Time I ditched the highlighting - but what now??

[Nothavingfunrightnow]

I am 54 and have highlighted my hair for years. I saw photos of myself recently and my hair looks dreadful - brassy with greying roots. I use that purple shampoo often, but clearly not often enough.

Could anyone advise me on how to transition from highlights to other colours? I don't even really know what I am looking for or asking :) I don't want brassy yellow hair anymore, but I do not want to go grey and mousey, which is my normal colour.

Any ideas, please?

What was your natural colour before going grey? Is it the mousey colour you mention? Maybe try an all over colour, two shades above or under your natural colour, if you feel that was too mousey? Or the same colour, with a bit of a warmer or ash cast depending if you suit warm or cool colours?

What about balayage. I used to get highlights and swapped to balayage around 4/5 years ago. It’s less upkeep, less ‘harsh’ and you can blend the blonde/lighter colour with your natural colour. Have a google.

Thanks for the ideas! I'll have a look into them and hopefully end my brassy days.

Can I suggest you try a pink toner. Ive just tried the bleach pink toner and the pink shampoo and I'm loving it, I'm in my 50s and it is a very subtle colour but seems to warm up my face. So much so that I'm going to see if my hairdresser can do something more permanant . I'll see if I can find a picture to show you what I mean.

Mine is a bit darker than this and nor quite so pink but hopefully you get the idea.

www.google.com/search?q=pastel+pink+on+dark+blonde+hair&safe=strict&hl=en-GB&prmd=isvn&sxsrf=ALeKk024OROyAt3ShpZy9ZVuYtVHBInTLA:1600930678521&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiIs5zDm4HsAhU8WhUIHQezA-IQ_AUoAXoECBgQAQ&biw=360&bih=623#imgrc=ItJUWCpj1nKLmM

I'm a similar age and I'm gradually growing out highlights. I started with fewer and more spaced out highlights also slightly darker and closer to my natural mousey hair. I'm now at a sort of balayage without having it done properly with highlights left on the ends but it's not looking like regrowth because of the sparser/darker highlights I had in the meantime. Hopefully that makes sense! Took about 5 months to get to this.

It's made a huge difference to how my skin tone looks, the highlights weren't doing me any favours and my mousey hair is actually much more flattering (as my nana would say to my bleached, dyed, back combed and shaved hair through the ages "nature knows best" )

I'm due a cut next week and I've deliberately separated cut from colour in order that I can decide how I want it coloured once it's cut and styled.

Thanks again for the ideas! I can see why the pink wash might appeal to some, but it's not my cup of tea 🙂

I am not sure I could afford bayalage, so your idea seems good, DarkMutterings. Thank you!

I know a woman who left the grey hairs but got lowlights in and it looked amazing, almost like the greys were highlighted parts of her hair.

Like this

Get a really good purple shampoo to address the brassiness. Fanolaa is best by a country mile. Super strong and turns your blonde ashy, without grabbing certain areas and turning them purple.