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susiemw
November 7th, 2008, 03:50 PM
Hi all,

For a while now, I've been toying with the idea of
letting my hair go natural. It use to be an ugly grey
but now it seems to be a nice white. I've been coloring
it for quite a while.

Right now, I'm sporting the skunk look. A nice white
stripe down the center of my head and some white at the
temples. As long as I pull my hair into a braid, pony tail etc,
the skunk stripe isn't noticeable!

Usually, before I've reached this point I've paniced and colored. So far, no panic has set in.

the question is: how did you all decide to let your hair go natural and stop coloring the grey?

and

How did the growing out phase go?

Susan

Xandergrammy
November 7th, 2008, 03:55 PM
Hi Susan! My hair isn't quite all white, but I decided in July of 2006 to stop coloring my hair. You can see lots of pictures of my growing out process in my blog and photo albums. You'll get lots of support here. There are several members here who have embraced their natural colors in a variety of ways, so I'm sure you'll get some good ideas. :flowers:

Bene
November 7th, 2008, 04:06 PM
i'm probably too young to speak with any authority on this, but i think it's time to let it go white when you accept it as being natural and therefore beautiful. i've decided already that i won't dye when i start greying :)

Teazel
November 7th, 2008, 04:23 PM
Come to the silver side! *beckons* :eyebrows:

I used to use a temporary dye, but gave up when it stopped reliably covering the ever-increasing greys. Other considerations were: the expense of colouring long hair (I would have to use two boxes) and the environmental impact of all those chemicals being manufactured and then going down the drain. I wasn't willing to use a permanent dye because I didn't want to have to grow it out whenever I decided to go natural.

Having said that, it took at least a couple of years for me to accept the greys. Now I actually like them. :) As you say, it helps if the colour (or lack of it!) is a pretty one: I'm lucky that my greys are a nice sparkly silver.

AutumnLeaves
November 7th, 2008, 04:39 PM
I'm another one who decided to go au naturale. I let the skunk stripe show for a few months and when it got long enough, I cut to the natural color line in early September '07. I'm close to where I was prior cutting now. I often wish I hadn't cut to the natural color as I've lost a year of length, but the good news is that now it is virgin hair, so that is the upside of it all.

Here it is about a month or so before I got it cut:

http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i131/AutumnLeaves1317/Sherry/DSC_0265.jpg http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i131/AutumnLeaves1317/Sherry/DSC_0266.jpg

Right after cutting to natural color line:

http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i131/AutumnLeaves1317/Sherry/DSC_0432.jpg

http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i131/AutumnLeaves1317/Sherry/DSC_0433.jpg

Now:

http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i131/AutumnLeaves1317/Sherry/DSC_0725.jpg

Euphony
November 7th, 2008, 04:47 PM
Sherry your hair is gorgeous, and I actually liked the stripe thing you had going on!

I'm a voter for let it go gray! I use henna but not to hide my grays, if I had more gray I wouldn't henna. My natural hair color looks unnatural on me, so henna is a good choice for me now. Once my sparse silvers start to come in a lot though I will quit using henna. My husband teased me that I'll be 50 with white hair to my waist and red hair to my ankles...he's probably right :grin:

Xandergrammy
November 7th, 2008, 04:49 PM
i'm probably too young to speak with any authority on this, but i think it's time to let it go white when you accept it as being natural and therefore beautiful. i've decided already that i won't dye when i start greying :)



You might be young, but you're very wise, Bene. There definitely is a time when your idea of beautiful shifts from bottled color to natural colors. Over the past few years I've become increasingly fascinated by the beauty of white/silver/gray hair.

Xandergrammy
November 7th, 2008, 04:51 PM
My husband teased me that I'll be 50 with white hair to my waist and red hair to my ankles...he's probably right :grin:


:applause I love this image!!! I can hardly wait to see it. :gabigrin:

Anne~
November 7th, 2008, 04:57 PM
I am looking forward to the growing out phase! Then if I ride my horse at night I might glow in the dark! ;)

Speckla
November 7th, 2008, 05:07 PM
I'd say it's time whenever you feel ready. I'm 33 and probably about 20% grey scattered all over my head but have some pretty good chunky streaks in my bang area. I haven't colored my hair since March of this year. My goal is 100% natural.
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embee
November 7th, 2008, 05:32 PM
Funny isn't it. Almost seems like when you start to see grey coming in pretty thick, it's time to stop coloring so you can grow the natural color without the ombre stripe thing! ;)

My mother had mostly grey hair when her hair was down, but when she wore it up (which was how she wore it) her hair looked dark.

