What does everyone think of grey hair?

[SilverDoublet]

Over the last 2 years I grew out my hair, it's quite grey but I just couldn't handle the regrowth reappearing every 3 weeks and didn't have time or money to deal with it. My hair was quite dark so I had been dying it dark brown. But now it's pure white in places, salt and pepper on top and still dark underneath. I asked a hair dresser if I should go blonde to hide regrowth but she said Im too dark. And I can't stand the regrowth with brunette. What do people think of grey? Or what does everyone else with hair like this do? I'm 45, don't like looking so old...

It’s a shame that the reason for not liking grey hair is mainly because it’s ageing.
We’re all ageing. I think being comfortable with ageing, a positive attitude towards it, can be very stylish.
Women who accept and style it out with confidence can look amazing.
I’d be tempted to grow out the colour, but I’m still working and ageism is out there.

It's not really about fooling people though. For me it's about looking 'put together' if that makes any sense by having hair that's one colour all through and is a contrast to my face. It's not about wanting people to think I'm in my 30s or 40s when I'm in my 50s, my face and sagging body make my age more than clear enough!

I have nothing against grey hair. Mine is still mostly dark blonde, but there are some grey bits and a few whitish bits. I'm happy to let them do their thing.

I don't mind "looking my age", since that's what one should logically expect.

So do women look better with make-up and dyed hair, but men look better without? Why is that, other than just fashion / social conditioning?

I’m probably in the minority who doesn’t want short hair or a sharp haircut!

I’m early 40s and getting quite a lot of silver strands now. I’m naturally dark brunette with chestnut undertones/in the sun so I just use semi-permanent in a reddish shade. It doesn’t make much difference to the brown but colours the silver chestnut.

I let mine go grey a few years back. It's fairly dark, and quite short, which helps I think. Also my skin is good. I'm 59, look it i guess but comfortable with it. Just got a new (senior) job.
What looks very aging and awful to me is any roots, blonde with older skin and harsh monotone I got from home dying.. If you can afford a good colour job often enough to keep the roots from showing, dyings fine but for me it would have been £100 every 3-4 weeks and I'm not prepared to pay that.

I don’t think people who dye their hair are ‘trying to fool people that their hair isn’t going grey’ it just looked better than grey.

Usually on here people say oh it looks great but I don’t ever think so. It adds a good ten years and I can’t imagine ever wanting to look ten years older. I’ll happily look my age.

What's so wrong with looking older? I don't get it.

It's just your hair colour. Change it if you want or leave it. Grey hair tends to look dry so you might need to work on a decent hair care routine if you want.

I think it's so sad that women are often so desperate to look younger. I love getting older, I can't wait to be 50 (next month) and won't ever be dying my hair. I have much better things to spend my money on.

The reason people think it 'looks older' is because so many women dye their hair that we think only 70 year olds have grey hair! Personally I love looking/being old and not feeling I am being judged by or have to please the male gaze.

I know 3 people that have ditched the dye in their late 40s/early 50s.

One looks ok. She has a shorty, choppy style and it doesn’t look too bad.

The other two look terrible. One has kept her long bob with a thick fringe. It’s very harsh looking and does nothing for her. The other one has short hair but looks whey faced. They are both women that used to look quite youthful but now look old. One of them is often mistaken for someone over 70. It’s happened so often, we all laugh about it.

I will say that they all enjoy the liberation of no longer thinking about their hair and dyeing it, and I admire the complete lack of vanity. It’s very brave.

My sister in law is 55. She has a face of a 30 year old and good body and excellent style but stopped dying her hair black and she looks c.60 with it just due to the hair getting progressively grey. I know I’m preconditioned to like the preserved youth look, which is wrong. I always wince when I see her as she doesn’t have a single wrinkle on her. It’s just so out of place ! My mum, who is 67, looks younger (she dies her her dark).

