<p>^ colorists*</p>
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<p>I don’t think you should spend a dime on hair color if you don’t want to. To each his own. I simply disagreed with your statement that women over 50 with dark hair look old. That’s simply not true. I know many women who have dark hair in their 50’s who look very attractive, and most of them probably do color their hair.</p>
<p>Snowdog, I like “colonists”: An original founder of a colony… The brave women and men who are the colonists of the power of silver!</p>
<p>I admire all of you with the self confidence to let the gray shine through.</p>
<p>We have a big family wedding this summer, so I have about six months to think about this before I make any major changes to my hair. Although a set of family photos with me sporting “transitional hair” would be a hoot, I wouldn’t do that to the bride.</p>
<p>Lots to think about here, in terms of how we view ourselves, and aging in America. Around twenty years ago I saw a fifty something woman walking a dog on a southern California boardwalk. She was clearly in good shape, wearing jeans and a tee shirt, comfortable in her own skin, and sporting a fabulous bob of silver hair. I’ve kept an image of her in my head all this time, and have always thought that was what I wanted to look like “someday”. Just trying to decide if I’m ready for “someday”…</p>
<p>When I was a little girl, my paternal grandfather once said about a maternal aunt, “That Susie, she’s a good girl. She doesn’t dye her hair.” I should add that the sainted Susie went on to be rather free with the dye! Whether it was an irrational sense that my grandfather was right about the moral turpitude of people who colored their hair (!), I nevertheless chose to keep my hair dye free. At one point I considered wading into the waters, but a hairstylist cautioned me: “Color is a commitment.” Maybe he could tell I wasn’t up to it! (I’m wash and go, and probably go to a “beauty shop,” as we used to call them, once every six to nine months.) I’m about to turn 53. The dominant impression you would get from looking at my head is that I have very dark brown hair. With a growing representation of grey. I expect we’ll be seeing more and more of that.</p>
<p>I asked my sister, an inveterate dyer, how long it would take her to go back to her natural color. She replied, not skipping a beat, “About 30 minutes.”</p>
<p>I am 53 and 100% gray. I faithfully pay big bucks every 8 weeks for roots, highlights, lowlights and a cut. (I have recently discovered that I can save some money by doing the lowlights every other time) I would let it go natural in a heartbeat, but my shade of gray is dull and lifeless and it washes out my face.</p>
<p>I think I am probably 100% gray and I don’t think it would be a beautiful gray. If it was silver or white, I would certainly let it go, because I have really short hair and it would work well. I went from darkish/reddish natural hair to blond (most recently about a year ago) and that actually works better in terms of the roots. I can go 6 weeks without color/cut. When I used the darker color, I could do it myself since my hair is so short, but I had to do it about every 4 weeks. The blond works well and she does some highlights or something most every time. My salon is wonderful and I feel it is pretty reasonable. $95 for cut and color. It still adds up, but, hey, I need to look nice! If I were not working, I might reconsider.</p>
<p>My mother lost all her salt-and-pepper hair due to cancer treatments in her late 50s, and when her hair grew back it was a beautiful shade of white. She never colored her hair, and when I was growing up, she either said or inferred that women who colored their hair were “floozies.”</p>
<p>I started noticing – and plucking – gray hairs in my 20s, and started having a hairdresser color my hair shortly after I turned 30, mainly because I had very young kids and didn’t want to look like their grandmother. The roots in front and on the side come in very gray, while the top and back are still quite brown. I always told myself I’d stop dying my hair once my kids had graduated from high school, but haven’t followed up on that yet. If the gray was more uniform, or if it was white instead of gray I think it would look a lot better natural. And I hate the idea of growing out the color; a colleague did that a year ago, and I hate to say it, but she looked like she had escaped from an insane asylum with three inches of very white/gray roots atop shoulder-length dark brown hair.</p>
<p>While I have tired of the hassle and expense of having my hair colored every four weeks, my D wanted to dye her hair so badly in high school. (I talked her into just using semipermanent haircolor). I admonished her that she’d probably be dying her hair soon enough to cover up gray, given her ancestry, but you just can’t convince a kid otherwise at that point in their lives. It’s like shaving your legs; as a preteen you can’t wait to start, but it quickly becomes something you hate doing.</p>
<p>You know, it’s not that I think skillfully colored hair looks bad – it doesn’t, it can look great. I just don’t think it makes the wearer look any younger than she actually is.</p>
<p>I get my hair professionally colored. I don’t know if it is that the color makes me look younger or that the fact that with my hair colored I don’t look washed out. I don’t wear makeup and maybe adding some makeup and color to my face would have a similar result.</p>
<p>I am a low-maintenance person. I have never worn foundation, wore lipstick only once in my life (at my wedding), and wear only soft taupe eyeliner and mascara when I bother with makeup. Until I was in my 50’s, I never colored my hair, which was dark brown. But at one point, the gray was coming in and it bothered me, so off I went to the hairdresser. She pointed out that, besides the gray, my brown hair had faded. She pulled some hair from the underside in the back next to my face, and the color was so much richer and more vibrant. I’ve been coloring my hair since then. The color improves the texture, making my hair much more silky and manageable. I can’t stand roots, so go about every 3 weeks. But I only get all the roots done every third time. In between, I have either a “hairline” - top of head near part and area near face - or a “half-color” - the top and sides. This saves money, because they charge much less for partial color. </p>
<p>My hair looks 25. I worry that at some point there will be too much of a discrepancy between my young-looking hair and my over-60 skin, but I think I am still OK, even though the color is darkish brown (not as dark as my original color, and with golden instead of red highlights). I don’t have highlights done, but there is still some variation in color - it does not look flat. </p>
<p>I also save time and money by leaving right after the shampoo with my hair wet. I don’t like the blow-dried look. When I want my hair to look its best, I blow it dry myself, but it comes out more natural looking than if it is blown dry in the salon.</p>
<p>I don’t care about looking “younger.” I just want to like the way I look, and I do like my look better with a bit of color in my hair. I am pasty white, and it’s nice to have a bit of contrast.</p>
<p>I don’t think coloring the hair necessarily makes you look younger, but faded/washed out hair can sure make you look older!</p>
<p>I had red hair- which was just a tad on the orange side so for many years I used henna to condition it & make it more red/less orange. I did it quarterly or so, maybe even less, but there wasn’t any grow out so it didn’t really matter.
