I went grey - what do you think?

[GLC1968]

This is my shocker for the weekend...I went from a brunette to grey in one foul swoop!

Before (sort of...this is an older photo):

http://www.tranquilitysystems.com/gallery/files/4-2006_TTT003_757541.jpg

Now:

http://www.tranquilitysystems.com/gallery/files/4-natural1.JPG

http://www.tranquilitysystems.com/gallery/files/4-natural2.JPG

Yes, the front is slightly discolored (kind of purple!) due to my use of temporary color to cover the front grey while I grew it out underneath. That purple part is actually faded already in just the past few days of shampooing a lot (something I don't normally do).

So...what do you think? Is 41 too young to be this grey?

[indigoiis]

I think it looks cool, especially with the "rose".

I am also 41 and letting my gray out. I call it "highlights." ;)

[Eden]

wow - with your new hairdo you are the spitting image of one of my teammates! Have any sisters up here in Seattle?

[GLC1968]

Eden - HA! Nope, I have no sisters. Did she happen to be a bartender in the Tampa area about a decade ago? Back then, I used to have customers come in when I was bartending asking why I'd changed employers - people honestly thought I was some other bartender - apparently we were spitting images of each other. Odd!

[five one]

I think you look great :D! Are you going to keep it this short or grow it out a bit? With your curly hair, I think the gray would look wonderful if it were a bit longer.
You have a young face. The gray is a nice contrast. Get some Clairol Shimmer Lights shampoo to keep it shiny and prevent yellowing.

I'm 57 now, and began getting gray in my mid-30s. I've never colored my hair which is now about 30% gray in front and a bit less in back, according to my stylist. It's very straight and I keep it short with bangs (easier to resurrect after hours in a bike helmet). I've gotten lots of compliments on it from both men and women.

[runningteach]

It looks great.

[Zen]

Go white and lets see what that looks like :)

I wish I had enough gray to let mine go all the way

[tulip]

Fabulous! And so much easier, too.

[GLC1968]

Ok, I work with all men. Not a single one has said anything yet! How is that possible?!?!

All the women who I've run into (other departments) have been very complementary. I have gotten a lot of "you are very brave" or "I wish I had the guts that you have" type comments. Should I read into those, or just accept that they must have hang-ups that I don't? ;)

Thanks guys. Yeah, the plan is to grow it out a little, but I'll definitely stay with short. I look better with short hair in general and since I now no longer have to pay for hair color, I can afford to keep getting it cut! :p

What causes grey/white hair to yellow, anyway?

[arielmoon]

You are beautiful! It looks lovely!

[Cataboo]

I wouldn't read anything into it - and I actually think you look younger with the short haired grey look. It looks great.

[BikeDutchess]

Love it! I have short hair too and never covered up the grey. It's about as grey as yours, I think (although it always looks greyer in photos than in the mirror - why is that, I wonder?)

Yeah, some other people have hang-ups, I guess. I was in a restaurant last month and a total stranger came up to me and said "I'll bet you & I are the only women in here with our natural hair color!"

[Biciclista]

put me on the "you are very brave, i wish i had the nerve to do that" list.
I am a lot older than you and my face, well, looks a lot older than you.
one might argue that this is a good reason to let me go grey
but I am concerned about my job and i know that looking younger helps in this world.
You look very nice either way.

[GLC1968]

but I am concerned about my job and i know that looking younger helps in this world.

Mimi - you make a very good point. 10 years ago, my life and my ambitions were VERY different and I would not have been able to do this. As much as I always admired beautiful silvery grey hair, I just couldn't even consider it on myself. Now, I figure that people will see me and either think "wow, she looks really good for 50-something" or "balsy girl - I couldn't go grey that young". I'm sure I'd feel differently if I was 50-something.


Two things have occurred to me today about this though:

1) In my mind, I'm still a brunette. Short hair is one thing (i've had it before) but the grey is not something I can feel or see unless I look in a mirror, so my own self-image hasn't changed yet.

