My DD is a hair stylist and she tells me with all my allergies, that trying to dye my hair would be a bad idea. So I'll get let nature take its course. When I was younger I was a strawberry blonde(mostly red), by the time I was 25 it had turned more brown. I'm 53 now and getting more grey on top.

I have found that using a temporary color in a lighter shade than my natural color also helps my gray 'blend' in with what natural hair color I still have. My mom and sister's gray hair was/is coarse but mine is baby fine and opaque.Since my 'younger' hair had auburn highlights I choose an 'ash' blond to de-emphasize the red as it makes my used-to-be cute freckles look more like age-spots (double yuck).
Some people don't realize that as a person ages their complexion tone changes and just because we color our hair it doesn't always complement our skin. A change in make-up color may be necessary whenever hair color is changed,either colored or naturally gray/white.
In the end, we have to do whatever makes us feel best about ourself. Sorry so long but I hope this is helpful.

If your roots are 6 inches long, consider having the color cut off, and talking to the beautician about what you can do? Treat yourself to a mani/ pedi at the same time. Enjoy the trip.

I was a natural redhead for years, then had to hit the bottle when the grey started coming in, then white started coming in and it got to be a real pain to keep up the roots so my hairdresser stripped out the red with a non peroxide product and colored it so the "grow out" wouldn't be so obvious. Kept it cut short and now, a year later, it's all natural and I love it!

I have salt & pepper hair in the crown darkest brown just below that and salt and pepper in my ponytail and the front. To make it all shine, I use a white vinegar rinse.

Worried about what color you will have? I don't have a choice. If I cut it shorter, looks like a bad dye job. Better to leave it long and work with it. It is a challenge but a good hairdresser can make it work beautifully.

When I decided to go 'natural' it scared me to death. I have colored my hair since my early 20s. I've had everything from 'party pink' to green. (No kidding!) I had no idea how much gray I had, which areas or all over. I just kept it cut short and used a temporary rinse to cover the gray till all the color grew out. Now I wear it a bit longer and I love it. I save a small fortune on coloring, as my hair grows fast and I was doing it every 4-5 weeks. That savings now goes into my 'stash' fund!!!

For a youthful fun grey try adding some blonde to it. It will give a softened blonde that is very youthful looking.

I am salt and pepper and NO dying for me! I figure we are all exposed to way too many chemicals as it is and I don't want to dump any unnecessary chemicals on my head and breathe in the fumes. I have asthma and have a hard enough time with other people's perfumes, cleaning chemicals, etc.

All natural all the way. Also no make up.

My thoughts exactly!

I let mine go grey when I was 50. I was originally auburn and *enhanced* it with color! I was hoping I inherited my dad's pure white hair, but alas, got my momma's salt and pepper. Took me years to get used to the grey haired woman in the mirror, but now I would never go back to coloring it. I finally like the person I am! Going grey, to me, is aging gracefully. :lol:

I agree with Melinda, I believe it's also
a state of mind for Me, I just keep trying to stay cool !!
listen to my 70's music, and hoping for the best !!
My Daughter gave Me this sign, that said,
If You obey all the rules
You'll miss all the fun !
So here I come :)
Olga,

Well you can see from my photo that I am letting it go -but it sure wasn't gracefully! I had a bladder biopsy and the doctor said one of the number one reasons for bladder cancer is from hair dye. So I decided that was the end of that for me. But I tell you, it was hard. Every day for months, I'd swear I was going to dye it. Now after two years, I finally threw away that last bottle of 'safety'.

Going gray is a lot easier than coloring. My hair grows very fast and I need to get color almost once a month, and then I had gray roots. I use the purple shampoo every other time and a body building shamoo the other time. Your skin color changes with your hair, so you will find that make up is easier and more natural. I started to gray in my 30's andwas totally gray in 50's.

