going, going...gray



yesterday



if you all remember, i decided to let my hair go gray sometime early last year (2011) because i realized i wasn't fooling anyone by dyeing it.  and also b/c i was sick of the caustic chemicals wreaking havoc on my scalp.

well apparently a lot of you think i've been coloring my hair.
i wouldn't do that to you, if i colored my hair, i'd tell you!

here is the post i did last august about going gray.  below are a couple of good shots of how gray my hair was after about 6 months of no color...


august 2011



august 2011


now compare that to yesterday...










honestly, i don't mind it at all, in fact i kinda like it.

what's your take on going gray?




104 comments

  1. I prefer it, it's softer on you and I barely call that going grey, if I left mine it would be mostly white.

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  2. PS, you are so pretty, you look like a young girl in pic two.

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  3. This is so timely. I just recently decided to let mine go also for the same reasons as you. I think your hair looks great! I hope mine looks as good. I wish more women would just be their natural color. I don't have one single friend (except now you!) who doesn't dye her hair. There's the chemical issue but also thousands and thousands of $$$ being spent. So silly.

    You look fantastic!

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  4. I've been "going grey" for years now. It's SO fine with me.

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  5. I have been going gray since my late 20's and didn't color till I was in my 40's, and I still do. I probably have 3 or 4 naturally brown hairs left at 54! By my standards, your gray is very slight. I do worry about chemicals too and may start easing out of coloring by doing low lights. Good for you for showing how growing out gray can be done.

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  6. I coloured my hair for the last time in June and have about an inch and a half of grey grown out. I`m thinking of getting it cut into a pixie. My husband is very afraid, lol!

    You look great!

    S
    xo

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  7. Its beautiful. Looks lovely on you.

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  8. I like your grey! You are so pretty. I believe the peace you strive to have in your life is evident. The grey looks good on you.

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  9. I think it makes people look really old. You are not there yet though. Your hair looks awesome.

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  10. Going grey is something we all do ... and I think it's great to let it happen. It's sad to see women who expend so much energy to hide their grey, only to have it reappear as grey roots within a short few weeks after coloring. I like your grey ... any my own, too, for that matter.

    My own hair is pixie-short, a decision made spur-of-the-moment a few months ago, and I love how my grey looks like this. From time to time, I will go to the salon store and pick up a tube of demi-permanent color in a wild, vivid shade, and my greys will be brightly colored for a few weeks. My last color was violet. I have a tube of fuchsia upstairs right now. The color washes out and fades away, and it's a lot of fun while it lasts.

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  11. Hi Janet, your grey is coming in very slowly! I actually love the look of grey/white hair, especially if it is well-cut, like your hairstyle.

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  12. Unlike you, I would never dye my hair.
    (Was the dye you used soy-based?)

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  13. It would be nice if I didn't feel I had to the spend the money nor expose myself to chemicals (not to mention the sheer volume of time getting color and highlights every 7 weeks.) But I wouldn't look like you do. It just looks better and grows out nicer on some people. I would be much more gray in places and it would be mixed in with very fine, thin, dull/mousy brown hair. It would be flat, lifeless and totally wash me out. I feel I am doomed to this process for life-LOL!
    It looks so good on you!

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  14. I don't think I will ever have grey hair. My natural color is mousy dark brown and I have had it blondish since I can remember. Grey suits some women. Some get that gorgeous silver and that can look fabulous. Me, my grey that sneaks up underneath is yellow and wire-y. It would never suit my face, just as my natural color doesn't so much. My mother was grey at 30 and it always bothered me as she looked so much older than she was, however, she didn;t mind a bit. I guess we all have things that we can live with and things we can't.....YOURS LOOKS FABULOUS.

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  15. My goodness, your skin looks so fresh and young! Please tell us exactly what you do to stay looking so beautiful. Do you think a vegan diet contributes?

    You don't have much grey and your haircut is adorable!

