Colouring hair

I dye my hair various shades I do think the hairdresser does a better job on it than my at home attempts but at fifty pounds a time I sometimes can't afford it however the last colour I used dark blonde turned out a light auburn that I do like and will probably stick with for a couple of months I enjoy changing my hair colour and have gone from very light blonde to auburn hair dyes are much kinder to your hair than years ago especially the natural ones from Holland and Barrett or the non peroxide types give it a go

Thanks for your suggestions Chelseababy and Carol58. I think I'll have a word with my hairdresser and see what she suggests. It was she who noticed the psoriasis in the first place, and suggested I see the doctor.

Maddy47. I had the same problem with the brown growing out. My hairdresser put in blonde and brown foils all over to start with, then gradually reduced the number of brown ones 'til I was just having a very few blonde streaks put through. Now I've stopped colouring altogether ( about 6 months since) my hair is quite grey at the front and still very dark brown right at the back but looks fine. The grey regrowth which is about 3 inches now doesn't look bad at all as the few blondes broke up the regrowth line. Best of all, foils don't irritate your scalp at all as the dye never touches your skin!

I colour mine but know if I let the grey come through it'd be salt & pepper like my mum's. If I knew it'd be silver I'd go for it & put mad colours on whenever the fancy took me. There's a woman in our village with a Judi Dench crop who regularly sports pink & purple streaks & looks amazing. Last time I had my hair coloured I had a magenta slice put in & it really cheered me up

I have naturally straight hair, and after years of perming decided to return to the natural look. I haven't regretted it. It's a case of "wash and go!"

Sheilagh, my sentiments entirely! I have mine regularly trimmed too! Cut is so important.

Tessa101, never been brave enough to colour my own hair since my teens! I decided I wanted to be auburn. It was the worst bad hair day ever!

What about curly or straight? I had mine cut to maintain the natural curl last time I went but now I think it makes me look older and am thinking of getting out the straighteners again. However, DH has just told me it looks better curly. All this soul searching has come about since I saw my hair in the three way mirror in the MandS changing room and did not like what I saw!

i think the bottom line is, do what makes YOU feel good, not what other people say. If you like your hair grey, that's fine. If you feel better with colouring your hair, do that. Seemples!

Lizzy53
Only yesterday I made an app at well known hairdressers for advice on colour. You can have a 15 min app with a colour technician for free and get all the advice you need. They give you colour swabs and tips, and tell you to go away and think about it all for free. Then you can go buy the colours they advice and do yourself if you like.

I stopped having mine dyed when i was seventy, I think the cut is more important, I have mine cut every three weeks and I get more compliments about my hair than I ever did when I was younger.

I'm 68 and dye my hair in three tones of brown , twice a year at the hairdressers. It is my one luxury! The regrowth between sessions blends well with my natural colour. I told the hairdresser I was waiting to go grey/silver. She was rather surprised, saying "your a long way from that! " So I guess it is in my genes. My mother was well into her 70's before her brunette hair began to lighten. I long for the silver look of my friends!

Sorry my last post was badly written and mis-spelled. It was done in a hurry.

Curiously, unlike, Alea. My perception is that women who are proud to be grey think they occupy some moral high ground, while those of us who colour are seen as some lower weaker self-deluding group. But, as I said, the occupiers of the moral high ground always seem to be women who have gone grey elegantly and quickly and they rather forget those less fortunates whose pattern of greying is more akin to havingan accident with a paint pot.

My attitude to older women dying their hair is the same as it is to younger women doing the same thing, it is entirely a matter of personal choice, like wearing nail varnish or lipstick.

Well hair is supposed to be our crowning glory isn't it, so well worth asking others what they think. I am a natural redhead, and it's now turned strawberry blonde. Redheads usually go sandy coloured which is lucky and well worth any truants we may have had in school? I think the idea is to just do what feels right. If hair dyes and colours cause itching, then ditch it quickly. Your immune system is reacting to the ingredients .

maddy47 you can buy a dye stripper in supermarkets if you want to it yourself. That's what I used when I "transitioned" to grey. I then used a semi permanent on the top bit till I could get the dye cut out. The stripper will not return it to its real colour but will lighten it. Cost £7-8.