2) I don't want to update my facebook page with a new photo. I don't want people whom I used to know and who don't see me day to day to see me grey. Why is that? Why do I care about them?

[five one]

I'm not sure of the "why" gray hair sometimes yellows. A quick Google seems to give only solutions to the problem.

My DH's grandmother had beautiful white hair. Her hairdresser put some sort of purple rinse on it to keep it white. Her son, my FIL, also had white hair, but with a yellow tinge. It made him look older than he was and sort of haggard. Obviously his mother didn't let him in on the secret of shiny white hair! DH's hair is probably 90% white. We both use Shimmer Lights. I probably don't need to at 30%, but what the heck... My natural color is very dark brown. I like the contrast of the brown and white.

Funny, my gray shows up in the mirror, but not so much in photos.

My role model for going gray gracefully is folksinger Joan Baez (http://www.joanbaez.com/photogallery.html).

[GLC1968]

Joan Baez and Jamie Lee Curtis - two people whom others have pointed out to me as good role models (attractive short grey hair, I guess)!

Yes, I tried the google search thing without much luck. Pollutants, UV rays, smoking, beta-carotene - all came up as possible issues but no definites. I live in a very pollutant free area, I don't smoke and I have been wearing a hat in the sun lately, so that's a start! My mom is 100% white (at 66) and she started out as a platinum blonde. If her grey was a bit yellowed, I don't think anyone would notice. I'm colored completely differently (obviously), so I want to make sure I don't have issues! Thanks for the heads up!

[Chicken Little]

It's the bomb. Keep it up!

[Grog]

You look awesome! Love it.

[lph]

You look gorgeous. I'm probably equally grey, and working on exposing it - gradually. You ARE brave, for doing it in one fell swoop. Way to go!

[Crankin]

You look great.
But, I am in the same category as Mimi. I will be looking for a new job in a new field in 2 years and right now I am in grad school with 20-40 somethings. I need to look as young as I can... I will be closer to 60 when I start my job search :eek:.
Funny, I let my hair grow out from very short (which was perfect for cycling) to just above chin length. It looks great, but requires much more work, since my hair is naturally ugly frizz. I've had a lot of positive comments on the change and my family thinks I look much younger. I wish it were either straight or curly but, I guess I wasn't blessed with that gene. I am having trouble handling it when i am riding and we stop to eat or end up somewhere other than home. It is not long enough to pull back and basically, I looked like Bozo the clown, with a matted head when my helmet comes off, since I sweat buckets. The buff works, but it's just too hot now to wear it. Before, I just poured some water from my bottle over my head and it was good to go.
The grey isn't an issue, yet. I have a teeny bit coming in near my part, but with the blonde highlights, it blends in. I have no idea what I will do when I really start going grey; brown or blonde? I was a blonde until about 10 years ago, when my hair got dark. I still see myself as a blonde...

[katluvr]

You do look great!
Big step. I am not that courageous or that embracing of my grey. I really don't mind the upkeep and love having my colored. Not sure if I'll ever go grey. Maybe I am a bit vain.

[Tuckervill]

I tried coloring out my gray in 2007 and it took so long to get the hair color out again that I decided I'm never going to color it again. I ended up going completely short to finish it off, because I wasn't willing to color anymore. My dad and his mother both have/had stark white hair and I'm thinking mine will go that way, too. I'm getting more and more gray. I've decided my vanity is not worth the trouble of coloring.

I've always been thought of as younger than I am, and I think now that I'm getting more gray, I'll have fewer comments about how I don't look old enough to have grandchildren or whatever. WHATever! I can live with that. :)

eta: You look FABulous! :

Karen

[solobiker]

It looks great!! It will feel great this summer I am sure. I have tried shorter hair and it just does not look right on me.

[shootingstar]

GLC, you look better at this point in time in your new grey shortie haircut. Very cute. You are lucky your face shape can carry this.

