Wow, this is really ironic - I just decided to check this forum for posts on "going gray" and this is the first one! Yes, I am letting mine grown out after DECADES of coloring. I really want to know what it looks like under all the layers of red. It's grown about an inch or so and I'm seeing some nice silver streaks and strands mixed with my natural brown. The only thing is, I like to keep my hair shoulder length and not sure what to do while it is growing out. Cutting it off is not an option and I don't want to process it again. The color I had been using was a "semi-permanent" but, it doesn't exactly wash out, especially at the bottom.

At any rate, I think silver hair rocks! My hubby and I are also in our 50's and his is very salt-and-pepper, especially around the temples!

gypsyrose-My hair is near shoulder length, too. Especially during the summer I like it just long enough to pull back off my neck and face. My lifestyle tends more to the active/outside these days now that our kids are grown and gone. Being able to pull it back for my morning walks makes me feel more presentable if I end up running into someone. I would miss having that option.

But I would have to cut my hair short to grow out the gray. I simply couldn't live with the gray line of demarcation creeping down the side of my head month by month. Then I would have to go through those awkward stages of growing it out again. So I think if I go short, it'll end up short for good.

barnmom- LOL! I hear you, but I'm curious how long you've been coloring. It's been 6 years now for me, and it's just starting to get old....

I think it's been about 6 years for the over all color. I didn't start dying to hide gray, I didn't have any. I have done highlights off and on for many years. But one day my hairdresser convinced me I should go dark brunette from my natural medium brown. So I said okay. Next we did auburn for a while. Vivid auburn. I got tired of that and went back to brunette. By this point I had a few grays and my hair color really is brunette except for the grays. So I keep it that way.

When it gets old, I'll stop. It's not that big a deal for me to color my own hair. It's not that long and it's fine and sort of thin. The dye actually gives it a body boost.

I just can't bear to cut my hair short - I have done that a couple times in my life and HATED it - it didn't look bad, I just didn't feel like myself. Also, it is much easier for me to have longer hair that I can put up in a bun or back in a braid.

I am considering putting in some "streaks" (professionally done) while I grow it out, and that would be the last time I process it. Still kind of chicken, though!

I wouldn't want to cut my hair really short either. I think using the highlighting to ease the look of out growth is a good idea. That's what I'd do. Make sure the stylist doesn't do big chunky highlights. Those were the rage a while ago, weren't they? Are they still?

I'm really tired of coloring my hair. It's too expensive and inconvenient. I have NO idea what my hair looks like underneath. Grey I know, but I'm afraid the back, near the neck, is still brown, and that would not be a good look.

When I stop working, I'll stop coloring.

Well, I am going to a colorist tomorrow for a consultation. I'll see what she recommends.

barnmom, I agree about the body boost that coloring gives my hair, I love that.

I know a few people that have gone totally grey and stopped coloring, they love the convenience but honestly, they look older, which they don't seem to mind. I personally do mind. I can't do anything about my body shape changing as I age, I try my best to exercize and eat well, but there seems to be a natural thickening in the midriff that I can't control; I can still do something about my hair though, lol......

I'm 52, single, and still making the occasional attempt to date. Ugh. Not much, though. What began a few years ago as a hopeful experience has become a source of dread and dismay.

Young is in, looking like their mom is not. Most men my age think they still look 30. ;)

Well, not everyone with gray hair looks older, it really is individual. I love the way mine is looking growing in, it has a beautiful silver shine and I wear my hair long. I think long, shiny silver hair is beautiful and not aging if one takes care of themselves. If you have dull gray hair, or a muddy type color, then I agree that it may be best to color it to get more body and shine.

Anyway, I am getting some highlights next week, can't wait!

I agree, some folks look fabulous with their natural silver hair. I had a shirttail relative (passed away a few years back) who was white by the time she was in her early thirties. She had gorgeous skin and always sported a bit of tan from wintering in Maui. She looked great. Not everyone is so lucky!

I colored my hair to cover gray for twenty years. At that point, my roots were so white that I as coloring every three weeks.

I decided blonde would be easier, so I was blonde for four years. Over a year ago, I decided to go gray. I used a silver temporary rinse on the blonde hair while the roots grew out, so I didn't look like I had two toned hair.

My natural hair is a pretty silver color, which I actually love! Who knew?

A pretty silver color is a godsend; I guess one doesn't know until one grows it out.

I stopped coloring my hair when I turned 50, and at that point I decided to remove all color at once and dye it platinum blond. As it grew out, it turned out that platinum blond was very close to my natural color, and so by age 52 I stopped coloring it at all. My hair is not silver because it was only auburn at its natural darkest, but it has always been many colors. It is now very close to the color that it was when I was five. I used to dye it medium ash brown in my 30s and 40s.

