Anyone Here Stopped Covering Her Gray Hair?

[King's Kid]

Have any of you colored your hair for years and then allowed the color to grow out until your hair was primarily gray? What percentage white hair do you have?

 

I wish I'd never begun coloring my gray hair 13 years ago.... If I had it to do over again, I'd have simply allowed my hair to go gray. I'm more than 80 percent white hair now! :001_huh:

 

Now, I have to use a bottle of hair color every 3-4 weeks, and the roots can be clearly seen after only 21 days! Lovely.

 

No way can we afford for me to get it done professionally; finances are way, way too tight.

 

My dds and dh don't want me to go gray now.

 

Any wisdom from any of the sage, graying women on these boards? :001_smile:

[Pam "SFSOM" in TN]

Have any of you colored your hair for years and then allowed the color to grow out until your hair was primarily gray? What percentage white hair do you have?

 

I wish I'd never begun coloring my gray hair 13 years ago.... If I had it to do over again' date=' I'd have simply allowed my hair to go gray. I'm more than 80 percent white hair now! :001_huh:

 

Now, I have to use a bottle of hair color every 3-4 weeks, and the roots can be clearly seen after only 21 days! Lovely.

 

No way can we afford for me to get it done professionally; finances are way, way too tight.

 

My dds and dh don't want me to go gray now.

 

Any wisdom from any of the sage, graying women on these boards? :001_smile:[/quote']

 

Me. About 50-60% gray, I guess. I just sucked it up and grew it out.

 

I have no words of advice, however. If dh didn't want me gray, I'd probably color.

[MicheleinMN]

What about streaks or highlights? You might be able to do them yourself, and you might not have to color as often. Guess it depends on how adventurous you feel. Would your dh be willing to help you streak/color the roots or top layer?

[happygrrl]

I don't know about sage, but I am gray! I have been graying since I was in my early 20's. I am now 37 and about 30-40% gray. I colored for a while, but I hated the chemicals and the $$. My dh hated my obsessing about it. Finally I bit the bullet and cut my hair short (my hair is dark and I did not want the skunk look!). MY kids hated it short, but they don't mind the gray. My dh *loves* that I don't color it (he's the natural type). I get compliments all the time from people, especially women who say "I wish I could do that".

 

I think the big key is having a snappy, stylish cut. Then I look bold and avant garde, instead of mousy and old (OK, I probably don't look mousy or old, but that is how I feel). With a cool cut, whether long or short, I get many nice comments. One of the biggest was in talking to a cute grocery store guy, who thought the color was intentional and complimented me (he was pretty young, but I still felt all puffed up about it and bragged to hubby!)

 

I am not trying to brag, just trying to encourage that it is not bad to be gray. Don't fall for the young Hollywood hype! I actually look *younger* now that I am not trying to look younger.

[Remudamom]

My whole family threw a fit when I wanted to cover my gray. I've got some around the front of my face, I guess it's there to stay.

[Hoggirl]

I am very glad that I stopped coloring my hair. As a brunette who didn't want to go red or blonde, I found this to be the best option. It is really hard to color brunette hair and not eventually wind up looking like Morticia Adams. It just gets darker and darker and starts to look severe. I tried the highlighting thing for a VERY short while. It tended to make my hair very brassy. I didn't care for it at all. Growing this out was NOT fun. I felt like a two-tone head for quite awhile even though my hair is not that long. But, I am glad that I suffered through. I am probably only 20% gray, but much of it is located around my face. Not coloring saves money and time. And just so you know. The "proper" terminology is not "gray" but "Arctic blonde." ;)

[LNC]

I just went through this! I wanted to stop coloring my hair after reading the dangers of dark brown permanent dyes. Permanent dyes are a nightmare to grow out though - the skunk stripe looks ridiculous! After growing out two inches of roots, I found out my hair is bright white on the front and top and salt and pepper in the back.

 

My husband and I talked about it last night. I am going to keep dying it with organic vegetable permanent dyes (and hope for the best!) - and in about 5 years I'll try again. I'll use my hair dresser to incorporate lowlights to minimize the white stripe as it grows out. I just can't afford that right now - which is the major reason why I'm waiting - that and the fact that I'm not at all white on the back of my head. I just can't be so two tone!

[Harriet Vane]

My streak first appeared in fifth grade. By the time I went to college it was a noticeable streak. People thought I colored the streak in on purpose! My first pregnancy accelerated the process so that I was heavily salt and pepper, and my second pregnancy pushed me into a uniform white. I actually prefer my white hair to my former mousy brown and am complimented on it all the time.

[CactusPair]

I love my grey hair and wish it would hurry up and go all grey.

I got my 1st ones in high school. Premature grey runs in my fam. and I always had good impressions of it.

 

I'm about 30% grey nowand I'm slow to grey compared to my dad, etc. I used to think about coloring, but my younger brother gave me the best compliment.

 

He said, "You're looking pretty sparkly now". Sparkly! It sounds so lovely, enchanting and crystalline.

 

That did it. I decided never to color. I feel special bec. of my hair and I don't look old at all bec. of it (in my humble opinion!).

 

I've read about the possible health hazards of dark colors. That influences my decision, too. I think of Jackie O dying of lymphoma and wonder if it was related to hair dye.???

 

I agree that a cute cut is important to keeping grey hair looking stylish & confident rather than frumpy.