Until I started to gray, my hair was so smooth, I could not keep barrettes or ponytail holders in it. They just slid out. My gray is coarser. (A cosmetologist called it "Glassine hair" (spelling?). I like having the choice of length, now that it has enough texture to keep a clip in it. During the day I just clip it back, and I still have the long hair DH loves. My hair is about 90/10, so it holds in place for a couple hours before I have to redo it. My hair, feels like most children's hair, baby soft. I even had one gal tell me my hair wasn't damaged enough, so I let her talk me into a perm. Can we say 'poof"? I looked like a poodle, and all she did was a body perm! so no perms or dyes for me anymore. I earned my gray hair and I will die with it. Works for me.

In one of my other lives I was a hairdresser.. I'm actually licensed in several states.. Going natural is difficult for almost everyone. I started going grey very young.. probably had a few greys in high school.. not grey all over, just in a horse shoe aroung the top of my head.... I have a real "Jay Leno" look, you know, like I fell on a marker! so I've colored my hair for years and years.. I've gone from dark brown to light brown and now to sort of a medium blonde.. geeze this is a pain!

The easiest way I know to go natural is to keep coloring for awhile, lighten the color used.. then start leaving an area generally in the top/side uncolored.. each side of you head.. not at the hairline, but back a way.. as it grows, keep adding more and more so that you gradually go natural. I think its as much of a pain that way as just going for it and looking awful for a few months.. going to a medium blonde helps because it doesn't show the regrowth like a brown does.

To cut the yellow and give your hair a wonderful white color use fandiful rinse.. the name you need is White Minx.. It looks a bit blue in your hand, but doesn't leave any blue in your hair. It cuts the yellow and give your hair a beautiful white color. There are the purple shampoos too, but I'm not familar with any except the professional brands. They also work wonderfully.

I sympathize with you.. I've wanted to stop coloring my hair too.. the other problem when you stop is that natural hair has a different texture than colored hair.. so it acts differently.. talk about bad hair days.. cripes!

You know, reading Madamekelly's answer made me think of something I heard also - "I've lived long enough to have gray hair". So appreciate it because not everyone gets thst chance.

I am 68 and have few gray hairs, but when they do come in, well, Lady Clairol, here I come! And I am not growing old gracefully!!!!

Me neither!!! Plus I can't imagine going without makeup. I don't mean Las Vegas showgirl - just something to even out the blotches patches, put a bit of color in my cheeks and give some oomph to disappearing eyelashes!

Oh geeze, 68 and only a few grays... I have a friend like you, she doesn't have to color either.

You just have no idea then what it feels like to take your child to kindergarden and have someone ask, "oh, are you Matt's grandma?" Or try to register them someplace and have the sweet young thing behind the desk tell you, "I'm sorry, we have to have a parent register them."

I am being funny here.. not mean... These things happened to me before I started being serious about coloring! So I'm with you, may not be Clairol, but I color.

[quote=Judie]Oh geeze, 68 and only a few grays... I have a friend like you, she doesn't have to color either.

You just have no idea then what it feels like to take your child to kindergarden and have someone ask, "oh, are you Matt's grandma?" Or try to register them someplace and have the sweet young thing behind the desk tell you, "I'm sorry, we have to have a parent register them."

I am being funny here.. not mean... These things happened to me before I started being serious about



From Robinlee below

I have the opposite of this happen to me, and I will continue to color my hair. When my oldest grandson, whom is now 7 years and I went shopping at the local Walmart, we were in the ladies department. He was just turning 1 years and I was 42. Anyway, we had a lady come by us and said "what a beautiful little boy you have" and "how old is your son". She was floored that I was actually his grandmother and that my daughter was 23 when she had him. She thought I looked to young to even have a daughter that age let alone a grandson.

Yes, it takes alot of work to keep it colored my medium auburrn, but as I said earlier, I would be completey white. Probably wouldn't mind it so if I was salt and pepper, but red heads don't have that in their "jeans". I color about every 6 weeks or so.

well my hair is white now and just as fine as it ever was. i wish it had gotten more texture when it turned, but alas it didn't.

