Help me make the most of my greying hair (with pics)

[Greyhairhelp]

So I’m about 3 years into growing out salon dye and am trying to embrace my natural colour, which is light/mid brown and about 30% grey. I don’t love it, the grey is very streaky and I feel it’s aging me but I cannot afford to continue having it coloured at the hairdressers & I’m too scared to box dye it myself at home (had several disasters when younger). Also I feel like as I’ve come this far I should stick with it rather that dying it then having to go through the pain of another grow-out later on.

I might be looking for a unicorn here but are there any products out there that would blend the grey in without altering my natural brown colour (which I love)? I’ve looked at John Freida brown defy grey and the Plantur 39 colour deposit shampoos & conditioners, but I’m worried they will make my hair darker (which really wouldn’t suit me). Pics to show what my hair currently looks like - the bottom 2-3 inches is grown-out dye and the rest is natural.

Get a really good haircut to get rid of the last of the colour and refresh the style.

I've about the same amount of grey as you and I'm loving it!

Something like the Josh Wood colour glasses might be what you're after. My hairdresser thought I'd used something like that recently to tone out the greys in my fringe. I'd actually used a light brown semi permanent over my dark brown hair but it was good to know a gloss might give me the same effect, which was very little change to the brown and adding colour to the grey without flat cover.

I love your natural colour and I agree with BloodyAdultDC that a good haircut will make a huge difference. Your hair makes me wish id embraced my grey earlier.

@EraOfTheGrey Thank you, that’s really kind.

ime the products you mention won’t really darken your hair. They make my grey look a bit blonde so people tell me my hair looks highlighted. It works for me.

The colour is lovely and the grey looks almost like blonde highlights. How about trying a blue shampoo. It's like purple shampoo but for brunettes. It keeps the colour nice and cool.

I recently started using Just for Men to cover the greys in my dark brown hair. I don't know how but it seems not to colour the dark hair whilst filling in the greys.

I have a similar amount of grey as you but my hair is mid brown. I tried Plantur but I am lazy and tend to rush through hair washing, plus it made my hair feel claggy.

I have got this and will be trying it out this week in the hope that it tints the grey but leaves my natural colour. Fingers crossed.

I used a Scott Cornwall caramel colour restore cream when I had similar hair. It dyed the greys a golden blonde colour so they looked like highlights and didn’t do anything to the darker hair.

I would also make sure you like your eyebrows' shape and colour and that they complement your hair colour.

I have similar hair to you and have had good results from the Pantur 39 brown shampoo. It doesn't darken what's left of my brown hair, it just makes the greys a light auburn / blondey colour. It can go a bit gingery if you overdo it, but using a normal (or clarifying) shampoo every 4-5 washes mitigates this.

An option is to go for semi-permanent home dyes? I switched to semi-permanent, and it so so cheap and quick to do, and you don’t get that grey stripe on your roots as it just sort of fades out, so is not disastrous if you are late doing the next lot of semi-permanent. It lasts 24 shampoos.

Although, 3 years is quite a major commitment, and it does sound like you want to embrace the greys (I didn’t!), so the suggestion above might not be for you!

Do you use proper shampoo for grey hair? Really made mine look better.. Haven't dyed it for 18 months now.... The sun also changes the shades.. Get out on the bright days!

Get a good cut. Nobody is looking at the top of your head, they are looking at the front or side or back and you can hardly see sny grey. Andif you are growing out your dye I'm assuming you've been sying it for awhile first so how old are you? I think there comes a point where a few streaks of grey among your natural colour makesyou look ying than someone the same age with a block dye. In fact I have several colleagues who are younger than me (I'm 54) who are regularly getting their hair expensively dyed to a nice salt and pepper that is more grey than mine is naturally, I'll take that as a win.

@JaninaDuszejko I’m 45, so definitely old enough to be grey but not quite old enough for the full nanna look! Also I’m really short so practically everyone is looking at the top of my head!

Do you have any recommendations please?

It's not really a nanna look at the moment though is it? You've still got lots of your (gorgeous) youthful colour. And because you have quite a bit of red in your hair you'll go grey more slowly than most.

A hairdresser would most likely suggest highlights to blend in the grey, that would require less frequent touch ups but would need to be done professionally and would push you towards a blonder look. Or you could try some wash in wash out temporary colours to blend in the grey (my Mum did that for a while). Or accept that at 45 you've got less grey than most people of your age and because of the red that won't change very quickly.

I get very good results with John Frieda Defy Grey. It just colours the greys auburn and creates a highlighted effect. My natural hair is about 50:50 grey to brown. I get lots of compliments, even from the hairdressers who aren't usually very keen on home colouring attempts.

Another vote for the Defy Grey or Plantur. I've been using for a couple of years - I don't believe it has any effect on the dark hair and I think will work a treat to give your greys a golden tone.

The cheap ones from Home Bargains!! Purple tubes... £1.09! Have tried more costly options but leave my hair dull and feels sticky!

Yours is similar to mine. I use Pure Henna off Amazon in the light brown It makes the grey blondish and the rest of it a nice healthy brown.

I've been using the Plantur shampoo for about 2 years and it def doesn't make your hair darker, the colour only takes on the grey not the rest of it. I've found that mine are almost a dark caramel /blonde colour rather than a brown and even my hairdresser said it looks good, like highlights. I don't use it every wash, only once every couple of weeks.

Tried embracing the grey a few times and it’s not for me. It’s ageing. Defy Grey is worth a go as it adds gold highlights to the grey. I have gone for a blend of light and medium blonde highlights and leave a section of my own colour to help the condition.

Recently cut...

@Stormyweatheroutthere Is that your natural colour? Your hair looks great’