    Betty

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    1. You know I think that there is something in veggies, my diet is about 70 percent veg based, and my skin looks so much younger than my chums and even my hubs who is 9 years younger than me. My carb count each day is frightening to many North Americans but I don't care.

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    2. i notice that too tabitha. i do believe diet plays a huge role in skin condition. i see it all the time in women's skin. i wish more women would concentrate on what they put into their bodies rather than on what they put on their bodies. my favorite beauty products are fruits, veggies and fresh air. xo

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    3. Sadly, although I am vegetarian but look as old as a dinosaur. It's all genes genes genes

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    4. I personally think the main reason is genes, then your mental/emotional/spiritual well-being and general outlook on life. I'm sure lifestyle, including diet etc., has its 'say' in this, as well, if you can follow your instinct on what's good for you at any particular time in your life. Who knows for sure, though?

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  16. You look fabulous and it looks more like tinsel highlights than grey.
    Mine is so patchy only at the temples that I'd resemble a skunk if I did not have it coloured...
    not a look I am eager to wear!

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  17. I was heading down that road and chickened out this summer. It was coming in white/silver in my pale blonde hair, I have pale eye color, pale skin color and felt invisible without wearing a lot more makeup. Now I hate what she put in it...rethinking going gray.

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  18. I am 38 and completly let mine grow out. I have a natural skunk stripe that was too difficult to cover. I love the freedom and I am a professional woman. It is very empowering to me. You go Janet!!! I also think it's much healthier for me.

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  19. Oh and I forgot to add..I changed to colors I wear-less black, more navy, hot pink and purple and I feel and look FABULOUS!!! ; )

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  20. I was "doctoring" my gray with bits of blonde until one day I asked my hairdresser to really take a look and tell me what was going on in there. She reported "you have gorgeous silver hair!" So I stopped added bits of blonde and let it go natural. That was several years ago. I'm 55 now. I wear it in a pixie style. It just happens I have a natural silver chunk in the front that works really well with my cut. Everyone asks me if I have that bit dyed in! Women compliment me on my hair everyday. That's nice, but the freedom for dyeing it is the nicest part! And the money I'm saving! I tell every women who's on the fence to try natural....you can always dye your hair if you don't like it! My advise is that I think grey looks best with a savvy cut that well kept and styled. Well...that goes for any color, but it seems to more important with grey hair.

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  21. I agree with Heather. It's important to wear color around your face. I don't wear black around my face anymore...navy has become my new black. And since I have very short hair, I wear pretty earrings, scarves, bright lipstick, blush...so my face doesn't look washed out. I think I look younger than I did years and years ago.

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  22. I use henna to highlight my auburn hair. Red heads do not grey gracefully. Nor does the grey come in smooth it's very corse and not attractive at all. I'll be 56 in a few days going grey is so incongruous to how I see my self. I hope some day that it won't matter to me but for now it's henna.

    Bridge.

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  24. You're so lucky to have so little; I have as much grey as you and more and I'm only 31!

    I'm planning on never dyeing, mainly because the chemicals freak me out and partly because I know I'll resent paying that money down, but I can already see that my grey hairs are slightly wirier and coarser than my browns. My hypothetical plan is, once I'm grayer, to spend more money on good cuts 3-4 times a year, rather than 1-2 and the occasional professional blowdry for special occasions. Softer on the environment and my wallet.

    You look lovely, so I'm glad that you're comfortable and happy with it (it's frustrating when people look wonderful and can't see it themselves :)

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  25. I've let my hair go gray for the past ten years (I'm 57 now), and wear a chopped-pixie 'do that I cut myself. I have mousy hair, so the gray gives it a tweedy effect, which I like to call "wild rabbit." A bit of lipcolor and bold glasses jazz it up. It's a bit don't-give-a-damn and nearly everyone thinks I look better now than I did fifteen years ago when my hair was colored, permed, and long.

    You, however, are stunning, simply stunning!