 

I think attitudes toward grey hair are regional/cultural, too. We lived in a well-to-do, well-educated, liberal college town for ten years and many, many ladies of all ages had greying hair. We live in a much different place now and it seems that I don't see too many moms with grey hair. I noticed at the kids' baseball game recently that most of the ladies had colored hair. The dye just didn't look natural. I was glad I was different. I truly felt pretty:001_smile:

[Laura Corin]

I never coloured my hair and I'm going grey (from dark brown). The underneath layers are very grey, but most of the top layers are still pretty dark. I'm quite enjoying the colour change - I just bought new silver glasses frames to match.

 

Laura

[Laurie4b]

I tried temporary coloring (never permanent) but for whatever reason, my hair held a temporary rinse as if it was permanent! So I had to let it grow out. At one point, my ds told me, "Mom, your hair is silver and gold." Ugh. So now I'm natural. Dh doesn't mind, though. I might have kept it up if he had. My kids would have preferred that I colored my hair.

 

If your hair does take a temporary coloring, you could do that as it grows out, then it would kinda fade into gray gradually.

[Kris]

I quit doing anything to my hair when I quit working. I didn't need to fuss with it anymore, and I couldn't justify the expense, either, since I wasn't bringing home any money.

 

That was ten years ago and now, even though I'm about 50% grey, my hair is in better shape than it's ever been, even though the greys are more fragile and fine. I had been told before that about half of my hair was broken off, but I thought they were just being dramatic.

 

Well, guess what -- half of my hair had been broken off with coloring and perms and blow drying and just basically messing around with it.

 

I've got a *lot* more hair now, and it's in great shape -- not dry or brittle or orange or purple. I love it greys and all.

 

I've always thought some women who color their hair look a little "off" -- either from the roots that show, or because they just can't seem to get the shade right. The ones who get it right, of course, you would never notice. But I was never fortunate enough to be one of them .

 

And finally -- I used to pay big bucks to get "streaks" or "highlights" in my hair -- now there's a bunch of 'em and they're free.

[TraceyS/FL]

Well, i just started coloring mine.

 

Why? I don't mind the gray..... but mine appear to ONLY be coming in on my part. And they stick straight up - so i have a mowhawk. :glare:

 

SOOO, i'm doing the coloring thing for now..... if it was anywhere BUT on my part, and no so wiry that it stuck straight up, i wouldn't care.....

 

The ONLY comment i've gotten on it was from my mom - who asked why my hair had a red cast.... i happen to LIKE it, sorry she didn't.

 

I'd ponder what you could do while it grew out. I like the short hair cut thing, i'd probably do that.

[mazakaal]

I colored my hair for a couple of years, but just had to stop because we couldn't afford it. Dh wants me to color it again, but until we have more money, I won't. I don't have a tremendous percentage of gray, but enough that it's noticeable. The weird thing for me is that I have so many colors in my hair. I used to have a nice medium brown color. I started to go gray when I was about 19, but some of my hair was a light brown from the sun, so the gray sort of mixed in with the gold. Now a lot of my hair has turned a darker brown as I age, more of it has turned gray, and I still have some medium brown and some lighter, bleached by the sun, sort of brown.

 

A clerk in a shop once asked if it was my natural color. She thought that I must pay someone to do it because she thought it was really cool. I wish I thought so too.

[King's Kid]

And just so you know. The "proper" terminology is not "gray" but "Arctic blonde." ;)

 

:smilielol5:

[GraceinMD]

complimented on it all the time.

 

a cute cut

 

I get compliments all the time

 

the big key is having a snappy, stylish cut.

 

She thought that I must pay someone to do it because she thought it was really cool.

 

I'm probably 40-50% grey, have never colored my hair (*see below), and do get a lot of compliments (although I think I look like Cruella DeVil sometimes!). I must admit that, since I work with the elderly, they MAY be complimenting me on the dark brown, not the grey :). I don't necessarily have a cute, snappy, stylish cut, but I agree that cut can make all of the difference between stringy / kinky and sharp / "on-purpose." (It's sort of the same theory as the one that says: if you carry a clipboard and look like you know what you're doing, then you can go anywhere in a building! Get some pretty silver jewelry, and some colors that flatter you, and everyone will assume that you know exactly what you're doing with that grey hair!)

 

*never colored because:

4. I can barely remember to get my hair cut 2x/year; I would NEVER remember to get it colored!

3. I am ever-so-slightly haunted by my completely sanctimonious statement to my mother (when I was about 8, apparently) that you should never color your hair because if it was supposed to be brown when you're 40, then God would have left it brown. (Ugh.)

2. Fortunately, dh is functionally (not actually) color-blind, and couldn't care less.

1. NOT coloring gives you SO much more time to read a book, hang out on these boards, take a walk, etc.

[kailuamom]

I am going to keep dying it with organic vegetable permanent dyes (and hope for the best!) - and in about 5 years I'll try again.

 

 

I am there right now! Sitting here wondering if I should dye it again since we are going to visit relatives next week. I use the semi-permanent ones -- and not often, only for "events" -- b/c I am breastfeeding (not a lot, but at night).

 

Do you have the names of any organic veg dyes? I don't know where to start looking, but I need something! I have to be honest and say I hate my "arctic blonde"! I looked into henna, but it seems so complicated and an iffy take on the hair.

[threetreasurs]

I cut mine short and am growing out the gray - looks okay for now but I am but I am looking more stripped by the minute. The dye sort of fades as time goes by so that I my real hair is both darker and grayer - oops!

[kpupg]

I quit doing anything to my hair when I got pregnant at last, at age 34. My hair is white in patches. The most prominent is a big old skunk streak out of my right front cowlick. Then there is an increasing amount of gray spread evenly through the rest of the hair. If you view me from the right, I look very very gray, but from the left, a lot less. That streak was really interesting before the general gray really kicked in.

Karen