I had hair long enough to tuck in to my jeans till 1981. Got my hair cut off, and wore it short like now since.

Started turning gray, and just let it spread around 1998. I am very gray in front, and salt and pepper on the back.

I love my no fuss hair do, and won't change anything.

Moni

I have very thick coarse hair. Layers is all that works. Have had basically the same style for 30 years; sometimes a little longer or shorter, but basically the same. :(

Basically the same medium length, with bangs and layered around my face for ages. It's really all that works for my face shape which is long plus my hair is extremely fine so it needs to but cut a certain way because nothing else works with it. I look absolutely hideous in short hair or I would cut that mess off in a heartbeat!

Every time I try a new cut or to change it, it just does not look right. Tried recently to loose the layering around my face and that just looked stupid! :( Tried to cut it mid-neck length...hated it, it's finally grown out from that failed experiment...yuck!

Back in the 80s early 90s I had teased up hair as big as I could get it..HAHA! They do not make hairspray anymore that would even hold that "do" anymore. I hate the new hairspray formulas. Nothing holds anymore. My hair is flat before I leave the house now! GAH!

I have changed it many times. In my twenties I used to get a perm. Remember the frizzy, curly look? Grew that out and had a shag type hair style for a while.
I had bangs for a while. Now I have the side wave and my hair is blown straight.
I have it colored, but only a single process. My last hair cut was too short and so I skipped a cycle and will this time ask to keep the length I have., I like to be able to collect it all in a ponytail when I exercise.

In my early teens my very dark brown straight hair began to curl. In fact became frizzy. Short was the only way to go. In my first pregnancy it straightened and I wore it long, often in a French twist. Gradually over the next 10 years all the frizz came back. At some point, probably 40 years ago, went back to very short and that is how it has been since then. It is mostly grey now with deep waves and I have no intention to change it. I have never understood why anyone would go to all the trouble and expense of coloring, frosting or otherwise changing what mother nature gave them.

I'm in the midst of changing mine. I want it to have movement, yet, I want to do that without products. I've gone to straight baking soda scalp scrub with vinegar rinse, and it's doing pretty well, but it needed a bit of something. I cut it in chunky layers on Sunday. Just around the face. It's much better. I'm really wondering if I should get more done, but people keep complimenting it, so maybe this is better. I did donate my hair one year and it went from really long to really short. I hated having my hair that way. I didn't feel like me. I'm pretty sure my husband didn't like it, and my boss kept saying, it's like there is a stranger sitting at your desk. But everyone else said, you look ten pounds slimmer, you look ten years younger! and they loved it. It was cute, but it wasn't me. I really really wish I could have one of those cute pixie cuts and look like Anne Hathaway did when she sliced hers off. Whoa. Totally confident.

Here is a link that might be useful:

This post was edited by rob333 on Thu, Nov 21, 13 at 8:07

Chin length bob for years, and same color.
Except for 3 years ago, when i had to go on high dose meds when i got sacrdosis, which caused some hair loss....then, stylist cut in layers. Just recently went back to bunt cut.

We found a style that is low maintenance, so I basically stick with it. Sometimes it is longer, sometimes shorter.

No way I would ever have a style that I would have to 'goop' and 'spray' every day.

I hate my natural color (dirty dishwater blonde) and I have a lot of grey that is not a pretty grey. With my coloring having my hair natural just washes me out!! As for as using the goop & hairspray, I just started that about a month ago. I wanted an edgier look so when my BF was down we played "beauty shop" and I liked it. Prince Charming liked so I have kept it up.

I've changed it a few times over the years. For the past 10 years, I've let it grow. Back in July it was down to mid back and I decided to go shorter. Earlier this month, I went shorter. I now have just past my chin length hair with layers, no bangs. No color. Dark golden blonde with natural gray highlights. They're more white than grey.

I am 60 and have been wearing my hair in a modified Dorothy Hamil since I was 25. Sad, but true. LOL

Jodi-

Most of my hair disasters were in my 80's/90's childhood when I had no say in the matter - mullets and perms!

Since I was old enough to get a say in it, I've kept my hair long and straight. Sometimes I add layers into the front. I have to be able to tie it back though or I go nuts. The longest has been almost to my waist but currently it's about mid-back.

My main problem is how fast it grows. It easily grows 1 to 2 inches a month. I like to color it a couple shades darker than my natural color but it's a pain when it grows so fast.

I have curly, thick hair. I've worn it short - about 1-2 inches long - for about 30 years now. There is no "style" that would work with my hair unless I put a lot of effort into maintaining it. I prefer low maintenance. My hair is going gray, but I'm not going to color it. I'm not ashamed of growing older, so why try to hide age? I think gray hair looks dignified, actually.