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  26. I've never died my hair, started getting "silver" hair in my thirties, and now in my fifties, looks like highlights. I have had more women come up to me and tell me they wish they could let it go and that their's would look like mine, I always say try it and it will look like mine. My hairdresser has finally stopped asking me if I want highlights, nope, I have God's highlights.

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  27. loving all your 50 shades of gray janet.
    you look great.
    pve

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  28. If my hair looked like yours I would go gray any minute. I think hardest part about going gray is the roots if you are coloring your hair. Once you have all over your head it looks OK on most women.

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  29. Your hair is wonderful, it looks so beautiful! x

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  30. Natural hair color seems to work best, I think. As we age our skin and skin tones soften often making too much contrast between dark, dyed hair color and softer skin color. Perhaps as we age our hair color should too and that means if natural it'll have gray in it or if dyed it should be a lighter shade and/or have highlights. I'm a dark ash blond now, 69 yrs. old and I have just enough gray to make my hair look highlighted...with just a bit more gray I might look almost blond again and more like I like to think I look :). Your hair cut is darling. Gray is GOOD. Dye is toxic. Love your blog. sally

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  31. Juanita, you are so bloody gorgeous close-up I reckon you could get away with a mohawk never mind a sprinkling of silver! Your hair is lovely and in great condition. I love my black hair despite the root re-touching is a total pain in the backside, my natural colour does nothing for me so I'll probably still be dyeing it when I'm 70. xxx

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  32. I am a natural redhead but now I have maybe 3/4 grey hair. It's not pretty silver hair, it's grey. I color it with no ammonia color and feel that I look best right now with my red hair. I don'tknow what I will do in the future but right now I am feeling ok about coloring my hair. I'm very pale and think the grey hair would really wash me out. I wear blush every day just to add a little color to my face and this is with red hair so I'm thinking that if my hair was grey, it would really be necessary to wear the blush. Your hair has only a small amount of grey in it right now and it looks great on you. If you can go without coloring your hair, you're lucky.

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  33. Love grey hair and yours looks great! I've been grey for some time now and get constant positive comments. To be honest, I was too lazy to color my hair...

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  34. I gave up coloring my hair 10 years ago and love it as its natural color! Yours looks wonderful!

    marsha.kern@yahoo.com

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  35. Looks good on you. My Mom put off going grey for a long time and when she did...she found she liked it way better than her regular color. She can wear thing colors she never could wear before...like grey blues. Soft colors. She looks great all grey. I only have a very few grey hairs but I've colored my hair blonde forever. I wouldn't mind going all grey but I just don't have enough of it to do it. I know I don't like how I look with dark hair. Everyone used to ask me if I was sick all the time when I had dark hair because I'm so pale. Once I went blonde...people quit asking me if I felt ok.

    Love your hair!

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  36. Your hair looks good. I agree those chemicals wreak havoc with my scalp also. So I am doing highlights and lowlights which don't touch my scalp but blend the grey. I love it as it is time to embrace the grey because who am I kidding just myself.

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  37. Timely post for me, I've been coloring/highlighting for years and I'm getting tired! For one thing sitting in the dreaded 'chair' and trying to make chit chat for several hours is tough enough, but then to have to pay through the nose for it is the last straw! I think there is something very flattering about the silvery grey color against the face, I'm thinking about it...

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  38. some women look good in grey and on others it makes them look older than they are. unfortunately, i am afraid it would make me look older. i have been highlighting my hair since i was in my 30's as a way of acclimating myself to the inevitable gray hair that will show up. so i have a mix of my own color with gray added in along with blonde highlights. it is also the one fun thing i have done my someone else. i can sit in the chair while my stylist highlights and then cuts my hair. you look very good in your style of cut and your gray mixes in with the rest of your color nicely.
    jess

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  39. you look fab but I will fight it on the beaches, in the trenches, in the streets and in the salon xxx

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  40. You look beautiful grey! I don't think it's true of everyone though. Some women benefit from maintaining their color. I don't think you know until you try. I have no grey yet at 48. I guess it will happen a little later for me.