Until…
Last fall I hadn’t done it for about 4 months, & I started to see definite grow out. I thought I didn’t want to have to deal with doing my hair more often, so I went & had it lightened to match my roots. It wasn’t grey, but a lightish pinkish blond. Not flattering at all, especially considering I rarely wear eye makeup even with blond lashes & brows. I also didn’t look like myself- Its taken me half my life to get used to having red hair & I wasn’t ready to give it up yet.</p>
<p>So my faded out hair lasted about a month, and then I started coloring it again, lighter than before, so the grow out isn’t noticeable, but darker than the mousy blond.</p>
<p>Several of these ladies obviously color their hair & I think they look great!
[ADVANCED</a> STYLE](<a href=“http://advancedstyle.blogspot.com/]ADVANCED”>http://advancedstyle.blogspot.com/)</p>
<p>My grandmother lived to be 99 1/2, lived on her own until 3 months before she passed away and always had one of her granddaughters dye her hair a light auburn. She didn’t fool anyone, but it did look nice on her. I have a little gray at my forehead. Sometimes I touch it up (only the gray), other times I leave it, depending on my mood. Depending on how the gray looks, I may keep it as I get more and more gray down the road. I have seen some stunning gray hair, but it depends on skin tone, shape of face and hair style.</p>
<p>Not looking for sympathy but–I am 61 and have no gray hair. However, my ash blonde hair has darkened over the years, so I get highlights about 3-4 time per year–do we count that as “coloring”? I’m not sure. However, it is always assumed I color my hair–but I keep reminding my DH how much money I’m saving on hair maintenance compared to everyone else I know!</p>
<p>My mother is 85 and, unless there is a major blizzard, goes to the hairdresser every single week (taken by her caregiver). She gets a “set” and every 4 weeks or so also color. It is far from natural looking (sort of auburn with a few highlights (don’t ask me why…) but it is part of who she is and she loves her hairdresser outings. It is a family disaster when she is ill or hospitalized and we have to make other hair arrangements! She also applies makeup every day- complete with green eyeshadow (we’re trying to change that habit…).</p>
<p>I started going gray in my early twenties and never considered coloring it. My mother dyed hers black until she died. I don’t know who she was fooling, except that she was a few years older than my father. A deep dark family secret that I’ve now given away! I was diagnosed with breast cancer at 38, and in my crazy mind, thought that I was going to wake up one morning without any hair at all. So even before surgery, I went out to get a wig, so my 3- and 7-year old would not be upset. I had SUCH a time convincing the man at the wig store that I wanted a gray wig. He just could not believe it, and argued with me. As it turned out, I had to pay EXTRA for it. Seems gray wigs are hard to come by. The joke (on me) was that my hair did not fall out, just stopped growing and looked generally awful for the year of chemo. I kept that wig up in the attic, and finally decided to get rid of it a couple of years ago. Feb. 17th will be my 20th anniversary of cancer-free. And, oh yes, still gray.</p>
<p>I really don’t agree with the view that you are trying to “fool” everyone by coloring your hair. I think it’s more a matter of trying to do what makes you look your best- if you care! As we know, our own perceptions of what makes us look “best” isn’t always quite accurate (i.e. my mother and the green eye shadow), but I certainly don’t think she is trying to pretend she is 65! Same with me- I just want to look my best for my age.</p>
<p>*I just want to look my best for my age.
*
which is why I have a lighted magnifying mirror- without it I worry I would look like Bette Davis in “Whatever happened to Baby Jane”!</p>
<p>“Feb. 17th will be my 20th anniversary of cancer-free.”</p>
<p>That’s wonderful, fafnir605!</p>
<p>People say they don’t color to look younger, but thinking we (alone) look young for our age is a universal trait after 30.</p>