Hair colour middle aged brunette?

[LymingtonHarbour]

Can anyone inspire me about hair colour please? Specifically, I'm 42 and naturally have dark brown hair. It's nearly black, dark chestnutty. I'm white with green eyes, and cool tones suit me. I've been going grey slightly since having a baby, and being very dark the greys really show. Before I went grey I thought I'd love the salt and pepper look abs would definitely choose to go grey naturally, but in reality the greys sprout up in the most inconvenient and obvious places, such as right in my parting! Also although I like the few longer greys through the length, I don't like the ones against my face (the whispy baby hairs) as I do feel they age me in an unflattering way.

I decided to try highlights in an attempt to "blend" whilst not concealing the greys. This went ok but I'm now kind of missing the shine you get with dark brown hair. I'm not sure if the blonde colour is in fact a bit draining.

However I'm not keen on just dying my whole head dark brown as I think it can often look unnatural, and a bit of a "blocky" colour as women go grey underneath, but I don't know if that's just my perception.

I was looking at pictures of Kate Middleton on Mumsnet today (who is almost my age) and thinking how great she looks... but then I know she's had loads of work and is naturally stunning. Maybe it's my ageing face that I want to change rather than the hair...?! In any case, can any brunettes with greys suggest anything?

Omg you just described my hair! I’m not happy with the highlights either 🤦‍♀️ She made them mousey brown!

I used to have a semi permanent colour and that looked great, very glossy. Next time I’m going to ask for that in my natural colour but ask them to not dye the white bits around my face, so that there isn’t that weird look with white hair growing out of dye-stained scalp.

So dark all iver except for the bits around my face.

I have very similar colouring. What I do is have my roots all dyed dark to match my natural colour, but have a small number of freehand dark caramel coloured highlights in my hair from my hairdresser. Where the sun would catch your hair almost, then a few more if that makes sense. Every 3 weeks I also do my own roots with box root touch up.

I've tried going lighter and having highlights all though my hair but it doesn't suit my skin tone and my hair hates it and the condition is effected.

I was a very dark brunette, green eyed and cool toned. I went through this exact process in my 30s when I started to get more grey than dark, I think the transitional period is really difficult. I fannied around with much the same things as you are now.

Eventually I ended up shaving the whole lot off and starting again. It was a radical solution, but it saved me years of pain and indecision!

I now have long silver hair that's in great condition because it's never been dyed. From where I am now I'd recommend it. It was a slightly painful process though.

I have half head T bar low lights in a colour that matches own and a caramel. That way the grey is still there, toning in, but it's just broken up and the colour is more even.

Now and then I have a semi perm toner put on it that fades out.

My hair does tend to be quite shiny, it's very straight.

@spidersenses

I have very similar colouring. What I do is have my roots all dyed dark to match my natural colour, but have a small number of freehand dark caramel coloured highlights in my hair from my hairdresser. Where the sun would catch your hair almost, then a few more if that makes sense. Every 3 weeks I also do my own roots with box root touch up.

I've tried going lighter and having highlights all though my hair but it doesn't suit my skin tone and my hair hates it and the condition is effected.

@spidersenses do they use permanent dar brown colour or semi perm? I'd be worried that permanent is v drying but also that those semi perm ones seem to wash out within days?

@LymingtonHarbour permanent - it doesn't seem to dry my hair out but I know everyone is different. T

I have the same colouring as you, but these days with loads of grey. I dye it myself with Daniel Field Water Colours to match my original dark colour. It doesn't damage the hair cos there's no peroxide. Even though I touch up the roots every 2-3 weeks, it's still in good condition, so much so that now I've grown my hair long. I hate the single block of colour look, but because the dye doesn't have the same effect on my white and dark hairs, it seems quite varied and natural (I hope!).

I have the same colouring as you OP and henna my hair. The greys go red and it looks like I have fine red streaks through my hair.

I really like it and its much less faff than highlights and root touch ups.

It leaves my hair really shiny and in good condition despite using my straighteners everyday.

Plus it fades and so is not all that obvious as it grows out.

I probably do it 4/5 times a year at a total cost of about £20

Similar colouring here. I just box dye the whole lot. As I still have a lot of my natural hair colour, there are still different tones in my hair. I think the block effect comes when you are still colouring over all grey/white hair which becomes coarse and dry. So it's probably a few years off. I prefer my hairdresser to do it but it's expensive and Josh Field colour is great but again expensive so I use garnier olia at the moment.