Going grey - or rather stop colouring your hair - best way to do it?

I think skin pales with age. I find using a brightening balm helps give my face a fresh glow rather than a blusher. Clarins make one, so do Benefit. I'm sure they have a proper name in the beauty world!

Having gone from dark to light, I now wear warm pastels and navy, rather than the stronger colours and black that I used to favour. x

It helps to have a trendy haircut. Which I do have and I use gel to make it stick up.

The best thing I ever did was let my hair grow out and let it be it's natural colour. The relief of not having to keep going to the hairdresser, let alone the expense - is wonderful.
I have grey sideburns like Stuart Granger and it looks great. No regrets - ever!

Oh yes - and hair (and nails) definitely grow faster in hotter weather.

It's difficult to answer this question if the costs of hairdressing are so expensive in Oz. Perhaps you could go with the one good cut (maybe just once or twice a year) and get someone to pay for it for you as a Christmas or birthday present.

My mother would never touch our hair. She would make all our clothes, but she never used her scissors on our hair. We always went to the hairdressers. So, since leaving home, I have always gone to the hairdressers. I had my third (and last) child at 34, and was already pretty grey. The worst was when I went to fetch him from kindergarten and another kid shouted "Your grandmother's here!".

As soon as I went back to work and could afford it, I had my hair streaked in my original dark colour. I keep asking them to reduce the number of streaks each time so I can gradually go grey, but we get so carried away chatting that the streaks are usually the same intensity each time!

My hair is for the main part, now completely white (snowy white, not silver) with the battleship grey colour at the back. (But it doesn't look it because of the streaks)

What worried me is, having had dark hair all my life, I didn't fancy the idea of having hair a lighter colour than my face, which I am sure makes me look anaemic. This side of 60, I am not going to start tanning or wearing darker foundation, so I am wondering how not to fade into the background once I stop earning and can't afford the streaks.

Tresco I have red in my hair, so the ash works really well, as it takes away the redness and makes it more beige. I am currently using a golden blonde on my greying parting and seriously regretting it, as it looks very red. I may try mixing my own colours and using it as streaks.

I hate this stage, I have watch friends go through it. Only my parting is greying currently and it glows at me under electric light. the colour fades from it so fast that it could do with colouring every week, but like *hondagirl I can't afford to have high and low lights put through it on a regular basis, and am not yet ready to go short. I like my hair, which is shoulderlength at the front, but longer at the back, very curly and straightened on top so that I can put it up if I want to.

So I end up using hair mascara to put a darker streak through my parting. There is only one that seems to work for me, some are more like pink paste if you are blonde.

www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B001AXWFYK/ref=ox_sc_act_title_2?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=A3U0Q3EJ740N0C

Some of them are awful and a complete waste of money, but this is quite good, I think. It gets rid of that awful light centre parting. I would say that this one is more of a mid brown, so I thought it would be too dark for me, but it's fine.

My hair was a rich red but has faded over the last ten years or so. Started using wash-in colour, which was fine until I felt I was fed up with the harsh colour. Now have no artificial colour. I have a lot of silver highlights at front, but the back is still a faded auburn. Yes, cut is the critical thing - you can get away with a lot with a good cut.

The only problem I find with the loss of colour is that I'm not so confident in which colours work well for me. From it being instinctive, I now have to work hard to get my clothes colours' right. I'm looking forward to having completely silver hair.

I have to say I thought going grey would be a really big deal but in the end I found it quite easy I just think "I can always colour it again if I don't like it." I think that mind set has helped.

I also had very dark hair until about thirty, then went completely silver by the time I was forty, I tried blonde highlights - made me feel very odd, just didn't see myself as a blonde - then tried home colouring and hair went olive green. (Never use anything with ash in the name on grey hair, I later learned). So I decided to live with the silver (it's not completely white but a very pale grey). Now I get lots of compliments on my hair colour!

I had very dark brunette hair and started going grey at 18, coloured it for about 20 or so years then decided to go for it, and I've never regretted it for a moment, although this was long before it became more common to see younger women with silver hair. You do need to have a good cut I think, but I love seeing women with grey/silver hair
Saves me from any more disastrous 'bad hair day' colouring mistakes too [!

