Thinking about letting my hair go grey

[Liraele]

let it go grey and get violet baylayage style high/lowlights. It grows out really nice, so you won't have to redo it all that often or do touchups.

 

Or just go grey and embrace the natural. :) All good.

[Seraphim]

I did it last year and EVERYONE tells me how awesome I look. Everyone. I get a complement at least once a day .

[Seraphim]

I sent you PM, boltnrun, and it has what my hair looks like now .

[annie24]

That color application is called a balayage. It's really nice when you don't want to constantly be touching up highlights. It is applied in sort of a triangular or wedge pattern, less on top and more liberally at the ends. When it grows out, the transition between colored hair and uncolored hair is very subtle, and you can wait even 12 to 18 weeks to touch it up. Or you can let it grow all the way out that way.

 

A balayage can be expensive. When my hair was a couple inches above shoulder-length, it cost me $200. Plus tips for the stylist and the shampoo person, it's $225. And that's not including the cut. But everything's expensive here.

 

I get balayage done on my hair as well. I have medium brown hair, but right now have a rose-gold balayage - lighter at the tips, darker at the roots. It looks nice as it grows out. It's also good because I only get my hair dyed a few times a year.

 

You might want to do something similar at a salon, maybe have them do some kind of pepper color that will look nice as it grows out without harsh roots.

[annie24]

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/34691859614148816/

 

What about a color like this?

[Jetta]

My mom's husband was gray haired and my mom who is 68 colors her hair that used to be black to light brown. Even though she thought she'd let it go gray at 60 she didn't and her husband didn't want her to (now he's deceased). She would argue with him that his hair is gray but he really liked her darker colored hair. She still went lighter because it's closer to gray. You're never going to please every guy, but there's bound to be a guy who loves you for you.

[reinventmyself]

This note is on their website:

"*PLEASE NOTE:

Your hair must be a very light blonde (a level 10 and above, see chart below) to achieve the Sterling silver color. Applying Sterling to a darker shade will not produce an accurate Sterling shade."

 

I do like the grey color they have but I wonder what color I'd actually get since my hair is naturally jet black.

 

Any cosmetologists out there that have ideas?

 

You can achieve a level 10 by bleaching/lifting the color out of your hair first. But I would recommend you having it done professionally

(cosmetologist in another life here:)

 

I would spend the money to help you get to where you want to be and tell the stylist your intention is to manage it yourself from then on.

 

I was just at a party where a women had beautiful grey hair and colored the underneath (much like the picture) a honey brown.

That would be easy to do yourself and manageable seeing you won't see the roots for some time because the color is underneath.

At least it honors the grey hair and still looks fun and trendy as well, without being over the top.

 

Your other option would be get away from the black hair. The contrast is too noticeable when the new growth grows in.

So many of my friends have gone from really dark hair to a lighter, sometimes blond hair for this reason.

 

Me. . I get the roots too. I will just color the roots on the very top where it is noticeable every other time (takes me 10 mins) and do my entire head about once a month.

[Seraphim]

My hair is a more silver tone as it’s natural colour now. But I went white blonde to grow it out .

[reinventmyself]

I find it interesting that when I do go to get my hair cut so many young girls are there getting the color stripped from their hair in an effort to get that sterling look that's so popular.

Heck, we can get it for free now :) Sorta.

[boltnrun]

I definitely cannot go blond. I am Hispanic and have olive skin, so any kind of blond will look brassy and obviously fake on me, plus it wouldn't flatter my skin tone.

 

I definitely don't wish to spend hundreds at a salon, so that's not an option.

 

I am leaning toward just keeping the very new roots dyed until the rest of my hair goes salt and pepper (I won't get the silver, it's just not in my heritage) and then leaving it alone. I just won't dye it as frequently to ease myself into getting used to it.

 

My former boss had the most beautiful silver hair. She told me she started to go grey in her 20s and just went with it. I envy her!

 

Anyway, thanks for all the feedback.

[thealchemist]

Yeah, those men who "suggest" I dye my hair are those I wouldn't want to date anyway, right?

 

I wonder what the men on this forum think. I would ask my brother but he tends to choose women for their looks so I think I know how that conversation would go lol!

First of all, unless you are looking for hookups when you say dating, you have nothing to worry about.

 

In any real and committed relationship I cannot see how that affects it.

 

If a guy cares about your hair that much then he isn't the guy for you. Even if you don't mind doing it now, EVENTUALLY you will. Then what happens?

 

In my opinion you are more likely to find a decent guy and a better fit with grey hair. You want a guy you acfepts you for you.

 

My last point...

 

I have seen some d@mn fine woman rocking grey in their 40s and 50s, with minimal work.

 

Just as a disclaimer... I am not much of a fan of any physical alterations where it is hair color or makeup. Just seems so fake. So no wonder I think woman who should have grey but don't look off. Whereas woman rocking out as their true selves with grey van be very attractive.

[Starlight925]

I have a guy friend in his 50's who started dating a woman in her 50's who was all gray. Other than her actual hair color, she was very young-looking, slim, and young-acting. I got to know her a bit, and I complimented her hair, because I honestly really liked it on her. She said it went gray about a decade ago, and she just decided to keep it.

