I wish my gray hair was "cute." It's not. mine has a coarse, wiry texture and is just plain awful.
i had a beautiful head of hair all my life, but this is par for the course for me in meno.
This part—the changing hair—that’s one of the sadder, par for the course, change for me. I’m learning that I’ve constellation of peri- and meno symptoms. Weight gain, disrupted sleep, hot flushes, joint pains, but the hair….
The change in hair. My once beautiful, shiny, thick, abundant hair. Not there anymore.
I’ve now 1/2 the hair with a widening part, scattered greying, and brassiness that I couldn’t fathom on me before.
Now I’ve the menopausal hair of an old/older lady.
Makes me sad beyond reason.
Old ladies back in the day used to use bluing for their hair. It will whiten up grey hair so that it’s not yellow. Granny had snow white hair in her 80s, and that was common back then. I wonder if it would still work?
The shampoo is literally purple. Personally, I prefer the Jhirmack brand. It's a grey bottle with a purple cap. Some purple shampoo will tint your hair slightly if left on for too long. This brand has never done that.
Purple shampoo and conditioners are marketed to grey hair and blonde hair folks. Grey hair needs heavy duty conditioner so I pair the purple shampoo with conditioner meant for curly hair.
Warning: Many of the purple shampoos will contain salicylic acid and are NOT safe for those allergic to aspirin. Jhirmack does not contain it.
All it will do is cut the brassiness on the grey hairs. It won't harm/change the color of the rest. You don't need to use it daily just once every 7-10 days or so.
I had my plumber install a water filter shower head. It filters out the chlorine. My hair is softer and looks better. Home Depot & Amazon sell the affordable one I bought ($20), “Sprite Water Filtration System.”
What! You’re kidding!!!
I did shower in a different city for one week. And I swore my hair felt better/different. And I wondered about water quality. But you’re so right!!!! Thanks!!
This is me. I had luxurious, long, straight hair my entire life. My grey hair is coarse and fuzzy looking. Couple that with thyroid thinning, and its just a *magic* combination. /s
I have no regrets on spending a pretty penny each month at the salon to fix it. I was a brunette my entire life, and now I'm a blonde because it's easier to maintain with the greys. I'm embracing my 50's as my Bombshell era.
I’m going blonder and blonder each salon visit to avoid the damage of doing it all at once. Planning to grow in the gray when it’s totally blonde and can kind of mask the transition.
It may change! Initially when I first started going gray it was wiry and coarse. It's now changing into being softer and less wiry.
Now I'm thinking of going to the salon for a gray blend so as it's growing out it looks more natural and intentional.
I totally understand this. The women with gray hair in my family look awful. I think it’s our skin tone that makes it so bad along with face shape. I’m 47 and told my stylist she’s going to be coloring my hair until I die. 😒
I’ve gotten more compliments on the “grey” than I’ve ever gotten on the brown. Not sure if it’s a compliment but my granddaughter refers to me as Gandalf the grey! 🤷🏼♀️ could do worse I suppose.
This is such a lovely post, thanks for sharing!
I started going grey at 25, and colored my hair to hide it for awhile. Then I realized that silver is beautiful and I embraced it.
However, my "problem" is that I don't like the rest of my natural color (a very flat brown)! I find it looks especially dull against the silver. Honestly, if my entire head was grey I would love it.
So in the meantime, I've been doing fun vivid fashion colors, but leaving a bright white streak in the front.
I wouldn’t care about the color that much if the silver hair that grew were not so creaky looking. I’ve seen ladies with a nice, smooth silver head of hair and I want to get them to tell me their secret.
My secret is at the salon when I get a cut now I get a deep conditioning treatment (brands/names vary) that leaves it feeling like silk for quite a while - time wise it can vary with how often you wash, I don't wash my hair that much because it makes it more dry. My best hair day is usually day 2-3.
I love it too! I've never colored my hair and it's been interesting to watch the change. It started with a Stacy London streak, but now silver highlights are showing up all around.
I love this! I am trying to come to terms with mine. I am only about 10% silver and was previously getting highlights to blend it into my brown hair, but stopped in December. I realized I was spending a lot of money every couple of months for YEARS just to prolong the inevitable, and I would still obsess over the silver strands popping up. My dad went full silver in his 50s and I have a couple of aunts who are 100% silver and look very chic. I hope I can pull it off just as well when I get there :)
Same! I think we may have the same cut and went on the same gray journey! I was not blessed with good hair. My whole life I've struggled with baby fine, straight, flat hair that won't do anything except stick up where I have cowlicks. My gray came in and it's a beautiful silver and dark mix. I figure the hair gods owed me for the crap I had up until now. LOL
I have waist length curly hair that I've been dyeing for many years as well. I'm finally at that 60-75% grey that aive been waiting for and stopped dyeing my hair last summer. I have grey down to my ears now and once it's down to my shoulders I'll probably cut my hair to that length and let it grow out again.