A few years ago I had very little hair for about 3 months. Every time I had a brain operation (3 of them), dh had to shave my head. It was very low maintenance, very comfortable. I didn't have bad hair days since I had so little hair! If only it didn't look so strange...

My hair changes from day to day. I can wear it up or down, fairly curly if I let it air dry, or straight if I blow it. In the past, I wore a pixie cut and my hair dresser used me as a 'head' in a couple of styling competitions. It's also been very long and everything in between.

I'm not opposed to hair products but will never use anything that makes my hair stiff or fake looking. Not only do I want Robert to like touching my hair, I want it to feel good, too.

I am wondering about what age women start to feel the confidence of going gray?
Also, do you have friends who are like minded? All the women in my circle color their hair. And, at work, there is only one woman who has gone gray.
I know I am not fooling anyone, but at this time I still feel more youthful coloring my hair. Mine would be salt and pepper and I think this is more attractive on a man than a woman. My DH has been gray for years.

Oh, I've had the Hamil wedge, and I've had bangs sometimes. I've had the pixie, and I've worn my hair in a french twist. Now it is chin length in front and close to my neck in back with layering above. I do not have a high hairline and my thick hair will fall forward and blind me if I can't tuck it behind my ears. I hate hairspray. I don't want to shampoo more than twice a week.

I've colored my hair a bit lighter than my natural very dark brown since I was about fifty. Now I have a lot of grey, but I also have a big spot of my natural dark brown right in front. If I didn't color my hair I'd look like a reverse skunk in front!

A pretty young woman was in a chair at my salon recently. I admired her mane of long straight hair. She refused to have the hair trimmed as short as the stylist suggested. When the gal stood up I had to agree with the stylist. The hair completely overwhelmed her. She was all hair and torso, with relatively short legs.. She looked out of proportion. It reminded me to look at ALL of me in a three-way dressing room mirror, not just in the mirror at the hairdresser.

(I had a very short friend who loved hats with big brims, but couldn't wear them. She said she looked like a mushroom in them!)

I have had short, boyish cut for over 20 years. I admire short bobs and would like to have one but it is a real pain to try to let it grow out. Since I spend too much time and money on it already and it grows so fast, I refuse to start coloring the gray that is fast coming in.

Ellen, I think letting your hair stay a natural color (and go grey) is more of an inner confidence issue than age. I know people who went grey in their early 20s and it wasn't until they were in their 50s that they stopped coloring. I don't know if there is any point in time; it just has to feel right for you. I've never really cared what other people think about my appearance. My sister in law has a gorgeous mane of healthy shiny grey hair that is spectacular. She's had it for years now.

I don't like hair color for several reasons. My mom played with color (box, which is bad...and perms...on ME) and other people I know have as well. Sometimes it turns out good; sometimes it's bad. I see people with hair that looks like straw because it's been over processed. I have healthy, shiny hair that needs nothing more than a shampoo. I let it air dry, no products and it's just fine. I'm a no maintenance kinda gal!

I've known several women who were obviously elderly - "old" faces, etc., but they had solid brown hair. Not even a bit of gray. I thought that brown hair looked obviously fake.

If I'd gone gray early - in my 20s, or so - I would've colored it. But at my age, I think it's appropriate. The only thing I don't like is that my hair seems dry as I get more gray/silver. So I'm starting to use conditioner, which helps. But I only used shampoo before. Less work, so this is a pain.

I change it up every few years or so. I have thick, wavy hair that grows fast. Currently I have a shoulder length bob with feathering along the sides of my face, plus bangs which are new for me. Nice that they hide the forehead wrinkles :) I have some gray, but not enough to enough to color yet. My mom did not get any gray until she was in her 70's, neither did my grandmother.

My hair is simi short and I can not really wear any style other than the way it grows, 2 deep waves on each side, straight on top, curly in the back. I had a stylist for about 12 years that was OK, she moved on to a new job in nursing a few months ago. I am on my 2 stylist in 6 months, and not happy today;( I will try this gal a couple more times and then~~~I just do not know what I will do. I color it myself;)

In HS I wore a long pony tail for years. Later I had a short Mia Farrow pixie for years, and then many years ago I went the geometric Vidal Sassoon look. I have never colored my hair and never had a permanent. For the last 30 years I have had a blunt cut bob. It used to be longer,but now for years it's chin length..longer in front ,shorter in back but not that crazy layering up the back. Basic blunt cut , and now my hair is mostly grey with some light brown making streaks. Someone actually asked me last week how I "streaked" my hair.