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  41. Grey is beautiful Darling......you look great and so Nice !!!!!!....love Ria...xxx

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  42. I'm turning 70 soon, and I've not colored my hair since I was 15. That was when I put peroxide in the very middle of a pixie cut and turned into a skunk. My hair has never had gorgeous color, but now it's really pretty! There's lots of soft silver amongst the still-brown. As you say, too many chemicals for me, but my family and friends all color. You look just wonderful, Janet.

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  43. I like the cut AND color of your hair. My own is silver and long and I love it and get lots of compliments. I am 52 and I don't think it ages me. I love what Lady Courtney said above: "I have had more women come up to me and tell me they wish they could let it go and that their's would look like mine, I always say try it and it will look like mine." I'm going to use that line! I do think that a good cut is essential (or if long don't let it get frizzy and witchy). My favorite thing about having natural hair is that I can choose my shampoo based on how it smells (important to me!!) rather than worrying about protecting my $150 dye/highlighting job.

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  44. Your hair is great.
    I love the look: confident and happy - you have made the right choice xo

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  45. Your color is great, I love your haircut and you're beautiful inside and out!
    L

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  46. Your hair is lovely Janet! I like it much better natural. I stopped highlighting my hair about 6 months ago and I will never go back!!! I'm saving a ton of money, my natural hair color looks better with my skin b/c thats the way God made me :), and I recently read that hair color/highlights can affect your hormones. It's chemicals!!! Some black dyes have formaldehyde in them. That's really scary! Not only should we watch what we put into our bodies, but also what we put on them.

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  47. Well, I've written about it before. I never fought the gray. I just let it appear. Do I miss my dark brown hair? Yes. But this is natural and the way it should be.

    Good for you!

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  48. I think your hair looks great! The style and color both suit you very well. I've never colored mine. I had strawberry blonde hair that darkened toward caramel over time. Silver started coming in during my 40's and looked like highlighting. Now (mid-60's) it's really mostly white, but I still perceive myself as a blonde...just platinum rather than strawberry. I still wear it longish, too. Ah, denial...but I'm happy with it and I do get compliments! :)

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  49. I think your hair looks great too! I've never dyed my hair. Not that I haven't thought about it, but I was so gray by the time I did consider it, it would not have been a subtle move. I concentrate on having a good haircut. I wear a short, sculpted haircut and have it trimmed every three weeks. Just when I start to wonder whether or not I should have colored my hair, I'll get a compliment from a complete stranger on my hair. We may not always see ourselves as others do. Too many preconceived ideas in our own minds, maybe.

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  50. It looks really good on you. I like my hair long, so I'm hesitant to let it go gray. Maybe one day, but not ready yet?

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    1. I like longish gray hair, it's just that I can't begin to know how I'd let it grow in, keep it long, and not look insane for 2 years or more. I think it's easier if your hair is blond, like Lisa's from Amid Privilege. On a brunette - can't imagine it.

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    2. Kathy - I've long brown hair that is going gray - sadly, not in the dramatic swan wings my mother had, but in single strands scattered throughout. Still, I think it looks pretty good (dammit, I've earned every one of them!) - and the patterning of white hairs is a lot like Janet's. I'm also another on the no chemical dyeing - the one period I had auburn hair it was a henna based powder from the health food store.

      UNLIKE Janet, my hair is really badly behaved when short (read - sticks out everywhere), so long it is. I think what makes a difference is a memory I have. An older woman on campus, obviously comfortable in her own skin, with a long, white, wavy mane. She looked stunning. That's where I am going to be.

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    3. Oops - missed a bit. If you want to transition from dyed to natural, ask your hairdresser about doing tabby stripes. I think they can look marvellous.

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    4. Thanks Erika - the thing is, I believe I'm virtually all gray, so growing it out would not be like yours or Janet's. It would be inches of all gray, that then went to brown.

