Going grey gracefully (or at least without looking like I've just parked my broomstick)

[whokilledlizandseb]

Im 49 and I've dyed my hair dark brown or red since I was 16.

It's coming through fully grey and has been for a while now. I'm thinking of embracing it.

However how to do it without looking awful while it grows out? It's thick and wavy, currently shoulder length.

I don't want to wear a hat for months- they don't suit me anyway!

Help?!

Get your hairdresser to put toner on it to turn it golden, it will grow out well.

Absolutely nothing wrong with looking as though you have just parked your broomstick IMO. 🙂

I'm 49 and did this during lockdown.
I stopped colouring my hair , except my parting .
Once it had a good amount of growth.
I completely stopped colouring my hair and changed my parting

If you don't want to pay for a hairdresser, do what I did - set aside a weekend. Saturday, put on a dye remover to get out as much colour as possible. Dry your hair them put on a nice rich hair mask, slather it all over, leave in overnight. The next day you dye your hair - the closest colour that you can find to your natural grey (mine is a lovely silver, and by God that was hard to match!). There are loads of greys around in dyes these days, so you should find something. Da- da - you are now grey. If your hair is prone to drying, then slather the hair mask for a second overnight.

One thing to be aware of is that it may not seem like it, but hair dye builds up layers on your hair that makes it "thicker" so you may find that your hair seems to be less thick. So a bit of body building may now be called for.

PS, should have said the obvious - wash out the hair mask before you dye it!

I hate to say this, but grey hair is rarely a good look. Very few women can pull it off. I can understand if someone is allergic to dyes, etc, but otherwise, no, I wouldn't do it

I love grey hair on women, it looks awesome, looking back at my photos (and this isn't dissing all dyed hair, I'm very much each to their own) my dyed hair was just a flat block of colour.

I grew mine out hardcore... Just stopped dyeing it and there was a really really obvious growth, but it meant it didn't need to pay loads for low lights, high lights, toners etc as it was really obvious what I was doing so it looked ace, then when I had the 'big cut' when the last of the dye went it looked bloody fab!

Depends how daring you fancy being!

I wouldn't either. Grey hair rarely suits me especially if your hair is on the longer side. Maybe think about ditching the dark colours and go blonde.

I just went for the grow out.

I had to grit my teeth for the first 4 months. But after that I quite like how it looks.

all the bits round my face seem to really suit my skin tone.

There’s quite a community of women on tiktok and insta that are doing this. Lots of of hints and tips.

I am really glad I did it. I am going to give it another couple of months and cut it into a Bob to get rid of the last bit of colour. Can’t wait.

So happy I did it. It’s weird but it’s oddly liberating. No longer dying my hair because people think I should or think it doesn’t suit women, has made me quite happy. Love not have lengthy hair dresser appointments as well.

I love seeing grey hair on women!

I totally reconditioned myself on this so now when I see a woman with grey hair, the association is that they are strong, liberated women.

I love my grey hair! No idea if I 'pull it off' as per a previous post, but it's short, snappy and in lovely condition. Grey haired people can still be colourful inside and out.
OP was asking how to do it, not if she should.
I just brazened it out, and because it's short it didn't take long. Otherwise well worth speaking to a hairdresser for advice. I thought about blended lowlights but couldn't be bothered on the end.
Also look up 'Grombre' on Facebook or Instagram for inspiration @whokilledlizandseb

Absolutely!

The key is keeping it well cut. Otherwise I just let it grow out.

MrsDooDaa I am one of those strong liberated women 😁

A very good cut is my advice. I get loads of compliments about my hair, it's in good natural condition and I can't imagine dying it.

On the logistics of growing it out, if you can tie it up away from your face it isn't so obvious.

Dyed hair looks ridiculous beyond a certain age, particularly if the colour no longer matches your skin tone. I grew mine out in lockdown, best thing I ever did. When you go to social events & the women all have blond or black hair & the men are grey (or bald!) it just seems silly to me.

Google the “dye strip technique”- basically you just continue to dye one small section on top, then once the underneath has grown out you flip your parting and voila!

Since I've been growing mine out I've really noticed how much people associate grey with old. Obviously this is a vicious circle of people dying because they don't want to look old - grey hair being seen more on older people.

The advice to go light brown or blonde would look horrible on me as I previously had very dark brown hair naturally. When I see it it looks like tobacco stained hair much worse than silvery grey.

Follow some going grey feeds on facebook to see how beautiful it can look. It's my natural colour and it's much easier to embrace it and since I've stopped dying it the texture is so much better.

Mjne is still half and half but i keep it tied up and am gradually cutting of the dark ends. It's not ideal being a mixture but I used to feel so self conscious with a tiny bit of regrowth that it is really liberating not to care.

Agreed @hadwebutworldenoughandtime suddenly Im being called 'madam' quite a lot!

I've never really dyed my hair, so when I started going white (very, very white, no colour to it at all!) earlier this year I wasn't sure what to do. I'm losing pigmentation at a rate of knots now, I think I'll be fully white before I reach 50 (early 40s now), amd I've decided to just leave it be. I need to keep it in good condition in other ways, especially with a nice cut, but no colouring.

I feel quite resentful when I read or hear comments about how awful grey hair looks on women, so that also motivates me to not dye it!

@SheCameRoundAMountain my mum has a friend who went grey in her 20s. She always dressed beautifully and my childhood memory of her is absolute glamour. She's in her 80s now and has the most beautiful sharp snow white bob.

What a load of absolute bollocks, grey hair can look amazing. I get lots of compliments on mine.

Of course it's a good look.
I've got long grey hair that's in fabulous condition and wavy. I aspired to have hair that looks like this picture and I'm lucky that it does.

I went cold turkey and just let any dye grow out. I didn't mind having two tone hair.

If you can afford it then you could ask your hairdressers to put some foils in to soften the re growth line on the top. It meant I had an ombré effect as it grew out and I even got compliments! It only needs doing once but it does stop it looking like someone has crayoned on your head!

and then own it. Keep it in good condition, a modern cut and join us silver goddesses

My greys came in quite smoothly , more in silver highlights than root regroth so the process was quite easy .
Unfortunately a combination of menopause and illness has meant recent hairloss .
I do think if I dye it (not used any dye for over 3 years ) it will just emphasise the amount of scalp ! I had a fair bit of length removed as it was pulling my scalp and looked "Witchy" ( I know we shouldn't use that word but that's how I looked )

I'm stepping up the conditioning , vitamins , bought a Dyson dryer (shared with my DD) and I;ll get a blood test to see what my iron levels are .