Color the Gray? Yes or No?

I need to touch mine up. It is slowly turning white, redheads don’t go grey. It is a pretty, shiny, silvery white, just like my doctor’s, lol, but I am not ready to give up my auburn hair. My gramma had hair the colour of sterling silver, gorgeous. My mother still had lots of dark hair at 93. I think I will rock red hair in my nineties, maybe one white streak.
 

The beauty industry has a lot to answer for. One of them is the cavalier way that they use toxic chemicals without a thought to the effect on the health of the workers and their clients. Hair dye contains a cocktail of nasty molecules that I am wary of and acrylic nails emit very toxic fumes. You only have to walk past a nail salon to smell the toxic vapours and no face mask is going to protect the girls working inside. On top of that, many salons use girls who are the victims of human trafficking for the purpose of using virtual slave labour.

Some fifty or so years ago, when my children were little, Marlene Dietrich was being feted as "the most glamorous grandmother in the world". I looked at her photo and saw a woman who looked like she had been embalmed. Her face showed no emotion and her eyes were cold. If she smiled I imagined her jaw might fall off. Then I looked at my own decidedly unglamorous mother, the grandmother of my children, with her ready smile and naughty laugh and saw how my kids loved her. I decided then and there that I never wanted to be a glamour puss, especially when old enough to be a grandmother. This thought has helped me to accept my age without worrying too much about how I look.

That said, I do make special effort when the occasion demands it. As we say in Australia, I scrub up OK when I have to.
 
I wouldn’t mind being a Silver Fox, but mine is still quite dark with bits of grey here and there, it will fade eventually but I’m old now so may be destined to end my days as an old sloth .....
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debbie in seattle said:
I started getting gray when I was in my late 29’s, yes, I color my hair. My hair is very fine and my sis let hers go completely gray and she looks awful, that alone convinced me to continue. I’ve asked my hair girl when I should consider just let it go natural and she said women really don’t do that anymore like in the old days. I am really envious those women who have that beautiful silver gray.
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I agree. Some of us look fine with silver hair while others less so.

The idea is to feel attractive and confident about your appearance. There is no right or wrong on this issue.
 
Why is it that dark hair flecked with grey is attractive in a man but not in a woman. As I said earlier, my sister's dark hair that is about 50% grey is very attractive and in sunlight it is spectacular. It is positively luminous, not at all like the fur of a dreary old sloth.
 
Shalimar said:
All grey hair is not created equal, I have seen men with dingy grey hair, no shine whatsoever. It turned their skin sallow, made them appear old and ill.
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Amen, sister! I hate that kind of "yellowed" gray hair that some people have... I suppose from sun damage or something. It looks dull and dingy. If mine turns out like that I will be brunette again faster than you can say, "Miss Clairol." :lol:
 
When my mum's hair was turning a bit yellow I was advised to only buy colourless shampoo and conditioner. Shiny hair requires frequent washing. Ladies can always cancel yellow with a faint blue rinse and hair still needs to be trimmed regularly for best effect.
 
I lightened my hair for years because it is naturally very dark and doesn't go well with my very fair skin. Makes me look like Mrs. Dracula or something. Anyway I just let it go grey when it was ready to and it looks much better on me than my natural very dark hair did.

My mother's hair had gone white before I was born. She said it was sort of a honey blonde, but then she and my dad got diphtheria in their late 20s and she said after that, her hair came in white.
 
Funny, I just stopped dying my hair about 2 months ago and am soooo happy about it. Wasn't sure, kept caving in and doing it, but enough's enough. I'll be 70 in April so I think it's time. Funny thing is it looks better IMO and also my husband's and I have had quite a few compliments. I actually think my hair was THINNER when I dyed it. It seems like I have MORE hair now, and better texture. Sorry I didn't do it a few years ago. I belong to a ladies' group (don't we all... ;-) and most have stopped also and they look fabulous....absolutely fabulous... ;-)
 
Warrigal said:
My once ash blonde hair is almost all white now except for a patch at the back. It is also short and straight. It took me a while to get used to myself without artificial curls but I am now comfortable with how I look. My hair and my face now match each othe

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My younger sister, who was always a brownette and who kept her hair coloured, has recently allowed her greys to show through and in the sunlight her hair has taken on a lovely silver sheen through what remains of the brown and it is spectacular.
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I think you look beautiful. If my hair were like this naturally, I wouldn't dye it.
 
