At what age should you go grey gracefully?

[Saker]

I'm 53 and started going grey in my 20s. I would be pretty much entirely grey now but get my hair coloured regularly. Last week at the hairdresser, she was hinting I should be thinking about starting to lighten the colour with the aim of letting my grey grow out over the next few years. When I was younger I would have thought that 53 was definitely old enough to be grey! However now I'm that age it seems a bit young. What do other people think?

I started to get the odd grey hair in my early 20's now I'm early 30's and I have my hair bleached at the front with pink through it with my natural root and the roots and sides are white grey 🙈. I have a wedding next month and want to keep the length for it. Once it's over I'm chopping the hair and stripping it then seeing where we go. I have natural black hair and kinda looking forward to going natural. I'll no doubt be white within the next couple years. X

I was very dark haired, almost black, broke my heart going grey but dyed it dark brown for a few years and now I've gone a dark blonde which doesn't show the regrowth so quickly. I'm always going to dye my hair it's going to be Custers Last Strand!

They say 50% of people are 50% grey at 50.

I'm 52 and only have a few grey hairs, I have a lot of red hair though which helps, my Mum in her late 70s is still a dark grey (only briefly used semi permanent dyes in her 50s) and my grandfather went grey very late as well so I have genetics on my side as well. I react to a lot of shampoos and hair products so I'm not going to try dying my hair. My older cousin stop dying at 50 although my Aunt still dyes her in her 70s, my younger sister dyes her hair in her early 40s (although if I was her I'd not bother, her natural colour is still pretty dark). My MIL dyed her hair jet black until she was widowed then went her natural white in her 80s, SIL has recently gone white in her 50s. MIL looks better with white hair, it's a beautiful colour now.

I think it's up to the individual when or if they stop dying although I wish more people felt able to go grey naturally and not have to spend so much money on hinding a natural part of aging. Although I might feel different if I had gone grey younger, I didn't have a single grey hair till my 40s and there's not been much change over the last 10 years.

Had loads since my late teens. Haven't dyed my hair since early 20s.

Your complexion changes as you get older and can make dark dyed hair look very unnatural. If your hairdresser is hinting, it is probably because it no longer looks as good on you and it is time to transition

I would take the advice of your hairdresser. She will notice things like your skin tone and will be able to imagine what would look nicest. Grey hair is beautiful. I often think it looks far nicer than obviously dyed colour that looks fake and jars with a persons skin tone.

My mum is still dying hers at 75 . Unfortunately she lets herself develop a white circle on the back of her head. Looks awful. I’ve had a gentle word , even done the colour for her on holiday. She either needs to do it every three weeks minimum or go white gracefully.

I stopped colouring in October 2021 when I was 48, just to see. My hairdresser says I am 5% grey. I now have a white streak down each side, and a smattering of greys over the top, and the jrest is my natural dark brown - I love it. My hair is in a short, sharp bob with a very blunt fringe (Louise Brooks/Mary Quant type cut) and I think having a very defined style keeps it looking fresh. I trust my hairdresser 100% and know he would tell me if it looked crone-y!

The only person to be critical is my mother, in her 70s, who makes lots of barbed comments about grey hair being ageing.

I’m 48 and dark blonde. I’m skipping the grey phase and going white! My Dad was the same. My hairdresser says I’m still blonde at the back, the white streaks are creeping in at the front.

I think I’ll dye it until I’m white all over, so probably another 5-10 years.

I tried to go grey, but I actually looked almost bald! I have very fine hair, and the natural colour was almost white. No glossy thick tresses, mine looked awful - could see my scalp. With darker colours this isn't so visible

I first started to go lighter in my 50’s as I was sick of the mallen streak and trying to time hair appointments around things I was doing etc.

It was my choice to try going grey just before lockdown. My hair is in much better condition now, I have less visits to the hairdressers and save money. Whilst I receive lots of compliments about my hair grey hair colour in my late 50’s it is undeniably ageing.

