Dyeing grey hair!

Don't start dyeing if you can possibly avoid it! I gave up the dye 4 years ago and it was the best decision I ever made! If you do decide to dye your grey hair I found Nice and Easy gave good coverage.

A Hairdresser - a good one! I would never try it myself.

I hate hair dye. I think it is probably because my mother used to dye her hair black. Not only is this very unflattering but she eventually grew it out - not a good look! I have grey 'highlights' and I quite like them.

Its a very personal thing. Depends on the shades of grey you are...and what you want to be. Also how much your complexion has changed. Always best to talk to a good hairdresser you trust. If you just want a bit of a lift the made for silver hair shampoos around can take the yellow out after a couple of uses and be all you need to feel a bit more sparkly!

I have mine dyed professionally by my lovely hairdresser. He does a great job and makes me coffee and chats away. It's a very pleasant afternoon out. Would never try and do it myself and would never stop. Personally I hate grey hair

Dying grey hair immediately reminds me of the blue rinse favored by Mrs Slocombe in Are you being Served?
I think she also did a pink one if I remember right.
Be warned!

Having said that, Helen Mirren and Judi Dench both look stunning, and wear their grey with pride.

I have never had my hair professionally coloured but I do it myself with Nice n Easy semi permanent colour which does not contain ammonia. It does seem to be getting more difficult to find.

My dark brown hair has been taking a time to turn grey but coarse, dull, grey strands were starting to appear. My hairdresser now foils my hair using several shades, a mid brown and some tones of blond highlights. I feel much better about it and have had several compliments. It lasts for ages because the growing out grey hairs don’t notice amongs the highlights.
My mum and gran, who both had black hair, were both totally white by 30. My gran never dyed her hair, my mum always did until she died at 84. She always looked young for her age as she had super, wrinkle free skin. I wish I took after her.

As previously posted, a while ago I decided to give up the losing battle (started getting some grey hairs in my twenties, my biological father was completely silver grey by 30) and am now gloriously, happily grey at the age of 59!

I'm lucky that it's quite a "good" grey, mainly silver, but a bit darker at the back.

Love the fact that it's now lower maintenance, my hair grows very fast and the roots thing was a real pain.

Have a look at the Jerome Russell range, Morrisons stock it, they do silver, steel and platinum colours.

BTW, grey is very "in" I have noticed some young, natural blondes opting for the grey tones!

I've always enjoyed colouring my own hair. I've been going grey since about 50, but I've never tried to colour it back to it's original hue of dark brown ( too artificial). I used to go with soft light browns, and now I'm using a beige-blonde from Age Perfect by L'Oreal. I always feel good with this colour - grey might be fine for some people but I don't want to go there myself. I'll stick with my blonde for now !

I love my greying hair, but have this urge to go blonde, like Stella I have thought of putting a bridge/blonde on but do you get regrowty with that?

My hair is salt and pepper and not very evenly coloured. My hairdresser advised bleached streaks to ‘lift’ my grey, but I wanted dark blond too to put a bit of colour back. I’ve tried both ways and he’s right. Extra silver works!

I grew out my dyed highlighted hair this year. I’d been dyeing and having foils for about 15 years. It cost a fortune and I hated visiting the hairdressers for three hours every five weeks. My scalp was becoming really sensitive. I retired and went for it. My hairdressers was fab, she stopped the darker base dye used more lighter foils. The whole thing took around 3 visits, so 15 weeks. There was no visible re growth. I’d dreaded that white stripe down the middle look. To my surprise I was almost completely silver. I still get a bit of a shock when I look in the mirror but everyone says it looks great. My daughter who I hadn’t seen for a while thought I’d dyed it that colour. If I’d known I was this shade of grey and what good condition it was under that very expensive dye I’d have done it sooner.

I used nice n easy. I mixed two colours together and got very nice coverage that didn’t look flat and very natural (IMO!)
I did do it every 4 weeks and got so fed up that I’m now grey. I love being grey, but am still dark at the back. I have considered getting that bit greyed but I can’t see it so it keeps getting forgotten.

I'd like to go grey if it would suit me. I had darkish brown hair with chestnut glints. Now some is a faded brown with some grey, not evenly all over. So my hair and I, looks very washed out unless I add some color. I've tried highlights twice, but they don't last long and I can't afford it. I am a light brown now, diy. It's just OK, must be obvious it's dyed, and it's very coarse and wavy so hard to get a good healthy shine. I don't know what to do. I am envious of you with naturally silver hair.

Luckylegs9 yes you do get regrowth, but because the new hair growth is similar in colour to the blonde lengths, its not obvious. I usually recolour when the roots are about 1 inch long, and only colour the roots for the recommended time. I just comb it through the lengths for a few minutes at the end.

I use Garnier Nutrisse Cocoa, I used to use nice and easy but found it didn't take very well on my hair. I really like Nutrisse although my hair grows at an alarming rate and needs doing all too often. I use cocoa as it's the nearest to my natural colour. I was chatting to the hairdresser the other week while she was cutting my hair and she says mine is in excellent condition but we both agreed most older women tend to go lighter than their natural colour and have streaks put in as it's far less noticable when it's growing out whereas mine gives me a silver streak in the parting. I've now gone really short and choppy with no parting so that solves that problem. Has anyone tried the spray in stuff that's advertised for hiding root regrowth? I've bought some but not used it yet.

My hair was once a (rather wiry) blue black.
Now it is a mixture of very black and white and grey. I would look ridiculous if I dyed it.

I think older women should avoid having hair dyed black .
It just looks so artificial our skin tones change.

I ve never dyed my hair I was always fair and I m now a sort of white blonde which I like as I m lucky to have a fairly tanned skin I wear it short and choppy and although we re never satisfied with what we have I m easy about it all My friend has always dyed her hair but recently let nature take over and it looks lovely

Silver white hair is "in" currently with many young women paying to go that way.
After over 30 years of being a slave to colour, I am now free!
You will encounter many odd and some very rude comments however, going free is really empowering. I am constantly educating people that I do not colour my hair now, it is the natural colour. Very white.
Get a professional to "take out" the colour then treat with purple based shampoos and tradaa. Lovely white hair. I would also suggest a new updated cut to go along with it.
And to all, white is very different from grey or salt and pepper. With white you can have very shiny and healthy look that is all natural.

Wow so much advice - thank you, ladies! I might nip to boots later on today!

I never follow advice for hair styles for older women.I'm going to be 70 this year and have very long coloured hair, short just doesn't suit me.I also couldn't bear to be grey although there are some women it suits. It's a soft auburn, nothing outrageous Mainly always done it myself with Nice N Easy but being so long, it's hard to get to the roots myself so have it done all over at hairdressers now and again. Also, my hair is thick and wavy but am able to do so much with it,curl it plait it , up-do,etc. I rely on my daughters and partner to tell me if I'm looking like "mutton dressed as lamb" You should have your hair the best to suit YOU.

My hairdresser recommend Bleach London Rose Shampoo and separate conditioner. I use the conditioner daily as I swim a lot and the shampoo once or twice a week. I do my hair first in the shower, wash the rest of me then rinse my hair and it looks as if I've lightly highlighted it in that the grey becomes far less dominant and the different shades within my hair [natural shades] all blend together. Although it's called 'bleach' I've not experienced any, what I would call 'bleach effect' but I guess it depends on how long you leave it in. My hair looks natural and feels lovely too. I have it short and add 'product' to make it spiky'. I would never use a dye - too harsh both in colour and to the hair itself.