:lol: My skin? I had to wait decades for clear skin. I used to lament that the acne was still around while the wrinkles were appearing. I had hoped for at least ten years respite in between.

I think one reason why the skin on my face is good now is because I never smoked. My younger sister and sister in law both smoked and they look very dried up now. The other reason is that I am rather plump with a fuller face.

I'm 75 next month and by the time I will be 85 my skin will become much thinner until it shows underlying blood vessels and it will resemble crepe paper in texture. I have watched family members of the previous generation and I have seen the end result.

Given all of the above, I'll take the compliment now because this, like all things, will surely pass.
 
I did one of those online makeovers one time. It was hilarious! However when I tried silver hair I thought it looked great! It brought out my eyes. Alas my grey is not silver. It's white.
 
Am I the only ‘guy’ yet to respond to this somewhat sensitive area?
Gotta say, wimin, all wimin should have fun with, enjoy their natural adornment.
When I say ‘natural’ I don’t mean color, I mean what God (nature if you don’t know God) has given the more comely gender…hair, tresses, framing the fairness no male can (nor should try to) match
Not happy with the color? Play with it.
Ladies have so much more ability to know what looks good

As for moi?
I was born with orange
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Don’t know if I was happy with it
But it changed on me….all by itself
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My mate sez I can now wear various other colored shirts and such
Didn’t know

Since living a ways from civilization I’ve kinda let myself go
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You ladies keep that spiritual fire y’all got
It warms that cold spot most us men have

(if this comes off as sexist, guess I’m sexist, amongst other things naturally unbecoming)
 
Gary you look very handsome. I like men with longish hair and facial hair. It's individual and distinguished. :eek:nthego:
 
Warrigal said:
:lol: My skin? I had to wait decades for clear skin. I used to lament that the acne was still around while the wrinkles were appearing. I had hoped for at least ten years respite in between.

I think one reason why the skin on my face is good now is because I never smoked. My younger sister and sister in law both smoked and they look very dried up now. The other reason is that I am rather plump with a fuller face.

I'm 75 next month and by the time I will be 85 my skin will become much thinner until it shows underlying blood vessels and it will resemble crepe paper in texture. I have watched family members of the previous generation and I have seen the end result.

Given all of the above, I'll take the compliment now because this, like all things, will surely pass.
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No acne, but for some reason the skin on my face has become oily. Supposedly, this will inhibit the crepe paper effect?
 
C'est Moi said:
I have colored my hair for years. Had no idea the extent of the grayness (is that a word?) Decided a few months ago to get my long-ish brunette hair cut short, and let the color grow off. So now I have this really unattractive mess on my head with about 3" grown out VERY silver and some bad ombre going on. :eek: Not sure I can handle this but I'm in it to win it, so I'll persevere. It's time for another trim and I'm not at all sure that I'm ready for this look. :eek:ld:

So do you color your hair or have you embraced your silver foxiness?
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I used to, but about 3 years ago I let it grow out, like you, it was tough going, but now, I love it. I get more compliments on my gray hair than I ever did on my colored hair. Plus, our natural color really goes with our coloring. I've embraced the silvery gray.
 
I colored it blonde for years, finally gave it up about 3 years ago. It's a nice silver white color, and I like it a lot better. That blonde color never looked the same as the picture on the box. (Not to mention that I didn't exactly look the same as that model, either.) It's certainly a lot less trouble.
 
Sunny said:
I colored it blonde for years, finally gave it up about 3 years ago. It's a nice silver white color, and I like it a lot better. That blonde color never looked the same as the picture on the box. (Not to mention that I didn't exactly look the same as that model, either.) It's certainly a lot less trouble.
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HAHA!! Ditto!
 

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