Has anyone stopped dying their grey roots and grown it out?

[HennyPennyHorror]

I'm about 80% or more grey and have shoulder length hair which I've dyed a sort of mid dark ashy brown for years. I"m sick of it and think that my skin tone must have altered and I'll look better with lighter hair now.

I want to stop dying the roots and let it grow out to its natural grey, cut most of it off into a bob or shorter and have it dyed blonder.

I can't afford to go and have it all stripped and dyed at the moment and it's in such bad condition that I think I need to start over.

The thought of looking like that is offputting though...a big grey stripe at the roots! I could wear hats I suppose but gosh...am I crazy to consider it?

I did it last year. I was tired of getting my hair dyed every 4 weeks. I had my stylist put in blonde streaks first (mostly on top) so it wouldn't be too noticeable when the grey grew in and I got used to the much lighter colour. She put in the streaks 3 separate times and then we left it. I like it grey now.

Just started this process after dying it since age 19. Now 50 and tired of the expense and time. Bern tinted dark brown for the last few years and I just want to grow it out without more colour being added. So far it's fading out quite nicely but will be interesting to watch what it looks like in a few months, especially as it's cut in a sharp bob.

I had to go cold turkey as I developed an allergy to hair dye. Kept it quite short for the duration but luckily my hair grows really quickly. Took about a year. Really happy with it.

I did it but I started when I wasn’t very grey so there wasn’t too much of a line. Kept it chin length while it was growing out and had regular haircuts.

I did a couple of years ago. I went blonder then grey, but it is very expensive, it is also very tough on your hair and scalp. You could certainly use a root touch up in the interim and then hairbands/hats. There are lots of silver hair groups on fb and ideas on Pinterest and lots of ways to do it. I certainly don't regret it, my scalp and hair are in much better condition now.

I'm 7 months in and loving it! Went cold turkey after 20 years of dye and just left the white roots to do their thing on my long wavy (frizzy without product) brownish hair. The 4 DSs were horrified. Told me it made look older (im 58) 2 DDs supportive and telling me how silver hair is so in. Used root cover for first 3 months then thought, fuck it, i'm not letting myself go, I'm doing this to find a totally new look, gonna be glam with it, too Upped my make up with orangey red lippies and found wearing vibrant colours really makes it rock. Love my reverse ombre, the white/silver on top seems to suit my slightly yellow skin better. I think keeping it long helps too. Or go for a blunt bob or lob. I still have a fair bit of natural dark brown hair at the back underneath. The dyed brown has faded to blonde as the months have passed, which is helping. It is so so good not to worry about roots anymore! Go for it OP, i wish id done it sooner

Thanks for all the replies! I'm SO grey that even an inch of regrowth makes me look like I'm balding from a distance!

Quirky what's expensive? Going blonder?

Henny yes, going blonder is expensive, I went from dark brown to mid brown, then to blonde. I am very silver now, I think it helped that I didn't really like myself as a blonde, so the silver roots were preferable. I had quite a lot cut off the ends when it was blonde, as it was very drying on my curly hair, and then kept having the ends trimmed really regularly so that the coloured part kept reducing. It took me about 18 months to grow it out to just below collar length. It's now shoulder length, I get lots of compliments.

I'm in the process of doing this - to help disguise/tone down the skunk badger look, I'm using root spray.

Don't go blond because you will then be trying to grow out the blond hair - that is if it survives all that bleaching etc.

I did it last year but couldn’t face the 2 tone look so had it cut very short and went grey pretty much overnight.

I quickly realised I wasn’t as grey as I thought I was - probably less than 50% it just looked more when it was poking through my roots. And I wasn’t a very nice shade of grey a kind of steel grey rather than a soft silver as I’d hoped.

I stuck with it for 4 months then dyed it again

I did it, I went from dark brown to light brown to white. I used to still dye my hair around the hairline at first but then stopped completely. I kept it long throughout. The stripe is quite short lived, once there's about an inch of regrowth it looks better.

My very silver hair, it's darker underneath and from the back. I was kind of trying to say, think carefully before going blonde, the stripe is less but it's not good for your hair or scalp!

Try again.

Mamia I won't be trying to grow out the blonde. I don't actually want to be grey...but fair. I'd be happy with dyed blonde hair. I just want to start again because the length of my hair is straw like. Shorter and blonde is what I want. I think I"m going to get it cut shorter and then not dye it. Won't take long to go all grey then I can go blonde.

I misread your original post. I didn't have it stripped out, but had highlights, bleach on top and then toner. But yes, it was tough on my hair. You could probably work with your natural grey to blend in with blonde iyswim.

Use a semi permanent dye in a dark blonde. Inexpensive and works well.

My sil did this, she was very very dark brown dye and just stopped dyeing it, with the hardcore badger stripe.

She had a fantastic cut so it clashed with the bonkers colour but it was a big so what... Now has ace grey hair

Me. Long hair. Tough growing out and it took 2 years. When it was totally done, I dyed it pink. Mistake.

I got a grade 2 cut all over. It was in a terrible state. Now its all natural and it's still short, not so severe, but I love it! It's been liberating 😊

Post photos ladies! Please!

Mine went grey underneath first - and on one side more than the other. I dyed my hair all as near to my natural colour as I could. Then as it grew out I arranged my hair to cover most of the grey. Finally after a year I chopped all the dyed hair out

My plan for this part of my life is to start using henna instead of normal dye, and then once the normal dye has grown out to let the henna just fade out - is this a thing that would work?

I went from dark brown to grey, I used a dye stripper (twice) and a lot of toner to stop the orange. It helps that I have a short pixie crop.
I'm still not sure I like the white hair but I'm giving it a go. It's hard work getting it to look nice through the transition phase

I’ve been deciding whether to do this for 7 years and had dark dark hair stripped and blonded last year. This absolutely trashed my hair so had a cut and kept dying it reddish blonde which last 10days till the white shines through. As a natural dark brunette I’ve a feeling the silver will suit better than the blonde did. So I’m going for it! It’s been yucky colours for a year now so hoping nobody notices!