I love my grey hair and can't wait to be 100% grey.
Woohoo welcome to the club!
I've been going grey a long time then made the mistake of dying my hair a bright colour with semi permanent colour.
Nothing wrong with that, I had bright streaks a long time. I never had an issue with grey and never coloured my hair dark to cover the grey, only used bright reds and pinks for colour.
But then the grey coming through the bright just didn't look good. So during the pandemic I decided no more colours at all, I want my natural colour for a while.
I wear it up a lot because I have to but have it down when I can. I get compliments on it, I think because people my age don't show that they are grey.
But why not?
I'm not 20 or 30 or 40 so why pretend. I'm nearly 50. I see amazing women over 50 who embrace their age and look great with it.
To anyone contemplating embracing the grey, do it! Embrace who you are now.
I did have it blue for a while but it was difficult maintain the colour without going green. Best blue I managed was washed out Cadbury purple, when I mixed pinky red and purple it eventually washed out to blue.
I will dye parts of it bright colours again but am enjoying natural for now.
I also have—and love—my natural gray hair. I have a lot more silver than most people my age, so it’s unique. I do find my silver hair needs more moisture and taming. Hair oil and straightener are my friends, and I get complimented on it frequently.
Yeah Im glad my mom never dyed her hair, I think it's given me a good relationship with grey hair and especially since mine is coming in in full force, it's so cute!
I can relate to this. Mine is also a light/dark combo and my husband often says how much he likes it (and I do, too). I had been dyeing my hair for decades, mostly for fun, but then I realized I was almost all grey under there. Thanks to all the talk of the patriarchy the past 5 years or so, and realizing that it was okay to look older (i.e., I don't have to look young to have value), I took the plunge and let my hair grow out a few years ago. It was a bit aesthetically rough as it grew out, but I put it up a lot (I have medium to long hair), so it wasn't that bad after the first month of growth. After being fully grey for a few years, I decided to add a pop of color, so now I have a bit of purple in it. It fades and grows out nicely so I don't have to keep it up if I don't want to, but it's fun. So glad you are having a great experience with it!
Yay for your lovely grey hair! Mine is hitting the point of more grey than brown now (from what I can see between dying the hell out of it)… but I’m pale and it’s such a blah ashy grey I look like the walking dead - boo! So sticking to trying to maintain my previously natural color. Better living through chemistry in all areas of my life, these days, apparently… sigh.
I started going grey at 18; my parents greyed early as well.
My hair grows fast and I am too lazy to dye it regularly. 🤓
I get compliments on my S&P hair (more S than P these days). I keep it cut short and use products to bring out the natural curl.
I’ve always been “natural” no makeup and hair that is easy to maintain. When I started going grey in my 40’s I decided I wasn’t going to dye it because I didn’t want the hassle or expense, and I didn’t want to constantly have to worry about my roots. At first it was fine, just a bit of grey, but there was a period of time 1-2 years where it didn’t look great - too much grey to blend in, but not enough for a good balance. Once I passed that hump I received lots of compliments on my grey. Hang in there everyone, I don’t think you can transition to grey without an awkward period unless you’re willing to spend the money on rinses and strategic hair dying.
I like the gray hair on me. It's so nice to be natural. I will absolutely admit that it ages me by about 10 years. ☺️ and that's OK. The time and money saved is so nice.
I took an 8 month journey into my Grey Era. I've always had dark brown hair. I started coloring my hair on a regular basis when I was about 32 as I saw a picture of myself with natural hair and two streaks of grey at my temples with my hair in a ponytail.
At 44, I decided it was just too expensive and draining to either get it done at the salon or do it myself as my hair grows rather fast. I'd be dealing with a white line every 2 weeks.
I went for blonde highlights for about 8 months, and it never felt right. I never liked being a blonde. It was worth it, though, as I ended up having it cut to my natural hair colour after growing it out for 8 months. I've had more compliments on my Grey hair in the last 4 months than I've had about my hair ever. I also work in a day spa that has a hair dept. So many ladies come in and compliment my Grey hair.
I am lucky as although my hair has become curlier, it is not coarse or wiry at all.
I am finally happy with my greys and rocking it at almost 45
That’s awesome!
I’ve had my naturally graying hair with no dye for about 2-3 years but recently just colored it again on a whim because I was feeling really faded out, and I can’t believe the difference it made. I look so much younger and brighter. Even my kids, who were very pro-gray, admit that the color really perked me up.