Also, as one becomes older the quality of the facial skin changes and dark colored hair can begin to look very harsh against it, making the skin look older yet. I saw that in my sister-in-law: in her late 50s she dyed her hair very dark (as she always had) and looked hard and old, and then a couple of years later I saw her again and she'd let her hair go natural grey and she looked 10 years younger, it was the contrast with her skin was so much softer.

You could always try a non-permanent rinse/dye thing (I don't know what they're called, I don't color my hair) to more closely match the color you're growing at the roots.

Deborah
November 7th, 2008, 05:40 PM
Sherry,

I think you look much nicer with your natural color. The dyed look drained your face of color. You look younger now. :)

Addy
November 7th, 2008, 05:54 PM
ME! ME! I'm going natural!

I haven't colored since August! I have so much breakage that I didn't even realize from the color drying my hair out! :o I never really paid that much attention but I do now!

I can't wait to see my silver streaks through my length! I still have alotta pigment left to my natural color but I see more and more gray everyday it seems. I've earned them with high honors! :D

I have almost 2 inches of new growth! I hope by May it will be very close to shoulder length!

Good luck!

Euphony~
Please take pics! :D

TammySue
November 7th, 2008, 06:14 PM
I say go for it! :)

I used to color my hair all the time. I had to use 2 boxes of dye and got tired of the mess. My biggest reason for stopping coloring was to try to cut down on damage and just go natural. I stopped coloring in 2002 when I was 44. Currently, my hair is the longest it has ever been in my life.

Here are two pictures: the first is of me in 2004 (If you look closely, you can see my natural color reaches a bit past my shoulders. I was letting the blonde bottled color grow out). The second picture is my current color and length.

http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d73/missgunnesax/100_0066_2-1.jpghttp://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d73/missgunnesax/prisonpicture-2.jpg

ole gray mare
November 7th, 2008, 06:20 PM
My hair started graying very early. I started dyeing to cover the gray when I was 22 and stopped when I was 26 or 27. (I am 45 now.) I remember very clearly when I made the decision. It was when the costs outweighed the benefits. And for me, the costs were mostly psychological: it simply bothered me to do it anymore.

It was a very liberating decision and I've never been tempted to dye it since I quit.

wintersun99
November 7th, 2008, 06:37 PM
...............

Teakafrog
November 7th, 2008, 06:44 PM
I started seeing the first grays in my late 20's. I colored for several years to hide them. When I got pregnant with my last baby in 06, I stopped dyeing and kept growing. I've been trimming ever since to get rid of layers and damage from all that coloring. It's almost all gone now, and I'm glad I have my sparkly silver highlights--sometimes! ;) But I'm done dyeing. Too expensive, too much hassle. I can't wait until it's all white--that will rock! :cheese:

spidermom
November 7th, 2008, 06:55 PM
I was so lucky. The first time I mentioned "going gray" to my stylist, she looked at my hair and said "they're not gray; they're silvery blonde. Leave them alone; it's going to look stunning." So I never hopped on the dye bandwagon, and I'm so glad.

Elenna
November 7th, 2008, 07:13 PM
After dying my hair for 16 years, the growing out the gray process is difficult. This is because of the contrast of gray hair to the brown hair. Although as hair grows out the colors seem to blend better. It kind of reminds me of late season colors in a woods.

OMG, look at TammySue's hair. Isn't it pretty!

lynnala
November 7th, 2008, 09:41 PM
I think the fact that you 'aren't panicking' is a sign that you are ready to let it grow naturally. That's what happened to me. I have had white hair coming in since my mid-30's, and I kept thinking I would let it grow, then at some point I just hated the way it looked around my face and I would color. I used to use the natural dyes and make my hair light so that the white hair blended in. Finally, about a year or so ago, as it was growing, I noticed that it just wasn't looking bad to me. And it kept growing, and it never bothered me. So I never made the actual decision to let it grow out, it just happened! I can't remember the last time I colored, but it's been well over a year and I really like my natural hair now.

