Seriously considering going gray

[Anonymous]

I am tired of coloring my roots every 2 weeks. I am seriously considering going gray. I am in my 50’s, no to little wrinkles and I don’t want to look older.

[Anonymous]

You will look older

[Anonymous]

As a woman who is gray in her 40’s I can assure you that going gray will make you look older. It just will, because people aren’t used to seeing young-middle-aged women with gray hair. I have found that it is worth it - I would rather look a little older but not deal with dye, and just sort of own my age. I’m 48 and I have a full head of gray hair. Love it or lump it, world.

[Anonymous]

If you want to go gray, you totally should, but there's almost no way it won't make you look older. Frankly, it's why I didn't go gray, despite the opportunity presented by the pandemic.

[Anonymous]

I tried during the pandemic. I went 11 months without coloring. I'm 45 and dark brunette, with about 10-15% gray. My gray is randomly interspersed throughout my hair, no concentrated streak or pronounced pattern.I just looked lame and kind of washed out. After my experience, I think I need to have a striking pattern or stronger gray-brunette ratio to pull of this look. I just looked mousy and unkempt, not even a little cool or edgy as I had hoped. Good luck to you!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I tried during the pandemic. I went 11 months without coloring. I'm 45 and dark brunette, with about 10-15% gray. My gray is randomly interspersed throughout my hair, no concentrated streak or pronounced pattern.I just looked lame and kind of washed out. After my experience, I think I need to have a striking pattern or stronger gray-brunette ratio to pull of this look. I just looked mousy and unkempt, not even a little cool or edgy as I had hoped. Good luck to you!

Same experience. The problem is that when your hair is just gray here and there, it winds up just making your hair look faded and dull. I tried doing clear glosses but it didn't help -- the problem is that the gray makes my hair look kind of dishwater. I've gone back to coloring it and might try again in a few years, depending on how I feel about it and how much more gray I am.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I tried during the pandemic. I went 11 months without coloring. I'm 45 and dark brunette, with about 10-15% gray. My gray is randomly interspersed throughout my hair, no concentrated streak or pronounced pattern.I just looked lame and kind of washed out. After my experience, I think I need to have a striking pattern or stronger gray-brunette ratio to pull of this look. I just looked mousy and unkempt, not even a little cool or edgy as I had hoped. Good luck to you!

Same experience. The problem is that when your hair is just gray here and there, it winds up just making your hair look faded and dull. I tried doing clear glosses but it didn't help -- the problem is that the gray makes my hair look kind of dishwater. I've gone back to coloring it and might try again in a few years, depending on how I feel about it and how much more gray I am.

This. I'm actually about 80 percent gray, and it's a nice white gray (not at all yellow), but it just looks like crap. If I were 100 percent gray, I might feel differently -- that can actually look kind of sharp and cool. Anything that can be described as "salt and pepper," however, does not. It just looks dull and dingy. Pure white would be less aging, I think.

[Anonymous]

I have gray hair and love how un-bullshit it is.

I care about and put effort into things that make me look younger and are actually good for my body/health, like taking good care of my skin and exercising. But dyeing my hair would serve no long-term or genuine purpose, only a superficial purpose, so it's not worth it to me.

That said, if my job required projecting a certain image, or if I were single/dating rather than happily married, maybe I would reconsider.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I tried during the pandemic. I went 11 months without coloring. I'm 45 and dark brunette, with about 10-15% gray. My gray is randomly interspersed throughout my hair, no concentrated streak or pronounced pattern.I just looked lame and kind of washed out. After my experience, I think I need to have a striking pattern or stronger gray-brunette ratio to pull of this look. I just looked mousy and unkempt, not even a little cool or edgy as I had hoped. Good luck to you!

Same experience. The problem is that when your hair is just gray here and there, it winds up just making your hair look faded and dull. I tried doing clear glosses but it didn't help -- the problem is that the gray makes my hair look kind of dishwater. I've gone back to coloring it and might try again in a few years, depending on how I feel about it and how much more gray I am.

Same here - I let my hair grow out to natural before the pandemic but a few months into the pandemic colored it at home and have just gone back to salon coloring at a local beauty school.

I have a little shock on the top of my head and then the rest of my head is around 30-40% gray. It’s a pretty silvery gray which I think will look nice one day when it’s all gray, but mixed with my medium brunette it just looks mousy and lackluster/dishwater. It did nothing to lift my spirits so back to color for me - with the bonus that the gray makes for built in ‘free’ highlights.

Your mileage may vary.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am tired of coloring my roots every 2 weeks. I am seriously considering going gray. I am in my 50’s, no to little wrinkles and I don’t want to look older.

You will look vibrantly healthy, and people will think you would look younger if you just dyed your hair. But with dyed hair, people often look younger but sickly.
~55 y.o. who went gray about 7 years ago and it's awesome

[Anonymous]

I can kick myself for not taking advantage of the pandemic to let my hair grow out. I m not going to blend or bleach it as my friend tried that damaged her hair.

[Anonymous]

Consider going white/silver vs grey, and get an awesome cut.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Consider going white/silver vs grey, and get an awesome cut.

I assumed she was just going to go the grey color that was growing out of her specific follicles.

OP I’m 40 and thought I only had strands in my reddish dark-brunette hair, but on closer examination I realized that the entire front of my hair is a deep charcoal color, for lack of a better word, with the white (or grey or whatever they are) strands. I’m just going to ride it. I don’t think dyed hair looks that great for all the time and money women spend on it, and then there’s always that invisible line a person crosses where you’re so old that your deeply colored hair looks absolutely silly.

[Anonymous]

I tried going gray over pandemic but didn't like it. Now I am blond. I wasn't sure about it at first but after some months now I like it. My hairdersser bleached the dyed brown ends of my hair and dyed the gray part with permanent toner. Now the bleached part is almost grown out and I can do my own roots at home with the permanent toner plus developer.

Since my natural hair is a mix of mostly white with gray and brown streaks, the blond color comes out mulidimensional. It lifts the darker parts one level.

When I was brunette, I had to do my white roots every 3 weeks and I was totally sick of it and it didn't even look good anymore. Now with blond, my roots don't show up as stark, and I can go longer between coloring.

[Anonymous]

I began to gray last year and started following a YouTube channel, Welcome to My Curls, tips about graying, products, and embracing it. I recommend it!