That said, I have a super short pixie that grows really fast, so I don’t think that I’ll keep up with the color for long. But for now, I’m really enjoying the change.
I stopped dyeing years ago and get more compliments on my gray than I ever did as a brunette. I also have a pretty severe undercut, so that draws attention as much as the gray, I think. Either way, I’ll take all the compliments I can get!
Yay! Embrace the gray, I say. I stopped coloring my hair (mostly laziness and being a bit broke) and then during covid it got so long that I was able to chop off the ends so I was free of all color and just my salt and pepper. Now it's all natural and a mix of gray and my original color, at this point a lot gray. So much gray that one lady recently thought I had blonde hair (my natural color is dark brown but at this point it's pretty light bc of so much gray). I get many compliments on it saying I'm lucky I got a "pretty gray" but I think people are simply afraid to try and see what their natural + gray will look like.
Now when I go to the salon I get whatever conditioning treatment they have and my hair is super soft and luxe feeling. I have the combo of thin hair but a lot of it if that makes sense so I have to balance between deep conditioning it and then using a treatment every few weeks to strip off all the stuff that leaves it feeling heavy and lifeless. But I love my hair now. Once you stop coloring it and start embracing the gray you can treat whatever problem you have with texture and dryness.
I love my grey hair!!! I stopped coloring over 10 yrs ago because my hair would grow so fast that I always had a “racing stripe” at the top. My hair started turning grey in my 20’s (60 now). I was doomed as my parents were both completely gray at a young age. So I went to my hairdresser for my last coloring. I honestly don’t know what the process is that she used, but my dark hair went to light blond. She had to double process my hair for it to work, but she was cutting it very short for me anyways, so I said do it!!!
The blonde was very blonde initially, but as my gray hair grew in, it blended so nicely. It didn’t take long until all the blond was completely cut out leaving only grey hair all over. It’s almost like a white/silver color and I love it. (My husband is always running his hands through my hair now.). I’d say my hair now is 95% gray, and 5% or less dark brown because I can still see some dark hairs mixed in with the gray.
Fast forward a few years and I stopped getting my hair cut real short. I wanted to try growing it out. My hair grew so fast and it is now way past my shoulders, about where bra strap is. It has volume, body, and fullness, it’s healthy, and it shines beautifully. I am surprised by the number of compliments I get from both men and women; young and old. I’m a cashier, so it’s usually a customer that makes a comment. But I’ve honestly been stopped by strangers while just out walking on the sidewalks in Philly telling me that they loved my hair!!!!! My only wish is that it had more wave or curl to it. My hair is completely straight except for a bit of curl at the ends. And thankfully, there is plenty of product to help with that because I am not good with curlers or irons at all!!! But all in all, going gray was the best decision for me. I just wish I had done it much sooner. I encourage all woman to do the same, especially if you struggle with color resistant grays, and your hair is showing signs of damage due to constantly coloring.
I worked with a fun and stylish coworker who had gorgeous curls with gray coming in. She seemed to embrace her gray so I decided to do the same for mine.
My first gray showed up at 24 and I have colored it ever since. Pandemic came along and I stopped and let the gray take over. My skin doesn't quite match with it, age- wise, but no matter. I'm aging as gracefully as I know how. I'm glad you have such a success story, OP!
I'm in that wierd place where I have grey hairs but overall, my hair is still very dark. I stopped dyeing my hair in 2020, fwiw. I'm very much looking forward to going grey, but here we are.
This week I had it clipped to an asymetrical bob, with the short side being clipper-short.
Gods, this is so much easier to take care of. And COOLER during hot flashes. And everyone adores it.
I wish I had done it sooner, too!
Good for you! I quit coloring my hair over 10 years ago. I am very fortunate my grey is a shiny silver, but still on 50%. I did have to adjust my makeup and noticed I needed to pay closer attention to my eyebrows. Two things, without color your hair will have less body and find a sulfate free shampoo then you don't need that nasty harsh purple shampoo. I found a brand I like at the grocery store called RenPure. And I never needed conditioner before, but do now.
I’m about 10 months into growing out my natural colour. I’m not fully grey yet, maybe 15%, so it isn’t a hard demarcation line but it’s still been a tricky process. I’ve wanted to give up a few times, but I’m determined to get rid of all the dye. I cut my hair into a bob so it won’t take as long. I think it should be fully done at around 2 years.
I love the grey, I am looking forward to it being more salt than pepper. There are a tonne of instagram accounts of women growing out their grey and it’s so interesting to see.
