I'm 37, dark brown hair. I'm just starting to get a stray strand here and there. For now I'm plucking them out, but will def, start coloring if it gets worse. Though, my mom, who is 65, has the same hair color as me and honestly doesn't have much gray even at her age. So maybe I'll be lucky!

I regularly color in my 40s. I have curly, thick, sometimes frizzy hair and don't wear much make-up. Gray hair would age me, but I also think I would have to put a lot more time into hair and make-up to compensate.

I've been coloring since my 30s and I am only 45 now. I have no interest in going grey anytime soon. It's SO aging with my fair skin.

My naturally dark brown hair started going gray in my 20s and I'm now 52. I dealt with coloring until the pandemic and then decided to grow it out after seeing colleagues do the same. It definitely is aging but it also makes my life easier and I have gotten compliments on the color, it's kind of a salt-and-pepper with chunky highlights of the lighter gray. I do feel more pressure to "do" my hair every day. It's in a pretty short cut right now but I'm considering growing it out longer.

My mom started graying in her 30s, is now 80 and never colored her hair after one disastrous attempt at a home color in her 30s

Anonymous wrote:I'm in my fifties and don't have any visible grey hair. Am I supposed to start coloring it grey so I don't look ridiculous?

NP here who is gray and 40s. I think that was one poster who may have said that. Likely a little wet behind the ears. There are no rules. Do what you like especially if you are not getting many grays yet.

I looked ridiculous dying my hair even in my 40’s. I prematurely grayed in my twenties and it was a losing battle. I probably should’ve gone blonde and then transitioned to gray. I didn’t think I’d look good with fair hair but turns out, I do.

Anonymous wrote:I'm in my fifties and don't have any visible grey hair. Am I supposed to start coloring it grey so I don't look ridiculous?

Do you have invisible grey hair?

Anonymous wrote:My mom is 79 and she stills colors her hair because she looks better with her hair colored. When she does not color her hair she looks sick and really pathetic old woman.

I think I will continue to color my hair because I like how I look, and my family also sees me as more alive. My kids and husband would hate to see me like a very old woman.

I would love to stop coloring my hair, but I think grey hair will make me look instantly old and crazy. My hair is thick, healthy and about 10" long but I think I would have to cut it off to go grey and still look sane.

Early 50's, naturally dark brunette. I go to the salon every 4 weeks and plan to continue for the foreseeable future. I will eventually start going a shade lighter as I get older, but no plans to go gray.

52 and no gray yet. I have dark brown hair and I guess people would assume I color it. It's weird that previous post say I look ridiculous because in my 50's by natural color is not gray

I'm in my fifties and don't have any visible grey hair. Am I supposed to start coloring it grey so I don't look ridiculous?

Anonymous wrote:There are no rules. People should do what they want to.

This

I’ll never stop coloring my hair.

Anonymous wrote:
1. It really depends on how you wear it. I know youthful thin 40 year olds who have a gray-blonde mix or dark hair with a gray streak, and they look amazing. But for most us, I think it not "acceptable" under 50.

2. If she's retired, it's more normal to go gray. There are real perception issues at work that would prevent me from going gray until then. My mom is in her 70s and still dyes it though, and I think she looks okay.

I take offense. I am 40 and wear my hair natural. My first gray popped up at 27 due to stress. I have a few stands of white maybe 5 around my crown and 1 white hair I had since birth. Explain that?

Gray did not wash me out but brightened my face. It worked for me. I’m late 40’s with barely a wrinkle. Maybe I’ll feel differently when my skin catches up to my hair color. Right now, I love my silver and am surprised by the confidence it gives me.

Anonymous wrote:Going gray gracefully is becoming the more modern approach - some day we will look back and wonder why we went to all this trouble to look younger…I’d just do it now and you will be ahead of the times and showing peers (and your kids) that it’s ok not to play the game of trying to look unchanged as years go by!

+1. The pandemic accelerated this change and I see so many women in their 40s letting their hair be what it is. I interviewed and got a job with my black and white hair mixture.

For your second question, I think women with colored hair in the mid 50s and beyond look ridiculous.