About 55 years, or so, I think ...

... give or take a few.

Don't recall whether I revamped it, back then ... given a nudge or two from the ex-, possibly.

ole joyful

Love my grey hair!
Kathy G in MI

Years. No, I don't want to change it. Sometimes it is a little longer, sometimes a little shorter. I don't dye it or style it or anything like that. Wash and go.

I just recently found a hairdresser that I love. She gave me a short cut that is very easy. I just use my curling iron to roll it back, brush it out, spray a little and go. I love it. Also, I quit using dyes a few years and let the gray come in naturally. I've had so many compliments on my natural salt and pepper hair color.

My hair is is always kept short with bangs, it's fine, thinning and blonde starting to go grey at the temples...I'm 66 so no surprise there...I use gel with 5 curlers on top...I still didn't have much body until my daughter recommended using dry shampoo sprayed on and brushed through before styling and hairspray....it really helped...I used Tresemme then found Suave was cheaper and worked great.

about 100 years too long......but my hair is getting so thin
I don't have much choice.

My hair is naturally raven black, used to be so black it almost looked blue, that's the Cajun in me. I wore it extremely long for the large majority of my younger years, to butt length. Then probably in the 80's I cut it to mid back and had layers and it was like a natural spiral curl, loved it that way best. These days I have a nice spread of silver mixed up in the front along with the black and I don't plan on changing that. I have it cut shorter than I ever have and enjoy the ease and comfort and convenience. I took this picture of Jamie to my long time stylist and said let's see if we can get close to this, she as always did a great job. It is wash and go.
I have always thought Jamie looks timeless. Now if only I could look as beautiful as she does lol, not happening!

Years ago, that's the way I wore my hair. Since I cut my own, I can't wear it that way any longer , but I always got compliments.

I have thick naturally curly hair. We own a landscaping business so I have it long. Below the angel bones so I can wear a ponytail when working.

My color is strawberry blonde & always been. Now I have some grey in the front & sides. All I have to do is wash it & let it dry.

Have had long hair all my life.

Have to say my "hair style" since September is rather unique. The back keeps falling out so now my "nape" is at about the middle of my ear. I'm trying to let it grow out to all one length again and wear it a little longer--one of these days. For now, it's radiation head! LOL! BTW, I'm fortunate I didn't lose it all!

Patti I am happy you kept some of your hair. I have lost a lot of mine especially on top, one of my meds which is a chemo drug is causing it. I recently read an article with lots of real people comments positively on the product called Fall Fight there's a shampoo, conditioner, and a spray. I just bought it to give it a try. By Garnier Fructise I needed shampoo anyway.

My hair is a lot like Jamie Lee Curtis.....but I am not as gray.
I have worn it short since high school with a few exceptions.
I love being able to shower, wash my hair, use the blow drier if I think about it and be done.
The lady at our library always says I remind her of Jamie Lee.
I don't even own a curling iron.
I am 73 and am starting to get gray. (Family trait.)
I haven't colored my hair since I was in my 30's.

havn't cut my hair in more than a year, or so....after it all grew back from chemo, I kept it short...but don't know how long this will be...at least for the winter... nice to have it long...

It's short and has been for as long as I can remember except for one brief period following one chemo bout when it was growing out and curly and I let it grow out pretty long...It looked pretty pitiful and I was pretty fat with that chemo weight too so I don't know what I was thinking...I had a hair cut before our last RV trip and told her to cut the back short and she got carried away and gave me one of those "what was she thinking" hair cuts...I have to admit I was pretty pissed when I got home and saw what she had done....I saw LuAnn PA's hair cut and have to say that it's a great cut...

For too long. I have very thick, coarse hair with a natural curly/wave. I don't suit it very short - besides, I would need to have it cut every week - it grows like a weed. I greyed in my 20s and am now 63. The grey is iron grey and my complexion is yellow - but this is not apparent until someone holds certain colours against me - then it sure is. And of course my natural hair colour was auburn - I am of Irish heritage. Only colour that suits me - I have tried on wigs in other colours - awful. And red fades. I have my hair cut in layers and keep it a few inches below my ears (when my hair dries after being wet it curls "up" so I need to makes sure that I still have those few inches to peak out from under my hat - and I always wear a hat - red fades). It is very expensive to have it coloured in Toronto - and I do not have highlights - hair is so coarse it appears to be highlighted anyway. I do try and extend the colouring by wearing said hats and basically have it done every 8 weeks - unless I am going somewhere say at week 5 where I have to take my hat off. Not everyone can cut my type of hair. Unfortunately the best colour for me is Goldwell - not cheap. I recently (due to a funeral) had to go to a different salon since my colourist does not work certain days of the week. They used L'Oreal Professsional - which is a good colour product, but apparently I am now allergic to the current formulation. Wonderful. And to think I used to do it myself before the colour was d/c'd. And of course with so much grey now I would not want that tell-tale 2 inch patch of off-colour auburn. I do use a curl enhancement product - but it is hard to find one that is not for fine, thick hair. I need strength in the product.

