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Going grey- gracefully or not?!

(23 Posts)
Anniechip Mon 25-Jul-16 22:38:57

How many ladies out there have taken the plunge and gone grey gracefully? I am 62 and have my hair coloured, my daughter does my roots every 5/6 weeks and every couple of months in between I have it all done at the hairdresser along with a cut. It's quite expensive,( although the roots colour is only £4 odd from Boots!! ) almost £60 all in.
My style is a chin length layered bob, but I really envy the ladies who have a fab "pixie" cut and have let their natural grey come through. Some friends have opted for the "artificial" silver grey which again looks lovely.
Helen Mirren and Judi Dench both look fantastic!
My problem is I have this irrational dread of once I am grey I will feel and look maybe a lot older than I feel now- does that make sense?
Friends and colleagues say I don't look anywhere near 62 and I must admit I certainly feel a l lot younger, in my mind and attitude towards life at least. 3 grandchildren certainly help and working in a primary school too keeps me going. It's just the knees and back that give the game away!!
Your comments and thoughts would be most welcome!

DaphneBroon Mon 25-Jul-16 22:44:46

Oh so many threads on going grey!

mumofmadboys Mon 25-Jul-16 23:07:33

I have never coloured my hair. I am 58 and have gone from a lovely auburn to salt and pepper. Bits are very grey. I wear mine in a bob.

JackyB Tue 26-Jul-16 11:42:33

I am completely grey but was almost black before. My hairdresser puts streaks into my hair in the original colour, making salt and pepper but more pepper than salt. I have been asking her to slowly reduce the colour, but we get carried away chatting when she's putting in the streaks that she usually ends up making it slightly darker than I intended. My idea was that she should over the years put less and less of the colour in so I would "naturally" go greyer.

You can be completely grey but if your face and your attitude don't look "old", nor will you. So it's just a question of caring for skin and hair and smiling a lot. Then your hair can be any colour you like.

hildajenniJ Tue 26-Jul-16 12:25:19

My hair used to be brown, it's hard to describe what it looks like now, but my hairdresser always remarks on how lovely it is, particularly round the back with a band of pure silver all round. I've only coloured it about three times and that was when the grey was becoming more noticeable. I'm 64 now and very happy with how I look. It's losing a bit of weight that is my main concern!

DanniRae Tue 26-Jul-16 12:54:46

I have been colouring mine for ages because I too can't bear the thought of being grey. I have it cut and coloured by the hairdresser now and again and do my roots in between.

jusnoneed Tue 26-Jul-16 12:58:56

I have never coloured my hair, am now grey/white. It was always likely I would go grey fairly young as my mum and both nans did, and sure enough it started at mid 40's (now 60). I keep it in shortish layers and as it has natural wave it's easy to keep tidy. I think your skin tone changes as your hair alters and often dyed hair looks harsh.

trueblue22 Tue 26-Jul-16 13:32:18

I'm 64, have dark brown hair will lots of grey flecked through. So I don't really have grey roots and the overall colour looks lighter brown from afar.

I put a 'Castaway' rinse through my hair evry 6 weeks or so, which gives my hair an auburn look and makes the grey look like highlights. When the hairdresser tinted it, the lightener they used made my hair look a horrible rust colour after a while. The red pigment in my hair was affected.

I couldn't go completely grey, but would soften the look with a light tint.

M0nica Tue 26-Jul-16 14:44:35

I have an eskimo ruff of grey/white hair around my face and the rest is still my natural dark brown with reddish tints. I loved the original natural colour of my hair and I intend to colour my hair back to it until I am fully grey haired.

I use a standard hair dye every 3 or 4 months and that is all. I do not have a roots problem because apart from the front I do not have any grey roots to show and as I have a fringe much of the eskimo ruff is hidden by that.

ginny Tue 26-Jul-16 14:49:13

I've had more complements since I let my hair go it's natural colour, I'm 62. Nowadays that is a light grey, short cut with layers. My DDs say it looks much better with my skin tone and not aging at all.
MIL still has her hair coloured a honey blonde and to be honest it looks very stark against her colouring.

Whatever you feel comfortable with I suppose but I doubt any one thinks an 85 year old with dark hair is natural.

sarahc446655 Tue 26-Jul-16 15:40:01

I'm not going grey for anything women are already patronised for being women let alone adding to the problem by advertising you are an 'old woman'.Someone with grey hair told me they dont drive at night as they get hassled by other motorists because of their grey hair (old women drivers that sort of thing).

M0nica Tue 26-Jul-16 16:02:18

I colour my hair to please myself not other people.

trueblue22 Tue 26-Jul-16 17:38:16

I meant Castings, not Castaway. Freudian slip!

seacliff Tue 26-Jul-16 19:33:59

I have dark chestnut brown hair chin length with maybe 30% grey, not actually sure. I colour it with a Wella Color Plus demi at home.

