To chop or not? Honest opinions please.

[ChopOrNot]

Please give me your honest opinions on my hair. I simply cannot decide if it is a bit "meh" or OK. Or am I just not seeing it in it's true wondrous beauty - it is actually stunning and I cannot see it ? Is it aging? Naff? A bit dry looking? Please please give me you first thoughts.

I have an appointment booked for Friday and I am going to give the (new to be but v experienced and highly recommended) stylist free reign. I kind of suit short hair (OK face shape/cheekbones/skin) Happy to go cropped. I just want something a bit...edgier? Less mumsy? Funky? Wild? Exciting?

My main motivator at the moment is to stop the constant dying - the colour you see it fake - am about 70% grey/white at the front/parting and about 30% the rest. Roots not showing that much in the pic as I have painted them with a grey-cover-sticky-things - but there is about 3/4 of an inch there. I would love to say greyed prematurely..) - but am 42. So there is a strong temptation to just buzz cut it and then grow it out.

I was, at the end of last year, planning on growing longer - but I think I would be better off doing that once the dye has gone. Also the reason I was going to grow it longer was to be able to put it up...as it suits me better....er...so....maybe I should just cut it off.

Arggghhh.... I have spent hours on pinterest. I am bored of trying to decide.

What do I dooooooooo Help me. me? midlife crisis...not me

I've not dyed my hair in 2 months and I'm planning to get some high/low lights in so I can start to grow the grey out and blend it in a bit. I'm dark brown/black naturally and I'm fed up of dying it too dark or too light and having ginger/orange brown bits. The roots come through too fast and I'm sick of it. You look good op!

Your hair looks great. I starting reading the thread and was thinking 'no!' when people advised you going to blond or having highlights. Glad you followed your own judgement! The grey certainly isn't ageing you and you look dynamic and fun.

Good grief OP you look stunningly beautiful, deffo more so than 4 years ago!

ChoporNot You are so right about how greying hair can suit our skin tone better as we age. I'm greying at the moment and have been debating slapping some colour on it, but my skin is thinner and more delicate than it was in my younger days, and anything brighter than my natural colour would be draining. I am inspired by how right grey looks on you!

I clicked this wondering what could possibly be so long about a haircut, then saw the date and thought oh no zombie thread. And then I was gripped looking at the photos and journey...
You are right that there maybe was a bit of an awkward phase - but ditching the dyes was a genius move - you look fresher and better than someone trying to 'look young through makeup and dyes'.
I'm the opposite - have never dyed, starting to go grey and wondering whether to start dying. This thread is giving me food for thought!!!

u have curly hair. work with that. make it more curly or style it with tongs to add some lift. I agree blonder is good for greying, and you can chose with either a light or cold blonde to see what works with you. I wish wish wish I had curly hair.

Such an old thread, i was wondering where this was going, but how fabulous! I went natural/grey nearly 10 years ago and i think it looks better and more interesting.

Epic thread! Can we get another update when you’re 50?
No glasses though... did they not work with the grey?

Holy shit @ChopOrNot you’re looking great!!

I didn’t realise you’d updated a couple of weeks ago, I’m pleased I popped on to S&B and saw your thread.

You look better now than four years ago!

Just popping back to put this up. Nearly 5 years now. I am 47. Grey, curly and probably look older than before the chop, before the grey. But zero regrets.
I have my curls back (properly adopted the Curly Girl Method - which was a ball-ache to start with but has now paid dividends). Do not miss the roots/hours spent dying it one bit.
Curls a bit haywire today - but 100% any bad hair day I have these days is still better than a good day back in my blorange days.

You definitely look younger to me now than you did at the beginning! What sorcery is this ?

Have you ever considered mature modelling, OP?

(Not implying you're old, that's just what we call the 40+ category!)

I love your hair, looks lovely. If you want to stop dying it you could try going blonde and using purple shampoo to tone it down, then you can grow it out, and it doesn't look like you're trying to grow out.

Oops RTFT Stew... by the way you look fab

Love that you came back

You're absolutely stunning! Longer hair is definitely better on you and everyone else 40+ Would love to see you go ash blonde now though.

Do not go fucking ash blonde if you're doing curly girl and clearly having a lot of success with it. And anyway, I discount the opinion of anyone who says ALL women over 40 look better with long hair. Christ.

This is the best hair thread! You look amazing in the most recent photo, really fantastic and how great to look better than 5 years ago!

Why not go fucking ash blonde? It's a great hair colour. I'm thinking something like this

@RuggyPeg

Because you can't dye your hair when you are following the CGM.

You can use henna etc, but you can't go bleaching it ash fucking blonde. It's so damaging and CGM is all about protecting your hair and keeping it as natural as possible.

Ok, fair enough, it's not something I'm familiar with, obviously but I see plenty of people with naturally curly hair who are dyed blonde. Olaplex comes into its own with bleaching hair.

Um, the thread was about me ditching the dye. And going my natural grey. So am not planning on getting back on the dye bandwagon.

And this is my natural colour. Kind of ashy/blonde/grey......

OP, tbh, I think some people cannot disengage from the notion that all women must have long, blonde hair. You want to cut your hair to get it back to your natural grey you say? Oh great...but how about growing it a bit longer and dyeing it blonde 😂.

You are BAME with afro hair that you want to keep natural you say? Oh great. How about you bleach that and pour chemicals all over it till it's straight.