Letting hair go gray after coloring

@roger,

roger wrote:

Chai, I think you're going to have to plan your hair color around your eyebrows. Hair color is variable; your tattooed eyebrows aren't.

I can have her tat over it.

It's not lucille ball red, it's brown w/ reddish. there's already more than one color in there, so they look like hairs.
she would need go over some of the lines with more brown, and darker.
we discussed that when I first had it done, and she said it could be altered.

0 Replies

@jcboy,

jcboy wrote:

I'm going to text that little bitch Anthony about this thread for his input. But beware, you may start dying it purple, he's an odd ball!

Ha! I was hoping you'd come along.

1 Reply

@chai2,

you're not gonna go with blue are you?

(I guess you could get the marge simpson look)

0 Replies

@Dorothy Parker,

Dorothy Parker wrote:

It's hard to say without seeing your natural colouring and skin tone as it is presently. I agree that those blocks of roots some women have look terrible and that's just down to laziness I reckon.

I think if you decide to let your grey come through, the best idea would be to do it slowly and gradually with very fine highlights that have an ash or cool tone woven through the areas where your greys would naturally come through most (usually around the hairline and back towards the crown). As your hair grows, have regular trims an add a few more highlights every three months or so).

Whatever you do, don't experiment with home colouring. Go to a decent salon and ask for a consultation. I'm sure you will know soon enough if the colourist knows what they are talking about. They should be able to suggest what will work best for your hair type and skin tone (including eye colour and eyebrows!).

oh yeah, I wouldn't undertake this myself!

I color my hair myself now, because I watched my hairdresser do it for years, and thought "I could certainly do this" Then, as my hair turned grayer, I had to do it more often, and it would have cost a fortune. I would go to Bobbie, the last person who colored my hair, every 6 weeks. When I started doing it myself, I did it every 5...then quickly went to every 4. Now, I'm at every 2 or 3. My hair is is in great shape. I apply argan hair oil, make sure I use a chlorine shampoo after swimming (I wet my hair with fresh water first and apply conditioner before going in the pool) and generally keep it in good shape.

I'll be honest with you, I would never go for any blonde in my hair. Just wouldn't.
I'm not afraid of change, and if I were to see I looked fine in a gray wig, I would just want to do it.
That's why, as an alternate to lowlights, I might do it even quicker.
I see where apparantly it's in style for people way too young to have gray hair to get theirs colored that way.

If I like how gray looked, I wouldn't mind the investment of striping and coloring, so I could maintain some semblance of normalcy, and just cut the colored part out as my gray grew in.

I am VERY firm though, seriously, that I would NEVER want hair as short as Curtis's.
That is just horrible horrible horrible.

1 Reply

Actually, hair that is gray and looks good is usually professionally treated. I don't think I've even seen really good grey that wasn't salon enhanced. It rarely comes in even and is usually splotchy. A good colorist can easily fix it, but it still means visits to the salon on a regular basis.

1 Reply

@Green Witch,

I tend to think you are all idiots, but perhaps I can still learn to enhance my presence.

Gray that looks good is only professional, even by Green Witch, whom I so trust.

I can only be amazed about how women survive on this earth.

This sounds insulting - and I'm at least somewhat kidding - but really, are you going to continue this to the grave so you look well at the end?

This all makes me get the people who play with style, like Anthony.

4 Replies

@ossobuco,

ossobuco wrote:

are you going to continue this to the grave so you look well at the end?

Not just yeah, but hell yeah.

0 Replies

@ossobuco,

Quote:

This sounds insulting - and I'm at least somewhat kidding - but really, are you going to continue this to the grave so you look well at the end?

This reminds me of something funny at my dad's wake (yes sometimes at even very sad and somber times there can be humor).

This older woman - a friend of my grandmother - after seeing my dad says, "Wow, they did such a great job with him....I'm going to have to tell my daughter, I want to have them work on me here when I die."

Yes even in death many people are insanely vane and want to look good.

0 Replies

@ossobuco,

Well, we all have our ideas of beauty and what looks good on us and others. We all have our own comfort zones. I've been around plenty of women in my field who would never consider dying their hair and are in various states of grey. I don't think their hair looks particularly attractive, but that is not their goal. They want easy function, less expense and they avoid dyes for health reasons, all of which are very valid reasons. However, I also know good looking gray hair and it tends to be treated to be more even in tone, highlighted and with a little shine. Sure these qualities are based on our value of youth, but I don't think there is anything wrong with a person who feels better looking their best by societies standards and a even little younger than their real years.
Based on photos, my grandmothers looked a lot older when they were in their 50's than I do in my 50's. They already looked like grandmothers. I just look like someone's mother. I'm not sure how they felt about it, but I know having modern options I would not chose to look how they looked at my age now. Maybe when I'm 70 I'll be over it.