Michou
November 7th, 2008, 11:31 PM
I stopped colouring my hair almost 10 years ago now and haven't regretted it at all. I like my gray hairs, they're lovely and silvery. I didn't have especially long hair at the time, so it wasn't an issue of growing out the dye over a long period of time, I think it took one or two cuts.

Not panicking is probably an indication that you're ready to give it a go.

If you hate it undyed, it's easy to 'undo'! :D

ScrimHazard
November 7th, 2008, 11:44 PM
I wish more women whose hair has changed color with age would leave it natural, I think it's so beautiful! There is a mature model that is my hair idol in respect of aging. Her name is Cindy Joseph and she is STUNNING!

http://modelmode.files.wordpress.com/2008/04/older-model-cindy-joseph.jpg

susiemw
November 8th, 2008, 01:00 AM
Her name is Cindy Joseph and she is STUNNING!

http://modelmode.files.wordpress.com/2008/04/older-model-cindy-joseph.jpg

Yep, she is stunning!

I love Tammy Sue's hair too. Just stunning!

My hair is waist length so I'm going to be two toned for a LONG long time!
If I back out of going natural, I suspect I"ll still try to keep a streak of white but for the time being I plan on letting it stay natural. It's really amazing how as long as I pull my hair back minimal grey shows.

This should be another exciting hair adventure!

Thanks for all the support and information. I appreciate it.

Susan

LutraLutra
November 8th, 2008, 03:03 AM
IMO natural shades of greys, white and silvers are stunning. :cheer: Teazle, Autumn Leaves, TammySue, Ole Gray Mare, Spidermom, Lynnala have beautiful hair. Giving up the dye is tough, but I'm glad I did it. Every day I see a new white hair coming, although I'm still mostly auburn, and I know that if I decided to dye I'd regret it. Natural greys are very flattering to all skin tones.

Speckla
November 8th, 2008, 06:44 AM
I also like the idea of less time in the salon chair and more money in my pocket. :) I started getting my first grey at 21 and now 12 years later they are really showing up fast. My hair is about 23" and 5 of those are grey/brown and the rest is reddish brown dye. I decided now was the time to start growing out so a few years from now I'll have mostly natural hair. I'm trimming 2" off every six months. I think silver hair is so pretty.
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Drynwhyl
November 8th, 2008, 07:20 AM
I am too young to talk about this, but honestly, i can't wait to have looong silver hair. It's beautiful. :)

Teacherbear
November 8th, 2008, 07:39 AM
I found my first grey hair at 16, it was shoulder length. I had a little stripe going by the time I was early 30. Now I have 2 stripes (one on each side of my head). One is more pronounced that the other.

I've only done level 1 dye on my hair. I am not one for maintenance/upkeep on coloring, so I've just let my hair do what it does naturally.

LaurelSpring
November 8th, 2008, 08:01 AM
I am 45 and not yet comfortable letting my gray grow out. I have streaks but not a stripe yet so it would be a good transitional time for me. I hennaed then started to transition toward the gray by just using a cassia/henna mix to get use to the idea which was nice enough but then I had a major case of frumpiness and did a full head henna again. The thing is I love it! It immediately made me feel so much more attractive and happy. I guess it is a very personal decision that everyone comes to in their own time. Some days I think...its a loosing battle...get over it...you will look rediculous at 70 with hennaed hair. Then other days I think what the heck who cares but me if I have hennaed hair at 70. I guess only time will tell and one day I may just get sick of the whole process and be done with it. Right now Im still on the fence, but I truly appreciate everyone that is going before and the support that is here for when I am ready to let it go.

neon-dream
November 8th, 2008, 09:03 AM
I would let it go natural, I love natural hair colours :)
However, going gray is something I don't have to worry about, but when I got older and if I did go gray I would just let it happen
It'll look lovely

Aisha25
November 8th, 2008, 09:08 AM
I would agree with all others here I myself would just let them go white I got my first one when I was 11 now I only have 4 but they are very nice I dont mind them and also they are surrounded by a whole fortress of black no one can ever see them but either way I would not ever mind them.There natural and show our own personality.:D

akka naeda
November 8th, 2008, 10:31 AM
I've stopped hennaing a couple of months ago, it's so much easier not having to do my roots every 2 weeks:)

I saw a woman a couple of days ago who had her hair up in a peacock twist with a claw clip, her hair was probably the same colour as in the pic ScrimHazard posted. She's quite honestly the only time I have ever thought anyone looked elegant. I've seen plenty of people with long (BSL to knee) hair with sprinkles of white hairs of varying length, they didn't make such an impression on me.