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    5. oh K athy I am a coloured brunette who has gone au naturelle. It is tedious and a bit unsightly, but I have continually trimmed it up up up, and I am about halfway there in the front bits. Hats are your best friend.

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  51. Beautiful gray hair. Nothing is more beautiful than accepting the natural. Beautiful mature, beautiful balance in our lives. You look wonderful.

    I recommend this post from my blog:

    http://sensecorbata.blogspot.com.es/2012/08/el-cabell-gris-es-bonic.html

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  52. I love it on you. I love it on my best friend. Ain't gonna happen here. At least not while my hairdresser is one of my BFF's.

    xo Jane

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  53. Love it! I stopped coloring my hair almost two years ago as a 50th birthday present to myself. I will be 50 in December and I've totally transitioned to lots and lots of silver highlights amidst my natural brown. I feel lucky to have full support from my husband and children, but can relate to what others have said, I'm the only one from our social circle who has taken the plunge. One of the many positives, my hair has never been softer and no more itchy irritated scalp. Thank you for sharing your journey. You are an inspiration in so many ways.

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  54. You look terrific, Janet! Here's what it takes to avoid looking like death-warmed -over with gray hair: a cut with terrific shape and style - a shine on the hair (a couple drops of olive oil is as good as $$$ stuff) - and CONTRAST such as subtly colorful lips and a bit of color in the cheeks (i.e. avoid the clown look) - and mascara - perhaps a tinted moisturizer to warm up the skin. A cheerful smile is a magnet and encourages people to compliment you! I do all of the above and people have told me they love my hair. Since I've turned gray I have more natural curl in my hair and a lot of body - surprise! -- Jan in Pasadena - and today I am 74 and feeling great!

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  55. Beautiful hair. I'm with you..be natural.

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  56. you look gorgeous Janet! My whole family grayed early; I've been colouring for about 10 years. I'm brunette and I'm afraid of what gray would look like on me--it won't look like me!

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  57. I think it looks great.

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  58. Such a gorgeous lady! I think people were asking about the whole going grey thing because it really doesn't 'read' in most of your photographs. From a distance, your hair still looks dark. Up close, you can see there is gray, but you really don't have that much. And- aren't you glad to be rid of those dreadful chemical dyes?? I stopped using them about 3 years ago when I realized I felt awful afterwards, my hair was falling out, and it was damaged and dull looking. I do a henna/indigo mix I'm much happier with now. In my 60's, I plan on letting the gray out!

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  59. Your hair looks great and like people have said you really do not have that much grey.

    I feel so FREE now without the shackles of dye. I love my grey hair-! It's kind of salt and pepper - I was surprised at how much I like it.

    I have not let myself go. I exercise and eat healthy. I am active and happy and I am so pleased about my hair !!

    I was becoming frustrated by the fact that I was having to visit the salon every two weeks to get rid of the new grey regrowth coming through… and I
    detested putting chemicals onto my scalp which is probably not a healthy thing to do. I thought to myself, ‘stop fighting it, let the colour grow out and see what your grey looks like'.

    I went ‘cold turkey’ and it took me almost 6 months to grow out the dyed hair. During the initial growing out phase my hair was such a mess, a mixture of the old dyed color, my new natural brown and the grey coming through. I felt that I looked messy– and like I didn’t care about how I looked. Of course this was not true. At about 6 months I went and got it cut very short. I wish I had gone grey 3 years ago. I have 2 friends that went grey at about the same time so we encouraged each other and we are all 3 glad we did it. I think a lot of women who are between 55 & 65 and tired of coloring their hair are going grey. Grey is the new black!

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    1. Yes, Shell, as always, you say it perfectly..."FREE now without the shackles of dye." :)
      -Suzanne in Illinois

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  60. Your hair looks great! You have a great hair cut too. Sheree

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  61. Your gray looks great - you totally can pull it off, you have such a stylish cut, it so works. I will be 52 next month and no can do the gray thing yet. I think I may have to wait until I am 70! :)

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  62. My sister started going gray at 16. She colored her hair until she got out of high school. Her hair is now a shade of white. I started going gray at 26. My hair is what many people would call salt and pepper, but it is much more gray than that. Neither of us have any qualms about our gray hair.