0 Replies

@ossobuco,

ossobuco wrote:

This sounds insulting - and I'm at least somewhat kidding - but really, are you going to continue this to the grave so you look well at the end?

if I follow my mother's example, the answer is "absolutely, yes"

and why not? why shouldn't we want to look the best we can at any stage or condition of life?

1 Reply

@chai2,

Any chance of you posting a photo of your hair (with your face obscured to protect your identity he he)? I'm curious to have a look.

Unless you are dead set on giving in to the grey or just can't be arsed with the inconvenience of the regular salon appointments, why look older than you need to? It's just my opinion and I respect anyone else's but I intend to keep my greys hidden as long as it looks appropriate (or matches the wrinkles on my face).

I know it's unfair but I think grey just instantly ages a woman and if we are being honest, who wants that?

1 Reply

@Dorothy Parker,

heh....funny you should post just now.

I asked my husband last night "what would you think if I let my hair go gray?"

The look he gave me settled any idea of that happening as long as he's around.

1 Reply

@chai2,

I'm kind of digging this look right now, though my hair's too poofity to get this effect

http://www.ninasimone.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/roseanne-barr.jpg

http://img2.timeinc.net/ew/dynamic/imgs/110214/Roseanne-Barr_240.jpg

2 Replies

@ehBeth,

I like that look too.

0 Replies

@ehBeth,

This is another form of highlighting, just using gray instead of blonde, red or auburn. I think Jane Fonda is sporting this look now, or she was for her last movie.

1 Reply

@ehBeth,

I sure get looking our best, as we see it, but I'm liking what nature brings.

I'm sort of funny looking, wrecked eye and that side of face somewhat sunken, but all in all, not horrible if you are me looking in the mirror... I'm still me. Silver hair flanges, amid the brown black and grey. Boisterous personality at times.

I am seventy, Green Witch. I'm interested in how to make hair look good, but I've low interest in keeping up streaks. Maybe some will do that for fun, which I get. I don't get it, streaking appointments to look better when you're eighty.

1 Reply

@Green Witch,

nah, that's just Roseanne with her hair mostly au naturel (not the hair feathers in the first pic).

She's chopped it off this year when she announced her run for president

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-r1i41dPvVVc/TzsCHC_Ga-I/AAAAAAAAP5M/I6KfAFTPPow/s1600/RoseanneBarr.png

I liked it better longer.

http://style.lifegoesstrong.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/reg/article_media/roseannebarrhairfeathers_0.jpg

http://static.oprah.com/images/tows/201102/20110209-roseanne-barr-4-300x205.jpg

I think she does going grey naturally well.

1 Reply

@ossobuco,

I don't think we should spend great amounts of time and money on our vanity, but a little does tend to make us feel better. I've seen 95 year old women in assisted living centers put on lipstick before going down to lunch and I thought "why the heck not, if it makes them happy?".

The greatest mentors in my life are not particularly beautiful. From Vandana Shiva to Jane Goodall, I don't think these women spend a lot of time primping and worrying about hair color. The world is not looking at them for their stylishness. I recently read an article about Raquel Welch and truly felt sorry for her as she spoke about battling her ever aging body. I thought gravity will always win, at least be at peace with it . Most people don't care if a 50 plus woman is gray or dyed, only that woman (and maybe her husband) really care. I decided a decade ago that the type of beauty our society admires is only obtainable for the very young and at some point either you do the vanity stuff just for fun or let nature do her thing to you . I think the best solution is to find ones own happy balance between flowing with it and working with it.

1 Reply

@ehBeth,

I had to look up how old she is: 59. I would have thought mid-50's in the middle picture and 60-65 in the other pictures. She's definitely had some plastic surgery based on the middle picture and then put weight back on which eliminates the surgical benefits. I don't think the long hair would work with her current, heavier face. I'm not criticizing her so much as analyzing her two very different looks using grey. I think she looks fine, but the middle picture is of a much more glamorous looking woman. I'm not surprised she toned it down to enter politics. I think society doesn't take beautiful women seriously, no matter what their age.

1 Reply

@Green Witch,

the two bottom pix are both from Jan/Mar 2011 (they were both from her hair feather phase). The top pic is from Mar 2012.

Amazing how much difference camera angles and a bit of make-up can make.

1 Reply

Letting hair go gray after coloring

Related Topics

Quick Links

My Account

able2know