Over the past decade, my haircuts have become incrementally shorter in style. There are some funky, sculptural hair cuts my hair stylist would like to try but it would mean some drastic asymmetrical, deliberately uneven lengths that would not look good in 2-3 wks. after haircut, with further complications by my cycling lifestyle needs. My hair grows fast...

Most makeovers that I've seen which include haircuts for women over their 40's and up..seem to be where an even slightly shorter type of hair cut & styling looks better and younger on women as she ages.

[grey]

I like the gray! Mine will probably not start turn until I am in my late 60s. My mother just turned 59 and STILL hasn't but three gray hairs, and my grandma is only just getting fully gray at 80. I admire silver gray hair so much, I'm actually kind of bummed I have to wait so long.

[Biciclista]

uh Grey, it's no big deal, really. your hair changes too. it's not just the color.
And you can always dye your hair.

[tctrek]

Looks great! How wonderful to be liberated from dying your hair! Like others on this post, I compete for the best projects and promotions at work with others that are much younger than me, so I wear my hair long and colored medium brown. There isn't supposed to be age discrimination, but everyone know it exists. When I retire, I will liberate myself from from hair dye forever!!

[deedolce]

I'm envious ~ it looks GREAT on you!! I couldn't carry it off at all. Your coloring still makes you look vibrant. Mine looked washed out. I felt so much older when I let mine go grey, and I"m very, very grey! :rolleyes:

I wish I were brave enough and confident enough to go 'Pffft!' at my vanity!

[OakLeaf]

You look terrific! :D I wish I had the nerve to go that short.

[wnyrider]

I saw shampoo and Jamie Lee Curtis both mentioned in this thread and just thought I'd throw it out there that in a magazine interview I read a while ago she said she used Phytargent Whitening Shampoo. She raved about it. I looked into it as I had stopped coloring and was letting my grey show through. It's a bit pricey, but I never ended up buying it since shortly thereafter my youngest son was getting upset that I was getting "old hair"!

[kjay]

You know what? You look so much younger! Short hair can really do that for some women. My hairdresser always tells me that if I feel like I need a lift (face, that is), just come in for a short cut. And it always works!

[Trekhawk]

I love it!
Grey suits some people and with the fabulous cut of your hair it looks very trendy.:)

[jobob]

You know what? You look so much younger!

I was thinking that too! :) Looks great.

[papaver]

Hey you look great!
My mam was completely grey/white when she had me at the age of 36. I'm almost 40 now and I'm also very grey.

[SheFly]

I think it looks terrific!

Like you, I am 41. This year, I stopped coloring my hair for the first time in 25 years :eek:. I literally didn't know WHAT color my hair was anymore... Turns out, that it is darker, and MUCH GRAYER than I knew :D. I also keep it quite short, like you (easier to care for now that race season has started).

I've had plenty of compliments as well, so am keeping it as is for now. Still catches me by surprise at times when I see myself in the mirror....

You look great, and like me, much younger than 41 :D.

SheFly

[Tri Girl]

I think you look GREAT!!!
I'm only 36, but I'm starting to notice an alarming amount of gray hair coming in. I colored my hair at home with a temporary color- just to change things up (not really wanting to cover the gray)- good thing because the hair changed colors but the gray stayed. :D I kinda like it. I wear each gray hair as a badge of honor- for years of service rendered teaching school. :p

[ASammy1]

I wouldn't read anything into it - and I actually think you look younger with the short haired grey look. It looks great.

Agreed! Gorgeous!

[Andrea]

That's a great look! Short hair is awesome, and I think the color looks wonderful.

