<p>I’m going to color my hair until I go into an ALF. Usually I do the roots myself, but in past few years, let a pro do it every few months (he can get the back better than I can). I wish I had the coloring that would look good gray, but I don’t.</p>
<p>I’m so fair that I’ve used blush since middle school, as well as eyeliner. I envy friends who don’t need war paint. Still, takes me less than 3 minutes. I use a spray to make hair stay curly/wavy. I spray it on when hair wet, then twist hair in small strands. It is a lot easier than blowing it straight. I have a lot of pretty barrettes.</p>
<p>Happy Anniversary fafnir605! That’s really good news to hear. I’ve always thought if I had to do a chemo wig I would go completely fake - like a silky pink My Little Pony look or Pippi Longstocking braids.</p>
<p>I don’t think there are any ‘rules’ and what works for one person doesn’t necessarily work for another. Gray hair in the right shade and the right cut can look way better than a dye job and bad cut. Gray hair with a dowdy cut or even one that looks incongruent with gray hair (e.g. super long and straight) can also look bad. But then again it really all depends on the person, their face, skin tone, etc. </p>
<p>It’s so interesting to be at this stage in life when we are all trying to navigate new waters - should you go gray, should you freeze your face with botox, fill up the wrinkles with chemicals or have it surgically lifted? What do you wear so you don’t look old and yet don’t look like you are trying in desperation to hold onto your youth? </p>
<p>Here’s what I have decided - I don’t have to make an overnight decision. I can take my time and let my ‘new’ style evolve gradually over the next few years. I now spend time looking for women in my age range whose style I admire and try to emulate it in a way that makes sense for me.</p>
<p>I know what I don’t want (to dress so young as to have people laugh at me behind my back) nor to look older than my peers. I don’t feel the need to look younger than my age or to be complimented constantly on my looks but I do want to look good for my age. Good for my age would be like Meryl Streep, Diane Keaton, Sally Fields, Helen Mirren. IMO, they are women who don’t feel the need to look ten years younger ( like Madonna, Demi Moore, et al) they simply look like beautiful women who have lived full lives and are happy in their own skin. If fact, I would argue they look beautiful because they are happy in their own skin.</p>
<p>This thread must have seriously entered my head. Today I went to walk at a park that borders the ocean. It is a beautiful day in the 70’s and there were many people out some for serious exercise and others just having lunch or taking a stroll. I was fixated on the hair of every women I went by. I must live in a place where people are vain because I saw little gray hair. Even the old woman who was walking slowly with her elderly husband holding her up by the elbow had colored hair.
My Mom was also one who went to the beauty parlour each week for her set. She also loved her makeup with blue eye shadow. She put on her “face” each morning when she got up.</p>
<p>My 83 yr. old mom has given my sister and I strict instructions that we are to have a stylist come once a week to do her hair and once every few months to do her color (it’s blond) even if she is totally “out of it.” She still hardly has a grey hair on her head but her hair is mousy brown naturally. Unfortunately for me I take after my father. </p>
<p>I think I’ve been coloring mine for about 15 years. I go ever six weeks but should go every five. I get roots, high lights and low lights and every so often I go lighter (more blond) or darker (more brown) depending on my mood. </p>
<p>Next on my agenda is keratin treatments. :)</p>
<p>I visited a nice retirement community not long ago and couldn’t help but notice that the majority of women in their 80s and 90s who live there do color. If it’s done by someone who is good, IMO there’s no question it can take many years off some faces. On the other hand, if it’s the wrong color or not done well, nothing looks worse. My grandmother had a whole head of natural, never dyed brown hair well into her 80s. We could always pick her out in a crowd.</p>
<p>The advantage for us 50-somethings is that the 20- and 30- and 40-somethings all color theirs too, so it is really stylish to have color. When I was young and my mother was a beautician, I wound not have dreamed of changing my hair color, but today people of all ages color their hair.</p>
<p>MoWC - Also have mom who still has her hair “done.” Which makes my dH ask, “How do you KNOW it is DONE?” And his follow-up question, “When will start getting your hair ‘done’?”</p>
<p>My brother and others have said she should start using the beautician on campus at their retirement community. She loves her hairdresser, and honestly, with mom’s expressive difficulties it is wonderful to have someone who has known her for so long talk to her each week. Not to mention the other regulars who are there. </p>
<p>I am assuming I will take after my mother in terms of hair color changes. Dad has this great silver/white hair, but that started when he was pretty young. Mom, on the other hand, doesn’t color hers and it is still brown. Dull, overly permed, VERY thin - but brown. I have some gray around the front of my face and my stylist highlights it with a slightly lighter brown than my natural color about every six months. I would love to hair that was turning grey if it meant I had more hair or thicker hair.</p>
