Another going gray question

curlyinohio

I have colored my hair red for many years. Now since the grays come back so soon, I'm thinking seriously about growing it out. Are there any of you out there who have gone from red to gray? Did you do anything in particular to help it not look so bad as it was growing? I'm just so afraid it'll look clownish. Thanks.

rbb

i do not have red hair, but i am in the process (6 1/2 months) into growing out my darkest brown/black hair and letting my white/gray grow in -- that is pretty clownish!!
what i found most helpful has been headbands! stretchy ones and clip ones. i have a clip headband that is covered w/material and has tiny black flowers on one side. i have also gotten my hair cut several inches, to hasten getting rid of the black.
the white hair around my face shows up and looks good. i've gotten lots of compliments --mostly from 20, 30, 40 year olds -- about the way my hair is looking growing in. i've also gotten compliments on the way the white looks around my face from BOTH men & women.
it's a long process as it seems the front of my hair is growing much more slowly than the back. however, i am very glad i decided to do this. hated putting the time in coloring, hated the way it looked. love the way my hair is starting to look.
there is a great website, goinggraylookinggreat.com that has been very helpful.

ewenique

I'm letting my gray grow in, too. Initially I got some highlights to break up the line of color. Then since my natural color is darker (with streaks of gray) than the colored hair, I got lowlights. But since those first couple of months, I've just let the natural color grow in - it's about cheek length now. When I pull it back in a pony or clip, all the old colored part is in the pony. I get several inches cut off every 4 months or so. Little by little, inch by inch it is out with the old, in with the new! Yeah, the transition isn't the most flattering time, but it will be worth it when the last bit of old color is finally cut off.

curlyinohio

I've seen goinggraylookinggreat.com, and it was very encouraging. I guess I'm being very wishy washy about this. I've come close to growing it out a couple times, then gave in and colored it. But it sure doesn't last as long as it used to, and it is getting to be a hassle. I'm a big chicken about the way it will look, but l guess it's the only way to finally get there! Thanks for the advice gals. I'll take all the suggestions I can get.

alacurl

curlyinohio, do you use semi-permanent color or permanent?

I used semi-permanent drugstore color for a while until I was coloring every 2 weeks(!) to cover the gray. (My natural color is blond-red, a little darker than strawberry blond.)

Then I finally got salon color (permanent). I get the roots done every 2 months at the same time I get a trim. It's a close match to my natural color, and I like it very much.

lshiny

You might want to consider pure henna as an option for a natural way to color, without chemicals. It's especially good for younger women just starting to get grays (I'm 50+), because it doesn't actually change the color of your base hair per se, unless you're blonde, but gives it a pretty reddish glow in the sun, like auburn hair. It turns the gray hair copperish colored, which is a really nice highlight compliment to the brown or red of the natural color. It's a good natural conditioner, too.

The site www.hennaforhair.com is a great place to research if this might be an option for your situation. I absolutely love it on my brown locks, which have quite alot of gray at this stage. Just wish I had known about it before YEARS of chemically damaging my hair through highlighting and coloring to camaflouge or cover up the gray.

Good luck!

2poodles

I'm 47 and had my hair cut into a really short pixie about 3 years ago to get rid of the last bit of color. I prefer to be more low-maintenance and resented the time it took to color and disliked how the color faded quickly in the sun and turned brassy. My natural color is dark ash blonde and I'm about 30% gray at this point. I'm just letting it come in as it wants and wear it in a bob that I have trimmed and shaped every 8 wks. It's definitely much, much healthier and certainly easier to maintain. I hope to end up with the pure white hair that my father and grandmother both had by the time they were about 50....

curlyinohio

Alacurl, in answer to your question, I use permanent color. What's really weird is, for the last year or two, my color only lasted less than a week after coloring, as far as the RED goes, then it would quickly fade to blonde! After awhile of this, I changed to a darker shade of red. Same thing. So I changed to an even DARKER shade, and now it has faded to a reddish blonde. I never could figure this out, but I've noticed how much more silver I have in my roots. So I checked the color estimation on the side of the box, and it showed that if you are silver, you could expect it to turn out reddish blonde! Duh! So I figure I'll grow out the roots enough to get a good look at the color of them. If they're "ready", I'll keep on growing it out, or at least give it a good try. But I'm at the point now where the gray is returning in just a couple of weeks after coloring, and I'm getting tired of the hassle of it, and I know it's not good for my hair, which is already thin enough from medications I'm on for arthritis. My poor hair would probably be so much better off if I just stop this whole mess. YET........I'm still worried about looking so much older with the silver. See what I mean about being wishy washy? I'm terrible, I know!