[short cut sally]

I think you look much younger in the second picture with the short (grey) hair than the first one. I know it was mentioned earlier, but I'm just getting on after a few days away. YOU totally pull off the short hair..it looks "mahvelus baby". :D

[GLC1968]

Aw, thanks you guys! I've got this huge grin on my face now. :D


I know that some of you mentioned needing to keep your 'youth' in order to compete at work, but I'm discovering something that I hadn't thought of before. I'm actually noticing a subtle difference in how I'm being treated at work, in a good way. I've met two people in the past two days whom I didn't know before, and there is a difference in how they treat me with respect to my intelligence/experience than there was when I would meet people before. Based on just two interactions (which is very preliminary, of course), I feel like it's easier to command respect now. If true, this could come in VERY handy in my career. ;) I've always had it a bit tough with looking too young (not so much recently, but it's always been an issue for me) and with being a woman in a very male-dominated field. I'll be very curious to see if this helps me going forward.

[Blueberry]

I have to add my name to those who think it looks fabulous - cut and color! It really brightens up your face - in a good way.

And I have to agree on the work issue. I actually just didn't get hired for a position I really wanted because I'm too young and I look really young (I'm pretty sure). I actually have better experience and am basically doing that job anyway - and now training someone who got it how to do it. I'm in a male-dominated field, but I lost out to a woman with some gray:rolleyes::rolleyes:

CA

[Crankin]

Yes, the looking young/old can work both ways. I have always looked young for my age, which was a pain when I was, well, young. When I sent my resume out for my internship in the winter, I left off my experience in Arizona and my first job in MA, although it stated I had held various other positions, info available upon request. I also left off my graduation years. No one questioned me; it was obvious I was very experienced, but it looks like I worked for about 16 years and perhaps I had stayed home with the kids for a while. I was definitely older than every single person that interviewed me, except one who was probably my age.
My hair is still short, but not a pixie, like it was. I think that style was just too severe for me and actually accentuated my laugh lines, which make me look old! Realistically, it's not age, it's genetics. Both of my parents had laugh lines, but other than that looked very young.

[lph]

I'm going to go against the trend here, and say that in my opinion the grey does not make you look younger. But it doesn't make you look older either. To my mind it makes you look more REAL, in that it's obviously your own colour, and looking at your face, also obvious that you've gone grey relatively early.

The longer you dye your hair (not you specifically, you in general), the more of a mismatch there is between hair and face, which can be quite disconcerting.

You look terrific. You've encouraged me just that much more to quit dye completely :)

[SlowButSteady]

Looks great!!!

You inspired me and I went today and got about 6 - 7 inches chopped off so now I'm shoulder length and I feel younger already.

[ILBikeGirl]

It's really lovely.

[indigoiis]

My decision to let my gray out was that my supervisor and my boss both (women) are gray - the big boss has white choppy hair, and the supervisor has long (to mid-back) thick platinum hair. Mine looks like highlights and I am letting my hair grow long at this point - I like not having to mess with color. Although I was thinking about getting lowlights put in - in a reverse to the white - in dark brown or black. That would be so cool!

[sundial]

I like the cut and style of your 'do and I think it makes you look more.....distinguished. :)

[Selkie]

I think you look great. It brings out your beautiful brown eyes and you have the face to be able to wear it that short. I bet it's so much easier for you, too.

Even though I don't have the face for it, I went short earlier this week because I am swimming again. It will stay healthier shorter--chlorine, sun, humidity, and hair color. Plus it's easy to "style." Wash, shake my head, and go!! ;) I'm not yet grey enough to stop coloring my hair but when it's mostly silver, I'll let it go natural (luckily, I inherited my mother's shade of gorgeous, sparkly white).

[Miranda]

Awesome!:cool:

I think the peeps at work that say they wish they had the nerve to do it, are in the "hang-ups" situation. Meaning, society can be so judgemental on aging. That fact is so sad.

I've been a natural red head my whole life... with the exception of a few years ago. Started adding some highlighs, etc. Ended up a mess with my old hairdresser that I'm still trying to grow out with my long hair.

I will never color, or put any type of chemicals on my hair ever again!!!

I'm your age, and am getting some pure white silvers coming in. I say, just let 'em come.