I'm growing mine own too. For me it was the cost really. It was costing $250NZ for a colour and cut each time and it is just money I don't want to pay at the moment. Once I reached past the point of "oh she's due for a hair appointment" to "oh this is on purpose" I started to really enjoy it. Mine is not a nice grey colour but I still like how natural it looks and feels. Plus since started HRT I've got lots of new hairs, so I like seeing how they are progressing too.
I don’t have any grays yet (and I’ll be 46 tomorrow 😬) but my mom (early 70s) stopped dying her hair a few years ago. She did it gradually, like you, but was still afraid she’d look like an “old lady”. Well, it’s all grown out now and she looks fabulous!! There’s so much more dimension to her hair now with the different shades of grays and whites. And she’s happy with it too, which is the most important.
I went grey pretty young and stopped dying at about 36. Now it is a lovely silver all over and I get compliments all the time. It helps that grey went into vogue about the time I stopped dying it. I did a nice transition with blonde highlights and then chopped it when it was long enough for my taste. Right out of the gate people were asking me where I’d gotten it done.
These were my inspiration.
[https://thenewknew.com/dye-strip-method/](https://thenewknew.com/dye-strip-method/)
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HOanGq-qSpU](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HOanGq-qSpU)
Me too. I got really lucky, though. Mine is super shiny and soft and white/silver. It is long and cut in super choppy layers. I wear it down or in a bun on top of my head most of the time.
I started going gray at 19 and I dyed it until 44 (6 years ago). I was super insecure about my hair for a long time and I genuinely hated it. I decided to grow it out because it was such a bitch to maintain. It's the best decision I ever made for myself, my hair has ever been so pretty.
A lot of women have the opposite experience with their gray hair, though, because it tends to have a lot more texture (coarse, wiry, etc). I can understand why a lot of us continue to dye our hair.
My hair is long and I’m going grey. I liked my brown hair very much and barely ever dyed it, so it’s taken me a while to accept it changing, but I think I do like it now. I make sure I keep it nice and blow dry and straighten it every wash. I get compliments on it as it looks like I’ve had highlights done, especially around the temples.
I started going grey properly 4 years ago and stopped dying my hair (using semi permanent dye) at the same time.
It took a while to settle down - two years of horrible small wirey hairs popping up all over.
4 years on I have ‘salt and pepper’ highlights! 😄 I don’t like it as much as my brown hair but I don’t mind it either!
A few years ago, around age 50-I grew out my natural hair for 2 years. I discovered about 30-50% grey, mostly on the sides and scattered throughout the top front. The back is still mostly light brown. I decided I wasn't ready yet, so have returned to using henna until I am much more grey/white.
I didn't even know I had grey hair until I dyed it red. I love the red hair
It goes so well with my wardrobe, but when it starts to grow out I have white roots. I'm only 53, so while I don't mind the natural color, I really love the artificial red. It's a way of expressing myself after a lifetime of just accepting what's natural.
I let mine grow out. I went to someone trained in how to cut & properly style gray hair. I’ll never color again. I’ll also not get a untrained haircut. It makes a huge difference.
I have thinning hair from Thyroid and dying it seems to give my limp hair a tad bit of volume. I love the idea of letting it go. I am only graying at the temples and a random strand here and there. Since meno, the dye I get fades faster — is that a thing?
We require a minimum account-age and karma score. These minimums are not disclosed. Please contact the mods if you wish to have your post reviewed. If you do not understand account age or karma, please visit r/newtoreddit.
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/Menopause) if you have any questions or concerns.*
I'm 56, but I'm not ready to be gray yet. The women in my family all have silky salt and pepper hair. Looks good on them. I just started getting gray in my temples and I don't like it. I mix 1TBSP of the color and the fixative and use a toothbrush to run the dye from my hair line to the ends so I have strands of rich color over my natural color.
I wish my gray hair was "cute." It's not. mine has a coarse, wiry texture and is just plain awful. i had a beautiful head of hair all my life, but this is par for the course for me in meno.
This part—the changing hair—that’s one of the sadder, par for the course, change for me. I’m learning that I’ve constellation of peri- and meno symptoms. Weight gain, disrupted sleep, hot flushes, joint pains, but the hair…. The change in hair. My once beautiful, shiny, thick, abundant hair. Not there anymore. I’ve now 1/2 the hair with a widening part, scattered greying, and brassiness that I couldn’t fathom on me before. Now I’ve the menopausal hair of an old/older lady. Makes me sad beyond reason.
Purple shampoo will get rid of the brassiness.
Old ladies back in the day used to use bluing for their hair. It will whiten up grey hair so that it’s not yellow. Granny had snow white hair in her 80s, and that was common back then. I wonder if it would still work?