rbb

for me and my friends who have stopped coloring and let the gray/silver/white grow in, we actually look younger. i think sometimes haircolor can age your face.
i think if a woman's hairstyle is 'old' before it is gray, it is old after. for a woman who has an attractive hairstyle, she will look younger. in my opinion, of course!! :happy3:
check out the photos on goinggraylookinggreat.com, you'll see what i mean.
i just hate the transition period -- if i could wake up and my hair all gray/white/silver, i'd be happy!!

curlyinohio

2poodles, I agree with you about the white hair. I think that's just gorgeous! I'd have absolutely no problem with having white hair.

crwritt

curlyinohio wrote: »

I have colored my hair red for many years. Now since the grays come back so soon, I'm thinking seriously about growing it out. Are there any of you out there who have gone from red to gray? Did you do anything in particular to help it not look so bad as it was growing? I'm just so afraid it'll look clownish. Thanks.

You can use Fanci'full temporary hair color on the roots as it grows out. At the same time your red color will be fading.
I've been using it the past few weeks to keep myself from doing something rash, like cutting or coloring.
You do have to apply it after each washing. I put it in a spray bottle and applied it before putting on the gel. For me, this works, as I've been washing about twice a week.

curlyinohio

rbb wrote: »

for me and my friends who have stopped coloring and let the gray/silver/white grow in, we actually look younger. i think sometimes haircolor can age your face.
i think if a woman's hairstyle is 'old' before it is gray, it is old after. for a woman who has an attractive hairstyle, she will look younger. in my opinion, of course!! :happy3:
check out the photos on goinggraylookinggreat.com, you'll see what i mean.
i just hate the transition period -- if i could wake up and my hair all gray/white/silver, i'd be happy!!

Yeah, the ladies on that site look great, but some of them, IMHO, do look older. (sorry) With my luck, I'll be one of them! Oh well, you never know till you try I guess! as for the temporary color applied to the roots, I wash my hair daily, so that would be kind of a pain to do each day. But I've heard some great suggestions, and I do appreciate them all! Thanks for taking the time. You guys are great!

alacurl

A lot of the women on goinggraylookinggreat.com do look great, but I think some of the fair-skinned ones are washed out. That would be me, ugh!

IMO, people with darker hair and skin (as in not ghostly white like me) often look better going gray than really fair people do.

edited to add: Curlyinohio, I didn't want to say it, but I agree with you that some of the women looked older after they went gray. Some looked decades older. And it had nothing to do with the hairstyle.

curlyinohio

Yeah. I guess gray hair, like everything else, isn't for everyone. I'm very curious as to what it will look like on me. I picture myself looking at old photos, with my red hair, and getting depressed, and maybe coloring again! Just imagine me as an old wrinkled lady of 90, with red hair!!!:laughing7:

jeepcurlygurl

I'm one of those ornery old ladies who thinks it's absurd when anyone says grey hair makes people look older. Or that grey hair doesn't go with one's skintone. That's crazy. Mother Nature is a smart old broad and probably doesn't appreciate our dissing her skills. : )

We've been programmed to think that any sign of aging, be it one grey hair or one wrinkle, means we are over the hill and we might as well just get in our rocking chairs and forget about ever having fun again. Bull. All it means is that our body is getting older as everything does on this earth.

People should simply do what makes them happy. For me that means no dying my hair, no spending a fortune on anti aging product, no botox or surgery, and yes I still go in the sun. But if for others that means dying their hair and getting botox and wearing lotions and potions and sunscreen 24/7, cool.

The growing out process isn't fun no matter what color your old hair is, but it goes by quickly especially if you do what many have stated - keep trimming your hair up a bit regularly to get rid of the old color. It will be gone in no time. And yes, the Roux Fancifull temp color was very helpful to me.

anonymous_22139

jeepcurlygurl wrote: »

I'm one of those ornery old ladies who thinks it's absurd when anyone says grey hair makes people look older. Or that grey hair doesn't go with one's skintone. That's crazy. Mother Nature is a smart old broad and probably doesn't appreciate our dissing her skills. : )

We've been programmed to think that any sign of aging, be it one grey hair or one wrinkle, means we are over the hill and we might as well just get in our rocking chairs and forget about ever having fun again. Bull. All it means is that our body is getting older as everything does on this earth.

People should simply do what makes them happy. For me that means no dying my hair, no spending a fortune on anti aging product, no botox or surgery, and yes I still go in the sun. But if for others that means dying their hair and getting botox and wearing lotions and potions and sunscreen 24/7, cool.

