<p>H has silver white hair he started getting in his early 20s and is 95% or more that color with bits of black here and there bit looks fine and many mistake him for younger than he is. </p>
<p>I am in mid-50s and don’t wear makeup or use chemicals (including dyes or perms or hairspray in my hair. My hair is mostly black with some silver/white. It doesn’t bother me at all. My sibs due their hair but I’m very happy with my appearance. My SIL says she may stop dying once she retires.</p>
<p>I started going gray at 18. At the time, it was just something different, and I would keep it gray when I was dying my hair pink or blue. In my late 20s-40 I basically covered it. I did let my hair go completely natural about two years ago to see just how gray it really was. I looked great up close but very old from a distance. Still, I know that it is a pretty color. I have started highlighting it with color and keeping it mostly gray and get great compliments. It is also cheaper than doing all over color.</p>
<p>I’m 56 and have no plans to stop coloring my hair. Like other posters here, i have fair skin and would look very washed out with gray hair.</p>
<p>My mom’s aunt went gray very young, her hair was a beautiful silver tone and with the coloring to carry it off, she was beautiful. OTOH, my paternal grandmother (also very pretty), kept her hair dark until she died.</p>
<p>Wow. When I see a woman with long gray hair (mine is not long, and only partly gray), I don’t think “witch”; I see someone comfortable with who she is.</p>
<p>I’m sure she has a mirror, LOL.</p>
<p>I’ve been putting some type of color in my hair since I was 16 (so a LONG time.) I’ve only ever done a solid color for a short period of time. When I was younger I did blonde highlights, then I went solid red. For the past 10 years I’ve been going to a great colorist who does a combo of lowlights, highlights & panels. We change it up all the time: seasonally; if he gets a wild hair and wants to try a few pink panels (did that about 3 years ago) or if I come in with a picture of Nancy Wilson from the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Induction (did that last time. I don’t hold reds well, so I’ll be putting more blonde back in next week.) </p>
<p>I have a good amount of gray, but he doesn’t try to cover it; he works it in with the other colors so it blends. I have a big Cruella DaVille piece in the front that I think is fun. Like others have mentioned, I’m very fair skinned and the wrong change in my hair color leads to a barage of “didn’t you sleep?” “are you OK?” “are you feeling well?” I’ve read a few articles about the transition to gray, but I’m not ready. </p>
<p>My mom has been coloring her hair since she was a teenager (she was quite the fashionista) and always did a solid color. As she aged she transitioned to a light ash blonde which worked nicely with her complexion, very few people suspected it was colored even though it was Loreal in a box. Even after her stroke with her fine motor issues she continued to dye her own hair (with occasional assistance from me.) She finally stopped about 5 years ago & it’s a lovely silver & white. At least I know when I do go grey, it should be a nice tone. </p>
<p>I think when people dye a solid color and go too dark, that’s when it looks harsh & ages. Also if you’re 70+ and your hair is a color not found in nature ;)</p>
<p>I am a month away from 48 and have been dealing with gray for a long while now. I have mostly a streak and have received many compliments on it and have been asked if I paid to have it done. The gray, I notice, is definitely filling in all over and I am totally fine with it. My H doesn’t mind at all and thinks I look great no matter what I do. We are both very down to earth and realize that aging is something we all do. We are most comfortable with who we are and will enjoy this journey as we go.</p>
<p>I started a very similar thread around 18 months ago, when I was thinking about transitioning from dyed with highlights to natural gray.</p>
<p>My stylist told me that I don’t yet have enough white/gray to pull it off. I have just enough white/gray to look really tired and unkempt. I think I have a lot more white than I really do because so much of it is around my face. She promised to let me know when I would be happy with the results of a transition process.</p>
<p>Then there’s the question of how to transition to gray. Let your roots go for awhile longer than you normally would and then get a cute, short cut (cutting off the dyed ends) or gradually go lighter with dyes and highlights until the white blends in.</p>
<p>My MIL is 82. She had medium brown hair before it started graying. For years now she has it dyed a sort of rust color. It looks harsh and awful. DH agrees. I so wish she would just let it go natural. It would look so much softer. She lives on a very limited (social security) income. Every time she mentions her tight budget I think to myself “How 'bout giving up the monthly bad dye job?”.</p>
<p>My sister is 61 and will prob. color her hair until she dies. She was a natural blonde so keeps it highlighted.<br>
What I think really odd is women that I knew years ago who had dark hair all of a sudden become blondes once they reach the age of graydom.</p>
