The FastDay Forum

No not grey yet but it will be ok to me when it comes

I started out life as a blond and my first set of streaks at 16 was a waste of money as my hair was naturally blond streaks. Have highlighted my hair ever since. Only distinguished at the temples at present and majority of my hair is dark ash blond. One thing my hairdresser wants to colour my grey but I refuse as I like them.

Will switch to grey streaks one day.

Take care though and don't use too many harsh chemicals is my advice as some times we least expect we can start to shed our hair so I would say treat it kindly

I started going grey in my 20s and am naturally white now at 51. I think that white or grey hair can look fantastic but doesn't suit my colouring and I think it would make me look older than I am, so I have been colouring it back to my original dark brown for years.
I agree with Wolfie on the quality of professional colouring and I visit my salon every 5 weeks. I am generally 'low maintenance' but my salon visits are an absolute essential to me and would be the last thing I cut back on if I had to economise

I am not very grey[for my age] I use a semi permanent colour for about £5 against £75 at the hairdressers! I don't do it all that often so I keep track of the grey and importantly for me I don't get 'roots' as I hate them and would rather be grey than have any at all.

I have my hair 'low' lighted every twelve weeks, ie the hairdresser puts darker streaks in it. This allows the regrowth, which is a mixture of grey and brown, to blend in naturally so I don't get a hard line when it is growing out. I have lightened the colour slightly over the years and he now uses a mid brown. If I had a lovely silvery grey natural hair colour, I would probably go for it but that's not what my genes gave me, so in the meantime low-lighting is the way for me.!

At 64 I am still mousey brown with fine grey hairs and will go grey disgracefully, sometime! Mum never coloured her hair and even in her 70s she had lovely brown hair.

[carorees]

I have my hair 'low' lighted every twelve weeks, ie the hairdresser puts darker streaks in it. This allows the regrowth, which is a mixture of grey and brown, to blend in naturally so I don't get a hard line when it is growing out. I have lightened the colour slightly over the years and he now uses a mid brown. If I had a lovely silvery grey natural hair colour, I would probably go for it but that's not what my genes gave me, so in the meantime low-lighting is the way for me.!

That's exactly what I do too...foils plus a semi permanent, gradually going blonder with time. My biggest problem though is frizz. I've tried everything except the keratin treatment at the salon that my hairdresser assures me will cure the problem but I have my doubts and its v expensive (£100ish to last, apparently, 5 months).

Wow, @carorees, £100 sounds a lot to me, too, but perhaps you could have it as a special treat to yourself - just to try it, especially with that wedding coming up? It works out at a lot less than a pound a day and you probably save that now that you're no longer buying junk to eat!

When I was young I had very long, dark brown hair which I used to henna from time to time. I started to have a silvery grey mallen streak in my 30s though so changed to over the counter dye as henna made it orange. However I used one in my early 40s and my hair started to fall out so I vowed not to dye it again. I now have mid length, dark brown hair with a silver/white mallen streak and am gaining more and more silver hairs. The only problem I have with it is that the grey hairs are very unruly and stick up and out!

[Debs]

Agree gillymary, I have my hair highlighted, it makes me feel so much better, but it is suffering at the moment and coming out rather badly. The awful hard water I think.

I was titian (but actually made up of a range of colours if you examined each strand) and think just in my 40s when some of those strands lost their colour. Think they went white, tho the combined effect looked grey - worst at the temples.

Did nothing about it for ages, til I changed hairdresser and she recommended a semi-permanent colour the same as my natural one - which was by then less red than when I was young. I am very happy with it - regrowth is barely noticeable cos the semi permanent fades with time and blends with the hair growing through, and I still have a reasonable amount of hair that has colour.

My hairdresser is suburban, and it only costs me $50 (£25) for a cut and colour, which I have done about every 6 weeks.

At some stage we will start to lighten the colour, but will be guided by what is happening with the 'natural' colour of my hair.

Colouring my hair is my main concession to vanity!!! I don't wear makeup, but feel that greying/whitening hair would really age me. My mother has only just stopped colouring her hair at 86, but her colour had been made softer and softer over time (same hairdresser as me) that it looks no different.

My hairstyle is also that of a younger woman - will have to do something about that at some stage, but I don't like any of the alternatives (there aren't many, which is part of the problem). But that is another story...

I've been going grey and coloring my hair since I was 30 (I'm 50). I won't give in yet. Can't imagine myself grey and I would be completely grey.

My hair is light to mid brown, gradually being infiltrated by very pale grey. I am going to go with nature, cheaper and less faff.

Weeeeellll, you will never see me with grey/white hair, that's for sure - would look washed out. Plus, I hate growing older and whatever comes with it as it is, so I have decided to not go out without a fight At least when it comes to hair color and doo, not to mention the she mustache - wax on - wax of, in dear pain...

Thinking back I think I have had all colors and hairdos under the sun (remember the umbrella perm??) - think I liked the black tulip color the best on shirt spiky hair. Ack, those where the days

Another benefit of letting nature take it's course is that my hair is in much better condition

My hair color story is very much like yours, Lil--temporary home hair coloring for 10 years, til I began to feel that 35-year-old hair didn't go with a 55-year-old face. The difference with me is that instead of dumping the whole bottle on my head, I just combed some of it through--gave a much more natural look rather than having every hair the same color. I used a lighter color than my natural dark brown.

Now I'm silvery gray all over at age 73 and very happy with how it looks--my very pale skin and blue eyes are better suited to a lighter color than the dark brown was. It's cut quite short at the neck and ears, longer at the temples and top. I sweep the side hair straight back and up for a sleek (non-snowball) look--more like "retired professional person" than "little old lady". I'm lucky to be healthy enough for striding with a spring in my step and "don't tread on me" body language. As I've mentioned in a previous thread about aging--it takes more than gray hair to look old.

As members of this forum get slimmer and healthier, IMO, we will be healthier and look younger, with or without gray hair.

Quite a range of experience and opinion on this topic @zamale, hope there are some nuggets you can use.