I'd do it, if I was you but then I only ever hennaed because I like the colour effects of henna on dark hair, not to cover the white hairs.

Tangles
November 8th, 2008, 11:54 AM
Hi all,

For a while now, I've been toying with the idea of
letting my hair go natural. It use to be an ugly grey
but now it seems to be a nice white. I've been coloring
it for quite a while.

Right now, I'm sporting the skunk look. A nice white
stripe down the center of my head and some white at the
temples. As long as I pull my hair into a braid, pony tail etc,
the skunk stripe isn't noticeable!

Usually, before I've reached this point I've paniced and colored. So far, no panic has set in.

the question is: how did you all decide to let your hair go natural and stop coloring the grey?

and

How did the growing out phase go?

Susan

Go for it. White hair is actually better than grey because it doesnt have the potential to make you look sallow. If you don't like it, you might be able to get a stylist to carefully highlight it so that some of your whites still gleam silver. And I LOVE the look of darkened eyelashes/brows against white hair.

Vitalai
November 8th, 2008, 02:22 PM
I wish more women whose hair has changed color with age would leave it natural, I think it's so beautiful! There is a mature model that is my hair idol in respect of aging. Her name is Cindy Joseph and she is STUNNING!

http://modelmode.files.wordpress.com/2008/04/older-model-cindy-joseph.jpg

Wow, she is stunning!

I'm probably too young to talk, but I think growing it out naturally is so beautiful. Other LHC-ers naturally greying hair - Teazel comes to mind first - really are inspiring. I've decided that when I'm older, I'll let my greys grow out, too.

DavidN
November 9th, 2008, 04:31 AM
Long, natural silver hair is truly beautiful, and something to be cherished. My very special someone has the loveliest long silvery-white hair, and I am so proud of her for embracing the natural way!:love:

Isilme
November 9th, 2008, 04:58 AM
Many people colour their hair until they drop;) There is absolutely nothing wrong with using colour, do what makes you feel most comfortable, if it is colour, continue, if you are eager to see the whites, let them grow. To sum up, what makes you feel best, be it either colour or natural, that is what's going to be most flattering on you because you wear it with confidece!

Treecrown
November 9th, 2008, 07:56 AM
I'm having exactly this debate with myself at the moment...in the last few years, my new growth has been coming in at least 20% grey and white. I've experimented with henna, indigo, cassia, buxus and rhubarb, in a futile attempt to match my natural light brown/reddish/gold color, with the result that my hair is mostly a sort of light auburn-strawberry blond now. The grey roots look even worse against the new color, I'm afraid! I can't quite bring myself to go natural--if it were just the white hairs, I would--I like them, but the problem is that I think the new growth that _isn't_ white is a sort of dull muddy greyish color. It doesn't look good with my skin tone. :-)

My preference would be to go natural, because I don't like the fuss of coloring and I hate the way it looks when it's sort of half-colored, half-natural, but then every month or so I decide I hate the grey even more and I try some new mixture.

Sigh.

Thanks for listening....

PS: the fact that I use the word "hate" here makes me wonder what the real problem is...no one should hate anything about his or her body...

susiemw
November 10th, 2008, 10:04 PM
big mistake: looking in a mirror in walmart with all those flourescent lights. It really makes the "grey" much
more noticeable.

I may need to wait until December to grow my hair out, because we're having a family photo taken around thanksgiving and I really don't want to look like this in the photo. Depending on how I wear my hair and what it does between now and then, maybe I can cheat and doctor the front pieces a bit a bit with some brown mascara....
or maybe my photographer knows how to photoshop my hair to a matching color!!

Susan

Katze
November 11th, 2008, 02:53 AM
I am really pleased with my own silver streak coming in. Since I have been pregnant, the one or two silver hairs I've had at my left temple for the past 5 years have multiplied, and I have tons of short (from 1 to 6 inches) SILVER - not white, not grey - hairs.