Your short cut looks sexy, sassy, and confident. Great with your face and hair texture. Mine is super baby fine, and thinner. I've had it shorter. For me, I just really like it longer. I love having it grown out long enough to get most of it in a ponytail for the bike helmets.

Everything I've read from any style gu-ru on hair, is that older women need to get it cut. For me, I just feel like that's similiar to someone telling me I *should be* coloring my grays as well to "conform" to some notion of society.

To be blunt:o, scr*w that...

One thing that's great about being forty, is that I have reached a point in life I no longer feel the need that I have to be something I'm not... just to please other people. My hair being long with gray is not "physically hurting" someone else... so live, and let live.

I think the quality of self confidence outweighs any physical attibute.

For your comment about your FaceBook page... well, that's where they don't get to meet you personally, or see you regularly... and go by the surface with those society judgements maybe?

Plus, it's kinda closing one chapter of life to another. Which is an adjustment with anything. Not just hair. Can you add some type of text about it with the pic? Maybe that would help ease the transition.

[pinkbikes]

In my mind, I'm still a brunette. Short hair is one thing (i've had it before) but the grey is not something I can feel or see unless I look in a mirror, so my own self-image hasn't changed yet.


I think it looks terrific - neither younger nor older - but just a great look on your face.

But I SO relate to what you say above. I also am quite grey and just turned 45. I started going grey when I was about 21 and all my older female relatives were pretty much snowy by the time they were 50.

I recently decided to be a blonde to see if it would make it easier to hide the grey regrowth. I worked hard at being blonde and ended up quite a nice shade. I was blonde for long enough that some people only knew me as blonde (a bit over a year).

But I never felt blonde. I was always a brunette in my mind. I knew when I started having irrational moments of jealousy over some girl with brown hair that it was time to stop being blonde. :eek: I am now back to being a bottle brunette! And happier for it.:) My eyebrows and hair match again!

I will have to do what you are doing one day. I have a very young face (I think) for my age (all chubby chipmunk cheeks) and can't quite face the disparity of face and hair yet.

It is funny - I'm an engineer surrounded by men and only one of them ever said anything when I went blonde (OMG - WHAT were you THINKING!?!) but several noticed the day I went back to being brunette and quietly said that the world had now gone back to normal! Funny buggers!

[Crankin]

I thought of this thread yesterday. The instructor at the new yoga class I am taking has shockingly white hair and she is the same age as me. But, her facial features look unbelievably young. I mean, I look young, but in an "overall way." There was not one line on this woman's face and her skin was just silky smooth. I thought her hair looked awful, making her look really old! It was sort of a weird thing; her face looks about 35, but her hair looks like she is very old. But, I think it's mostly because of the style. It's sort of an un-styled length, at the neck level, a little above shoulder length. If it was cut short, it probably would be really flattering. So, maybe the key is to consider the style and your facial features if you are going to go all grey.

[GLC1968]

I thought of this thread yesterday. The instructor at the new yoga class I am taking has shockingly white hair and she is the same age as me. But, her facial features look unbelievably young. I mean, I look young, but in an "overall way." There was not one line on this woman's face and her skin was just silky smooth. I thought her hair looked awful, making her look really old! It was sort of a weird thing; her face looks about 35, but her hair looks like she is very old. But, I think it's mostly because of the style. It's sort of an un-styled length, at the neck level, a little above shoulder length. If it was cut short, it probably would be really flattering. So, maybe the key is to consider the style and your facial features if you are going to go all grey.

I agree that the style makes a big difference in how we perceive ourselves and how others see us.

My husband and I were just talking about this last night after we saw a woman walking her dog down the street. She had long dark hair with huge sections of gray around her face (kind of in big chunky streaks). It was pulled back in a loose ponytail (who gets done up to walk the dog, right?) and she looked to be quite young (late 20's, early 30's). It was obvious that she was prematurely grey, but my husband immediately said that it looked odd with that style. We see a lot of that around here...women with long, greying hair...it's pretty typical for a 'Portlander'. It works on some, not so much on others. The thing is, her hair was gorgeous - it just didn't fit HER. On an older woman, people would probably stopping and staring, it was that stunning looking. But of course, to each, her own.

