks awful - so she has to have lighter shades.

I think grey roots are more ageing -
My sister is 27 and has a lot of grey hair which she dyes. When I see the roots I always get a little jolt - it looks a bit odd and greyer than if it was in her whole hair iyswim.

Well here's a vote from a greying 50-something to smarten up everything else before getting on that lose weeks of your life to the hairdresser treadmill. That's why I don't dye mine , because I just KNOW I would not keep it retouched and it would soon look GRIM. So selfishly, the more other women who don't, the better for me! I just wish more other people wouldn't either - like you do.

Also I am a bit concerned about all these chemicals, some will possibly soak into your system - which is another reason for me not to get on the treadmill. To be honest its mainly laziness though, can't be *ed with henna either. And I just think ffs I've got better things to do!

I agree yours is gorgeous, btw.

Personally I would. I think it's ageing at 38. I do see some stunning grey hair but I wouldn't want just the odd strands. That's just how I see it I would never say anything to anyone or be rude!

I wouldn't have highlights - I also think they look strange in hair as dark as yours and I wouldn't go lighter - I would have a rich brown put all over it - brown is much easier to do yourself if you want to and doesn't have the upkeep of blonde. Semis often work fine.

I would x

Go to a salon and have a ½ head of highlights. A good colourist will be able to select colours which blend into your current hair colour and essentially enhance what you have. They won't take out all the grey but will be able to 'pick up' most in the foils.

I have your exact issue ( but about 4 years ahead of you) and have been doing this for about 4 years and it works - there is no obvious grow out and I probably get in done every 8-12 weeks (if i remember) The nice thing is the highlights I think make my natural hair colour better.

Also I had never coloured my hair before this at all.

However I would never do a home hair thing - i am too frightened of mucking it up but I just don't need a total colour on my hair

NO! I love it x

Don't dye it! It's lovely as it is.

Mine looked much like yours but I did decide to dye and it has been a pain in the backside since in terms of cost, chemicals and time over the last 16 years. I wish I'd never done it - now finally growing it out, which is taking time because I really don't suit short hair.

I think more women suit grey hair than dyed hair - it's the style that matters