As the stylist said on the Today show this morning---many color their hair darker than they should. He suggested one color lighter, perhaps with highlights. It looks more natural that way. It certainly makes sense, though I haven't touched mine in many years, I would heed his advice if I had those plans.

me too! i usually use elvira as an example though! my hair is curly, and if its short i have to "do" it... if its long i don't...so i don't know that i will ever stop dying it, as i don't have the patience to "do" it everyday!

This is an interesting thread, years ago I saw a magazine article that how a 49 yr old woman looked with her hair colored a auburn brown, something she had done for years, then they showed her with her hair grown out and not coloring. She looked younger and more alive. The reason was because as we age our skin tone lightens as does our hair color, and when she kept dying it dark brown it made her look tired.
So, I stopped coloring my hair and to help me through the grown out stage, I just did highlights on the top layer, platinum blonde hightlights and now, and it worked. Of course once I got my natural color grown out, I wanted more gray evenly, so I continue to highlight in the platinum blonde color, and by March of 2011, I will probably stop doing that because, I am ready for the real me.
I don't mind the gray but I am jealous of the women that have more of it.
So here's to, it's time for me to be me, I still act the same even with gray hair.

If my hair was grey I would gladly stop coloring it, but my roots look like mud with dirty snow. I wear my hair pretty short, but still don't have the nerve to let it grow out. I still wear make up and a bra. As some one else said, can't have those things hanging down to my waist. I am not growing old gracefully.

I finally stopped coloring my hair about six years ago & I keep my hair long so when it was growing out it was horrible but I just stuck it thru & now it is mostly what I call white pepper but I real color is under it also!! what is that about!!! but anyway I get compliments on the color so I guess it is okay..you just gotta stick thru it,,,it sounded like there was alot of good info in the thread so hopefully some of that will help you get thru it..good luck

I have a blonder streak in the front, too! I am hoping it does turn white when the time comes. I want to look like Lily Munster! Ha! Ha!

My aunt started turning grey in her teens, so in her twenties, she got it frosted. Remember that? She got tired of doing it and her hair never changed! It still looked like she was getting it frosted. All that money down the drain! Well, now her hair is snow white and she keeps it cut very short and spikey. She is very stylish.

The Fanciful rinses that go from shampoo to shampoo can cover your grey, but they do 'stain' your hair, too. Sometimes, a semi-permanant color will be good, but that also stains. But, it may look better than the 'cookie' look. Getting a cute, short cut is the best way to go. You will then know if you really like it without the color. Just be aware that you may need to change your make up and even the colors of some of your clothes!

I had been coloring my hair for nearly 20 years...I really had no idea what my natural color was. I was always afraid the grey would look like my mothers...a really ugly yellow gray. After talking to a hairdresser, I learned that hers was that color because she had been a heavy smoker all her adult life. Nicotine was the bad guy there!! I have never smoked so decided to take the plunge and go natural. To my surprise and delight, it has turned out to be a shiny silver. I do use one of those purple shampoos from Sally's. The only drawback is that it so fine and fly away. I may have to go back to getting perms again...ugh...since it straight as a stick.

i have the same problem too. i have such a tough look if i wear my hair short so i can't really go shorter than turned under chin length.
i'm just afraid the amount of gray is not going to be enough to be pretty.

I use a VO5 conditioner that you put a small amount on your wet hair. It brings that grey hair to life. I have perfect strangers coming up to me and commenting on how pretty my hair is.

It comes in a tube and make sure you get the silver one not the gold color one. It is made especially for grey hair. I wouldn't leave home without it.

Sorry I can't help. I won't allow it to get that visible.

Wow...good luck. My DH has beautiful grey hair...has since his late 20's and my kids, also in their 20's, are already starting to go grey. I'm too chicken to stop coloring my hair, but I just love the way it looks when it's healthy.