My advice would be to decide for yourself but whatever your natural hair colour is if you are going to colour it I would go a couple of shades lighter as hair that is too dark is even more ageing and unflattering than grey hair.

You decide.

There was a brief time in my 30s that i paid at an expensive salon to get highlights. I thought they looked amazing. I then decided at the end of my 30s i wanted to be natural by my 40th. Years later I now have those highlights naturally and live it! I don't know what I'll do when I'm mostly grey and white, but for the time being I'm thrilled with the look.

I'm 43 and planning to stop with the bleaching in favour of my natural grey & white. I've enjoyed being blonde but I'm ready to embrace my authentic self.

I think I'm basically white now at 58. I always had very blond hair, with additional highlights, which went white in the summer anyway. Eventually I stopped highlighting my hair, and no-one noticed!

My DM dyed her hair until she died, age 92. She always looked younger than her years, but actually if she'd gone grey earlier, I think she would have looked more natural.

I'm in the process of growing my natural colour out and I'm 43. I am naturally dark ash brown and started noticing grey hairs in my 20s. Am now about 50% grey at the roots, I had it cut fairly short and some highlights put in so I could grow it out without an obvious demarcation line. It was time for me to stop dyeing it when I realised that the grey was becoming resistant to the dye and the rest started to look orangish really quickly. I'll be glad when all the dye has grown out and it's fully natural

Possibly - it’s obviously not something which comes up much in conversation but the few times it’s happened my mum says people have been completely shocked that her hair is natural.

It’s a nice problem to have overall though and not much you can really do about it (except start to dye your hair grey I suppose 😂)

I'm 53, v happy with my 'super blondes' (ie white) in front, less happy with grey roots further back so just keep sticking the root touch up in until they miraculously go white! Mum - former hairdresser - gives me five years but thinks I should get highlights, (No, Mum, scarred by hairdressers, including you, forever!)

I'm 35 and about 10-15% grey so I'm going to let it come in. I've had highlights done differently so the grey can grow in and blend and then the highlights toned to the silvery white that's coming in. I'd prefer to avoid a big white stripe further down the line.

Maybe if I make it to 90. I started going grey at 19 and with dark brown hair it's really obvious. Now in my 40s I'm probably 60%-75% grey. I have an amazing hairdresser who does my roots every 3 weeks for £30 so unless she quits or triples her prices, I'm not giving in to the greys.

the correct answer is whenever you want to

My hair is grey, getting whiter every year. I’ve let it stay grey for about 6 years now but although my hair is thick and in good condition I just find it so boring. Has definitely aged me, especially from a distance!
I’m thinking of highlights or lowlights, appointment booked. Just because I’ve had it grey doesn’t mean I can’t change it. Lots of people get bored with their colour whatever that might be.

I noticed my first grey hair when I was 33 and I'm pleasantly surprised that at 44 I'm still only about 2% grey.
I have my hair coloured every 10 weeks but that's to add a plum tint to my natural dark brown. I do this because I like the colour rather than to hide greys.
I imagine if I get significantly greyer I'll need to rethink because the regrowth will be really obvious against the dark brown, and the plum will be far brighter covering it.

I can't imagine myself going a colour that blends in better with grey such as blonde because it really won't suit my skin tone.
My DM and MIL both had dark brown hair - my DM continues to dye hers dark brown in her 70s which is very high maintenance as she's almost completely grey now. My MIL went lighter when she started going grey but has recently gone au natural and it suits her far better than the dark blonde she went to try and blend in the greys which made her look washed out.
I guess only time will tell whether I embrace grey or not. Hopefully, I won't have to think about it for a long time yet as my current hair is inarguably my best feature.

Never!

There is no should about it.

I’m in my sixties and still getting it coloured, during lockdown I was tempted to carry on with the grey, but I looked so ill, it definitely doesn’t suit my colouring. There are some amazing pictures on Pinterest but sadly I couldn’t rock it. A few of my friends who went for it, look 10 years older and absolutely worn out.