I told him that if I stay grey, then I'm pretty much done with long hair. Of course, I know that I look better with short hair anyway (no matter what color it is), so it's a decision I should have made years ago. Long hair is just easier, I guess and I often get lazy in the 'upkeep' department! :p

Oh, and thanks for the continued kind words. My hair is starting to look less purple and more silver around my face as the old dye finally washes/fades out, so my look is progressing. Oh, and I got stopped and asked the other day 'who does your hair?'. That hasn't happened for me in YEARS, so I guess that's a good sign. :D

[Crankin]

GLC, your post made me laugh. I think New Englanders and Portlanders must be related, because we see a lot of that hair style, too.

[GLC1968]

GLC, your post made me laugh. I think New Englanders and Portlanders must be related, because we see a lot of that hair style, too.

I would bet that we are. I see an awful lot of Red Sox fans here and there are many, many transplants. I grew up in NE and I definitely see a lot of similiarities here.

If I could have gotten my southerner husband to move to the Boston area, that's where we'd be. Portland was our compromise. :)

[shootingstar]

GLC, your post made me laugh. I think New Englanders and Portlanders must be related, because we see a lot of that hair style, too.

Haven't really noticed alot of greying long hair (meaning at shoulders and longer) where we are further north along the west coast in Lotus Land.

After visiting Seattle and Portland several times, there are some similiarities in the nature/types of people that one also finds in Vancouver, BC.

Admittedly I'm finding as I age, I have a harder time guessing people's ages..especially when I suspect they are around my age and abit older. My brain is actually abit messed up because..none of my 5 siblings have gone grey (all are in their 40's) nor have they dyed their hair. My closest friends for past 25 years, have basically stayed the same weight (with some hard work like myself) and only 1 woman has coloured her hair abit....closest to her natural colour.

My brain is abit mixed up and warped on reality of what the majority of population looks like in my age bracket.

[GLC1968]

shootingstar - I have the same problem with people in my parent's age bracket. My parents are in their mid-late 60's and yet they are active and they look very good for their age. I often forget that they are the age they are.

For example, this is my immediate family:
http://www.tranquilitysystems.com/gallery/files/4-family2.jpg
Does my father look to be 66? My mom 67? My brother (lower right) 39?

This is my frame of reference and it throws my judgement off! ;)

[Crankin]

Me, too. My family is similar to yours, GLC. My dad is 84, and while he looks "older," he has, on many occasions, had to take out his license because no one believes him when he tells his age, or that he has a 55 year old daughter. My mom got carded until she was 40 or so. She only looked older when she got sick, right before she died at a very young 67. Both of my grandmas lived until 91/92 and both were beautiful until the day they died (with silver hair...).

[shootingstar]

GLC, your parents looks great!

My parents this yr.,--father at 80. Mom at 75. Well, she did have 6 children with a hubby who was a restaurant cook all his life, life was hard.

Well, what did I inherit from my mother to make aging easier? Ah, I inherited her lack of leg hair. Yup, I seldom need to shave my legs ..as I grow old. Hmm..every 3 months seems to be all that's necessary. Freedom!!! Same for my armpits.

Father's hair colour is his natural colour.

[GLC1968]

Wow, shootingstar - they do look much younger than that...particularly your mom!

And I only wish I inherited light hair - unfortunately, I take after my Greek and hairy father in that regard! :p

[beccaB]

My hair is getting a lot of gray in it. I have never been into the kind of maintenance that would cause me to color it, but that's ok for people who do. I actually like the gray. I'm brunette, and it gives my hair some depth and makes me look respectable! A good thing to be when driving other people's children around!