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  63. Your hair looks beautiful. I grew mine out a couple of years ago and love my natural silver highlights .

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  64. Your hair looks great, i have just starting reading your blog, and i hope to visit more often.

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  65. Love love love it! I do.
    I have always loved gray hair...gray sweaters...gray coats...anything gray, actually.
    My natural hair color is a very light brown, and I always put blonde highlights in it.
    When the gray started, I dyed the base a light brown and then had highlights added.
    Was constantly allergic to the dye.
    After chemo three years ago, my hair came in gray, but the base was a very unusual dark brown. I have no idea why it changed color like that, but I ended up having it colored.
    Allergies worsened.
    I finally stopped coloring it after you stopped, dear Janet. You gave me incentive.
    After the fire, most of my hair was burned off and shaved off completely so they could sew skin grafts on my face. The entire back side of my head had two injuries, and the hair just stopped growing there. One doctor said it would probably never grow back. well...my hair has grown back in everywhere, and guess what?? It is my natural light brown hair color with sprinkles of gray! I like it very much! Ch Ch Changes... :)
    -Suzanne in Illinois

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    1. WOW, Suzanne. Your hair sounds uniquely gorgeous. Wish you could have included a photograph. You (and your hair) rock, girl.

      Cheers,

      Jorndyce
      http://www.graciouslygrey.com

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  66. I'm with you, all the way. And yours looks lovely. Better than straight brown, IMO.

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  67. It looks sophisticated on you. And you have a great cut.
    No doubt, your look is helped by your 'good hair' (as my mum calls it).

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  68. I thought you'd given up, too -- can't really see the gray except close up. I quit highlighting, and now I have silvery highlights, with lighter sides that I really rather like. My daughter tells me my hait isn't gray, it's sparkly!

    BTW, for more on the subject or for support, inspiration or commiseration, check out cafe-gray.com, Going Gray, Looking Great on Facebook, or the book Going Gray, Looking Great. I love the before and after pictures!

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  69. stopped coloring mine in March and am very salt and pepper right now with a little bit of my red left . . . going much more salt than pepper and LOVE it.

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  70. How do I feel? Mixed, but I am doing it too. I am 44 and have very little wrinkleage in the face dept- only when I smile! It is a shock to me to see myself sometimes. I stopped colouring my hair in Feb and have about 9 cm of natural colour there. I have a white stripe of about an inch all around my face. the rest is quite steel, with plenty of white in there too. I felt I had to stop colouring as my crown was really thinning and it was very noticeable,The grey translucent regrowth just made it look so much thinner, I had a few rude comments about it. I have had periods of thinning in the past- like after childbirth and it had always resolved itself but it wasn't this time! I have upped my vitamin and mineral intake and have seen a hair transplant specialist (happily I am not at the transplant stage yet!) and am on some prescription meds to kick on the follicle action- if you leave it too long it won't kick back in. I feel that the colouring was snapping a lot of the fine hair off at the root level. the amount of fine baby hair that grew, even before I was on the meds was amazing. I think I am going to be happier when it grows out enough to be able to clip it up into some sort of bun arrangement. I had it chopped off into a bob, then I had the back a bit shorter, leaving my front bits longer as I just cannot stand hair on my face, it feels like walking into spiders webs to me, so I have it with just enough length to tuck behind my ears. I am continually keeping it trimmed to feel like I am achieving something! I have always thought that short hair is hotter than long hair clipped up and we are just heading into what appears to be a really hot summer, so I am a bit terrified of that. I am Ok with my decision as I would far rather be grey than bald. Plus I feel 'real and Authentic' and have received so much encouragement, support and compliments from my friends and colleagues. It is a vast contrast between my colour and the grey and I just wish I could instantly get through this going out bit. You are not alone, there are heaps of us doing it and plenty of celebs too!