As a sort-of blonde, silver makes my hair look lighter, and it fits my somewhat reddish, 'healthy' complexion and dark grey-green eyes well. But I also feel ver blessed that it's coming in in such a nice stripe, and hope it stays that way after our baby kitty comes!

While I love the look of natural hair, I can understand the pressure to dye. After all, we are all bombarded with messages about looking a certain way, and no matter how critical or alternative you are, some of these messages are bound to filter in, sadly.

What is best is to do what makes you feel happy and good about yourself. :flower:

flapjack
November 11th, 2008, 03:06 AM
I'm another youngster who probably has no business posting in here, but I just wanted to give a little hoot of encouragement. Gray and white hair is beautiful, don't let anyone tell you otherwise, they are fools. I have seen plenty of very attractive older women and men with long gray or white hair. There are also a bunch of women on the forums with gray or white long hair and it looks amazing.

psimons
November 11th, 2008, 03:21 AM
My natural hair is almost completely white/silver. After I cut in the Spring I got it colored blonde just for fun. Yes it was fun for about 2 weeks - then I started to sprout a lovely skunk line along the part. SO ... back to no coloring. I used to get compliments on my natural color anyway. I have an auntie who is in her 70's with jet black hair. She will NOT let a single grey hair see the light of day on her head.

I seem to remember someone saying that Jackie Onasiss had her hair colored every week because she was such a public figure. Whether or not that was true, I think hair color has evolved since that time. Anyway - long live beautiful natural grey/white/silver hair.

Addy
November 11th, 2008, 05:49 AM
Well, I'm thinking if I let my natural grey grow in I may not get carded for smokes and beer as much. :D

When people ask how old I am, I make them guess! They always say 20-22 and I LMAO. :D Maybe not for long. :hmm:

Loviatar
November 11th, 2008, 08:46 AM
I dont know many of the silvery sirens (m and f) on LHC, but I do know that I have seen Ole Gray Mare and TammySue's hair, and they both look incredible. I have already marked two options for me once I started greying (I'm 30 next year and no greys/whites yet) - I'll either grow out completely natural, or I'll do like Koala Kim and keep using henna. For me the benefit of henna on silver hair is I'd finally get that bright flaming red :D

However, I might decide to be a silver siren! I really do think that silver hair looks so elegant. I'm sure Nightshade's herb article has some good rinses for keeping the colour bright and pure too.

Whatever you decide, Susan, do show us!

GlassEyes
November 22nd, 2008, 08:46 PM
AS I've stated multiple times, I love white hair. xD;

I just got the idea from reading a post about how freaking awesome and mythical someone with long, tailbone-ish white wavy hair would look riding on a horse in the dark. Soooo pretty.

If I had gray I probably wouldn't henna.

Demetrue
November 22nd, 2008, 09:51 PM
I've been going through the same inner struggle. I don't want to use harsh chemicals on my hair any more - I can see that the way I've been coloring it all these years keeps it from growing as long as I'd like, and no matter what I do, the white is showing through 2 weeks after coloring, which ends up making me color more often, creating even more damage. My husband told me that for his birthday, all he wants is for me to let the natural silver come through and stop using chemicals on my hair - he wants to see it healthy and natural. I ended up using Color Oops to remove the dark blonde dye and ended up with white and yellow blonde hair. I decided to do one more permanant coloring process to tone down the garish yellow to a more muted neutral light blond. I tried a catnip tea treatment and it greatly improved the quality of the area that was damaged from over-processing. I've decided to just go with catnip and cassia treatments for a while and see how strong the demarcation is between the dyed and the natural hair color as it grows in. One thing I noticed, is that when it was dark blonde, I looked youthful and casual. With the silver/white showing and the lighter color, I look more elegant and polished, but more mature. I wouldn't mind looking more mature if I was tall and slender instead of short and plump. Anyway, I have a birthday coming up soon and I am trying to embrace my age and not fight against it so much. I feel this need to be more and more authentic and real, and that includes accepting that I've lived long enough to have gray hair and wrinkles.

susiemw
November 22nd, 2008, 10:09 PM
So far, I'm still sporting the skunk look... :)
My hair seems to be growing more slowly than
normal but I think part of that is that the white in
front IS growing slowly but the grey in back
is mostly in the underlayer instead of ontop so
it's not as noticeable... which is good cause it isn't
as pretty as the white in front.

susan