Worrying Up a Silver Streak

ehBeth, I've tried letting my hair grow out twice, and it is snow-white. I don't like it. I don't need to look younger than I am, but I don't want to look older either.

Joanne, Thanks for offering to share some of your worries. What a generous gesture. But I've got plenty of my own. Thanks, anyway.

Diane, Is that you? You've got a streak? I'm green with envy.

Jespah, You told me that the little girl in Kerhonksen had yellow braids. Those were the real thing, colorwise, weren't they?

Well, folks. I'm going to experiment with focused worry and see where it gets me, or more specifically what it gets me. I just hope I don't end up with a streak down the middle in the back of my head. I don't want to look like a skunk, not that there's anything wrong with that. Also, I don't want Pepe Le Pew pitching woo.

I was blonde until, um, about age 14 or so. Then I went brownish, kind of a mousey brown. Got bored with it and finally did something about it while in Law School when I dyed it blonde. I mean, really blonde. Did that for Law School then let it grow out when I started practicing. Was brown for, um, about three years and met my husband. Stopped practicing law and got bored with the hair again. Went blonde about, um, eleven years ago and was blonde for my wedding pictures. Did that for a few years until we moved here (seven years ago). Went reddish blonde for a while until was finally told by someone that it looked too brassy. Then returned to blondeness.

Roots are mousey brown, with grey at the widow's peak and temples.

Color of other hair on body will remain a mystery. :wink:

Jespah, I'm concluding that you're a natural blonde with wayward brown. Going blonde is just a return to your roots, so to speak

A whole head of silver?
You are kidding, aren't you?

I'd still like to go for the whole head of white. Two of my aunts had completely white hair before they were 30 - they looked too young for it for so long, that they seemed to look younger than everyone else until they were in their 60's. They were incredibly striking women.

ehBeth- I think that the reason that prematurely white hair always looks so lovely, is because it is on a young face. When the hair turns gray due to aging, the skin tone has also changed somewhat.

I think that when the skin tone has changed, the grey looks better than any dye can. I look at women on the subway everyday and wonder if they don't realize how aged they look because of their use of hair colour. Most people can't afford to have it done in a way that doesn't look bad, and shouldn't bother.

I know that giving up hair colour is going to be difficult for me - but once there is more than about 60% grey, i plan to go all the way. Probably even do lo-lites to make it more dramatic.

ehBeth- Whether gray looks better than dye on an older person is according to the tone. In my 55+ town, I get to see a LOT of grey hair. There are some people's hair that changes to an unattractive yellowish white. The ones who are lucky have either the pure white, or silver tone.

The problem is, that some people attempt to recreate the hair color that they had when they were younger, and that is always a mistake. The dyed hair usually appears much too intense for the skin tone.

Years ago, I had a book on makeup. They showed pictures of a model, and how she should change her hair color over the decades. Softer shades are always better on older people.

Hi Roberta--yes, this is Diane, mmediane on abuzz, your zany friend from CT.

When you practice focused worrying, where will you focus; temples, upper forehead, just above your ear? Knowing you, it will probably actually happen!

Several of the women I know with dark hair look better when they dye thier hair rather than letting it go gray. Maybe it is because of the greater contrast or, as has been mentioned, it might be skin tone. My cousin dyes her hair a shade or two lighter than it is naturally and she looks great.

My mother dyed her hair well into her 60's. She always had a young face so the look wasn't at all distracting or unnatural. When she let it go totally gray, when she was around 68, it also looked beautiful, but she was still beautiful even then, with gorgeous skin. In fact, a picture was taken of her just a month before she died and she still looked striking.

As Phoenix said, if a woman chooses a color lighter than her natural shade, it gives a soft look without the harshness of very dark colors.

Having met you in person, Roberta, I know how lovely your skin is. You could get away with color or not and still look great.

Hair colour is a real bugbear for me. If people are not going to try and make it look somewhat believable, I think they're better off to leave it alone.

People don't have one colour hair naturally, and people don't always take that into account when they colour it. That gives me a grating feeling similar to the feeling some get when they see unpolished shoes, or ragged fingernails, or hear nails on a chalkboard. Bad hair colour literally makes my skin crawl.

Now a fabulous streak, whether natural or not - that is something I love. Dramatic hair, on a person with flair, is simply divine.

From the pix I've seen of Roberta, I can just imagine a streak - it would be perfect. Now to figure out how to worry it into the right spot.

Hi Roberta.
A few grey hairs are nothing to worry about.
Better grey than balding! Any day.

For reasons I don't entirely understand, I have a "thing" against dying my hair. When I was a child and my mother returned from the beauty parlor with a rinse or some such thing, I would cry and scream. (I never said I'm not a bit strange.) So no chemicals will ever go on my hair. Ever.

At this stage in my life, I would probably look a bit better with less dark hair. However, it's going to have to get less dark on its own.

But the streak. I've been focussing all my worrying on one thing. So far, nada. I guess this is going to take some time.

msolga, great to see you here.

I began to get the white hairs when
I was in my early 30's
I remember going to the duck pond
and my oldest daughter picking
out the white hairs. I told her it
would just make 2 more grow,
but, oh well, now it is half and half.
When I keep it cut short, use the
wax, or stiff grease stuff to spike it
up a bit, it looks like it is frosted a
bit - nice illusion.

My very premature grey/white was very striking, when I was a young woman, in my 20s, 30s. By the time I turned 40, my face was just beginning to catch up with my hair, and because I am fair-skinned as well, I looked so washed out. It made me feel older than I was. My daughter's hair's a little lighter I was, my son's hair is almost what mine was. We all have the same hairdresser. She colours my hair something in between. It looks good and it gives me a lift.

Babs, Your hair sounds good to me. Spiked and frosted-looking.

My hair is long, and I wear it up. Before the silver strands started making their appearance, my hair was extremely dark--with no highlights of any other color. It just reflected light.


McKenzie, Premature gray usually looks great. Nonpremature gray may or may not look great. I'm glad you're happy with the color it is now. It gives you a lift? Who could ask for more?

I've been focusing my worrying. Still no streak. Very frustrating.

A red boa complements, but it's the coif blanc which really sets my pickle off ...
a verde arabesque ensemble, no?

Hmmmmm - Boida -I would focus the worries up in a sort of beam to the area you wish to affect. This is a mental discipline easily achieved with practice.

I will focus mine there, too.....



LOL

I gots white whiskers in my beard, if darned ol' Lovey didn't want facial hair to play with, i could remain clean-shaven, and everyone would still think i was in my early 40's -- sigh . . .

My Dad was completely gray at 17. My sister (18 months younger than me) followed in his footsteps. I have 'punk' streaks, as my sister calls them. Two inch wide bands of gray at each widow's peak.

I will never put coloring in my hair again. It's done so much damage to mine.