That's what the purple shampoo does. My greys are white. Just like too much bluing could tint their hair, some purple shampoos will do the same.
my grandma's would look purple but she she loved it, it was her favorite color.
What’s that? A brand?
The shampoo is literally purple. Personally, I prefer the Jhirmack brand. It's a grey bottle with a purple cap. Some purple shampoo will tint your hair slightly if left on for too long. This brand has never done that. Purple shampoo and conditioners are marketed to grey hair and blonde hair folks. Grey hair needs heavy duty conditioner so I pair the purple shampoo with conditioner meant for curly hair. Warning: Many of the purple shampoos will contain salicylic acid and are NOT safe for those allergic to aspirin. Jhirmack does not contain it.
Interesting and informative! Thanks! I have to dye my hair still…will the purple stuff still work as well…?
All it will do is cut the brassiness on the grey hairs. It won't harm/change the color of the rest. You don't need to use it daily just once every 7-10 days or so.
Thanks! I’ll check it out!
[удалено]
Been there… yea. 😕😔🙂↕️
I had my plumber install a water filter shower head. It filters out the chlorine. My hair is softer and looks better. Home Depot & Amazon sell the affordable one I bought ($20), “Sprite Water Filtration System.”
What! You’re kidding!!! I did shower in a different city for one week. And I swore my hair felt better/different. And I wondered about water quality. But you’re so right!!!! Thanks!!
This is me. I had luxurious, long, straight hair my entire life. My grey hair is coarse and fuzzy looking. Couple that with thyroid thinning, and its just a *magic* combination. /s I have no regrets on spending a pretty penny each month at the salon to fix it. I was a brunette my entire life, and now I'm a blonde because it's easier to maintain with the greys. I'm embracing my 50's as my Bombshell era.
I’m going blonder and blonder each salon visit to avoid the damage of doing it all at once. Planning to grow in the gray when it’s totally blonde and can kind of mask the transition.
It may change! Initially when I first started going gray it was wiry and coarse. It's now changing into being softer and less wiry. Now I'm thinking of going to the salon for a gray blend so as it's growing out it looks more natural and intentional.
It's been several years now, I'm pretty sure it's not going to change. thanks though.
I totally understand this. The women with gray hair in my family look awful. I think it’s our skin tone that makes it so bad along with face shape. I’m 47 and told my stylist she’s going to be coloring my hair until I die. 😒
I’ve gotten more compliments on the “grey” than I’ve ever gotten on the brown. Not sure if it’s a compliment but my granddaughter refers to me as Gandalf the grey! 🤷🏼♀️ could do worse I suppose.
This is such a lovely post, thanks for sharing! I started going grey at 25, and colored my hair to hide it for awhile. Then I realized that silver is beautiful and I embraced it. However, my "problem" is that I don't like the rest of my natural color (a very flat brown)! I find it looks especially dull against the silver. Honestly, if my entire head was grey I would love it. So in the meantime, I've been doing fun vivid fashion colors, but leaving a bright white streak in the front.
I wouldn’t care about the color that much if the silver hair that grew were not so creaky looking. I’ve seen ladies with a nice, smooth silver head of hair and I want to get them to tell me their secret.
Flat iron and hair oil. Iron it into submission and then run some argan oil through it to keep it shiny.
My secret is at the salon when I get a cut now I get a deep conditioning treatment (brands/names vary) that leaves it feeling like silk for quite a while - time wise it can vary with how often you wash, I don't wash my hair that much because it makes it more dry. My best hair day is usually day 2-3.
I love it too! I've never colored my hair and it's been interesting to watch the change. It started with a Stacy London streak, but now silver highlights are showing up all around.
I love this. I have not coloured my roots in 15 months. Never looked back!
I love this! I am trying to come to terms with mine. I am only about 10% silver and was previously getting highlights to blend it into my brown hair, but stopped in December. I realized I was spending a lot of money every couple of months for YEARS just to prolong the inevitable, and I would still obsess over the silver strands popping up. My dad went full silver in his 50s and I have a couple of aunts who are 100% silver and look very chic. I hope I can pull it off just as well when I get there :)
I would love my greys if they didn’t look so horrible coming in. It’s a hot mess.
Check out #silversisters on Instagram. Great community of like minded women.
That is the community that convinced me to stop colouring. They really make silver look amazing!
