It started innocently...my infatuation with gray hair. I have a Pinterest Board called Beautiful Women of an Uncertain Age. I've been putting pictures of mature women on it that I think are striking at any age. Many of them have gray hair. Got me to thinking..."Why not let my hair go gray?" But when you color your hair, going gray is quite a process. There are choices to be made.
A. Go around with an ever-increasing ring of gray hair on your head as the color grows out.
B. Get a short, short pixie cut thereby cutting almost all of the color off.
C. Switch to semi-permanent hair color close to the original color. Let the gray grow out and keep the bleached color covered with the original color. Trim the old off, bit by bit.
After much thought, I decided on C. I don't want to cut my hair, and can't stand the grow-out ring. So off to my hairdresser with the new plan. She checked my roots and thought it would be a good plan. My roots in the front are over 50% gray, and the back is only about 10%. I figured after a year of growing it out, maybe I'll be 75% gray in front and 40% in the back. Plus she said my gray is a vibrant silver, not at all mousy. Okay! So she mixed up some colorant close to my natural light brown. Everything was hunky-dory. After she washed the solution out I was a little alarmed. "Looks really dark," I said with trepidation. "Don't worry," she replied. "It always lightens up after it's dry. I wasn't convinced, but I hoped she was right.
She was wrong.
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| Before |
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| After |
Anyway, I intend to forge ahead with my plan, despite this little setback. So I will continue to chronicle the 'road to gray', as new developments happen.
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9 comments:
I was a brunette, and am now salt and pepper (with the salt increasing). I like soft colours myself, think smoky blues, pinks, and green. Eggplant, apricot and coffee also work quite well, as do some of the lemon shades.
Good luck - and happy experimentation.
Well... I went dark auburn about a year ago and it lasted about two weeks. I didn't talk about. I felt depressed and wanted to hide somewhere. I looked awful. I went back to blond streaks with a lot of gray in between.I feel great again. I'm happy with it until the gray takes over.
My sister went from blond to redhead and she looks great. She doesn't show her gray to anyone. It's a choice we all have to make as we slide into the "golden" years. Yuk!
Love your famous women examples. Talk about growing old gracefully. These women make it look so easy.
This is most interesting to me as I am being forced to make a change. If my gray were pretty, it wouldn't be so bad...but I think "mousy" it the word. I have a beautiful shade of dark color, but something in the product is making be breakout in horrible itching everywhere...or at least we think that is it. So my colorist and I are trying to figure out what to do. Like you, I know there are worse things, but my nice hair is the only thing left of a decent body! I was hoping to enjoy it a few more years.
you look great either way! I've been so fortunate that my naturally red head has started to get streaks of white as I grow older. I can deal with white but grey would be an issue. Some greys are gorgeous but it's not for me. I'm already too fair. Sorry I can't help but staying away from beige is probably the best advice. Embrace your beautiful self my dear~~~
Applauding your choice to go grey/silver/white! Have you considered bleaching to nearly white blond and adding grey low lights during the transition?
I was a rare lucky one who was a pale blond as a kid, then deepened to wedding band gold (as in wrapping my hair around my wedding ring one couldn't tell the difference between the two), then I got light streaks until one day I realized I was back to pale blond and then nearly white. Your before picture looked blond to me, so I thought I'd share how natural blond transition!
New follower here. I decided two years ago that I was sick of hair color,I was about to become a grandmother and I was going for it wholeheartedly. I, like you, kept seeing many attractive women who had gone natural. I had been wearing my hair short and wanted to go longer, so (I used to be a beautician) I cut my hair short and began the process of getting rid of that color. I was amazed how quickly it grew off as I kept my hair trimmed and styled. I have quite a bit in front and the back is mixed. Now I'm natural and growing to a longer style and love it. It's kind of like swimming. Sometimes you just have to jump in and paddle for awhile to reach your goal. I'm so glad to be away from the color. I have a few friends who need to get away from it too. Color can begin to look harsh as our complexions change while we are aging.
I'll be eager to see the road you choose.
Debbie
Thank you ladies for your helpful suggestions and encouragement! I've washed my hair 6 times now and am beginning to see a little red highlights here and there. Hope it fades out before school starts...don't want to scare the kiddies! Elephant's Child, I'm going to the consignment store and search for blouses in the colors you suggest. You lucky blondes and redheads! Though my photo is blonde, it's a ruse! I'm lt. brown, so I can't easily do the gradual blonde to gray thing...or red to white, Joanne. And I love, love, love having longish hair, so refuse to cut it. Just gonna have to do rinses until the peroxide grows out. Oh well, what else have I got to do? Love you gals! Debora
Oh goodness, I am going today formy first professional color job, as the boxed stuff isn't lasting more than three weeks. You've scared me. I have a friend who lives in Florida. He says only the men go gray down there. haha
Oh, that would be a shock to have your color change like that, even though bothlook good on you, it's not what you were thinking ...You don't need to add another dimension to the whole decision.
I sometimes think of what I should do and then just keep going with coloring. I think eventually I will try low lights and begin a plan to grow out my hair color.
All the best!
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