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Is smooth glossy hair achievable after 50?

136 replies

Bellendula · 31/12/2024 20:35

If so, what products do I need to use? My hair is in overall good condition but the greys I have are wispy and coarse especially at the top/parting area.
Santa got me Boots vouchers so I’m prepared to throw money at this 😀

OP posts:
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7
DearestItIsSnowing · 01/01/2025 20:51

I’m in my seventies. My hair is still mostly dark brown and my friends (who have grey hair or dye theirs) encourage me to keep it long.

It’s fine, and much thinner since Covid. It’s also very shiny. I leave it to air dry, and once a week I wash it with Charles Worthington shampoo for dull brunette hair. I think that’s what gives it the shine. In between I use a cheap Sainsbury’s shampoo. I also use L’Oréal Extraordinary Oil conditioner just on the lengths below my ears: I stock up when I see it at £2 a bottle.

HorribleHisTories15 · 01/01/2025 21:10

That ha a lovely photo @PuppyMonkey , I'm not sure if that is you or someone else, but the hairstyle is lovely and yes, the grey hair is very glossy. The lipstick and the colour on the top match really well. Lovely 🥰!

I am nearly mid 40s and my hair is 4c,so Afro hair. My hair has sprigs of grey / silver popping out of whichever style that I have. I have to let it do what hair wants to do. But it doesn't look quite as cool as some salt and pepper manes that I see.

I think that is really good advice @willowstar, I too have had good results with Pantene products, and just strangely seem to drift away. But I shall persist. I received a bundle of the Pantene Molecular Bond repair, and I am crossing my fingers as it smells amazing. Years ago I had salon effects with their bog standard old bottles. I can no longer find them sadly.

A darling neighbour of mine told me that her hair went very greasy during her menopause. It was awful for her, but I really couldn't see it, it was just black/ grey and shiny. Bless her. I'd love it if my hair would go greasier not drier.

Negroany · 02/01/2025 00:47

PlopSofa · 01/01/2025 20:34

@AnyFucker what a relief to hear this. I am shedding now since August and it hasn't stopped. I'm 49. I feel like I've lost 50% and I wonder if it's ever going to stop or if I'm just quietly headed towards baldness. It is also generalised thinning. I look down and there's another hair oh and another and another. I find them everywhere.

Do you think it will stop eventually?

It went through a shedding phase last year in August but stopped around November. This time it's still going and it's 1 January :(

Did you start HRT or anything like that to stop the shed? I can't take it myself unfortunately.

I was losing a lot of hair early 50's, started HRT and the shedding stopped and it maybe even thickened up slightly. Sadly though, it started again about a year ago and it's really thin now. So HRT isn't necessarily the answer. I don't know what is, but I've just started taking oral minoxidil so I'll see how that goes.

It's depressing. On the plus side, my hair cuts now take about half an hour instead of over an hour!

I've not found anything topical that helps, including The Ordinary serum which I tried. Topik can make it look a bit less straggly on top.

MoodEnhancer · 02/01/2025 12:33

Stirabout · 01/01/2025 16:48

I think I’ll give this a go as I’ve spotted it in boots but a couple of questions

Does it smell of bananas
Does it help with volume

It smells a bit of bananas and I don’t love it - but I got used to it and it’s worth it!

No idea re: volume because I have thick hair anyway. Sorry!

PlopSofa · 02/01/2025 13:43

@Negroany I'm sorry to hear you're in the same boat and also that HRT didn't help long-term. I have read similar stories of it helping, not helping, helping but then not helping... such a shame.

It's interesting that you will trial oral Minoxidil. Did you have to see someone privately for that? There's a lady I follow online called Dr Mary Clare Haver who shows in her videos that she's taking it orally too and her hair is AMAZING! Really bushy and thick! She's an HRT doctor in the USA.

Anyway, I hope you have great success with it. How have things been so far? Are there any side-effects.

Mine also stopped and then has restarted again now and I can't help wondering if I'm going to lose it all... I have new regrowth everywhere but not much and it's like it's a never-ending sense of loss as things just thin out to.... nothing! :(

BusyPoster · 02/01/2025 14:23

I’m 55 with super shiny brown hair, I use Nice and Easy hair colour, dry my hair with a soft round brush and use a Dyson hairdryer. I vary my shampoo and conditioner, I find it works better. I shampoo my hair twice and only condition the ends. If I want it even shinier I straighten it, I try not too touch it too much this can make it greasy. I get it cut every seven weeks and don’t have it up much.

KnittedCardi · 02/01/2025 14:32

I have smooth glossy hair, but, very, very, fine and not much of it! Its completely white/blonde too. I would love thick frizzy hair......

My nails however are hard, strong, grow like mad, and regularly get noticed.

Odd isn't it?! I think we all just have a combination of good and bad, and nothing you do really seems to make a difference. Most of it is genetic.