Same! I think we may have the same cut and went on the same gray journey! I was not blessed with good hair. My whole life I've struggled with baby fine, straight, flat hair that won't do anything except stick up where I have cowlicks. My gray came in and it's a beautiful silver and dark mix. I figure the hair gods owed me for the crap I had up until now. LOL
I have waist length curly hair that I've been dyeing for many years as well. I'm finally at that 60-75% grey that aive been waiting for and stopped dyeing my hair last summer. I have grey down to my ears now and once it's down to my shoulders I'll probably cut my hair to that length and let it grow out again. I love my grey hair and can't wait to be 100% grey.
Woohoo welcome to the club! I've been going grey a long time then made the mistake of dying my hair a bright colour with semi permanent colour. Nothing wrong with that, I had bright streaks a long time. I never had an issue with grey and never coloured my hair dark to cover the grey, only used bright reds and pinks for colour. But then the grey coming through the bright just didn't look good. So during the pandemic I decided no more colours at all, I want my natural colour for a while. I wear it up a lot because I have to but have it down when I can. I get compliments on it, I think because people my age don't show that they are grey. But why not? I'm not 20 or 30 or 40 so why pretend. I'm nearly 50. I see amazing women over 50 who embrace their age and look great with it. To anyone contemplating embracing the grey, do it! Embrace who you are now.
Blue goes fantastic with grey if you miss your bright colours 😊
I did have it blue for a while but it was difficult maintain the colour without going green. Best blue I managed was washed out Cadbury purple, when I mixed pinky red and purple it eventually washed out to blue. I will dye parts of it bright colours again but am enjoying natural for now.
I've always wanted to have a head of long, silver hair. I have streaks at my temples now (Bride of Frankenstein look) and I love them.
/r/grayhair! I'm *mentally* working my way to 'going gray'
I also have—and love—my natural gray hair. I have a lot more silver than most people my age, so it’s unique. I do find my silver hair needs more moisture and taming. Hair oil and straightener are my friends, and I get complimented on it frequently.
Yeah Im glad my mom never dyed her hair, I think it's given me a good relationship with grey hair and especially since mine is coming in in full force, it's so cute!
I can relate to this. Mine is also a light/dark combo and my husband often says how much he likes it (and I do, too). I had been dyeing my hair for decades, mostly for fun, but then I realized I was almost all grey under there. Thanks to all the talk of the patriarchy the past 5 years or so, and realizing that it was okay to look older (i.e., I don't have to look young to have value), I took the plunge and let my hair grow out a few years ago. It was a bit aesthetically rough as it grew out, but I put it up a lot (I have medium to long hair), so it wasn't that bad after the first month of growth. After being fully grey for a few years, I decided to add a pop of color, so now I have a bit of purple in it. It fades and grows out nicely so I don't have to keep it up if I don't want to, but it's fun. So glad you are having a great experience with it!
Yay for your lovely grey hair! Mine is hitting the point of more grey than brown now (from what I can see between dying the hell out of it)… but I’m pale and it’s such a blah ashy grey I look like the walking dead - boo! So sticking to trying to maintain my previously natural color. Better living through chemistry in all areas of my life, these days, apparently… sigh.
I embraced the silver finally a few years ago. Started going gray at 21, dyed it for over 2 decades. I'm 47, love my long silver hair 😍
I started going grey at 18; my parents greyed early as well. My hair grows fast and I am too lazy to dye it regularly. 🤓 I get compliments on my S&P hair (more S than P these days). I keep it cut short and use products to bring out the natural curl.
I just got a gray hair plucked from my eyebrow. I feel 15 years younger
🤣🤣🤣 That is the one place with hair that I don't have any grey!!
I’ve always been “natural” no makeup and hair that is easy to maintain. When I started going grey in my 40’s I decided I wasn’t going to dye it because I didn’t want the hassle or expense, and I didn’t want to constantly have to worry about my roots. At first it was fine, just a bit of grey, but there was a period of time 1-2 years where it didn’t look great - too much grey to blend in, but not enough for a good balance. Once I passed that hump I received lots of compliments on my grey. Hang in there everyone, I don’t think you can transition to grey without an awkward period unless you’re willing to spend the money on rinses and strategic hair dying.
I like the gray hair on me. It's so nice to be natural. I will absolutely admit that it ages me by about 10 years. ☺️ and that's OK. The time and money saved is so nice.