I once saw a woman on the bus in San Francisco who obviously had natural salt & pepper hair (and I mean stark black and white), but she had put a henna rinse on it that only colored the white hairs, and the result looked like fox fur. I was very jealous of that hair color, and I once dyed leopard spots in my hair in the early 1980s. That was shortly after having had a mohawk, which did not really work for me.

I'm 65 and just starting to get grey, around the temples and all. I used to dye my hair in my 20's and 30's, it's
naturally a honey color blond, I wanted to try different colors. Finally I quit dying it back in the 80's. I think I
will probably dye it again when there's more grey but I'm not sure.

My friend just went gray and although I am three years older than her a new friend could not believe that I was older than her. I had been considering going gray but I am already freaked out about all the other changes in my appearance so I don't think I can abide it. Plus the recent comment about my dear friend and I do believe gray hair does age one. I am not sure I want to be one of the sea of gray heads I see when there is an older audience in view. On the other hand, I am so weary of going to the salon, spending the money and putting up with the constant revolving door of hair dressers. Though I am a blond, it is hard to keep blond hair exactly the right shade. RIght now after being convinced to run the color through instead of just touching up the roots it looks green, dry and dull. I am sick of worrying about it and am now actually considering just letting it go. I saw a picture of me recently and I look like an onion, my hair is light, my skin is light and I have blue gray eyes so I would be even more colorless with white hair. My hair looks to be white at the roots with no color at all. It probably still has color in the back and underneath which used to be a darker blond naturally but was always sun bleached. I miss my natural hair color so much. I always got compliments on how pretty it was, it was sort of my personal good point as far as my appearance goes, but have not heard that compliment in years and years. Getting old is a series of getting used to losing things that made you ~well you. My hair is long so I would have to hide for a couple of years until it grew out as long. I'm also not up for going way short. Sheesh, being a woman is such a PITA!!! and expensive, too. To your question about going gray, I think about it more and more as it just gets to the point where you wonder will I have to do this for the next 30 years of my life? The thought of chasing down a good colorist through all those years is a bit daunting...we live in a transient city, no Steel Magnolia type hair salon here.

Gypsyrose ... are you still out there? wondering what your colorist had to say at your consultation. I've always wondered if you could put grey highlights in and just kinda let the gray take over.

As a Master Colorist/Stylist/Salon Owner, you can all try to guess what I have to say about this.
But you'd be wrong. Since you're not my clients and I won't lose money by saying so, there are lots of options out there. Depending on your coloring, lifestyle, age, etc...
I wish people would post pictures of themselves so I could give personalized advice!

I started graying in my 20's. I gave up coloring in my 30's it was so drying and damaging and I was getting a silver ring of grow out around my face in less than two weeks.

I did have to cut it short to grow it out gracefully but now wear it longer. I have people stop me on the street to compliment me on my hair color often.

Here is a pic from my 30th reunion

you women need to try color oops.
it will remove years of hair coloring.
I've seen very dramatic before and afters- it really works, have used it myself. I don't use lifting color so my hair is returned to its natural color. If you used lifting color it will remove all artificial color but you will be left with whatever color your hair turns after bleaching, sometimes orange. But if you have been using deposit only color, like a semi permanent, you will get your natural color back, without having to cut it off.

I have gone natural and I wish I would have sooner. The color is awesome, and hair so much healthier

I think white, white hair is spectacular and better that most grey I have. If I had grey hair I would die it white. My family never got grey hair. In fact, my mother's hair got darker as she aged. I get highlights because it is a drab color.

My mom is gray and not painted.

I'm a natural strawberry blonde, 62 and I'm not really graying yet, which is good because I am too lazy to do the upkeep for coloring. I do think my hair is lighter than it used to be, but I still have mostly my natural color. My husband has very dark brown hair, he's 62 and has just a few stray gray hairs, his older brother also, yet their sisters are both gray. I think genes have something to do with if and when your hair turns gray. However, there is nothing wrong with gray hair, I've even seen some younger celebrities going gray, its a fashion trend recently. A beautiful head of gray hair is very striking to me. The same goes for white hair, my mother had beautiful white hair.

A good colorist can mix grey with a pretty blonde and add some zip to grey hair. Not coloring it all one color but blending strand for strand gives you a much longer time between coloring. There are many shades of grey. You may look in the mirror and like the grey or not.

I got my first white hairs when I was in college. I used to frost it to disguise it. However, I finally got tired of all the time and money and just had my hair cut really short. When the beautician blew my hair dry, the natural coloring was the same degree as the frosting, but it was with white highlights instead of blond. Eventually I had a head of white hair, and that is fine by me.

When I get to that point, definitely skipping coloring...haha