<p>I didn’t start coloring my straight, auburn/medium brown hair until my late 40s, about 10 years ago. My hair is longish and I was fine when the gray came in, fully intending to let it do what it would. The problem is that the gray is stiff and wiry, and would break off when it reached about half the length of the rest of my hair, and looked like a dye job growing out - just dreadful. The color seems to tame the wiry part too.</p>
<p>I do mine at home about once a month, using semi-permanent color on the roots. It colors the roots a lighter color than the rest of my hair, kind of like highlights, so it’s fine with me. I would love a short cut and letting it go gray, but my thin, fine hair just lays flat and is not attractive. I’ve tried several different stylists and cuts, and nothing looked good. At least now I can put it up and make it look decent.</p>
<p>I’ve been highlighting and lowlighting for years now, but in the last five years I’ve gone a bit gray, so I also use a base color. I go to a very competent stylist every four weeks - my slot every fourth Thursday is booked a year in advance. Great color and cut is essential to looking good. I’m naturally dark blonde, but I think it is a good idea to gradually go lighter as the years advance - blonde is much closer to a natural gray than a dark shade.</p>
<p>I agree that many French women get it right - along with hair, taking care of body and skin are important to looking good to the end.</p>
<p>A friend of mine made the mistake of telling her psychiatrist how much money she paid her colorist. The psychiatrist thought maybe she should make more for a session than the colorist. My boss didn’t take the next step to encourage the psychiatrist to do the math; i.e., she pays the colorist $150 for an hour or more of work, while the psychiatrist gets about the same for just the 5 minutes when she says, “Take 100 mg of Zoloft and call me in the morning. And how are you set for Xanax?”</p>
<p>My hair is still very thick and grows quickly, so I took 9 months to grow out my hair. I let it go completely gray and kept it styled. When I saw a fb post where I didn’t recognize myself (I wondered who the old lady was that had a dress like mine), I cut and dyed my hair a red/brown. Everyone says I look younger, ask if I lost weight, etc. I did realize that I will have pretty gray someday, but I am holding on to the coloring for a while longer. I started going gray at 18 so I have been coloring for over 1/2 my life.</p>
<p>I gone to my hair dresser early and there is sometimes a man there getting his gray done. They seem to want to go early so less chance they run into anyone.
I am sure several of my husbands friends with jet black hair in their fifties dye their hair. Wish they knew that the salt and pepper thing is very handsome.</p>
<p>Theres an old Irish saying better gray than ney</p>
<p>Also what happens in a salon stays in the salon</p>
<p>My gray hair is very kinky, so going to the blonde of my youth helps with that</p>
<p>I have no real idea what my hair would look like natural, but from what I have seen don’t think it would be pretty</p>
<p>Just the last few years, I’ve been startIng to get these wild grey hairs at my temples. I’ve been plucking them (takes a while each morning for the hot water to get to the master bath shower so I have time… ), but now there are too many. I have always done my own color with a two step lOreal kit - bring the light brown to dark blond with step one, add highlights with step two. Lately the step one seems to not change the wild grey ones. Is this normal?</p>
<p>When I color mine (just a little gray around my face) I use Clairol Nice 'n Easy Root Touch-Up with brush included. The directions say to leave on 5 minutes longer for stubborn gray. Maybe your gray needs a few more minutes.</p>
<p>I am following this thread with interest because my dark brown hair seems to be changing in its ability to hold color and I gather from your comments that I am not alone. My hairdresser has been covering the gray with semi-permanent for perhaps 8 years or so (I’m 55 now) and it used to last for months. Lately, it seems to last for just 3 weeks or so and in fact, some is gone after the first wash. I was thinking that the color changed or my shampoo wasn’t working (Biolage Color Care) but from what you all say, it may be my hair’s fault. So what’s next? I don’t have enough gray to go whole hog, letting it go natural looks nasty, and I can’t stand the idea of the skunk stripe. I’m flummoxed.</p>
<p>Gray hair often has a tighter cuticle and the developer in the color may not be breaking it down long enough for the color molecules to penetrate. Just think of it as more resistant.</p>
<p>You might try switching to a permanent color .</p>
<p>And I would bet that all of the women you mentioned color their hair.</p>
<p>I saw Diane Keaton once in a hotel lobby. I have to say that she was absolutely stunning. She was wearing a designer suit with this amazing hat. She looked like she had stepped right out of fashion drawing. D1 and I saw her and we both agreed that in person she is 10 times more attractive than she is on film. She also looked quite smaller in person. This was about 4 years ago.</p>
I can take my time and let my ‘new’ style evolve gradually over the next few years. I now spend time looking for women in my age range whose style I admire and try to emulate it in a way that makes sense for me.</p>