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oceanfamily
Associate Member
189 Posts |
 Posted - Oct 13 2009 : 08:13:50 AM
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I'm really interested in finding out how many other 30 something's are considering letting their hair go natural and letting the gray hair make its appearance. Would love to hear what made you decide to go ahead and go against the current so to speak.
With me it's reading all about the chemicals that are put on our heads and the damage that is done once those chemicals drain through our scalp and into our bloodstream and then the toxins travel through and attach themselves to whatever organ they want to make house in.
Just really curious to know if I'm alone in this new adventure of letting my hair color do what its planning on doing without any outside chemicals. I just hope that I will inherit my dad's beautiful gray hair. His hair was very classy before he died. |
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frugal mighty
Senior Member
Canada
854 Posts |
Posted - Oct 13 2009 : 09:38:15 AM
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I'll try to never go grey. At 43 I only have a few strands but I get my hair highlighted and occasionally also get a rinse done. I think grey hair ages you more than anything. Grey hair is aging. Now, if you don't MIND looking old and don't MIND what you look like then by all means go grey.
But don't be shocked when people mistake you for older. I had a co-worker that claimed 'I EARNED these grey hairs' what does that mean? I for one, am proud that I still like to look good and that means colouring my hair. She eventually started colouring her hair.
I don't find going grey an adventure....give me a trip to Europe...a fling with a Swedish guitar player, or a voyage to the south pole-that's an adventure to me.
As I age I think I will go grey but definitely NOT before 70. And as for the chemicals-I think that was proven wrong, and if not, well, pick your poison... we all die from something and there are chemicals everywhere! I rarely drink pop, drink booze, never smoke, rarely eat junk/fast food and have never worked in a paint thinner plant so I think I'm good. |
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simplemind
Advanced Member
1663 Posts |
Posted - Oct 13 2009 : 09:50:59 AM
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I am 30 something, something and something again. I have been coloring my hair since my early 20's. I started to get a few grays back at that time but they were easily turned into highlights. I have been white for almost 15 years now. My hair grows very fast and it meant coloring every two weeks. I finally just got tired of it. I decided to dive in and see what it would look like. Once a month I have gone in and had my stylist take out a bit of color at a time. Going from brunette is not easy.
I am getting a lot of attention with my hair. It is a bit hard on me because I do not like to have attention drawn to me. My stylist told me that blond draws looks. I don't know if blonds have more fun but they do get looked at. My hair now is a light highlighted blond and the grow out is white.
I don't know if it is aging but I have never had more compliments in my life. I do know that I have seen women of my age (I am far from a senior citizen) look very striking and chic with well styled white hair. I'm keeping my fingers crossed. So far so good. My husband absolutely loves it and he would pull no punches if he thought it wasn't flattering. |
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Kathy WI
Advanced Member
3298 Posts |
Posted - Oct 13 2009 : 10:00:42 AM
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I've always worn my hair long. I found my first grey hair when I was 29, and started coloring it in my early 30's. But then I realized that at some point, it will look totally fake; like when I'm 55 or 60, it will be totally obvious that my hair has been colored if it's still dark brown. And I'm always going to wear my hair long, so if I wait until it's completely grey to grow it out and let it go natural, it would look bizarre when there's eight inches of solid grey followed by 18 inches of brown. So I quit coloring it and let it grow out. I'm 47 and my hair is probably about 10% grey now. I've seen older women with long totally grey or white hair and I think it looks fine.
Here's a pic of Emmylou Harris with longish grey hair:
http://www.cmt.com/sitewide/assets/img/artists/harris_emmylou/emmylouharris24-430x250.jpg |
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BunnyFan
Advanced Member
Canada
1272 Posts |
Posted - Oct 13 2009 : 10:03:39 AM
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I don't know - I'm 30-something but have yet to see any grey. My Dad's side of the family doesn't seem to go grey, so maybe I'll be lucky.
My Mom, in her 60's, recently stopped colouring her hair - thank heavens. Sometimes colouring your hair can make you look older - at least on her it did. My Dad hated the hair colour look on her - he much prefers her current natural salt-and-pepper.
I think it depends on the woman - some people suit grey / white hair, some do not. I don't think I could be bothered with it, but that's more laziness than anything.  |
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nomadchic
Advanced Member
USA
2199 Posts |
Posted - Oct 13 2009 : 10:23:34 AM
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| I dye, and have since I was in high school. My bangs are completely white and have been since I was 17 (genetics thing). I also have very, very dark brown hair so it was completely obvious and makes me look like Rogue from X-men. I only touch up the roots on my bangs, I do not dye my whole head of hair. Once upon a time (10 years ago) I used to dye the bangs fire engine red, but I was still in college then! |
"Not all those who wander are lost."-JRR Tolkien.
http://brokenpine.wordpress.com
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hapathy
Advanced Member
USA
1302 Posts |
Posted - Oct 13 2009 : 10:25:04 AM
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quote:
But then I realized that at some point, it will look totally fake; like when I'm 55 or 60, it will be totally obvious that my hair has been colored if it's still dark brown.
heh, yea seriously, as if when your in your 60s you're going to look in the height of youth just because you have dyed your hair. No you'll just look like you have dyed hair, that is all. The best one can realistically hope for is to look good for their age. As for aging a person, skin condition does that far more than hair (so wear sunscreen peeps :)).
