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Style & beauty

When to go Grey...

(41 Posts)
Shirleyw Tue 04-Jul-17 20:11:35

looking at the home page feature on GN I was wondering what is the best age to stop colouring hair and to go grey? I'm 58 so shall get hair coloured for a while but have been thinking about it.....Shirley

silverlining48 Tue 04-Jul-17 20:17:45

I am 69, still having my hair coloured every 6 Weeks but considering going grey with highlights every other cut. My hair is really porous now and doesnt hold colour in summer. Its also thin, (unlike me, sadly)which i am not thrilled about.
At 58 you are but a spring chicken, l'd go with the colour shirley.

Shirleyw Tue 04-Jul-17 20:24:46

Thanks for reply silver lining.....I also like being thought of as a spring chicken ?

grannysue05 Tue 04-Jul-17 20:34:00

Shirleyw I am 75 now and still have my hair coloured and highlighted every eight weeks.
This is expensive and I would really prefer to go grey. However, the "grey" that shows through sometimes is dirty, flat, dull grey.
In contrast, a very good friend of mine who is now 80 has beautiful silver grey hair, and she looks amazing...and so elegant!
I am really afraid to go fully grey.

mimiro Tue 04-Jul-17 20:44:53

depends on what you like
i have polosis-hereditary
a white streak over my right eye.have had it all my life but was a white blonde until my teens.
it didnt change or grow bigger.when i started ageing the grey/white started to spread from this spot.
i now have a patch of whie hair the size of my hand at my side part.
the rest of my hair turned almost blackshock
my hair is healthy and very thick so i wont dye it.
besides dh loves my skunk streak.
then theres mom.she was a natural ash blonde.hers started turning grey and not white so she started dying it didnt stop til she was in her 70s.still looks ash blonde??
just a matter of choice.my gran in the 1970s hated the lavender washes.she had me do a punk pink stripe in hers...grinshe and all her friends loved it.mine was blue.....

MrsAllboys Tue 04-Jul-17 20:50:36

Grannysue05. It so much depends on your skin tone. Cool skin tone (and blue/grey eyes) usually grey well. Warmer tones usually look better tinted, IMO?

phoenix Tue 04-Jul-17 21:36:31

I'm 58, and did a thread not that long ago about this subject.

I had my first grey hairs in my early twenties (father was totally silver grey by 30).

My natural colour was red/brown, my hair grows really fast, so on top of the problem with red colours fading, I was getting grey roots very quickly after colouring.

The 4 hour session in the salon when I decided to have the colour stripped has been covered on here!

Now grey, but playing around with temporary fun colours (currently pastel pink, have pale purple already lined up) also documented on here!

M0nica Tue 04-Jul-17 21:37:47

It depends on how grey you are. In my family we go grey very late. At a recent family get together, there were 8 of us present, aged between 66 and 77, and only one of us was grey, the rest of us were still dark haired with a bit of grey at the temples. One cousin, aged 62, had no grey hair at all. I was the only one who coloured their hair.

tanith Tue 04-Jul-17 21:44:21

I let my grey grow in a few years ago, I'm 69 soon and it was the biggest relief to stop with the colouring which I'd been doing for many years. My hair now is silver grey and I love it my life is so much simpler since I stopped.

Iam64 Tue 04-Jul-17 21:53:33

I had dark hair and started having light highlights in my 50's to disguise grey. about a year ago, a decided to embrace the grey. I gradually stopped colouring, had a few highlights then had it cut short and let the grey be my natural colour. I love it and feel liberated from the faff of colouring and highlighting

Thebeeb Tue 04-Jul-17 22:02:37

I am 65 and have been growing my colour out for a year and am now grey. This was against the advice DH, DD and DIL. I am relieved not to have keep having it coloured, richer and I love it. So does DH, DD and DIL. Worked for me.

Marydoll Tue 04-Jul-17 22:40:45

I am 62 and my hair is still red,( albeit no longer carrot coloured) never had to colour it. Met a friend after the hairdressers today and she commented on my "lovely highlights" She couldn't believe it is not coloured. I am very lucky, saved a fortune over the years. However, my thirty four old daughter has grey hair.There is no logic to it.

mumofmadboys Tue 04-Jul-17 23:05:05

I am 59 and have never dyed my hair at all. I was auburn but am now quite grey. I hate seeing roots growing out and this put me off ever dyeing it.

Jalima1108 Tue 04-Jul-17 23:14:16

Mine isn't going grey apart from a few hairs at the sides and I'm in my 70s - but I do fancy a change!!

Obviously not blonde, although I did fancy lilac but don't think it will take on dark hair. hmm
Does anyone still have their hair highlighted these days? Or lowlights in an auburn shade just to give it a lift?

Nanabilly Wed 05-Jul-17 02:08:01

Yes I have highlights every 8 weeks . Keep thinking of going grey but chicken out . Hubby says keep getting it coloured as I'm too young to go grey yet.

Shirleyw Wed 05-Jul-17 05:58:49

Thanks for the replies, good to know what your views on grey ?

kittylester Wed 05-Jul-17 06:53:03

I have highlights every 3 months but have little or no grey. My hair is just mousy and will be dull when it does go grey so I intend to keep getting it highlighted.

Menopaws Wed 05-Jul-17 06:58:37

My hair is dark brown with grey streaks running through it, I know I would never keep up a colouring routine and I hate hairdressers and roots so am hanging on for the time being to see how it goes, I always said to get to 50 but now I'm hoping 60 and TBH I doubt I will start colouring then so I'm lucky. People do comment on my 'colour' and are surprised it's natural but I just would hate the hassle

ginny Wed 05-Jul-17 07:13:59

I stopped having my hair coloured 2 years ago ( 63 next week). No regrets and many compliments. I think we have to adjust the colours we wear and remember that as we age our skin tone changes. Really depends on personal choice .

Christinefrance Wed 05-Jul-17 08:10:06

I agree it depends on the shade of grey, I love white or silver grey. My hair is a dull steel grey but stopped having it coloured when I realised it was thinning quite badly.
I don't like the colour my hair is now but its not a big issue in the grand scheme of things.

GrannyA11i Wed 05-Jul-17 10:31:17

Mines reddish brown naturally and I colour it myself every 8 weeks or so but the roots start to show grey in about 3 weeks. I'm really fed up of doing it and love the pastel chalks you can use on silver hair. I just don't know how to get there from this brown now as I have long hair and don't want it short. Has anyone had long hair dyed lighter to ease the transition?

Luckylegs9 Tue 25-Jul-17 18:31:58

If your hair is in good condition and you have a good cut, I think grey or greying looks much better than roots showing, the time in the hairdresser for me would be horrendous as it grows so quickly. I have it to to my shoulders and love it, dont uwant it any longer, if I wanted a change I think I would put a fun colour on it or have a few streaks.

BlueBelle Tue 25-Jul-17 18:48:17

I ve never coloured my hair and gone from fair to white / blonde which I quite like I asked the hairdresser about highlights once and she said why you ve already got them ? I m lucky I guess

Liz46 Tue 25-Jul-17 19:28:40

I have terrible memories of my mother growing out her black dye. My hair was naturally black and the silver streaks are getting bigger! A few people have said it looks good and not to get it dyed but I have never had any intention of doing so.

varian Tue 25-Jul-17 20:08:01

I've never had my hair professionally coloured but do it myself with semi-permanent ( no ammonia) wash in colouring. Over the years I have gone lighter, from mid brown to light grown to blonde as I think your skin gets lighter as you get older. My original colour was red as a child, then auburn by my twenties but I've never used any reddish colourant. Even so it still looks slightly reddish, almost as if it remembered it used to be red.