Do you color your hair?

[zzGypsy]

52 here also...
I was born white-blond, was dishwater blond in high school, mouse brown by end of college (bleh!). since then I've been various shades of henna brown, auburn, dark cherry purple auburn, nutmeg, chestnut, warm black, blue black.

my fave, I think is foxtail... was chestnut brown at the time, was wearing my hair mostly in a high pony tail in the back, so we bleached the tips to a light warm gold, like the end of a fox's tail... that was cool.

no gray until about 5 years ago, but it's coming in fast, and unfortunately from the top down. See I wouldn't mind if I had silver temples, or a good silver streak, and the gray is a really good silver color, but NO, it's coming in salt and pepper on the top. none underneath, it's all on top where it's visible.

the way it's coming in makes me look like I've been out in the woodshop and am covered in sawdust. not really my best look. unless, of course, I also SMELL like sawdust, and have a project under way... then it's good.

I thought, well, I'll just keep coloring it until it goes solid silver on the top, So I called my mom, who's in her mid 80's to ask when she really started being solid gray (she dies her hair still, so I can't tell)... she says: we don't. she's 50/50 at her age, so it's unlikely I'll see solid siver any time soon. rats.

right now it's brown-near-black, with a panel underneath I'm trying to get bleached enough to die crimson red.

5 rounds of bleaching and its still dark enough that I can't get crimson, only kind of a burnt orange.

<sigh> well, at least it's sturdy and there's plenty of it.

 

[Marcymom3]

Hello from Maryland!

Funny you should ask this question. My hair, before I began to gray, was darkest brown almost black. In fact, in the winter it WAS black. I started plucking out stray grays when I was 18. My mom used to tell me I'd get 7 in the place of each one I pulled out. When I was about 40 I realized that if I continued to pull them out I'd be bald. So I left them alone. At about 50 I decided to start coloring. For the last eight years I have had it colored various shades of brown and usually had highlights added in the summer.

My hairdresser tries to keep me modern looking despite the fact that I am a crafty, crazy chicken lady grandma type. Back in the spring (hmmm...right about the time I got my chickens...what a coincidence!) I decided I was spending too much money at the hairdresser. Every six weeks it would cost between $100 and $130! That's a lot of chicken feed, folks! So I decided to go natural. You might ask why I didn't do it myself. I tried it once and even though I used a good brand (L'Oreal Preference) I didn't like the way my hair felt about a week later.

My hair was light brown and shoulder length in May so I had her put lots of highlights in and skipped the all over color. Then when school let out, the roots had grown out about an inch and I got a modified pixie. She put a few highlights in just to blend the roots with what was left of the color. Just this week, I went back and got all that cut out and am now back to my natural color which is that almost black with silver highlights. The feedback has been very positive! One of my colleagues (an art teacher) told me it was striking.

and that I looked 10 years younger.

I'll take it!

My husband put it very well when he said that having gray hair isn't what makes people old, it's about keeping your head and your heart young that matters. Learning new things, not being afraid of change, and doing what you enjoy are the secret to staying young. When my mom died at age 75, she had never colored her hair or worn makeup (except for lipstick) in her life. Her hair was a beautiful silver and her skin was not wrinkled.

There's a lesson is this, I guess. I just didn't want to be one of those women who was showing her age in her skin and figure and coloring her hair an unbelievable color in the hopes of making people think she is 20 years younger. (Isn't that a terrible sentence? ouch!)

Have a great weekend! I enjoyed your comments!

 

[annie3001]

i loooove dying my hair........ current color is blonde...

 

[Marcymom3]

I hope my message didn't offend anyone! I sometimes talk first and think second.

 

[kuntrygirl]

I don't color my hair but have always wanted to...just because. I don't have gray hair. I think that gray hair on women looks very nice. I also like to see the little old ladies that have blue hair. They look so cute.

 

[desertdarlene]

I started going gray young like you did, in my 20s. I started coloring my hair, then stopped for a couple of years because I became allergic not only to hair coloring, but all shampoos, too! But, my hair looked awful without a nice, even coat of coloring, so I started up again. My hair seems to be going gray slower nowadays, so I may stop coloring it when my age catches up to what I consider to be the normal amount of gray for that age.

 

[Marcymom3]

Quote:
me too!

 

[Beekissed]

I have light brown/blondish in the summer hair and started having a lot of gray in my late 30s, and so started coloring for the first time. Over the years the coloring~foils to put in blonde highlights~started affecting my hair. Then I went to permanent rinses to save money...but they started to look brassy. Finally...around the age of 42 I asked my children if they would care if I let it all hang out and went silver.

At first they didn't want me to but they finally consented that, if it made me happy, let it rip! I did. First I toned it down to the darker brown that I am naturally now, used the roots treatments to blend the gray and finally could do without the coloring at all.

I AM SO HAPPY WITH THE RESULTS!

I can't wait until it gets even more silver! My hair is just so healthy now and glistens in the sunlight with my silver "highlights". Most of all, people are very surprised at my youthful skin and attitude when it is paired with the silvering at my temples.

No more harsh chemicals, no more expense, but most of all? No more pretense. I'm 45 years old and I LOVE me at this age!

I love the honesty of accepting the me as I am in all my 45ish glory, a woman who has earned the right to be who she is, where she is and as she is....who cares what anyone else's opinion is on how I look? I left caring about that some years ago and I can finally be true to myself.

My older sibs, particularly the girls, really don't like that I've let myself go grey....it shows the real age of their own hair and the obvious dye jobs therein.

The other day my son, after making fun of my grey hair for years, turns to me and says, "Mom, I really like that you don't dye your hair anymore...it's much prettier with the grey in it. It glistens in the sunlight!"

Cha-ching!!!

 

[mom'sfolly]

I'm 48, and I've been going gray since about 30. I used to color my hair. I did it myself for awhile, and then found a good colorist. I did highlights and low lights. About a year and a half ago, I realized it wasn't working anymore. I have a lot of gray, and I would need an all over color every 4-5 weeks. So I did what others have done; grew it, blended it, then cut it short. The front is much whiter than the rest, and the back is about 30% gray. I'm thinking about coloring it again, but I don't know if I could do it every 4 weeks.

My best friend and my kids think I should go dark again. Dh says whatever makes you happy. My fear is that I end up with a bad color, or hate it colored, and have to go through the whole process again. My hair grows slowly, so to dye and then decide to go gray again, would be a long process.

I rather like the silver color.

I don't think my mom likes it. She still colors her hair, and to have a daughter that is so gray shows that she isn't as young as she looks. I may have more gray than my mom though, I haven't seen her natural color for about 30 years.

 

[Marcymom3]

Another male friend of mine said that women who let their hair go gray show confidence. He went on to say that is something men really like in a woman. Food for thought, single ladies.