<p>I started coloring my hair in my mid-50’s, when the increasing amount of gray sent me to a salon for my first-ever haircolor. I had been holding out, planning to just let my hair go gray, but it was really looking terrible. My natural color is a very dark brown, and the combination with gray was not attractive. The colorist showed me, by pulling forward some hair from the back underneath sections, that my natural color had faded and it was making me look washed out. The color they put on is a medium golden brown, and it improves not only the color but the manageability of my hair. It’s thick but the strands are fairly fine and have some wave. When I go to the trouble of blowing it dry, it looks great. I have worried that my hair looks 25 while my face looks much older!</p>
<p>I wear almost no makeup (a little “minerals” soft taupe eyeliner and mascara), am overweight, wear no jewelry, and have little interest in fashion (my clothes are ordered from LLBean or Lands End). If I took care of these other aspects of my appearance, then I might be able to get away with graying hair. </p>
<p>Now that I have more gray, and unfortunately most of the gray is along my part, I have to have the roots done every 3 weeks or so. I am really tired of the time and money. I only have my whole head done every other time; in between I have either a half-color (top and front sides of head only) or a hairline color (along part and around face only) for less money, but the same amount of time. I’m afraid to try doing it myself.</p>
<p>My problem is that my gray hair is utterly unlike my non-gray hair in behavior, and with wavy hair, that’s a problem. For whatever reason, once colored, the gray hairs get with the plan a lot better. </p>
<p>I am looking for a better cut. Anyone used a Diva Curl certified person? If so, was it a significant improvement?</p>
<p>A few years ago I realized that I was spending a lot of money on coloring and I wasn’t happy with my color (too streaky) so I changed stylists. I now pay less for better color. I go every 6 weeks and in between (at around the 4 week mark) I touch up the roots with the clairol brush on product. </p>
<p>I used to not wash my hair for a day or two before going in for color because I had always read that color takes better that way. I now wash my hair the day before my color appointment using a clarifying shampoo (i.e Neutrogena) to get all of the product build up out. It’s better.</p>
<p>I was the last one I know to start coloring my hair, started a few years ago, but I plan to stop in the next five years or so. I don’t think most people at 60 look as good as they think with colored hair. I’d like my hair to be a little more gray than it is right now. I like the Jamie Lee Curtis look and would probably have to get a really short cut when I decide to make the plunge. I’m the same age as Alumother and think she looks terrific.</p>
<p>I stopped dyeing my hair last fall. My hair is a mixture of colors with dyed blonde on the ends. I hated it at first but as it has grown out I think the mixture of white on top and dark grey underneath is looking pretty good. It feels so much healthier, too. Very soft. My hair was a light to medium brown when I was young and then turned blackish before turning grey. My husband says I still look young so I am happy.</p>
<p>My issue is that my eyebrows are <em>really</em> dark (except for the sprouts of white). My hair is mousy light brown with lots of mousy gray. I’ve been going darker to keep things in balance with my eyebrows, but I look better with lighter hair, though the color goes red fairly quickly. </p>
<p>I also look better with longer hair, but my hair is so thin these days that it is perpetually limp. If it’s short, the cut looks good, but you can see my scalp. </p>
<p>I decided a couple of years ago to let my hair go natural. I am only in my 40s but started going gray at 18, so I am about 75% gray. I thought I looked okay until I saw a picture on facebook when I noticed an old woman in a dress like mine, and IT WAS ME! I looked like a grandma with perfectly smooth skin. I cut my hair short and started dying it again. I went about one shade lighter and a bit warmer than my natural color and I look much younger. People tend to guess that I am in my 30s now. I am lucky that I have thick hair, and the gray hair gives my texture. I normally go to a salon, but if I do it myself, I mix multiple colors to make it look more natural. The problem that I have with drugstore color is that it is too uniform and it doesn’t look natural.</p>
<p>I get mine done at the salon, every five weeks. I’ve got to say, I envy those of you who are around 55 and have a few strands of gray; I would have a few strands of color. I just can’t face silver hair right now, not to mention the enormous hassle of growing it out.</p>
<p>I haven’t had trouble with my dyed hair getting darker as it grows out. Just the opposite-- it bleaches in the sun. When I got back from a two month bike trip this summer, not only did I have a stripe of gray hair on the top of my head, but the top layer of my dyed-brown hair was a pale, pale blonde. The underlayer was still darker brown.</p>
<p>Counting down, maybe you should try extensions. My friend with extremely thin hair starting getting them and it’s made a world of difference. Not cheap though.</p>
<p>I let my hair go grey for a while when I was around 40. I couldn’t stand it then and all these older women thought I was their age! Now that I am in my middle fifties I feel like it belongs on me. I had my first gray hair at 19.</p>
<p>I also started pulling out my first grays around 16! :eek: I have “color enhanced” my hair ever since. I would be totally white if I didn’t. My hair also grows very fast so I need to touch up roots every 3 to 4 weeks. I do home color and salon color depending on what is happening in my life. The problem with going gray is that there are so many different shades. Some people have a yellowish cast and that never looks good! Not everyone has beautiful silver hair. I am more white and would look like a q-tip if I let it go! I highlight and lowlight. In the summer I really bleach out because we are on the lake in the sun and in the winter I seem so much darker even though I do the same color. I would be horrified to go gray or white as the case may be! :)</p>
So, wins all around!</p>![http://www.emmylou.net/atremmy.jpg[/url]](http://www.emmylou.net/atremmy.jpg%5B/url%5D){kind=link}