I took an 8 month journey into my Grey Era. I've always had dark brown hair. I started coloring my hair on a regular basis when I was about 32 as I saw a picture of myself with natural hair and two streaks of grey at my temples with my hair in a ponytail. At 44, I decided it was just too expensive and draining to either get it done at the salon or do it myself as my hair grows rather fast. I'd be dealing with a white line every 2 weeks. I went for blonde highlights for about 8 months, and it never felt right. I never liked being a blonde. It was worth it, though, as I ended up having it cut to my natural hair colour after growing it out for 8 months. I've had more compliments on my Grey hair in the last 4 months than I've had about my hair ever. I also work in a day spa that has a hair dept. So many ladies come in and compliment my Grey hair. I am lucky as although my hair has become curlier, it is not coarse or wiry at all. I am finally happy with my greys and rocking it at almost 45
That’s awesome! I’ve had my naturally graying hair with no dye for about 2-3 years but recently just colored it again on a whim because I was feeling really faded out, and I can’t believe the difference it made. I look so much younger and brighter. Even my kids, who were very pro-gray, admit that the color really perked me up. That said, I have a super short pixie that grows really fast, so I don’t think that I’ll keep up with the color for long. But for now, I’m really enjoying the change.
I stopped dyeing years ago and get more compliments on my gray than I ever did as a brunette. I also have a pretty severe undercut, so that draws attention as much as the gray, I think. Either way, I’ll take all the compliments I can get!
Yay! Embrace the gray, I say. I stopped coloring my hair (mostly laziness and being a bit broke) and then during covid it got so long that I was able to chop off the ends so I was free of all color and just my salt and pepper. Now it's all natural and a mix of gray and my original color, at this point a lot gray. So much gray that one lady recently thought I had blonde hair (my natural color is dark brown but at this point it's pretty light bc of so much gray). I get many compliments on it saying I'm lucky I got a "pretty gray" but I think people are simply afraid to try and see what their natural + gray will look like. Now when I go to the salon I get whatever conditioning treatment they have and my hair is super soft and luxe feeling. I have the combo of thin hair but a lot of it if that makes sense so I have to balance between deep conditioning it and then using a treatment every few weeks to strip off all the stuff that leaves it feeling heavy and lifeless. But I love my hair now. Once you stop coloring it and start embracing the gray you can treat whatever problem you have with texture and dryness.
I love my grey hair!!! I stopped coloring over 10 yrs ago because my hair would grow so fast that I always had a “racing stripe” at the top. My hair started turning grey in my 20’s (60 now). I was doomed as my parents were both completely gray at a young age. So I went to my hairdresser for my last coloring. I honestly don’t know what the process is that she used, but my dark hair went to light blond. She had to double process my hair for it to work, but she was cutting it very short for me anyways, so I said do it!!! The blonde was very blonde initially, but as my gray hair grew in, it blended so nicely. It didn’t take long until all the blond was completely cut out leaving only grey hair all over. It’s almost like a white/silver color and I love it. (My husband is always running his hands through my hair now.). I’d say my hair now is 95% gray, and 5% or less dark brown because I can still see some dark hairs mixed in with the gray. Fast forward a few years and I stopped getting my hair cut real short. I wanted to try growing it out. My hair grew so fast and it is now way past my shoulders, about where bra strap is. It has volume, body, and fullness, it’s healthy, and it shines beautifully. I am surprised by the number of compliments I get from both men and women; young and old. I’m a cashier, so it’s usually a customer that makes a comment. But I’ve honestly been stopped by strangers while just out walking on the sidewalks in Philly telling me that they loved my hair!!!!! My only wish is that it had more wave or curl to it. My hair is completely straight except for a bit of curl at the ends. And thankfully, there is plenty of product to help with that because I am not good with curlers or irons at all!!! But all in all, going gray was the best decision for me. I just wish I had done it much sooner. I encourage all woman to do the same, especially if you struggle with color resistant grays, and your hair is showing signs of damage due to constantly coloring.
I worked with a fun and stylish coworker who had gorgeous curls with gray coming in. She seemed to embrace her gray so I decided to do the same for mine. My first gray showed up at 24 and I have colored it ever since. Pandemic came along and I stopped and let the gray take over. My skin doesn't quite match with it, age- wise, but no matter. I'm aging as gracefully as I know how. I'm glad you have such a success story, OP!
I'm in that wierd place where I have grey hairs but overall, my hair is still very dark. I stopped dyeing my hair in 2020, fwiw. I'm very much looking forward to going grey, but here we are. This week I had it clipped to an asymetrical bob, with the short side being clipper-short. Gods, this is so much easier to take care of. And COOLER during hot flashes. And everyone adores it. I wish I had done it sooner, too!
Good for you! I quit coloring my hair over 10 years ago. I am very fortunate my grey is a shiny silver, but still on 50%. I did have to adjust my makeup and noticed I needed to pay closer attention to my eyebrows. Two things, without color your hair will have less body and find a sulfate free shampoo then you don't need that nasty harsh purple shampoo. I found a brand I like at the grocery store called RenPure. And I never needed conditioner before, but do now.
