Thanks! It will get less gold/more neutral as we go along. I’m really looking forward to seeing how it ultimately turns out!
My Going Grey Gracefully Journey.
- Thread starter Narnanz
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Thanks! It will get less gold/more neutral as we go along. I’m really looking forward to seeing how it ultimately turns out!
Thank you! I’m glad she was supportive too. I’ve been going to her for over a decade, complete with one journey to red and then back to blonde. I would have been really disappointed if she hadn’t wanted to help me with this. Hearing so many stories from people whose stylists haven’t been supportive made me nervous, but she was great about it.
That’s what absolutely did me in! One of our sons got married last September, and I planned out getting my roots done 10 days before because of all the pre-wedding hubbub. I was so paranoid about seeing grow out - LOL! Beginning of November, just decided to stop the crazy! I tried a touch up product called WOW, which worked nicely for awhile. It’s like an eyeshadow compact- got it at Ulta Beauty.
I’ve done the same! I’m a natural blonde. A medium ash blonde. I dyed my hair for many years, the last colour was black. I last dyed it Christmas of 2014, the last bit of black was cut out last Summer. My hair is midway down my back, and it’s a little like it’s naturally highlighted. I have the ash blonde, the silver, and a couple of gold-ish streaks where the sun has hit it. I’m so glad all the colour is gone!
I’ll bet it looks super gorgeous! It’s sooo liberating dumping the dye and the constant root touch ups!!
Thank you! I’m planning on getting some pics done later in the year. I’ll post one when I get those done.
I’m 42 and started highlighting my virgin hair due to greys. Luckily my greys are hidden inside, not obvious but getting more and more. I’m just thinking if I should continue highlighting until I can’t cover them anymore or go straight into dying it single colour. I just want easy maintenance.
Don’t dye it! You will have a line where it grows out. Just add a few highlights. You can add less and less or a few more depending on what color grey and how much you have. Also, you can decline to add “toner” which is like a temporary color, to reduce the harsh line and make maintenance easier. Or you can add a toner which will complement the grey and make it easier to blend with the rest of your hair. This way, you only go every 3 months or so (or for me, only once or twice a year), rather than every 3-4 weeks.
That’s a wonderful advice. Almost everyone who has experience with colouring kept telling me to keep highlighting, go lighter so l I don’t have to do it frequently.
I’d avoid single-process dye if possible. That seems to be the loop women fall into that ends up taking over their lives. I’ve read everything I can get my hands on about growing out gray hair, and so many people say the thing that made them want to quit was the upkeep. As your hair goes more gray, the regrowth becomes more noticeable. Sometimes the dye doesn’t take as well and the gray comes through anyway. I’ve done single process color with highlights for over a decade, and I saw this was starting to happen to me. The gray was starting to show through the single process dye. Having done a lot of research, I could see the future, and it meant going from coloring every five weeks to every four, and eventually probably every three. I hate the process of single color dye (sitting under the heat with chemicals on my scalp) so I decided to just stop that part but keep doing highlights. I’m hoping that doing the highlights — which will be every 3 months or so — will allow me to grow out my natural base color gradually without constantly battling the gray.
Ultimately, you just have to decide what you’re comfortable with. But I don’t think single process color is necessarily lower maintenance.
The other thing is, as you age, your skin tone changes. My hair colorist told me the mistake most women make is continuing to dye their hair their “natural” color. They age, but the color stays the same and it’s too dark and ends up looking harsh.
I’ve been observing my mom and how she has to dye her greys every few weeks. My hairstylist recommended highlights for lower maintenance since most of my greys are hidden. My mom who is 70, is lighting up and I think it looks great than keeping her natural hair colour. Thank you so much for the advice, I’ll try highlighting as long as possible and see how it goes from there.
I don't have a good pic right now that doesn't show my face and I don't know how to cover it like many of you know how to do - but if can get a pic of my grey growing out, I will. I did highlights/lowlights for at least the past 10 years - expensive but might have evened out against single process cuz I only did it every 12 weeks. Now it's been a good six months since I have colored, and wow, I can barely tell! I'm another one here to recommend against the single process color that will trap you forever! Also, I am fair skinned and blue/gray eyes so I think gray will not be a "jarring" look for me...