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  71. Wish I had the confidence (and cheekbones like you) to let the grey come in gracefully, but blonde I am - these days its every four weeks maintenance. I could be CEO of Fortune 500 co with all the hours I put in to "keeping it light" as my Manchester aunties would say.

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  72. You look fab, I wish I didn't care but my Mum dyes her hair, and I can't to go grey before she does, it would feel wrong.

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  73. You look fantastic Janet and love the colour of your hair. For me am not so sure it would work with a warmer colouring...however I feel trapped in the circle of being trapped and having to keep up the maintenance of roots etc. etc. Happy weekend to you. X

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  74. Oh my gosh....a topic near and dear to my heart. Grew up as a natural brunette, living in florida, of course it got a bit lighter during the summer from the ocean and pool chlorine, but by the time i reach 40 i was totally....not grey but white. For a while i highlighted it so people thought i was blonde. At 40, i just said enough was enough and stopped. At 40, i was still young enough that it was sort of a 'novelty'. Now at 53, i do feel like it ages me. Would like to be brunette again but the thought of the time and cost involved to maintain it is just too much. I would not be able to deal with the 'skunk' stripe. You, of course look great. Didnt you feel liberated when you stopped coloring it? I sure did......as usual, love your blog.

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  75. I am 56 and haven't colored my hair in years.....and I can't wait to go ALL gray. I think it is natural, classy and sexy.

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  76. I think it's great ! I'm a blonde and the "silver" blends nicely. I've had people ask who does my hair color, to which I reply, Mother Nature. Consider it natural highlights. You are lovely the way you are !

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  77. Now 65, have never coloured my hair, ever. As a child it was white blonde but as I approached teen years my long hair changed gradually to strawberry blonde with natural blonde streaks. In summer, even a little sun exposure used to bleach the top strands really blonde. As I moved into my thirties and forties the hair darkened a little to light brown with reddish highlights and blonde streaks, with the top layers still going very blonde in the sun. Very strange I know but it was completely natural and very thick. Now at 65 there are quite a few individual hairs of silvery grey mixed in with blonde and light brown. Just around the ears it is quite silver-grey but as my hair is a bob style, like yours, the hair from the crown covers this. People always stop me and ask where I get my hair coloured as they want the same look. When I say it's natural they reply, 'Yeah, right!"

    My husband is 67 with a very full head of brown hair with only a few streaks of grey. We put it down to eating lots of fruit and veg all our lives and never having smoked or drunk much alcohol. Have wrinkles but not so many, we think the fruit and all the water we drink - and also staying out of the sun or wearing hats and sunscreen.

    An old friend who has a number of serious health problems turned completely white in her late 30s. She can't use normal chemical colours but can use henna. With the henna her hair is a bright orange all over. This might not suit everyone, but it looks fabulous on her as she has a vibrant personality and wears colours that work well with it, like olive green, purple, navy and even touches of orange.
    Your hair looks really attractive. I think the important thing is having a great style cut and keeping the hair healthy and shiny. Not so much the colour. Though greying hair does call for a very different approach to make-up colours and clothing colours. Many of the colours that suited me in my twenties and thirties as a strawberry blonde no longer work. I need warmer and brighter lipsticks and a different foundation. I also wear warmer brighter coloured clothes and more purples. Can no longer wear yellow except as a colour pop, like in a bangle or my lovely latest bright yellow handbag, won in a lucky draw. With best wishes, Pamela

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  78. I'm 36, and seriously considering going grey now. I work with a young woman (I think she's just under 40) and she's very grey with long hair. It's striking on her because it's just so DIFFERENT. You never see someone with a young face going grey. I think it makes a statement. And I notice her face more because I think "How can this young woman have grey hair," and then I remember: Duh. It's because the rest of us are cheating. :) I like your hair and your style and I am glad you blogged about this. I could save about $2000 a year not coloring my hair. That's a ticket to Paris plus a few dinners while I am there. I may trade in the bottle for another vacation each year.