I can already see my hair is going to be a dark iron grey, not a lovely silver like Alea's, but the oracle known as my hairdresser assures me I that when the dye has gone I can have silver highlights to brighten it up. She can do that without letting the dye touch the scalp, she says. I'm tempted to have it all chopped now but that would leave me with about two inches of grey hair all over and with very short hair I look like a turnip.

I was born with mousy brown hair and have added colour to it since I was a teenager - mainly red, but also I dyed it black for a long period when my kids were young. Could never afford to have it done professionally, so always had to endure the mess and dyed carpets, bathroom grouting, etc, etc. Still dying it (did it yesterday) with L'Oreal Florida (supposed to be honey blonde but in my case turns out like a light brown). Anyway, my problem is that I seem to have developed psoriasis of the scalp and it looks like I will have to stop dyeing. My hair is shoulder length. I don't want to have it cut, but I can't go around with a line between the really awful (pepper and salt) grey and the attractive brown for what would probably be six months. Probably going to have to spend money to have the dye taken out and a rinse put on. Sad, sad, sad!!!

I think we should be unashamed of things like walking sticks, silver hair or whatever goes to make up who we are . Make a stick a fashion accessory, not an apology. By all means colour your hair if you wish, but silver hair should not be synonymous with or an admission of giving up on one' s appearance. Look at Phyllida Law, Christine Lagarde , Julie Walters or Jamie Lee Curtis.
If you look back in history, a parasol or elegant cane often completed the fashionable ensemble of a society lady.
Our society is all too often obsessed with youth - Paul McCartney with his obviously dyed brown barnet or silver fox George Clooney ... who do you find sexier?

My walking stick is pink , ivory and green flowery design and perhaps I did react strongly but I felt rather patronised for not trying to stay thirty all my life. That is my opinion and I am expressing it

I wasn't aware we were discussing Syria, but if you want to start a thread I'll express my opinions if appropriate
My point is that we have had pics of many Gransnetters with silver hair who might not take kindly to the opinion that grey hair is drab, rarely attractive, or synonymous with frizzy, rats tails or unkempt.

Ah, but this is Gransnet Jane where comments aren't as robust as Mumsnet, though IMHO there was nothing wrong with your comments anyway, as you said, just your opinions.

Whoa... Sorry I think you are over reacting. if you feel so strongly about a complete stranger expressing an opinion about such a trivial subject as hair, what's your take on something really serious, such as Syria.

I didn't mean to give anyone a slap in the face. It is just my opinion isn't it? I do think grey looks aging but I have friends who have grey hair who make comments about my dyeing mine. Their opinion is their opinion.

My idea of beautiful grey hair is a shade of silver, straight and non frizzy, well cut and shiny. Not too cropped, not frizzy, not rat tails, not unkempt. BUT that is only an opinion.

I refuse to call my hair either grey or white. As far as I'm concerned, and as I've said before, it's silver! At least at the front it is - at the back it's still a bit salt and pepper.

I hope it is a glamorous walking stick, annsixty?? I always had my eye on my Scottish grandpa's silver topped ebony cane (his "best" stick, for Sundays) but someone must have beaten me to it as it "disappeared" after his death

I have had my hair cut this morning but not in the right frame of mind for a photo, perhaps later in the week!!
I so agree though about other things ageing us. I love my white hair but I hate the sciatica and the knee problems which are making me hobble and horror of horrors I am using a walking stick. I have aged these last weeks but it is not repeat not my hair.

I don't agree that there are double standards. M0nica it is a matter of choice and from observation I would say more people colour their hair than don't. However, the boot seems to be on the other foot at the moment and those of us who are embracing grey are having to justify our choice. What does really get on my t*ts is the attitude that those of us who have chosen to give up dyeing or go grey /silver/white gracefully, have somehow let our standards slip, don't care if we look like bag ladies and have to keep hearing people banging on about looking "washed out " old dears, just one hobble away from elasticated beige slacks, orthopaedic sandals and the Zimmer frame.
Faces show your age , figures show your age, age spots show your age, varicose veins and knobbly knees etc etc etc.
I have seen many very attractive women with grey/white/silver hair on Gransnet - look at the various threads ((50 Shades?) so to read that few of us have "beautiful grey hair " janeeyressister is a bit of a slap in the face.