Off-Topic For those that color your hair...

[Pam61]

Have you ever considered growing out your natural color (albeit gray/silver) and abandoning the dyeing process altogether? I'm curious if you were successful with this, and how you got through and dealt with the change during the long and awkward stages. Were friends and family supportive of your decision during the many months of waiting to see the new you?

The reason I ask, is that I am a retired cosmetologist. Even though I no longer work in the beauty industry, I have colored my hair for almost forty years! I'm really ready for a change and think I would like the more natural look, but not only because I'm older. It's more of a self acceptance sort of thing, if that makes sense. I also know that silver shades have been all the rage for a few years now, and I'm always late to the party. ;-)

I'd considered posting this to the beauty thread, so I apologize if this subject has already been discussed here.

Would love to hear your comments, experience and overall well wishes, I suppose.

Thanks!

[Jennifer R]

I have. There's a lot of silver there but for me a lot of dark blonde and brown mixed in that looks muddy to me. Other people tell me they think the silvery in my hair is nice.

I'm almost 65 and not tied to color at all--except that I would love unmitigated silver or white like some of my friends have. My mom at 84 has hair exactly like mine,muddy mix, my siblings say they have to look closely when we post photos to figure out which of us it is because our hair is so similar.

[suzannaerin]

I did this successfully several years ago and the growing out/transition process was interesting. I can’t wear my hair short so I had to bite the bullet. My hair stylist is talented so it could have been worse.

It turns out that I don’t have enough silver to make it look decent, much to my chagrin. I love my natural silver, it’s the pure white sparkly kind. I ended up getting highlights. I am eligible next year but don’t plan to retire for awhile, but that isn’t the only reason I went back to coloring it. Once I have a greater percentage of silver, I’ll stop coloring it.

If you want to do it, go for it.

[mandie123]

If your on facebook there are a couple of groups "going grey gracefully' and going gorgeously grey",that have tons of info and pics of people transitioning to grey.I let my hair go grey years ago,and so glad I did!(Now if I could only stop straigntening it!)

[Joni O]

I’ve been coloring my hair since Summer Blonde when I was in 8th grade. I’m almost 65. I asked my stylist about growing out my gray a few years ago and she said it’s simply not a “pretty” gray and that I wouldn’t be happy with it. It’s dull and mousy. So - not yet.

[Carol K]

I'm almost 61 and my stylist says I'm completely white (I've been coloring my dark brown hair since I was 30% grey). I assume that one day I will let it grow out, but not yet.

[Messe]

Originally Posted by Joni O

I’ve been coloring my hair since Summer Blonde when I was in 8th grade. I’m almost 65. I asked my stylist about growing out my gray a few years ago and she said it’s simply not a “pretty” gray and that I wouldn’t be happy with it. It’s dull and mousy. So - not yet.

Summer Blonde! I remember those days!

I've been coloring my hair forever, too. I've asked my stylist about going gray a couple of times, and her answer has always been similar to what Joni O's told her, which confirms what I see when I wait too long between root touchups.

My hair is healthy and thick as a brick, so a bazillion years of coloring it hasn't damaged it.

[rhbrand]

No, never ever.

Lucy Ball had red hear in her 80s and so will I.

Edited to say, I HATE HATE HATE my natural dirty dark yuckie brown/blonde hair color. It washes out my color, and the last time I went natural, decades ago people asked if I was sick until the day I colored it back red.

[Exercise Diva]

I'm 54 and would be completely grey if I didn't color it. I can't imagine ever letting my hair go natural - I don't like my particular grey color though I do have a friend who decided to let her grey grow out, and hers is a beautiful silver - much softer on her than her former brown. If my hair was like hers, I might consider it down the road.

[Pat58]

Nope, no intentions. I am growing out my layers and going back to one length for simplicity. As of now, I'm staying on the bottle. My genetics are that it will be a flat, iron gray and that doesn't appeal to me.