Ladies: Share your experiences on going gray! (salon, hairdresser, light)

[pitt_transplant]

Well I had some wired ones I just ripped em out. I guess the got the message because the returned to me silky waves instead of wired. And more are coming in bright white!
And I have the double wolf streaks going on. I am so HAPPY I am getting the streak version...I just keep thinking of all the haircuts that would work for that.

I like it a lot. The s.o. does too. I hope it goes totally white before my face ages too much. I think that would look neat.

Right now they are covered in red and look like highlights. But I color for fun, not to hide it.

If you want to grow it out have someone put color strips in your hair of the bottom half every couple months. Kinda like highlights to grow out a natural summer lightening without the line of season change indicating where the new growth started.

[fabumom07]

Originally Posted by 33458

Mine does make me look older, but so does coloring my hair at all anymore...(I'm days away from 42). The saturation is something I can't pull off anymore. I was a for most of my life (some of it was real) then going to a very dark brown or black because my spouse thought that was outstanding...I did like it, too, worked with my pale skin and 'violet' eyes...however, now...EEEKS. last time I colored, I looked like a rode-hard gypsy. No more of that.

So here I am, a few years Au natural, hoping by next year I'll be fully white. I'd like that. Methinks it'll take longer...
(though translucence started around 18, I'm just entering real salt and pepper now, cool clumps here and there.)

(The shaving it off comment...I've been known to do that..)

I put in highlights now and then, and lightly brush the brown right over it when the highlights go brassy. It keeps the hair dimensional. I never just pour on the dye on my hair like the directions say. It does look heavy. Using a brush to do the roots and then lightly combing through with a wide tooth comb gets a nice look.

Oh and about your last comment- yes there is THAT going grey issue. Sometimes shaving, or dying everything .If I were bolder I would start a thread just about THOSE white hairs. Someone else can do that.

[karibear]

My gran had long brown hair into her 60s. She wore it in braids, pinned into a coronet around her head. Then she had a stroke and couldn't take care of it any more, so she had it all cut off - it turned white nearly overnight. My own hair is the same medium brown, but it always looked kind of fake, so once I hit jr high I started using an auburn rinse and that looked more real. About 10 years after that, I decided to let it grow out to it's natural color once more, so once the roots were a couple inches long I cut it off. Then I realized my hair was shorter than any of the men I knew! So I just kept letting it grow - and grow - and grow. Nearly an inch/month. Thick and wavy, except it was so heavy the wavy part wasn't all that obvious. Now I'm in my 60s, and while I do have some gray, I rather think it's mostly around the temples, at least I can't see any anywhere else with a mirror. DH said something once about how I was starting to get gray, and I just told him I earned every one of them living with him! He [the jerk] didn't have any at all in his hair, it was solid black, but his beard was gray, and he did have a beard. He got quite a bit of flack from various people who thought he'd dyed his hair, but he didn't. He said it was the Cherokee in him.

[princessfancypants]

I just made the decision to stop dyeing like, 48 hours ago. I Color Oopsed the dye out, and most of it went very easily. The grey parts are still caramel at the bottom, but I kind of like it. I love how my hair looks and feels and I love the decision to stop dyeing. I felt like a prisoner, as I am 37 but have been doing this already for over 10 years to cover gray. I figured I would have to stop at some point, and the look of hair with a lot of color in it, especially when that color is dark, starts looking like the blue hairs on the train that I see... where the color is so saturated it looks like doll hair. Not for me. I already feel like I have made this major change, and no one can even tell! It's funny! My boyfriend says that I should let it go because it looks cool and, "you've earned it." Which made me cry. But in the good way. I am not old, and the gray doesn't make me look old. It's a color. That's all it is.

[Snootylooter]

Congratulations! As you are young - be sure and rock it with a hip style! I've been "natura"l for almost a year now & am still happy with my decision.

