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?!

Just realised social conditioning has already been mentioned!

I’m silver grey and I’m happy! I started going grey at 18, 50 years later I wouldn’t dream of going back to the tedious dyeing and my parting being silver again in a couple of weeks ( my hair grows very fast)
The cost and futility finally stopped me dyeing it about 10 years ago.
I have several broomsticks lined up outside the back door 🧹

I think it looks really lovely on women but more so with makeup worn too, it can look really glamourous.
It does age a lot though that's just fact, but nothing wrong with this. It's upto you if your okay with that.

You're

I am particularly bemused by the idea that younger women can carry it off, but not older women.

I suspect it's because I am comfortable with my age. I can see how it would be different for someone who is less comfortable.

I'd embrace the grey, if mine was a nice grey and evenly distributed. I am silvery at the front, it's a dirty grey further back and brown at the back. It looks bloody awful.

Therefore every six weeks my hairdresser puts in three shades of blonde highlights and puts on light brown in-between.

Plenty came through in lockdown. Even dh agreed I should go to the hairdresser ASAP.

I'm 62 and still work full-time in a demanding role. If I looked my age I wonder if I'd be taken as seriously.

I have remained a dark blonde/light brown hairstyle. The colour that was always an improvement on "natural rodent".

@DietrichandDiMaggio and many others have slated anyone who dyes there hair do same difference
Women dye there hair all the time even when its not grey and so what its up to them , grey , dyed , bald, wig whatever maybe people should just be nice and accept what ever makes the person feel good or they are happy with , butt out

Think some of the nicest natural greying hair can be when it is a lovely mix of different shades. Nature's highlights! It doesn't need to be all silver or all white (although I love that too and admit I would love it)

In your opinion. Grey hair is how we are MEANT to look and I don't care if I "pull it off".

@woodhill but if she likes it why do you care?
This thread is for embracing grey going natural don't be rude except to those who dye it then its ok to be rude
Its quite a fashionable thing at the moment to go grey, it was also fashionable to have a blue rinse , in 20 years time it may be fashionable to dye black or green after 40
Who knows
But why do people care its not their hair

@MightyAtlantic you could say that about make up and anything , shaving etc
If a person wants to dye their hair so what ?

@healthadvice123 My point was more, I don't care if a stranger thinks my hair looks good or not or judges me for being grey or whatever. People can obviously do what they like!

Probably because she's my mil lol

I didn't mean it only looks good on younger women? It always looks good on older women. I meant it can look good on younger women, but not always.

Only in my opinion of course.

I think my view is a bit skewed as well as I started going grey in my teens. It's easy to say grey hair looks lovely if you didn't even start going grey until your 30s or 40s.

I’m 56 and started going grey a few years ago - used to have a dark brown bob and just grew it out cold turkey. I saw other women with dyed black hair around my age and decided I didn’t particularly want that look for going into my sixties.

OP remember when your grey grows out it grows from the side, the back of your head, the nape of your neck etc. it doesn’t just grow from your parting. Mine came through naturally all around and below and everything as kind of silver highlights - people used to ask if I’d had it done like that at a hairdresser.

I still sometimes think ooh shall I go back to brown because I did like it. But on the whole, I think I prefer it now. And YY about changing your make up and clothes colours - I’m still working on all that.

Here is pic!

I was grey by my early 20s. Started in my teens. Actually, I think that's why it isn't as associated with aging for me as, for example, change in skin texture.

I can recommend having your colours done too once you’ve gone grey. Some things that used to suit you won’t anymore but there’ll be other colours you can wear.
I was advised never to wear black or white next to my face but go with off white/cream, and used navy /grey/brown for base colours.

*use

I started off my grey journey 5 years ago by shaving it all off. My hair grew to mid back and now it's just below my shoulders. I have been asked if my hair is highlighted as I seem to have every single shade of white straight through to grey. I love that I don't have to dye it any more but it can make me feel dull and invisible.

@Wherediditallgo off white and cream look awful with my hair. Black and white are fine.

I guess it depends if you have cool tones to your grey or warm. I had auburn hair originally so that’s probably why warmer colours suit me. 🙂
I find that softer colours are best rather than strong ones compared with when I was younger and I’ve had to tone down my makeup so it’s less harsh.
The lady who did my colours advised they be done every 10 years or so.

I can't shake the feeling that the poster who said most women can't carry off grey hair is either a man or a hairdresser

What? I'm not a man or a hairdresser. And the aggression I received was absolutely not deserved. I just stated my preference, which is that I don't really find that grey hair suits the majority of women. Should I be punished for 'wrongspeak'?

I also don't think that grey hair equals strength. It's just grey hair. Who came up with that association?

If you don't care about what I think, why the OTT reactions? You sound like some kind of cult. Very weird

Oh, and some of the pictures you have all posted look great. But I still think it's difficult to pull it off

Being honest, all the women in our family start silver-grey in the early 20s. I spent years dying it because, well, honestly, I thought that was what to do. No better reason. It was my male hairdresser who nagged me for years that convinced me to go silver. By constantly telling me how much 20 year old women paid him to dye them my colour of silver!

I am 65. My hair looks beautiful. And I'm constantly told I don't look my age. Age is so much more than hair. Of course its skin etc too. But actually I think a lot of it is in the mind.

I do think as women we fall into traps about staying "young" so that we will be "attractive ". But whilst there is a male agenda there about what they think we should look like, we do it to ourselves as well. As evidenced on this thread by people who seem to think that aging is a sin.