<p>I also started to go gray at the age of 16. Have been coloring for a VERY long time. My stylist says I am now totally white, not gray, underneath which shows when my roots start to grow out in 3 weeks. I am also fair skinned so would not look good if I didn’t color. I have a light brunette base color and golden highlights. Can’t imagine not coloring but never think badly of those who don’t. What bothers me more than the gray is the thinning of my hair!!! Yikes! Oh…and I have started having a few white hairs on the outside of my upper lip!!! What’s up with that!!! :eek: I use the new Olay hair removal stuff for that. I guess I am terribly vain! ;)</p>
<p>I only have a handful of gray hairs now, so I don’t dye. But, I love the gray hair look in women like Christine Lagarde or Kathleen Sebelius, so if I can I will try to go for that look. </p>
<p>I definitely think women after 60, with some wrinkles, look so much better without dying their hair.</p>
<p>I did some Google stalking about Andy Murray’s Mom because I loved her gray hair and wondered about her age (1959). If I could go gray and look like her I would do it in a heartbeat. I think she actually looks better gray than when she was dark blonde. </p>
<p>Unfortunately I have been transitioning to gray for many years and based on my roots would probably look like a Calico cat.</p>
<p>Deega, I just googled her and she looks stunning! As I said before I hope I can pull out that look when I get more gray hairs.</p>
<p>I am fast approaching 60 <em>gasp</em> and have been gray since my late 20’s. When I was 34, my daughter’s nursery school class made pictures of their moms for Mother’s Day gifts, and when she came home with it, she explained to me that her teacher didn’t have any gray crayons, so she had to make my hair yellow. At 38, I had breast cancer, and had to pay a premium for a gray wig. The guy at the wig store just couldn’t believe that anyone would want such an item. But I wanted to look like myself. I am (in order) too lazy and too frugal to get involved in any kind of maintenance on me. I am happy with the way I look, and if I look 60, oh well. That being said, everyone should be happy with themselves, and if you’re 104 with red hair, good for you! Although the idea of a purple streak does intrigue me!!!</p>
<p>Part of why older women choose blond as they color away gray is because it blends a lot better with gray roots and growth. If you were blond when you were young, supposedly your coloring can carry if off. I’ve experimented with different hair colors over the years (really short hair, so not a big deal) and have settled on blond for the last 4 years or so and it works well for me. Roots don’t show. Yes, it’s an expense (6 weeks between cut/color), but it doesn’t hurt me a big to look younger in the workplace.</p>
<p>I highlighted and colored for decades. Decided to stop about 4 years ago, against the advice of my then-stylist. It took some getting used to but now I love it. There is quite a bit of silver in the front and the back is still chestnut brown.</p>
<p>I’m not getting it cut old-lady short, either (although Andy Murray’s mother looks fantastic and she’s a year older than me). Two words: FLAT IRON</p>
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<p>My gray hair takes color differently than the brown hair does. The result is that my hair looks very very natural, meaning it has many different shades just like natural hair does (natural highlights in other words). Most people would never be able to tell that I dye my hair. No unicolor for me. </p>
<p>Anyone who has a “helmet of jet black hair” is not doing a good job of coloring it. Hair dyes have come a long way from that and can look very natural.</p>
<p>Yeah…I couldn’t do short hair either. I am a chin length layered bob type. MOWC has a valid point about age and the work place. I have a friend who is a physician and she has long gray hair and doesn’t wear any makeup. She laughs when people comment on her looks when they do patient surveys. Most think she is an “aging hippie”. People are always surprised she isn’t as old as they suspect. My younger sister also doesn’t color her hair or wear makeup and most people assume she is the oldest even though she is 7 years younger than me.</p>
<p>I’ve noticed that there are regional differences. I live in southern California but take frequent business trips to Minnesota, and I’ve noticed that it’s far more common in Minnesota for women, including a lot of relatively younger women, to wear their hair naturally gray instead of coloring it. </p>
<p>(I’ve also noticed that it’s far more common in Minnesota for grown men, even middle-aged and older men, to wear their hair in bangs. But that’s the topic for another thread.)</p>
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<p>These really are two different things - whether colored hair can look really good and whether people can tell it is colored. Anyone who is over 50 (even a “young” 50) with no visible gray is obviously coloring her hair. There’s nothing wrong with it whatsoever but it’s not the same thing as thinking that no one knows you color.</p>
<p>Bwahaha! Thanks for the laugh coureur! 
I will have to start looking for the man bangs! Haven’t really noticed them! Now I will see them everywhere!</p>