I’m brunette naturally but had been colouring it to cover greys for years. Grew it out during lockdown and then had blonde highlights put in to blend it. Last few years it’s become almost all grey/white (judging by the roots) and now I use a soft blonde permanent over it that I do at home. I’ve been tempted to go au naturel to ditch the faff but my hairdresser and friends have persuaded me against, they say I’m too young to go all grey and the blonde suits me. I’m late 50s.

I do miss my dark hair but I don’t miss the badger stripe and expensive salon visits every month.

I'm 54 and have had grey, well, white hair for about 6 years. Obviously I look ancient and like ive let myself go, but just to make things worse... Today I'm going to take my usual summer holiday advantage of having light hair after years of brown, and will be dying it pale violet. I will then be able to add menopausal try hard to my image (according to a recent thread anyway). During that thread, I thought of threads like this!

I don’t like it (on me) - it’s aging, no doubt. I’ve been colouring my hair since for ever anyway, it’s been all colours over the years, lol. I’ve settled into a darkish blonde that isn’t harsh and hides greys well (I was naturally pretty dark but haven’t had that colour in years). I am good at doing it myself, and a few times a year I get it done at my hairdresser depending on if I want a change. No greys here, lol. PS my partner couldn’t give less of a shit, he thinks I’m the sexiest woman alive regardless, lol - I do my hair, make up etc, for me not for men).

I don’t give a shit about how men see me!! I just don’t want to look geriatric in my 50s. I do it for me.

I have grey hair and I really don’t care if anyone thinks it ages me. I am in my 50s and am proud to be getting older each year. I don’t have any desire to look younger than I am. But then I don’t really do anything like Botox etc so yes wrinkly and grey 😁

I’m 59 and my grey hair might well be aging, but I AM aging so there’s that.

I think we’re seeing a cultural shift around this at the moment. Twenty years ago it was rare to see anyone under 70 with grey hair and that has contributed to the idea that it’s aging. As others have pointed out, no one thinks it’s horribly aging on men.

I think ideas will change as more women in their forties embrace it. For what it’s worth, I like grey hair, I think it looks good but undoubtedly needs more styling to prevent frizziness in general. I don’t agree it’s automatically aging, I think that’s just social conditioning.

A few friends have embraced the grey recently - some look good, some look terrible. I think it’s down to skin tone - a pale or ruddy complexion can look terrible against grey hair, but a slightly tanned/olive skin tone is a game changer and can make the grey look fab.

I got mine bleached icy white!
I decided to use it as a fashion statement rather than an admission of defeat!

You wince when you see a 55 year old who you think looks about 60? 55 doesn’t even look that different to 60!

🤣🤣🤣
Over 60? I started going grey in my early 20s! Home dyed it for years until I got fed up of it a couple of years ago. I'm now naturally a 50:50(ish) mix. I still haven't quite got used to the image in the mirror sometimes (I was also a brunette, so it's a big change). My hairdresser tells me that grey is the new blonde 😁.

I am early 50's and don't dye my greys. I have thick curly hair so it has always tended to frizzy so the texture doesn't bother me. It's shoulder length, and I have a bleached in "stripe" at the front and an undercut. I think it looks pretty good, and I think in general I look pretty good.

The money I would spend on dye I can spend on clothes and make-up. I don't have any objections to people doing whatever they want with their hair, but I do object the idea that greying hair is "aging" and even the idea that aging is something to fight against - I have gained so much confidence as I have become more curious about how my looks and body are changing and how I can work with that. I am not interesting I presenting myself to the world the same way I did when I was in my 20's, 30's or 40's. The silver strands fit that vibe for me.

I'm of the school of thought that dyed dark brown hair on older women can look dreadful, for many their skin tone changes and the dyed hair just makes them look awful. Some can get away with it though.
i am grey, its colour now depending on the light and what I'm wearing varies between silver and a very pale blonde. I had to learn to live with it, my hair doesn't take dye well, even paying for hairdresser colouring, it would always end up a gingery blonde.
i think the secret to carrying it off is regular haircuts, mine is in a "sharp" inverted bob. I don't think it's particularly ageing on me, but then I am 60!