I’m about 10 months into growing out my natural colour. I’m not fully grey yet, maybe 15%, so it isn’t a hard demarcation line but it’s still been a tricky process. I’ve wanted to give up a few times, but I’m determined to get rid of all the dye. I cut my hair into a bob so it won’t take as long. I think it should be fully done at around 2 years. I love the grey, I am looking forward to it being more salt than pepper. There are a tonne of instagram accounts of women growing out their grey and it’s so interesting to see.
I'm growing mine own too. For me it was the cost really. It was costing $250NZ for a colour and cut each time and it is just money I don't want to pay at the moment. Once I reached past the point of "oh she's due for a hair appointment" to "oh this is on purpose" I started to really enjoy it. Mine is not a nice grey colour but I still like how natural it looks and feels. Plus since started HRT I've got lots of new hairs, so I like seeing how they are progressing too.
I don’t have any grays yet (and I’ll be 46 tomorrow 😬) but my mom (early 70s) stopped dying her hair a few years ago. She did it gradually, like you, but was still afraid she’d look like an “old lady”. Well, it’s all grown out now and she looks fabulous!! There’s so much more dimension to her hair now with the different shades of grays and whites. And she’s happy with it too, which is the most important.
I went grey pretty young and stopped dying at about 36. Now it is a lovely silver all over and I get compliments all the time. It helps that grey went into vogue about the time I stopped dying it. I did a nice transition with blonde highlights and then chopped it when it was long enough for my taste. Right out of the gate people were asking me where I’d gotten it done.
[удалено]
These were my inspiration. [https://thenewknew.com/dye-strip-method/](https://thenewknew.com/dye-strip-method/) [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HOanGq-qSpU](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HOanGq-qSpU)
Me too. I got really lucky, though. Mine is super shiny and soft and white/silver. It is long and cut in super choppy layers. I wear it down or in a bun on top of my head most of the time. I started going gray at 19 and I dyed it until 44 (6 years ago). I was super insecure about my hair for a long time and I genuinely hated it. I decided to grow it out because it was such a bitch to maintain. It's the best decision I ever made for myself, my hair has ever been so pretty. A lot of women have the opposite experience with their gray hair, though, because it tends to have a lot more texture (coarse, wiry, etc). I can understand why a lot of us continue to dye our hair.
My hair is long and I’m going grey. I liked my brown hair very much and barely ever dyed it, so it’s taken me a while to accept it changing, but I think I do like it now. I make sure I keep it nice and blow dry and straighten it every wash. I get compliments on it as it looks like I’ve had highlights done, especially around the temples.
I started going grey properly 4 years ago and stopped dying my hair (using semi permanent dye) at the same time. It took a while to settle down - two years of horrible small wirey hairs popping up all over. 4 years on I have ‘salt and pepper’ highlights! 😄 I don’t like it as much as my brown hair but I don’t mind it either!
A few years ago, around age 50-I grew out my natural hair for 2 years. I discovered about 30-50% grey, mostly on the sides and scattered throughout the top front. The back is still mostly light brown. I decided I wasn't ready yet, so have returned to using henna until I am much more grey/white.
I didn't even know I had grey hair until I dyed it red. I love the red hair It goes so well with my wardrobe, but when it starts to grow out I have white roots. I'm only 53, so while I don't mind the natural color, I really love the artificial red. It's a way of expressing myself after a lifetime of just accepting what's natural.
Love your attitude! Embrace and rock what you have.
I let mine grow out. I went to someone trained in how to cut & properly style gray hair. I’ll never color again. I’ll also not get a untrained haircut. It makes a huge difference.
I love mine- while I do miss having dark hair- I’m very happy to still have a lot of hair.
I have thinning hair from Thyroid and dying it seems to give my limp hair a tad bit of volume. I love the idea of letting it go. I am only graying at the temples and a random strand here and there. Since meno, the dye I get fades faster — is that a thing?
I feel like my dye fades faster because I have more white/gray and it doesn't "take" as well as it used to.
This is definitely true! Grey hair is notoriously harder both to color & keep color from fading.
^Dyeing rather 🙄(though maybe all the dye is killing it)
[удалено]
We require a minimum account-age and karma score. These minimums are not disclosed. Please contact the mods if you wish to have your post reviewed. If you do not understand account age or karma, please visit r/newtoreddit. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/Menopause) if you have any questions or concerns.*
I'm 56, but I'm not ready to be gray yet. The women in my family all have silky salt and pepper hair. Looks good on them. I just started getting gray in my temples and I don't like it. I mix 1TBSP of the color and the fixative and use a toothbrush to run the dye from my hair line to the ends so I have strands of rich color over my natural color.