I love my looong silvery grey hair. I get comments all the time on it, about how pretty it looks. My response... 'thanks - I'm too frugal & lazy to choose any other way'. I also don't wear make-up, or engage in any of the other so-called female grooming rituals... no razors, no plucking, no body torture; no heels, no pantyhose, etc. I'm quite content to be simply myself.
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"Ring the bells that still can ring.... forget your perfect offering. There's a crack in everything... that's how the Light gets in." ~Leonard Cohen
redfox, I think your hair is great--it looks fantastic on you! Every year I go to Vermont--and I see so many women like you who have a natural beauty about them, and many of them have silver hair like yours. So I come back home and ask my hairdresser, what do you think of me growing out my hair color and going natural? And she always says, "Noooo!!!" (I use box coloring so she's not losing a sale by telling me "yes")
I've noticed that when I go for a while between colorings, my roots are far less obvious than they used to be. I think my "natural" highlights are mixing in with the highlights from L'Oreal.
I think lizii's right--maybe I'm wiser to keep the color until I'm out of the workforce. I need about 7 more years in market research to pay off my house, and so unfortunately I feel I have to put on a younger face.
"Do any human beings ever realize life while they live it--every, every minute?" Emily Webb, Our Town
www.silententry.wordpress.com
Redfox- I love your color! If I remember your age correctly, you look much younger to me. I've not yet dyed my hair, but I've got plenty of grays mixed with my brown/red hair. I love the way your hair looks. I'll admit I've entertained the idea of dye, but I don't really think I want to get started with that and deal with roots.
I have the opposite issue. My hair is still golden brown so it does not "match" my 57 yo face. There is however one grey stripe hiding under my bangs at the corner of my forehead. I think if I were trying to grow any color out and there was a large contrast, I would use a temporary rinse to even out the color. If not standing out is important to you anyway.
Oh boy, a timely topic for me, as I am right in the middle of the dilemma. Right before I started my new job, I decided I was totally sick of the the dyed-red-color-not-quite-found-in-nature rock n' roll hair I had for when I was doing more performing and working in the guitar shop. I wanted a big change to go along with the new job, so I went to the beauty school downtown and for $42 got it dyed the color it was underneath at the nape of my neck (a dark-ish brown). I thought it was a pretty dramatic change but no one else really noticed it that much, which just goes to show not THAT many people are paying attention. It's been about 5 or 6 weeks since then and I have a pretty significant 3/4 white strip at the roots and I am wavering back and forth about what I am going to do. I am leaning more and more towards letting nature take its course, as I have to wear a hat at work anyway and no one can see the transition as it is occurring. I actually look forward to my hair being all those pretty shades of white and grey and everything in between; it's the getting there that'll be hard. Since I am growing it out from the short cut I got over a year ago, when I am not at work I pretty much wear it up in one of those clip-things anyway, which hides the stripe pretty well. I think in the fall I will get another trim, the type I used to get when my hair is long and curly so it lays better; in the meantime, I'm just going to let it continue growing out.
My primary motivation is I am SICK of the upkeep and expense of hair-coloring whether I do it at home or at a salon. I have better things to do with my time and I also want to set an example that an older woman can be her natural self and still look beautiful. I don't remember who said this but I agree about looking "plastic" and "just-so." I HATE, DETEST matchy-matchy, coordinated outfits and jewelry (I guess lots of girly stuff, for the most part) and align myself with what Spartana always says. Be fit, athletic, natural, real! I will march boldly forward the way I want to look, and damn the naysayers out there 'cuz I don't care!
SiouzQ, one hallowe'en, I used what I thought was a temporary coloring as a part of a costume, and it didn't come out! My hair was short then, so when the roots got ugly, I simply shaved my head. I loved it! Try it- take it down to 1/4 or 1/8 of an inch. It feels fantastic, and everyone will want to touch it, which I loved.
"Ring the bells that still can ring.... forget your perfect offering. There's a crack in everything... that's how the Light gets in." ~Leonard Cohen
I also think Redfoxes hair is awesome (and check out her profile pic for an even better look at her very long hair). I have long, waist length naturally blonde hair (very light from being out doors all day in the Southern Calif sun too). Like Pinkytoe I have just the beginnings of white in two spots above the temples. But because my hair is so light and I wear bangs, you can't see them. Once more starts going white then I think I may begin coloring it - at least at first. Don't know if that's a vainity issue (probably), a wanting my looks to be inline with the youthful image I have of myself as an active person (probably), or just a case of 'm use to my hair being a certain color and it seems weird to see it different (probably too). But, being a lazy girl who doesn't like to have to do a whole lot of so-called girly-grooming-stuff, I'll probably evenbtually let it go au natural rather than deal with it.
ha Ha I say that until I see the first grey hairs :-)! But whether one chooses to be "natural" or "synthetic" it is really more about doing what "YOU" want, living and looking how you like rather than how other's want you to look or be. So if a person wants to color their hair or wear 10 inch spiked heels, welll... if that's what you like, then that's what you should do irregardless of what others tell you to do. If we here say "oh don't wear make up or color your hair because it's not what you should do as an aging simple liver" but you aren't happy unless you wear make up and color your hair, well then you aren't doing and being the person YOU want to be. So listen to yourself - not us, not anyone - and be who YOU want to be. I like my long blonde hair and probably, for awhile anyways, will keep it even if people tell me that women my age shouldn't . I like it and that's how I want to keep it for now. Now...where is the Ms. Clariol aisle?Originally Posted by SiouzQ.
pinkytoe, I have the same silver streak in the corner; I've changed my part to the opposite side to hide it a bit. In the past I've plucked a few and now the hair grows every which way.
Today in the salon a client came in who has gone through cancer treatments and up until today was wearing a wig similar to her previous hairstyle. Today was her first day sporting her "new do", which was very short, wavy gray hair (the treatments turned her gray). She looked really great and we all hope she'll keep it that way.
I think if you stay gray, be sure to have some color on your eyebrows. You can get them tinted. And wear mascara (lashes can be tinted too, though it's illegal in some states). I love the look of short hair; I've had it all my life and just recently grew it long. Short gray hair, eye makeup ( or not) and a positive attitude look great on a woman of any age.
Lovely, classic hair redfox, very nice!
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