The growing out process isn't fun no matter what color your old hair is, but it goes by quickly especially if you do what many have stated - keep trimming your hair up a bit regularly to get rid of the old color. It will be gone in no time. And yes, the Roux Fancifull temp color was very helpful to me.

I totally agree with you. My hair is 80% gray, but it doesn't show in my pictures for some reason. Nothing on earth feels better than accepting yourself just exactly how nature intended IMHO. But, each to her own. If someone wants to bleach, color, botox, snip, pinch and stretch, more power to them.

Lotsawaves

lshiny wrote: »

You might want to consider pure henna as an option for a natural way to color, without chemicals. It's especially good for younger women just starting to get grays (I'm 50+), because it doesn't actually change the color of your base hair per se, unless you're blonde, but gives it a pretty reddish glow in the sun, like auburn hair. It turns the gray hair copperish colored, which is a really nice highlight compliment to the brown or red of the natural color. It's a good natural conditioner, too.

The site www.hennaforhair.com is a great place to research if this might be an option for your situation. I absolutely love it on my brown locks, which have quite alot of gray at this stage. Just wish I had known about it before YEARS of chemically damaging my hair through highlighting and coloring to camaflouge or cover up the gray.

Good luck!

What product are you using to henna? I've been considering this. I tried growing out my gray, but it was looking pretty bad and my hair just looked dull and drab. I'm about 25% gray, mostly around the hairline. I love copper highlights in my hair, so I think henna would work for me. I, also, have medium brown hair, so I need to know what color you are using. TIA

lshiny

Lotsawaves:

I used pure henna, which does not actually come in colors. It's just powdered henna plant, which has the natural color from the plant come out when mixed with water. The henna products you may find in stores, or even beauty supply places, still have chemicals in them, which can be really bad for your hair. Pure body art henna is what should be used, and can be ordered from the www.hennaforhair.com site. Another website that sells the good powder is www.hennamuse.com.

As an option, you can mix the henna with indigo (another plant), but it adds darker coloring to the natural copperish tone from the henna. I loved the way just the henna alone blended with my own brown hair color. Perfect copper highlights, and the rest of the hair has an auburn cast in the sun.

[Deleted User]

Jeep, I don't know if you remember, but we quit coloring at the same time. I caved in June '06 when our son got married. I tried again later, but went back to coloring. I'm still not quite ready, but one of these days... Anyway, I just wanted to say that your hair has grown so much and looks wonderful!

jeepcurlygurl

I do remember you! You should color away if that's what makes you happy.
Thanks for the compliment. My hair finally started growing again, thanks to Biotin.

Suburbanbushbabe

curlyinohio wrote: »

I've seen goinggraylookinggreat.com, and it was very encouraging. I guess I'm being very wishy washy about this. I've come close to growing it out a couple times, then gave in and colored it. But it sure doesn't last as long as it used to, and it is getting to be a hassle. I'm a big chicken about the way it will look, but l guess it's the only way to finally get there! Thanks for the advice gals. I'll take all the suggestions I can get.

This is what got me to go gray 5 years before I intended to. I did it from 4/08 to today. I was skunky looking and demarcation was strong because parts of my hair like the crown come in pure white/silver. Around 10/08 when I got my trim, my hair stylist recommend semi-permanent low lights. They didn't harm my fragile hair and did a great job to soften the line between new and old growth.

Going gray was a fabulous decision. I cringe when I look at photos of myself with colored hair, it looks so harsh and ordinary. the photos below are around 5-6 months old. I'm grayer now.

Barbarosa

Loving my new gray hair! It took almost a year to grow out but is certainly was worth it. Have received so many compliments and my husband loves it!

2poodles

catgirlbarb wrote: »

Loving my new gray hair! It took almost a year to grow out but is certainly was worth it. Have received so many compliments and my husband loves it!

Got any pics??? I stopped coloring my hair a couple of years ago, but am only 30% gray. It's scattered fairly evenly through my hair - kinda like a smokey haze over my dark ash blonde hair. I wish it would hurry up and turn into the gorgeous white that both my dad and my grandmother had....

rbb

catgirlbarb wrote: »

Loving my new gray hair! It took almost a year to grow out but is certainly was worth it. Have received so many compliments and my husband loves it!

how long is your hair? i've been growing mine out since last march, and the back is done, the front has long tips of color. :-( and, i've cut about 7" off my hair, so it is now short. i am in the process of growing it in, but i do think it will be a year from now before it is where i want it to be.
and, i am very glad i did stop coloring for many reasons.