As for whether anyone dyes their hair, well a lot depends on what it looks like on the person. My mom's salt and pepper hair - beautiful. But it is true, not everyone looks good gray. At 34, no grays yet, I expect I'll see a few stray grays before 40 if my mom is any indication. I'll decide how I feel about them then. |
"We could live beside the ocean
Leave the fires behind
Swim out past the breakers
And watch the world die" |
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Glo
Advanced Member
2852 Posts |
Posted - Oct 13 2009 : 10:45:12 AM
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| I stopped coloring my hair at age 59 and I'm not sorry, I'm trying to age gracefully (I'm 62) and IMO nothing looks worse than an older woman with unnatural hair color. I'm always told I look younger than my years. |
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stella23
Advanced Member
USA
9280 Posts |
Posted - Oct 13 2009 : 11:03:41 AM
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I'm in my early 30s and, knock wood, no sign of grey hair yet. My dad is 61 and only has a little grey hair, so I'm hoping I got his genetics. Probably not, since we have completely different hair colours, but a girl can hope. My mom is blonde, so it's harder to see her grey. It just looks a little less blonde.
I've only coloured my hair once. I have auburn hair and I like it. I might eventually dye it, but I won't really know how I'll feel about that until I get there. |
If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world. ~J.R.R. Tolkien~
www.sunnysideuplife.blogspot.com
www.thesunnyway.com |
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janehoyt
Advanced Member
5243 Posts |
Posted - Oct 13 2009 : 11:21:25 AM
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With few exceptions, dyed hair looks fake. Roots start showing about two days after you walk out of the salon, and if you have a lot of gray underneath the dye job, it will be obvious in any direct light. And unless you have cosmetic surgery, there's a point at which your face and your hair will show an unattractive generation gap.
I once walked behind a woman of indeterminate age who had a luxuriant head of strawberry blonde hair. At some point she turned around and it was like The Picture of Dorian Gray. Yikes!  Talk about cognitive dissonance!
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janharker
Senior Member
753 Posts |
Posted - Oct 13 2009 : 1:08:29 PM
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I got my first grey hair at puberty. I've never colored it. I'm 53 now. I often get comments of how people like my hair which is now mostly grey with hints of brunette. It's also got a natural finger wave and I keep it short.
The comments always come from older people. And beauticians.
I suspect the best way to uncolor your hair would be to either do it gradually or go on a long vacation and come back natural and endure the comments for a few weeks. After awhile, people will get over it.
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Francie
Advanced Member
USA
3102 Posts |
Posted - Oct 13 2009 : 1:14:08 PM
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I'm 65 and I don't color my hair and never have. I'm grey. The back is dark still, which I don't like, and I've thought about dyeing it grey, but that would probably look weird. It'll probably continue to grey over time. I'm (obviously) not 30 anymore and I sure wouldn't look it if I were to dye my hair. Or wear gobs of make-up. I don't think or act like I'm 30 either. Oh well.
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StellaYork
Associate Member
131 Posts |
Posted - Oct 13 2009 : 1:29:53 PM
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I just turned 30 this summer, and while I have found the off grey hair off and on (usually sprouting from right on top of my head) starting when I was 25, I don't really think I'm what would be described as "greying."
However, I can speak to "going natural." I am a white lady with long, chesnut brown, wavy/kinky/unruly/straight in places hair. I wash it and walk out the door. Sometimes I brush it. Depending on the weather, it turns out really uneven, or frizzy, or fairly straight, or beautifully uniformly wavy - it's a coin toss. But I get compliments about having beautiful hair all the time, and have for as long as I can remember.
Anyway, I am sure my hair would be fantastic if I wanted to spend 45 minutes + every morning blowdrying it, hot rolling it (the horror!), etc., like I did throughout high school and most of college, but I have BETTER THINGS TO DO. I don't spend a lot of time glancing at myself in the mirror, and my boss hasn't complained, so I can only assume that my hair look A-OK. Along with giving up high heels (I am very short) and wearing sneakers all the time, to all venues (like Ellen Degeneres, whose "look" I envy), this disavowal of Required Feminine Maintenance has been one of the best things I've done as an adult.
I don't plan to dye my hair, either - mainly because of the expense. And do-it-yourself almost always looks cheap, uneven, and fake. I am hoping I'll be one of those rare women who look cool with long, unruly, grey hair - cause that's probably what I'm gonna have! |
Edited by - StellaYork on Oct 13 2009 1:35:32 PM |
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~kib~
Moderator
USA
8744 Posts |
Posted - Oct 13 2009 : 1:40:00 PM
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I have a few white hairs at 46, but I'm a blonde-gone-mouse-colored, so the lighter hairs are actually flattering. Free highlights courtesy of stress and aging, what more could I ask for. 
At some point when there's a lot more gray I might try streaking in some lowlights, I think most of the fakeness of dyed hair is from having hair that's a completely solid colored mass.
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Eventually, Ecology trumps Economy. |
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nomadchic
Advanced Member
USA
2199 Posts |
Posted - Oct 13 2009 : 2:09:07 PM
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I think the 'fakeness' factor also depends on the type of gray you have. My gray is actually white and is just as soft as the rest of my hair. My mom's gray is gray and also very coarse and thick. At 33, having completely gray bangs with the rest of my hair being brunette would look more fake than dying it. AS for expense, I get a root touch up kit that lasts me for 6 months of monthly applications, so I only spend $10 a year. Since I cut my own hair that is still less than most peoples hair expenses. It takes 20 minutes once a month, so the time investment is negligible as well.
Once I'm a little older and the rest of my head starts graying, though, I'll probably leave it since I am prone to the white and not gray hair. My Great-grandma had waist length white hair she usually wore in a pony tail or bun, but at night she put it in two pigtails. It was adorable and I want that hair someday! |
"Not all those who wander are lost."-JRR Tolkien.
http://brokenpine.wordpress.com
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Wildflower
Advanced Member
2787 Posts |
Posted - Oct 13 2009 : 3:00:58 PM
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I'm 52 and have been enjoying my grey highlights since my early 30's. I love my hair and get lots of compliments on it. I am dark blonde and the grey blends nicely.  |
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going natural with hair?