KnittedCardi · 02/01/2025 14:35

I've also tried lots of lotions and potions, hrt, vitamins and minerals. Nothing changes.

PlopSofa · 02/01/2025 15:01

Thank you @AnyFucker I'm also trying to ignore it but it's hard as you watch your scalp slowly become visible in varying lights. The halogen spotlights in the bathroom are awful :(

I'm low in ferritin and it popped into my mind last night that I supplemented with floradix for about 6 months last year every day and after about 2 months of supplementing, the shedding stopped, so I'm going to try it again. I stopped after my ferritin didn't really budge, after taking it so long, decided it wasn't working but perhaps something else in it did work. I've read various research papers showing vitamin B1 can be very helpful for some of us - among all the other Bs, there are so many to consider! I'm also low-ish for B12, which the NHS you're fine for if until you reach 200, then suddenly you are eligble for jabs. But if you're 201, you're not...

In Japan and Europe they prefer you to be at 500 and 450 respectively, so that's another area that the Floradix might have been helping with as it has B12 also. Who knows.

Worth a shot, mentioning it here, in case it might help although it sounds like you've made your peace with it and reached a place of equanimity!

CharlotteCChapel · 02/01/2025 15:08

I'm 60 and still have glossy (almost metallic) hair. My greats are definitely more silver than grey and the red tones are copper and bronze.

I have wavy hair and for the lSt few years I've been using sls free shampoo and silicone free conditioner. I also do a hair mask when I need it, in my case when my waves drop.

I also can't remember when I last used heat styling, no hairdryer or hot brush.

PlopSofa · 02/01/2025 15:11

@CharlotteCChapel can i ask what SLS free shampoo you use? I'm often reading about these but not sure which ones are best to use.

Negroany · 02/01/2025 16:22

PlopSofa · 02/01/2025 13:43

@Negroany I'm sorry to hear you're in the same boat and also that HRT didn't help long-term. I have read similar stories of it helping, not helping, helping but then not helping... such a shame.

It's interesting that you will trial oral Minoxidil. Did you have to see someone privately for that? There's a lady I follow online called Dr Mary Clare Haver who shows in her videos that she's taking it orally too and her hair is AMAZING! Really bushy and thick! She's an HRT doctor in the USA.

Anyway, I hope you have great success with it. How have things been so far? Are there any side-effects.

Mine also stopped and then has restarted again now and I can't help wondering if I'm going to lose it all... I have new regrowth everywhere but not much and it's like it's a never-ending sense of loss as things just thin out to.... nothing! :(

I got it via Hair&Me which seems to be a hair version of Skin&Me, they issue it as a private prescription. You do an online consultation and send photos etc. I've only been taking it a week, and the potential side effects are possibly masked by the fact I'm recovering from flu so having those symptoms anyway, so I don't know! (Headaches, dizziness etc, presumably that's why they say to take it at bedtime)

I've read conflicting reports, but you do about everything so thought it would be worth a try. They also do topical drops but I know myself and I know I would struggle to use them regularly, I'm much better at taking pills.

It's £15 a month, so I thought I'd try it for a few months. No great loss of it doesn't work. Compared to the cost of all the hair products I have tried.

I hate the hair loss so much. I feel bad for being so affected by it because it's superficial. I think I'm more upset than I was by my bad skin, I guess to an extent I could cover that up and each thing did go away at some point, the hair loss doesn't.

I'm sorry it's making you feel so bad too.

PlopSofa · 02/01/2025 16:51

@Negroany Thanks so much for the information - that's really helpful. As you say, £15 a month isn't bad at all compared to what I am spending currently on supplements, private blood tests and shampoos and conditioners.

I hope you feel better soon after the flu. You're very brave to start up the new drug with that still going on! I admire you!

I also used to have acne, then I developed rosacea. Now I use Soolantra ivermerticin and it works ever so well but it looks like I'll need it for life, even though you're not supposed to use it for that long. But the moment I stop using it, it comes back.

I'm not sure how I feel about skin and hair one versus the other. They both take their toll mentally on me although skin is very clear these days, thankfully. With acne and rosacea, eventually I got ontop of it and it felt like there were plenty of options out there and one would work in the end, which it did (retin-A for acne).

But with this hair loss thing, I can't see to find any solution so far.

I'm taking fish collagen and eating lots of chicken jelly from bones. I might even start to make big vats of it and eat it for breakfast or something.

My diet is very healthy, I've just started eating liver once a week. I couldn't be more healthy, eating the sodding rainbow and fatty fish and all the nuts and seeds and whole grains and pulses and yet still the hairs keep falling, like a tree in autumn, silently drifting down. It's really sad!

