How did you transition to gray hair?

[Disneychick75]

Has anyone who has gone gray actually tried to professionally make the gray a better gray. My hairdresser, who has light brown hair actually colored her hair gray and it was beautiful (and more blond looking than anything). Last night I was watching "Transparent" and Judith Light has some beautiful gray hair going. I think some of it's natural but I also think it's enhanced.

I tried that but my hair is naturally dark brown and the blonde was not good with my skin tone.

 

[zoemurr]

If you have to color it every 2 weeks I assume your doing it with store bought stuff? My niece does hair for a living so when I wanted mine done (just to change it up) she took me to a place with professional stuff to get supplies. One thing she mentioned is that because I don't have greys yet that we could get a cheaper developer but if I had greys we would have to get stronger stuff, because grey hair is color resistant. (I asked because in my head it seemed like covering my dark brown hair would have been harder then covering grey)

So I would try it once professionally and see if that lasts alot longer if so that is an option. Otherwise I would think the best way to do it to avoid that weird roots look would be to cut it shorter when you first go grey.

It's not the quality of the dye, it's how fast her hair grows. I get mine professionally colored and for it to really look good I would need it re-done every 10 days. That's when a white stripe starts again at the top of my head and temples. I hate it, and I don't keep up with it like I should, and the 3/4 grey 1/4 brown looks terrible, but I'm too cheap to do it more often.

I also started going grey in high school. (Actually it's more white..) We keep going a lighter and lighter brown but it is what it is. I don't even like the lighter color, and I know I'd hate the all white. The root touch up works very well, and I do use that between salon visits, but I still always look old.

 

[loves to dive]

I started turning grey as soon as my son was born, I was 23. I started dying my hair long before that, just liked different shades of red, my natural hair was a dark, dark, dark, brown (almost black) with natural red highlights. It didn't really matter what color the hairdresser used, it turned red so I went with red. I stopped dying it when I got pregnant, which was how I knew it started turning grey. As soon as my son was born and I stopped nursing, I started dying it again. I used to get it professionally done but frankly, that was only lasting 4 to 6 weeks and it was costing way too much so I started doing it myself. Actually, when my son got to around 10 he started helping me with the rinsing. Now my DH does it, every 4 to 6 weeks, I just buy whatever brand is on sale. I always get a medium golden brown, which turns red of course. I'm 13 years older than DH, he just turned 45 so do the math. He has a very light brown hair so his grey doesn't show (darn him). I can't imagine letting mine go natural, I know it is about 80% grey but it's a nasty grey since my natural color is so dark. When it needs dying and I have the grey in my part, then the natural dark brown peeks out and the bottom is red, my family calls it my bulldog hair (we are from Georgia and the UGA colors are red and black and occasionally they wear silver britches). I do all over color, just because DH says it's easier to him to do instead of trying to do the roots.

 

[Kitty 34]

When I was 52 I just decided instead of coloring my hair all the time I would just go gray. I'm so used to it now, it's fine for me.

 

[spacemountainmom]

I am 47 and have been coloring my hair since I was 17. I first started seeing grays when I was 26 and pregnant. The grays really started becoming very noticeable in my early 40's. I have it professionally colored every 2-3 months. My daughter will touch up my roots so I can push it a bit longer. My grays are mostly the pretty silver so I considered just letting it go a few months ago. Then, I got the lay off notice from my job. I went and had it colored again right before my first job interview. I didn't want to go in feeling that I looked older than I am.

It's been 10 weeks and it's starting to look a bit rough. I just was hired for a new job and think I will keep coloring for a while. I think I fight the gray thing since I am told that my skin is in fantastic condition for my age. I am afraid the gray will age me. DH hardly has any gray and I don't really care to look older than him either.

My mom is 71 and still "colors". She uses a semi-permanent rinse in the color of light ash blond. It pretty much just looks gray. My mil is 72 and colors frequently. She switches between medium brown and auburn. She says she will color her way into the afterlife.

 

[TLSnell1981]

Transition 2 Gray? NEVER!!

 

[shortbun]

I'm 61 and I still get highlights(3 colors) that blend with my gray/silver hair. I was/am a blonde so they use a darker color, a honey color and a platinum. They leave my silver temples and a shock on top of my head.

 

[Kathryn Merteuil]

I am still fighting it!

 

[ronandannette]

I started going grey at about 26/27... just for men is part of monthly routine now! At the end of almost every month, get a hair cut, dye my hair. There will be no going grey gracefully for me!

Excellent choice! DH used to have his "blended" too; not totally gone - the salon called it a "camo-colour". I really preferred it but then he missed a couple of months and the grey took over. He decided he couldn't go back to darker hair again because he didn't want anyone to know he had coloured it. The grey honestly ages him 10 years.

I tried that but my hair is naturally dark brown and the blonde was not good with my skin tone.

I tried to go lighter too, with lots of foils, in order to ease the harsh root line in my dark hair but I absolutely hated it on me. I'm back to dark, which is my natural colour, and touching up my roots at home again every 3 or 4 weeks. It's a big pain in the a$$ but at least I recognize myself in the mirror.

 

[lisaviolet]

DW is 58 and has shoulder length red hair. She has never colored it, and vows she never ever will. She only has a sprinkling of gray. All genetics. My MIL was 100% gray by age 50, my FIL had just a sprinkling when he passed away at age 75. DW seems to have inherited her dad's gray hair genes.

Redheads are blessed in this area, so unless one of her parents were red too it's not really about them. Redheads tend not to go grey in a traditional manner. They go lighter red ie. if deeper red go strawberry blonde etc. etc. and often still have colour in their hair late in life.

 

[lisaviolet]

Judith Light has some beautiful gray hair going. I think some of it's natural but I also think it's enhanced.

OT but good to know that it's beautiful now because she had the most awful colour ever in her hair for years on end. From One Life to Live to Who's the Boss.

 

[lisaviolet]

I tried that but my hair is naturally dark brown and the blonde was not good with my skin tone.

It probably wasn't the right tone of blond. And not about light or dark.

 

[minniecarousel]

I get my roots touched up at the salon every 4 weeks. And it really needs it by then! My mother eventually had such pretty silvery white hair, but she had to get through the "gray years" - very salt-n-pepper. I'm not willing to do that yet. I have very dark brown hair with a touch of red.

 

[kamik86]

It's not the quality of the dye, it's how fast her hair grows. I get mine professionally colored and for it to really look good I would need it re-done every 10 days. That's when a white stripe starts again at the top of my head and temples. I hate it, and I don't keep up with it like I should, and the 3/4 grey 1/4 brown looks terrible, but I'm too cheap to do it more often.

I also started going grey in high school. (Actually it's more white..) We keep going a lighter and lighter brown but it is what it is. I don't even like the lighter color, and I know I'd hate the all white. The root touch up works very well, and I do use that between salon visits, but I still always look old.

Wow my hair must grow really slowly then. I got mine done on May 23rd and I still can't see any roots. I have been looking because first sign I notice any I have to have my niece come and redo it....

 

[baldy6060]

I went through an ugly divorce, an even uglier post-divorce, I have custody of our 2 kids, they are teens, the oldest is a girl, biologically she is not mine, as she gets older she likes to remind me... How did I transition to grey hair? Reluctantly.