 

So, I asked my guy friend about her, and I made a comment about her hair, and he said, "yeah, that's something that really stuck out at me when I saw her profile" (they met online). In other words, he really liked it.

 

Here's the catch: It has to be styled younger to pull it off. Not in a beehive, or cropped close to the face and puffed out, Golden Girls style. Or ends left ragged. A cute style that is well maintained and well conditioned can really be awesome. And guy-approved. :)

[Seraphim]

I definitely cannot go blond. I am Hispanic and have olive skin, so any kind of blond will look brassy and obviously fake on me, plus it wouldn't flatter my skin tone.

 

I definitely don't wish to spend hundreds at a salon, so that's not an option.

 

I am leaning toward just keeping the very new roots dyed until the rest of my hair goes salt and pepper (I won't get the silver, it's just not in my heritage) and then leaving it alone. I just won't dye it as frequently to ease myself into getting used to it.

 

My former boss had the most beautiful silver hair. She told me she started to go grey in her 20s and just went with it. I envy her!

 

Anyway, thanks for all the feedback.

I started going grey at 19 and so is my son. My dad started going grey at 15. Mind you I dyes my hair from the time I was 17 until I was about 50 . But the white was shining through the dye in the sunshine anyways so I saw no further point . Because I have some patches of hair that are actually pure white and the rest is silver .

[lilygirl]

I am in the process of going grey, I was brunette and had to have my hair coloured every three weeks. Like you, my roots were coming in within a week and they were all in the front framing my face. The powders, mascaras etc were a pain! The time and money was also a pain so I stopped colouring my hair last June. I have been to a salon three times since then to help with the grow out phase. I have had silver highlights added to help with the transition. I knew that I would need help as I would have caved and gone back to brunette if I had the grow out line. I also did not want to cut my hair off so it was important to me that it looked good throughout the transition.

 

My boyfriend was in full support of my decision and tells me very regularly how beautiful it is. A few others in my life felt strongly that it was a bad idea and that it would make me look older but they have been surprised at the results. I am often told how I look younger. The other bonus is that my hair feels healthier and has more body.

 

So I say, go for it! Keep a stylish cut and if you can find a way that works with your time and budget to manage the grow out line, I bet you will be pleased!

[Seraphim]

I know several people at my work have done it since I did.

[treesandbees]

I would just transition fully into grey hair if all the dying is getting to you. Grey hair can look beautiful and you can get a very modern cut to jazz it up and use dye to color in effects for fun at home that wouldn't be expensive or a hassle to do on your own. Do you watch youtube videos at all? If you do go to youtube and type in Monique Parent ( she has an interesting channel and transitioned to full grey and she is an actress ( horror movies, I think) and has the challenge of maintaining her grey for her work ( think she recently cried on colouring her grey for a job in one video) Check her out about her going full grey, and even if you don't want to go grey she has such a wonderful personality you can get a pick me up from her channel...

[Jibralta]

Just yesterday I saw three young women in the city with fully grey hair. One had light violet undertones at the end. Very subtle. If I tried to do that, my hair would fall out of my head. One of my girlfriends is letting her grey grow in. She is Puerto Rican and has strong, jet black hair. She can totally strip out all of her color without doing much damage to her hair. But she is just letting the grey grow in from the roots.

[boltnrun]

I like the idea of having grey highlights done and then letting it grow in grey. I may save up to do that.

[Unreasonable]

I say try it and see how it looks. You can always dye it again if you don't like it. Sounds like you don't want to deal with the hassle and the money. You can't know if its "worth it" if you have never seen the alternative I think.

[Seraphim]

I like the idea of having grey highlights done and then letting it grow in grey. I may save up to do that.

 

To go grey or any highlights pretty much they have to strip the hair.

[boltnrun]

To go grey or any highlights pretty much they have to strip the hair.

 

I had blond highlights years ago and she only had to strip only the strands that were going to be blond. It was literally maybe 10% of my hair. So I feel more comfortable with that than with a whole head strip to go blond or full grey.

[Seraphim]

I had blond highlights years ago and she only had to strip only the strands that were going to be blond. It was literally maybe 10% of my hair. So I feel more comfortable with that than with a whole head strip to go blond or full grey.

Yes, they strip the pieces they are going to highlight.

[Jibralta]

If you're going to be saving up to strip sections of your hair, consider the balayage application, or something along those lines but reversed so that the bleach is applied mostly towards the top and the darker hair remains at the bottom. It's a wedge-shaped application that doesn't always extend to your roots, so it's less garish than the traditional highlight stripes that you often see.

 

[Seraphim]

It is hard with hair going white though. It looks like skunk stripes until it grows in. So you kind of have to have the highlight near the roots .

[Jibralta]

It is hard with hair going white though. It looks like skunk stripes until it grows in. So you kind of have to have the highlight near the roots .

 

That's what I meant when I said this:

 

but reversed so that the bleach is applied mostly towards the top and the darker hair remains at the bottom.

 

Although, sometimes it's hard to get the hairstylist to do stuff like that. A lot of them like to stick to their known bag of tricks--and for good reason. Last time I got my hair cut, I showed the stylist a picture and he still did something totally different. Argh.