I might just get used to it. My skin is very sensitive anyway and a lot of hats make me itch also. Trouble is, for some reason, if I itch in one part of my body it seems to set off a chain reaction. Labels in clothes etc drive me bonkers. I might try taking an antihistamine tablet if and when I dare to wear it to see if that helps.

I did the same a Loopyloo donkey`s years ago when I was still quite young. My lovely dark brunette hair colour started going grey in my 30s eventually I got fed up colouring it and let the grey grow to a couple of inches and then had a good hair cut (hairdresser was very nervous) I have never, ever regretted it. I am lucky thought it is a lovely silvery blond which people admire to this day - and some think I colour it!!!

Tegan - What a pity it is itchy. As mentioned before I have a hair replacement system as my hair has completely gone now. It's fantastic but expensive. I am not one of those brave ladies who can be bald and proud I'm afraid.

I am in the final stage of going grey and I love it! My hairdresser cuts it - short- every 4 weeks at the moment and the next cut should get rid of the final bits of colour still on some of the ends. I have had positive comments from everyone apart form my 8 year old DGD who prefers it "brown" and my DH who thinks it's too short!

A lot of it depends on how long your hair is. Before I let my hair go grey I had it cut quite short and had very light highlights in it. This way the regrowth is not so noticible. When I finally went grey I was disappointed at how patchy the grey was and how draining. I have very sallow skin. Now I have silver highlight put in it and use a silver shampoo, conditioner and mousse.

! Guess what Katy; I actually went out and bought a wig today [how long have I been talking about it!]. I had let my hair go completely white so I could play about with hairpieces etc.I'm finding it very itchy, though, especially round my face.

I have a friend who has always had beautiful, thick, glossy hair. she is 63 now and her hair is still lovely. She used to colour it a dark-ish brown (her natural colour) but got fed up of grey roots showing through every few weeks. Her hairdresser put a lighter colour on it and she has gradually let her hair go grey. She has it shoulder length and it looks absolutely lovely.

Thanks everyone. I like the idea of going to the hairdresser to get a lighter colour put on then maybe doing it myself. I am not actually sure what the actual colour is underneath! I think there might be a white streak at the front (The Mallen Streak DH calls it - some of you may remember this on TV) as other members of the family have it!

I agree a good cut is essential. Very brave with the red streaks Constance.

I just bit the bullet when I stopped working , my hair is quite silver with darker grey a the back but I love it and everyone thinks its deliberate on my part... after 40yrs of dying and hi-lighting I just thought ENOUGH!! i cannot do this anymore and stopped and yes it did look YUK!! for a while but I wasn't bothered anymore.. now I love it and it looks shiny and healthy too.
Its a shame things are so expensive but the others have given lots of good ideas for you to try..

Once done professionally, you could redo the streaks yourself. There are kits on the market with a wand like brush that you comb the streak on with. You don't have to put it through a cap or use foils. I did this myself for a while and it worked out ok. One of the reasons I stopped and went to the hairdresser was that I'm messy and got the stuff all over the bathroom! x

Ariadne mine was very white silver at the front and sides but darker at the back. It didn't worry me (I actually liked it looking different striking) and quite miss it now I'm pretty much silver all over

I used to have highlights put in along my parting every time I had a haircut, so it blends quite well - depends on the style I suppose as to whether that works.

Having said that, I have just had bright red streaks put in

I was going to suggest subtle streaks in all different colours, which last for ages and don't show as much when they grow out, but see that it could cost a fortune over there. Could you afford to have it done as a one-off, just as a treat? If you have fine streaks in silver, gold and light ash brown, it can take two or three months before it's noticeable, by which time you could have it all cut shorter. Or, have it cut short first, then have the streaks while it grows out.

Mmm. Haven't been able to get to the hairdresser for a while, and the roots and highlights desperately need attention. I know it is grey a) I can see it and b) that is the colour that emerged when it grew back post chemo.

It is silver at the front but was a horrid steel grey at the sides and back. I think I might talk to my hairdresser about going gradually lighter as some of you suggest. I really wouldn't mind silver or white hair. I think....

I envy you all.
I have thin fine hair and when I tried to stop dying it it looked awful even though it is short. I chickened out and am back to dying it dark blond which I've been doing as long as I can remember.