I understand that feeling of superficiality and I keep telling myself well, if I go bald, I'll buy a wig and life will go on and my hair doesn't define me sort of talk, but somehow it's hard to keep losing parts of yourself that you've known all your life as just who you are. Menopause is so rubbish. And i'm not even there yet. I dread to think what happens once I cross the line and my periods stop completely.

sunsetsally · 03/01/2025 09:39

AlexandraJJ · 01/01/2025 19:14

I’m 50s and only use kerastase products on my hair. Shampoo, conditioner, serum, heat protection and oil as and when required. Still have glossy ‘youthful’ hair. On the rare occasion I have to switch out for something else I noticed the difference immediately. I got my mum into it 12 months ago and she’s late 70s and hers is so much better now.

Which range of Kerastase do you use please?
I've been using Paul Mitchell products for years now but noticed a real change in my hair in recent years so time for a change.
Hair is very grey but heavily highlighted, tends to pick up brassy tones easily too. I'm definitely needing to switch to something more nourishing, it's got to the stage I can't stand having a head massage as part of a facial treatment as my dry crinkly hair makes such a noise.

sunsetsally · 03/01/2025 10:00

greengreyblue · 01/01/2025 20:35

I sometimes use a bit of my adult DD’s Kerastase if she lets me and it does make your hair feel lovely. So expensive though

Which range of Kerastase please?

Fizbosshoes · 03/01/2025 10:15

I'm 47 and my hair is elbow length, and in the main still dark brown and reasonably glossy. I often leave it to dry naturally but it looks and feels much silkier if i blow dry or straighten it.

However, every few months I find a grey/white hair that is super-coarse like a pubic hair as a pp said!! I pluck them out because I only ever find one or 2...but obviously this will change....when they multiply ....but will all my hair end up being this coarse...?😳 I've noticed it's become wavier in the last 5 or 6 years, and if I wear it in a bun (not very often) the ends get horrendously dry!

MonkeyTennis34 · 03/01/2025 11:06

Kerastase Elixir oil is IMO the best pre blow dry treatment and post blow dry.

DH got me a bottle for Christmas, it’s verrry spendy and he said that he’d shopped around.

workshy46 · 03/01/2025 12:22

For hair loss this is miraculous and I should know, Ive had issues since having kids 20 years ago and have tried everything, seen everyone and nothing worked until this

Its CURLY PROVERBZ

I include everything in the recipe apart from henna as I have blond hair. I think she sells it now too. My daughter used it too when she lost over half her hair after the coil and not only does it give you amazing condition but my hair grew like grass. Even my parting which was v wide is now all back

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Bellendula · 03/01/2025 16:08

sunsetsally · 03/01/2025 10:00

Which range of Kerastase please?

I’d like to know what Kerastase range people use too, I’ve had a look at their website and there’s so much choice and I don’t want to waste my money on the wrong one!

OP posts:
PlopSofa · 03/01/2025 23:52

workshy46 · 03/01/2025 12:22

For hair loss this is miraculous and I should know, Ive had issues since having kids 20 years ago and have tried everything, seen everyone and nothing worked until this

Its CURLY PROVERBZ

I include everything in the recipe apart from henna as I have blond hair. I think she sells it now too. My daughter used it too when she lost over half her hair after the coil and not only does it give you amazing condition but my hair grew like grass. Even my parting which was v wide is now all back

Does it really work? On post menopausal hair, do you think?

How often do you put it on? And overnight? Or before/after washing?

Doesn’t it make your pillow very greasy?

Also can you use castor oil on blonde hair? It’s very dark. Does it dye your hair?

suki1964 · 04/01/2025 00:32

60, hair is grey and white - white at the front, greyer at the back, and I now have shiny hair

I stopped using heat

Treated myself to a shark hairdryer and I can dry and style as normal, on cold, in minutes

Love it

Even my hairdresser commented the other day when she saw me, wondered if I had put a toner in

Shuttheblinds · 04/01/2025 01:19

I use a Kerastase nutritive range and wash mine daily. I also use the blow dry cream in the same range and it makes a huge difference.
Once or twice a week I alternate the nutritive with the resistance shampoo and conditioner for damaged hair as my hair is coloured and highlighted so I use it just to strengthen.
If I feel rich I use Oribe but it is very spendy so can’t do this as a daily shampoo and conditioner!

IndianSummer78 · 04/01/2025 14:49

Stirabout · 01/01/2025 03:50

I’m the same
Never dyed hair, never used hairdryer, never had perms or bleach. Nothing ever
vegetarian lots of fruit, veg, olive oil, flaxseeds etc
Hair always dead straight thick and glossy

Now grey which I love but dry and YES it has become curly.
Why @IndianSummer78 is the curly aspect relevant ?

It's relevant because curly hair needs treating different to straight hair. So if someone thinks their hair is straight and treats it like it is, when really it's curly, they're going to have a messy frizzy untamed mop sitting on their head and be left wondering why.

It's hormones makes it curly, not diet or what you've done to it. Mine was poker straight until puberty. Parts of it are tight spiral ringlets now, the rest a more relaxed curl. I had awful hair for years because my mum insisted on brushing it through every day, only bought basic shampoo and no styling products.