I got my hair cut short about 12 yrs. ago. I change it sometimes by growing out the back a little into something like a short shag, then getting it cut into a pixie cut again. I change the highlights & bangs too. I like keeping it short, but don't want to keep exactly the same style all the time. My hair is very fine but very thick & grows really fast. The stylist thins it out because it gets so heavy & won't style right. It needs to be cut once a month on the top & sides or I just can't work with it.

Hair extensions and hairpieces really can help to improve the looking of people and help to change them a lot hair extensions and hairpieces if choosing the right type and right style of hair wigs for you, of course that you will look and become more and more attractive and also buy cheap hair wigs now is easy as you can just get the ideal style that you want online at online shops now. I have just buy me a curly short wigs and it is perfect.

"I am wondering about what age women start to feel the confidence of going gray?"

"I think letting your hair stay a natural color (and go grey) is more of an inner confidence issue than age."

I'm 64 (will be 65 this summer). When I was much younger, my natural color was a beautiful medium brown with lots of natural highlights. I started to go gray (white, actually) in my early 30s. I used to use Clairol's Loving Care on it regularly.

When I was 45, my 38-year-old brother, who was HIV+, converted to full-blown AIDS. He was hospitalized and not expected to live through the night. He was in the hospital for 9.5 weeks (8 of which were in ICU), and I was with him the entire time except for 3 nights (not in a row). I had just used the Loving Care on my hair the day before he was admitted to the hospital. During that 9+ weeks, I was lucky if I got enough time to take a sponge bath. Several times one of the nuns at the hospital gave me the key to her apartment so I could take a real shower. Coloring my hair was the last thing on my mind.

When my brother was released from the hospital, my husband and I brought him here to live with us. We were told he probably wouldn't last 8 weeks. He died 46 weeks later.

I colored my hair again only once - shortly after he was discharged from the hospital. But taking care of my brother, and helping him come to terms with his death, made me realize that there are more important things in life than coloring my hair. I haven't colored it since, and it's been 20 years.

I came across this photo of my mother, taken when she was 52. I have pretty much the same hair style, and the same hair color.

just realized, I posted on this before... and deleted todays answer.

This post was edited by OklaMoni on Sat, Feb 15, 14 at 8:39

Being a hairdresser and owning a salon you can't imagine how many hairdo's and colors I've had. Now I'm 74 and have the opposite problem of most women. I have brown hair that I keep highlighted and I have never gone gray, I check the roots constantly, no gray. I always wanted to have it as it would be easier to maintain the blonde shades that I like but noooooo. It's all my fault. When I was 30 I read a book called Life Extension by Dirk Pearson who was a scientist and gave a plan for extending good health. I followed the plan and I remember reading that the plan would insure your hair wouldn't turn gray but I put no stock in that. So here I am, dark roots every month. All my younger sisters have gray hair even though they color it. They're jealous of me but I tell them, hey I still have to color it as my hair color was always a dull lifeless brown so I turn it into a glam do. I wear it short with lots of products to make it look thicker.

When I was young, I had brown hair, and rarely longer than chin length.
i followed my mother's advice, and went blond when the grey hairs started to turn up, about 55.
Fiver years ago, i contracted a lung problem and had to go on strong steroids, resulting in some hair loss for a year. My hairdresser trimmed my thinning hair short and layered it. She did a great job, and when I went off the strong meds, she gradually cut it longer. Took 3 years, to gradually get back to my blunt chin length hair.

I've had long hair for my whole life and intend to have it until the day I die. I just wouldn't be "me" with short hair. At age 74 I do have some gray in with my natural dark brown, so I do color it my natural color. It started thinning on the top back and I started putting glycerine on my scalp which has really helped. I can wear my hair down or put it up. I do "rat or tease" the very top to give me some height as I am very short. I don't like perms, so I use some strong setting gel to try to hold curl. Yes, I still set my hair in curlers and let it dry naturally. I refuse to put heat to my hair. It does seem like "no" hair spray will hold a hairstyle in the wind we get.