Am I too old to lighten my greying dark hair?

[Elephantina]

I am 46, and my very dark hair (see pic) is graying at the temples and hairline. I tend to have a semi-permanent block tint (an ashy dark brown, my skin is fair and cool) when I can be arsed to pay for it, and let it fade out.

I'm tempted to try going a bit lighter, like the "fade" shown, maybe via the balayage technique? I haven't had any blonde in my hair for about 20 years...it has a tendency to be dry and pouffy, and is very porous.

What do you think, hair fail?

If say go for it. Your skin tone can pull of those colours. The only thing id say is because your hair is so dark it may take a while to slowly lighten your hair colour without to much damage and to get your hair the colour you want without using bleach. Going lighter can make hair dryer and more porous, but regular cuts and pampering your hair it will be fine. Im 43 and feel like im still in my 30s, and many of my group have hair similair to this style, its very chic, so go for it, you will love it.

Thanks! Hmm yes I sometimes forget how dark it is - I know that sounds stupid but I just mean that I only really notice the roots and front/sides, and they are lighter due to the greying. Maybe I should consider more of a caramel/honey colour...

Mine's as dark, and I get mine highlighted right down to a few light blonde, lots of dark blonde and lots of mid-brown, so I end up with a few colours going on. The lighter colour is flattering to the face and it means the greys are less noticeable (I'm about 25% grey underneath it all).

If you're worried about the damage, ask them to use Olaplex or Wellaplex (or similar) - it will add about £10 to your bill and really helps preserve the hair.

I've been in for a consultation, skin and strand test today wink - I don't really understand the terminology of lifting and toners etc, but essentially I think the strand test is to see just how light I can go with it being brassy, or damaging the hair. I think.

I suspect I will start with a very natural caramel balayage, and over time I will be able to go steadily lighter...

The thing about balayage is that the root is still the darker colour so the grey would still show at the roots - id talk to your hairdresser and consider going for the multiple colours to lighten it but not block blonde, caramels, golds etc plus perhaps a shade or two lighter than your natural colour so it's not too different to start with

The toner tends to take the brassy colour away and make it more ash depending on how long you have it on for

I think your current hair is gorgeous!

I had my once naturally very dark hair lightened using highlift - unlike with bleach, it didn't need a toner. I went lighter with base colour and had two shades of highlights then stopped the base colouring and grew out the highlights. I'm now grey and prefer it to when it was coloured. Plus no maintenance!

Thanks Aridane! That was after a keratin treatment, it's usually much more puffy and Hagrid like.

Hairdresser said they would lighten it a little around my face (to blend with the grey), then balayage from dark at the base to light at the ends. Maybe not too light to begin with, depending on how the strand test goes. She showed me three greyish blonde samples which were apparently toners, so the light parts at the ends are ashy not yellow.

They actually said balayage was lower maintenance as regrowth was less noticeable!