I am seriously thinking of letting my hair go to it’s natural colour which I think will be an alarming grey/white/brown mix. Do you dye your hair? Ever thought of going natural or do you get just enough grey peeking through to make you rush to the salon or to buy a box of dye?
One of my blogger pals over in sunny Australia got me thinking about all of this, check out her blog at That Summer Feeling, she is def going to let her hair go to it’s natural colour and I am going to join her. There, I said it, Michelle I am in!
Reasons to go au naturel in the hair department, embrace the grey and, let’s face it, the white.
1. I am fascinated to see what is under the Feria Power Red, I haven’t seen my natural colour in about twenty years when it was brown. All over brown. Brown all over. No grey. Definitely no white.
2. If I have some good white lengths, I can put colour on with hair chalk, purple which will be temporary, the new blue rinse!
3. I won’t have to smell hair dye ever again. Never, never, never. The heady smell of ammonia, I won’t miss you.
4. I get a white parting almost immediately after I colour my hair and usually have to dye it every 4 – 6 weeks.
5. Towels will not be pink every time I wash my hair!
Now to visit the reasons why I might run straight to the hair dye aisle and grab a box of colour.
1. I will look 100 years old.
2. I will need a ton of make – up including lipstick, which I don’t object to, but I am not sure I can maintain a made up face every day, especially in the summer when everything just sweats off. Plus I don’t want to look I am desperately wearing make up in a bid to look less than 100 years old.
3. I will have hair the texture of a wire cleaning pad.
4. I will look 100 years old.
5. The colour is dark, I don’t want it to be too dark, I am actually hoping it is more profoundly white in areas, I am not a fan of the ‘salt and pepper’ look. Did I mention I don’t want to look old….
So far I have about 1cm of ‘natural’, therefore I am sporting the look of a person who has forgotten to dye their hair or is in denial or is a crazy woman heading towards her natural colour.
Here are a few things I wonder.
What on earth will it look like?
Will the grey/white be in organized streaks or in a random pattern of old lady chaos. I am heading towards a Cruella de Ville or a George Clooney?
What is a good style for grey? Long like a gorgeous boho yoga teacher, short like Jamie Lee Curtis or a super funky cut like a super funky person who just happens to have grey hair?
Will the sun fade my hair into a cool surfer girl grey colour?
How long will it take to answer any of these questions?
Crikey there are alot of questions buzzing around my partly grey head. Have you ever pondered any of them? What do you think?
Oh, and in case you are worried about that crushed dye box in the photo, I smoothed it out, taped it back together and replaced the contents. You know. Just in case.
Clare Davis Etheridge 
Brilliant post. I’ve been going grey since i was 24. My dad was completely grey by that age so it’s always been a gene battle I was bound to lose. I’ve always asking in an annoying voice ‘what age can I just be grey’. I’ve suddenly just got sick to death of dyeing my hair. I could pay someone to do it for me I know – but when you have to do it every 4-5 weeks forking out the cashola really shits me (note – at 6 weeks someone said to me they thought I spraypainted my hair silver). I can’t wait to hear everyones thoughts on this. Surfer girl grey. What a fabulous name for a colour!!! or a blog!!!
If I had to go to the salon every time I got my grey parting, I would be bankrupt! I say embrace the spraypaint silver and let’s all go and buy lipstick!
Welcome to the club Clare. Hilarious post and thanks for the shout out. I noticed thus morning I now have a Clooney-esque grey at the temples thing going on. There is every possibility I will look like Richard Gere soon.
Richard Gere and George Cloooney are all very well … if you’re a bloke! Michelle, I think you’ll be more Helen Mirren. You ladies are brave. I don’t think I can go there just yet (I’ve never been an early adopter). So I’ll let my laggard self let you trailblazers do your thing.
Question is, when do we start to post photos of our heads as it grows out? Or shall we just stick with ‘before and after’?
I could join you – but I think I’ll put it off for a while.