[Threestep]

Mother is almost 70, still six feet and her white came in at the temples and the front. She keeps it short and brushed out of her face. A white lion's mane when she throws a tantrum:>)
Mine are coming in all over and bit thicker and shiny silver. With a classic bob they blend in pefectly with low-lights which I need to avoid using a lot of products. Nothing like fine and absolutely straight hair:>(

[tilli]

I'm in my thirties and I have some scattered greys. They don't make a cool streak or anything, they are more or less evenly dispersed. I have stopped using permanent and demi haircolors because I am tired of the brassiness that the lift reveals. I have finally come to terms with the fact that it is simply impossible to match my natural color, which is level 5ish light (very) ashy brown. Even if the color starts off very close, as soon as it starts to fade it reveals that reddish color. Which is fine if I want my hair red, but right now I don't. So I am using a semi at this point - Clairol Radiance in the level 6GB. This coats all my hair with a golden sheen that you can only see in the sun, and it transforms my sparkly greys into nice golden blondes. I am using Hair One instead of shampoo, and the Radiance actually lasts a really long time. When it fades it reveals my natural ashy color instead of lift-induced brass. Eventually I may just let it be grey, but I think I need to wait until it is mostly grey instead of mostly brown.

He [the jerk] didn't have any at all in his hair, it was solid black, but his beard was gray, and he did have a beard.

Hehe, my husband is like this, his hair is quite dark and he doesn't seem to have a single grey on his head, but his beard has quite a lot of them now. He likes it, says people take him more seriously.

[montanamom]

Not gonna happen. Not as long as there's Nice & Easy.

But men and haircolor? Don't even think about it.

[jhlcomp]

Originally Posted by Woof Woof Woof!

I have a confession to make. I've gone three (maybe four?) months without getting my hair colored. The roots of my dark hair are now about 2 inches of salt and pepper gray. I'm a little startled by the new look. Sometimes it looks really good; other times I wonder, "Am I ready for this?"

Fact is, I don't want to go to the hairdresser's every month for a color job. It's expensive and boring and why am I doing it? And for whom?

My gray hair is part of who I am. What's wrong with being who I am? Have I not earned these gray hairs?

I've seen other women with gray hair. It doesn't make them look older. In fact, it usually makes them look more interesting, more sophisticated. I like the way they look.

And I don't think I've ever seen a woman with gray hair where I thought, "Gosh, she really needs some color." In contrast, I've seen plenty of women with bad color jobs!

My friends encourage me to let my gray hair grown in. My hairdresser says, "Do it now, not when you get too old, because it'll be too much of a shock then."

Just wanted to hear from other women on the board as to your experiences and thoughts on gray hair. Do you plan on coloring your hair for the rest of your life? If not, when do you plan to stop? Have you ever tried to let it go gray? What did people say when they saw the real you?

W.

I admire someone who has the courage to take the next step and since you have already gone two - three months au naturale - why not stay the course?

In some ways I wish I could also, except that I have dark blonde hair and grey really doesn't look good on me. So, I use a medium/dark blonde hair color similar to my natural hair color and add blonde highlights -- it's a look that works for me. The only exception is that now I get it professionally done and with a hair color that I really love called Elumens by Goldwell.

Enjoy your new found freedom! And check these out:
http://www.gorgeousgrey.com/
http://hubpages.com/hub/Beauty_Tips_..._Hair_Is_Sexy_
http://www.goinggraylookinggreat.com/

[20yrsinBranson]

My family goes grey very early. My mother had grey hair when she was 29 and by the time she was 50 her hair was almost totally white. I have dyed my hair since I was 13 years old, so I never really knew when I started getting grey. I have noticed that the TEXTURE of my hair has changed dramatically through the years, and since grey hair is coarser, I assume that is the reason why.

From time to time I have let my hair grow out a bit between dying and I have noticed some grey around the hairline at the front. It does not look bad, in fact, considering I am over 50 now, it really looks a little more natural than not having any grey at all. On some folks, salt and pepper hair looks great. Maybe when I get older I will give up the dye bottle and go natural.

20yrsinBranson