I feel it is too dark for my colouring now, I seem to have got paler, and feel it looks un natural.I think I'm ready to go grey/blonde, not sure if it will suit me so pale.

I am thinking of having a few Highlights through it in a blondey pale brown. Then doing roots as they come through with a light brown semi. I have only ever had lowlights once and they didn't work.

I want to go dark blond/light brown/grey. I cannot afford to keep having it done at hairdressers.

The other thing I considered was this www.amazon.co.uk/Professional-Nutri-Colour-Revlon-Platinum/dp/B0012XAQYY it seems to be great to improve look of already grey hair, or enhance highligts/multi toned hair.in the white platimum shade. Has anyone used it?

Humbertbear Tue 26-Jul-16 22:29:40

I've been dyeing my hair for 30 years and have no intention of stopping although it isn't as dark as my former natural colour. I envy those people who suit grey hair but my colouring would not. Why don't we just agree to differ and do whatever we like with our hair?

Lyndylou Tue 26-Jul-16 22:31:50

I started dying my hair about 30 years ago because I hated my natural mousey brown and I shall continue as long as I can afford to. I have a good idea what my natural colour would be now as I have inherited my mother's hair and it is definitely nothing like Judi Dench or Helen Mirren. I can't see the point of going grey and then colouring it to make it platinum for me, but every one to their own.

Basically I still colour because I preferred it this colour to my natural colour just as I always have. I really don't care if people think it is natural. My daughter colours her hair very unnatural shades of red but no one tells her to go natural.

NotTooOld Tue 26-Jul-16 23:14:46

I'm still growing my dye out but now I'm more grey than dye, so it won't be too long. When they dye's all gone I shall have some platinum streaks put in to lighten up the dark grey. Well, that's what my hairdresser says I should do so I expect I'll take her advice. It's certainly great to be free of the dreaded roots problem and there's no more sitting for 2 hours at the salon either. Freedom!

Newquay Tue 26-Jul-16 23:17:20

My natural colour was very dark brown like my dear Mum. She dyed her hair as she had gone grey. She also smoked-yuk! That made her hair dye go orange at the front. My dear sister and I plucked up the courage to tell her so she stopped dying it immediately and it was almost as if she went white overnight-very aging.
So I resolved NOT to dye my hair and let it just gradually go white. Well it looked so aging so some years ago I allowed my (mobile, v reasonably priced) hairdresser to dye it. The base colour is a light brown with streaks of honey in it meaning I don't have a white parting, the lighter colour matches my paler skin.
It looks so much better; I have lots of compliments on it. Am gradually going blonder.
But, of course, each to their own?

Pollengran Tue 26-Jul-16 23:20:22

I started to go grey at 19, so I have never considered it an age thing. My hair was dark brown and at 63 it still is.

phoenix Wed 27-Jul-16 02:06:04

I've done a thread (or two!) about this, but to recap, first few grey hairs in my twenties, many years of various shades of red, now actually pretty much grey/white (I'm 58 next month!) now somewhere between ash/champagne blonde

suzied Wed 27-Jul-16 05:39:15

I don't do the roots anymore but have blue/ pink/ violet / whatever I fancy highlights ( or are they lowlights .? ) I like the silvery platinum look now . I've always put colour on my hair, but I got fed up with regrowth and thought I'd grow out the grey just to see what it's like. I do like it, but still enjoy a change now and again. I did have blonde highlights put through at first , but don't like the yellow tones anymore. Am going for a cooler look at the moment.

DaphneBroon Wed 27-Jul-16 11:02:51

seacliff I wouldn't waste your money on the Revlon product when you can buy Touch of Silver shampoo and conditioner for a fraction of the price. Other grans have agreed with me in the past on this!

Stella14 Wed 27-Jul-16 11:27:26

I am 57 and decided to grow in my grey about 5 months ago. I had my below shoulder length professionally coloured and highlighted hair (coloured since I was 18) cut off into an extremely short pixie cut. I really didn't want to faff about with awful grey roots in coloured hair any longer than need be, so that seemed the best way forward. I have it a little longer now, just a more flattering pixie cut. I still have a little colour on the ends, but it looks quirky and deliberate and attracts compliments. I absolutely love my natural grey hair. It's in fabulous condition with no use of conditioners (it might be necassary to condition long grey hair), looks great and saves me a fortune in money and time. No more need to sit around in a hairdressers for hours on end every six weeks. When our hair goes grey, our skin tone also changes. Grey hair against the complexion of an older person looks much more natural. I have come to realise that ongoing colouring when skin tone has changed, is aging. There is no going back for me.