Got my hair coloured again yesterday and lemme tell you, the grey was not in the minority! My hairdresser took my comment that maybe I’ll go grey in 15 years, to 20!
Rock the colour, or the grey, with confidence.
Let’s see where this adventure takes us! You never know Annette, you might be tempted!
Loved this post -it’s a dilemma I have been battling with for the last 10+ years. I’m only turning 40 next year, but going grey young is in my family’s genetics. If I went straight to silver or white I might be tempted, but so far I’m not digging the salt and pepper look, especially since my natural hair colour is almost black and my hair is very coarse even when it isn’t grey. Paired with my olive complexion, I feel I look really spent when my greys come through, like a dead battery 😦
My mother-in-law on the other hand has a rosy complexion and her shiny white hair looks amazing on her. I think it really suits some people.
I’ve been wondering what would happen if you actually dyed it grey/silver, would you get reverse roots? 😉
I’m curious to see how you fare with your experiment!
x Barbara
I am not mad about the salt and pepper look either Barbara and to be honest, that is what I am dreading. If that is what is under the dye, I am going to be reaching for the box of colour!
Ha reverse roots! That is hilarious!
I recently decided to let it go and let it grow. I’ve maybe got an inch and half of gray going. Strangely, it’s mostly on the understory except for a few broken wild hairs that are disturbingly noticeable when I pull my hair back. Maybe you should post a weekly photo!
I will be posting updates, maybe monthly. Don’t worry there will be horror photos!
Great post. How appropriate to read this today! I’m off to the Salon to get my hair colored and cut. I will be watching your “crazy lady doesn’t know her hair needs to be colored” transformation with anticipation. I recall my 94 YO Great Aunt dyed her hair until the bitter end. She couldn’t reach the crown of her head, though, so it was always gray, like a hair yamaka. See! You will only look 94, not 100! I applaud you. I’m not woman enough to do it.
Well, you will get first hand sightings of the ‘transformation’!
Since you have short hair I think it would be pretty easy to try. I am pretty gray and I think it looks good when I blow dry it. If I don’t it is too frizzy. Some day I would like to try platinum but I am afraid my fine hair would all fall out!
Platinum would be cool, but I would never manage the upkeep!
I’m 50, but I have a 13 year old daughter. During her younger years, I colored my hair because some of her friends were asking if I was her grandmother. When I turned 50, however, I decided I’d had enough. I’ve always hated the process of dying my hair (but never was willing to pay for a salon dye job!). I’ve got about 3-4 inches grown out, and it’s a mixture of grey and white. My hair has always been very fine and straight, and the gray/white is also. I have a white streak in the front –I’d never thought of chalk colors, but that sounds like fun!
Yay, go for it! A white streak at the front sounds cool. How is the bead soup coming along? I have been mixing and am making jewels this week! x
I just spent 4 hours at the hair dressers yesterday because I’m so tired of my little skunk stripe that appears at the roots of my red/violet. So I’m going brown, to head back towards blonde, which will also include the greys which I started to acquire when I was all of 18 years old. Thanks for that high school! Celebrate your grey. I also have a self imposed grey stripe at the front of my curls to remind me of how much I’ve been through to earn them. xx
I like the sound of a grey stripe, I wonder if my grey will be as organised or just randomly all over! Four hours at the hairdresser sounds like my idea of a nightmare though, although I am sure it is a better way of doing it than a box from Target.
You won’t look 100 years old. You will look classy, sophisticated and fantastic!!
Awwwww thanks! I will try and we shall see!
Pingback: The (grey) Elephant in the room |
Pingback: Growing into Grey. |
Pingback: 25 “Gray Hair” Bloggers Who Rock – 2015 Edition
Pingback: ‘I Like’ Friday. The natural grey edition. |
But omg your hair looks fantastic!!!!! I love it!!! That was such a good move 😃
Thanks! It seemed to take forever, but it was worth it.
It totes was 😃