My hair is turning grey. I can no longer say that I have grey hairs because soon they will outnumber the brown ones. It seems that every time I look in the mirror I notice less and less brown hair along my hairline. I have always said that when the grey hairs came I would accept them graciously and not bow to the pressure to color them. I told myself that it is a natural part of aging and it would be against my natural personality to have to constantly keep up on coloring my hair so I would walk around most of the time looking like and idiot with giant roots that need redoing. I said it is like a man's hairline receding--it just happens and to fight against it would only be frustrating. I said, and believed, all of those things when I thought I would have the hair of my mother. At 72 she has way fewer greys than I have---I just turned 40 last April. Instead God seems to have decided to let the joke be on me and give me the hair of my dad......who was almost completely grey at a fairly young age. I remember my sister learning in cosmetology school that our hair is supposed to come from our mother's father. Nope. He had few greys as well. Ugh. So what do you ladies do? Do you accept the grey as a fact of life and adjust and do your best to welcome it? Or do you do what you can to disguise it? And why do you do what you do?
I absolutely color the grey - probably for 10 years now, since I was around 30. It started with just highlights but then my hairdresser said there was too much for highlights and I had so much grey that the overall texture of my hair was turning frizzier as a result. So, now I all over color about every 6 weeks or so (I'm long overdue so I have lots of grey right now) and its a pain but I couldn't bear how much grey I have (much more than 50%) and the frizzy hair as a result
It might be a pain to color it but....you're worth it!!! My husband is 53 and he started going gray in his late 20's. Now he is mostly gray and he doesn't like it. I think he looks good but he thinks he looks older than he is. I'm 44 and I am not showing gray yet, but the day is coming and when it does I will color it!
I'm about to cover it right now. If I don't I won't be able to get away with my claims that I am only 29.
I will be 45 in Nov. so far I have a few grays but people tell me they don't notice them yet...However, when the time comes.. I am so going to color my hair.
Maybe it's just me, but I think long hair that's streaked grey looks really great, if the streaks go all the way down. Long, as in below-shoulder. Guess it depends on how the pattern of grey sets in.
Well, I have no idea what my natural hair color is anymore, as I haven't seen it in 20 years or so. But if you're interested in trying something without a big risk of screwing things up, I recommend Natural Instincts color. It's semi-permanent, and fades naturally in 28 shampoos, give or take. When I wear my hair brown, I have good success with it. When I go blonde, I leave that to the professionals.
I adore grey hair, on men and women, mine is Finally gray and noticeable, I worked for it and love it!
I have had grey hairs since high school...pulling them out worked back then, but had to start coloring my greys around the time I could legally drink I told myself when I hit 40 that I would just leave the greys alone! Well I hit 40 in April, and grey hair looks like crap on me! I feel so much better when I don't have all those grey staring back at me in the mirror (I look better too) Color it! If you have the time and can afford it, go get it professionally done - If not, bring a friend along to the store to help you pick out a color that will suit you - if you like the way the color comes out, make sure you remember what color it is! (I always forget) ETA - Can't believe I just admitted to being 40!!!
This is what I use and I LOVE it. My hair is brownish-red and it works great for my color hair, covers up all the grey (and there is PLENTY of that!) without looking unnatural. No growth line at all, it just washes slowly out so there's not icky looking growth if you don't have time to color. It's cheap too! I did the salon thing and it's kind of fun to indulge, but given that it needs repeating very frequently, for me it was more hassle and stress/anxiety than a help. I much prefer doing my own and so far much prefer the semi permanent colors. I think I'm older than all of you too....haven't read all the replies yet though, stopped at this one! edited to add that YUP, of all who admitted their age, I have you beat! And I'm fighting it every step of the way, including covering the grey!
My dad was completly gray by the time he was 30 and being the generous man that he is....passed it on to me. I just turned 34 and I can tell you that I was almost completly gray by the time I was 32! I had gray hair in high school! I get it colored about every 6 weeks, like clockwork! I am not a fan of it and doubt that I ever will be!
Well hey, Im way older than any of you, Im a grandma..all my friends color their hair so I bit the bullet and did it too. I felt like the OP but I am so glad I color my hair now. For one thing, it totally improves the body of your hair. I have very fine hair and after I started coloring it that was improved greatly. I have it professionally done but the home kits work well too. In your group of friends are there more who let it go grey or more who color? Something to consider..
First off, I consider my hair color as silver. Grey is an ugly word! I started coloring my hair when I was in my mid-twenties. When I was pregnant with my third child at 33, I decided that I didn't want to do it any more. I think the clincher was that the box of color I got at Walmart couldn't sufficiently color the gray, I mean silver, anymore. It had some red undertones and I actually had some hair that was white. It came out looking a little pink in areas. Now I am in my mid 40s and have a full head of silver and some white. I actually get compliments from people! That being said, my sisters who are 8-10 years older than me, color their hair. They never got the massive amounts of silver that I did. But that's ok, they got acne in their teen years and I hardly had any!
Okay, I think you have me almost convinced to ask my sister to do it for me (she is a professional so, not only will it be way cheaper but she will also do it at my house). I could probably have my daughter look over her shoulder and learn to do it. I have been giving her various colors for the past few years so I know it isn't rocket science! About my circle of friends: All of them color their hair. The friend I met with yesterday told me that's why God created hair color---he never intended for us to KEEP the greys!
Oh yay! She can also buy the good stuff that does less damage! What color are you going for? I'm no longer behind the chair but once in awhile I get curious. ETA mixing those colors and figuring out exactly the right shade at a salon is not rocket science, but it's IS chemistry and it's NOT easy! Doing it at home is not the same!
Yeah, and I suck at chemistry. My sister bought and I applied for my daughter. It was one of those situations that I was happy to have Nathan's scale to measure the three different things accurately each time. My natural color is sort of medium brown with a reddish tinge to it. I think I may go for something like that and lean a bit more toward the red end. I'll let my sister do the choosing for the most part because I don't want the color to look awful with my complexion and she'll know what would be best.
That's what she is used to doing anyhow. A client will come in and say "I want this and that" and the stylist/colorist mixes up whatever they think will get the best results. One advantage to having your sister do it,no spots that get missed! AND she'll likely have color off!