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  79. For about 5 years I have been conscious of my greying hair. I started with very red hair as a child, then in my late teens it started going brown. I had hated being so noticeable so was quite pleased. Now, the grey is obvious and I feel I have been fighting the urge to dye it because no matter what this is who I am and it shouldn't be that important. I do have times when I notice it and wish it wasn't happening, but haven't yet got to the stage I need to dye it. I am hoping to be the glamerous greyheads you sometimes see, but the poking out wirey version is more likely. I hope I never dye it, but you never know. I think what botheres me is that we feel we have to dye it because that's what everyone else does.

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    1. "this is who I am and it shouldn't be that important"....dear, I think everything about you is important...and every opinion you might have is important, too. That said, if you want to color your hair...than do it. Regardless of what others are doing...please yourself, and do what makes you feel beautiful. I find coloring my hair tames and softens those wirey hairs...in fact coloring seems to make my hair softer altogether. I don't understand why going gray has become such a badge of honor.

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  80. Honey, you ain't seen nothin' yet! Mine has been graying for 31 years now and is a really great silver color. I get many compliments on it and have encouraged other women to let their hair go gray. I love it. My feeling is that if someone doesn't like it, then they are welcome to look the other way.

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  81. Gray is fine by me (at 70). Years ago, I colored my hair a bit myself, but decided it was too much trouble. I would never spend the money to have it done professionally, as my hair grows so fast it would need a touch-up every time I turned around. Your gray seems to be coming in very nicely. Mine started around the crown of my head, and still is not totally gray around the nape of my neck. Only problem is ... the gray on top is an entirely different texture from the "unturned" hair, and my hair always had a bit of natural wave, but is now somewhat curly. I use an "additive" to encourage the curl, and it works out great so long as I have a good haircut. As I'm sure you know, a great haircut can make all the difference.

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  82. I'm going the same route and liking it. Your cut is a lot like mine!

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  83. Some thinking in a different direction........ Janet, you have a perfect little body, an incredible clothes sense, a hair style that suits you perfectly, and beautiful skin. You're still so young too. Why are you so set on going gray? I could understand your philosophy if you were much older...but you're not there by a long shot. I color my hair with an otc brand, myself. It does a good job...but not too good. What I mean is that the gray only accepts the color enough to take on a dark blonde tone..instant highlights......and no extra charge for them! It's face-brightening.

    I understand going grey in principle, especially if coloring becomes false looking, but otherwise?

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    1. i stopped coloring my hair b/c it was no longer flattering to me and the dye itself was wreaking havoc on my scalp.

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  84. So should we also stop wearing heels, perfume, bras? Makeup? Spanx? Is haircoloring any less an element of beauty care or self-care?

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  85. I'm glad I came back to read the comments on this post, as I debate about dyeing with every appointment. Thankfully they're just once every 2 months or so, but still is so much time and money to use somewhere else. I think about letting it go natural (and I have a lot more gray than you--how does one do it gracefully?), then someone tells me they can't believe I'm old enough to have grandchildren. Sends me right back to the salon. My own mother told me to keep coloring, "you don't want it to look like this," she said as she pointed to her gray hair. Made me smile.

    I still can't decide.

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    1. Go for it! You can always return to the "dark" side; pun intended, LOL. I write about graciously grey divas and dons and invite you to visit for positivity about our grey locks.

      Cheers,

      Jorndyce
      http://www.graciouslygrey.com

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  86. Your hair is lovely and YES, I am partial. I write about grey hair, think about grey hair, want more grey hair. As a matter of fact I am seeking folks who want to talk (read or write) about their grey hair. Would you consider writing a guest post on my blog about the topic?

    Cheers,

    Jorndyce
    http://www.graciouslygrey.com

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  87. It took a year to get the color out but it is full gray now!

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kindness is never out of style.

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