Don't want to dye my hair any more

Roberta1

I am looking for hair advice.

I have naturally medium brown hair which has been greying over the last ten years now. My natural hair colour is probably "salt and pepper" now".

I tried permanent hair dye applied at a salon but it was too expensive to maintain, so for the the last five years or so I have used the Nice N Easy semi dye which stays in for 24 washes or so.

However I have noticed a build up of product which means my hair is now unnaturally black, even though I have been using lighter and lighter shades over the years.

I am truly fed up with it now and thinking of letting the grey win but also a bit depressed at that prospect....

My Grandma always used "Harmony" shampoo which had a hint of colour - is there anything like that on the market now/

Any other hints? Much appreciated.

catkins

You sound just like me a year or so ago. Dyed my hair since I was in my 20's - started going grey at 25!

Now mid 50's I got so sick of dying my hair every month, the time, the mess, the cost. I decided to let it grow out. Luckily my hair is very short but it still seemed to take forever and looked such a mess - well people told me it didn't look that bad but it looked awful to me.

I found when it all grew out that my hair is now quite a nice silvery grey at the front (think Judi Dench and Helen Mirren) but unfortunately muck darker grey at the back. I am hoping that eventually it will all go the nice grey! I can live with it because I cannot see the back!!

I was worried that it would "age" me. I have always been taken for much younger than I really am and I suppose vanity likes it that way. Strangers still seem to think I am younger than I am so I guess it is not just about hair colour.

Do you think yours might be silvery grey? Is it worth starting to grow out the colour to see? Of course I don't know how old you are or how long your hair is.

There are times when I get fed up with the grey. Only yesterday I thought about dying it again but I was finding it difficult to cover up so much grey. Semi permanent dyes just don't seem strong enough and even some permanent ones don't seem to cover the grey properly or go "patchy" where the lighter grey is. I liked my hair red or sometimes burgundy but those colours definitely do not cover grey well!

I actually wish there was an actual grey colour dye and then I could dye the back of my hair to match the front:)

violetta

Over on the Freebies board, people are saying that the Nice N Easy Foam we have just got for free comes out very black looking, no matter what colour they send you (apart from blonde, whch comes out gingery!)

I like the Casting Creme Gloss by L'Oreal, very natural and glossy, and I haven't been disappointed by the colour yet. There does not seem to be any build up either, despite me having to colour every 4 weeks to keep the grey roots at bay.

ailuro2

I use Nice and Easy lasting colour - the one that lasts 24 washes, I do the roots for 10 minutes then the second half of the bottle on the rest of my hair for just 5 minutes and it turns out fine. I use Light Ash brown becuase I read it was one of the colours with the least red in it, however on my hair it turns out medium brown with a hint of auburn - which is, luckily, my originalk colour ( it has lost those golden-red highlights as I've got older - I'm 41 now)

I have read on here before when people have had hair dyeing disasters that head and shoulders is good for stripping dye out of hair - might be worth a try to get the heavier layers of dye off of your hair.

lessonlearned

Hi

I'm a silver fox now - just a bit of dark left at the back but like Catkins said not too worried about that.

I found this website https://www.goinggraylookinggreat.com - American and very inspirational. Some beautiful women on there - proving that white/grey/silver can look wonderful. Even the pictures of the "transition" stage show that it's not all bad news.

When I decided to let my white come through I had a few blonde highlights put in to help blend in the darker bits. Next time it is cut the highlights will be completely gone.

There is a silver enhancing product you can buy - sorry can't remember the name. It's in a lilac bottle (or maybe the bottle is clear and the product is lilac). Boots stock it. Not tried it yet because I've still got a few dyed highlights left and you are not supposed to use it on highlights apparently - only naturally grey hair.

Just as a matter of interest - now that I've stopped dyeing my hair it's in a much better condition.

ailuro2

http://www.goinggraylookinggreat.com/transitioning/alums_10/

lessonlearned - having a look at that site, ( great site!) it proves that most ladies seem to fall into one of three categories

1 - should have gone grey gracefully a long time ago, look much better naturall silver / white / salt & pepper.

2 - looked years younger with properly coloured hair and will get away with it for years yet, should keep at the dye bottle.

3 - need a bl00dy good hairdresser to give them a decent cut that suits their face shape, but the colour is almost irrelevant.:p

I think the ones who have gone blonder first THEN grown out the roots seem to be a bit less obvious in growing out.

Roberta1

Thanks for all your comments. I am only 42 and wondering if that is too young to be grey!

Back to the "Harmony" question - is there anything like that on the market?

no-oneknowsme

Sorry to hijack but seeing as how this thread is about hair dyes etc I just wanted to chip in with a bit of advice/a rant...

You may have seen tv adverts lately for a product called "colour b4" which is made by a chap called Scott Cornwall.

This product is getting all the hype lately as it claims to return DYED hair - even if a permenant dye has been used - back to its original colour it was before you ever dyed your hair !

Sounds really good in theory and sounded even more like a godsend when my 2 (not so) DD's were left home alone and DD1-17 yrs old decided that she was going to give DD2 - 14yrs old a make over with permenant BLACK DYE !

Cue me , one shocked and angry mum lol.

Anyhow , after a trip to boots the chemist I discovered this product and let out a sigh of relief that DD's beautiful blonde hair would soon be back.....

How wrong can you be !

We followed the instructions to the very letter and after the hours processing time we rinsed the product off DD's hair , dried it with the hairdryer and gasped !!! DD had pink/red/orange locks !

We emailed Scott to ask advice and the email was not unfriendly but the response which came back opened with the line "well before you ask , you are not getting your money back or any compensation" . I hadnt even asked for either..just a way to return my DD's hair back to normal as his product claimed !

So , on advice from Scott , we purchased another box of the colour b4 product as he had told us that as the dye used was black , we may need to use the colour b4 a second time .

Again , everything was followed to the letter and as it states on the box that the product *may* in extreme cases require a second treatment we were confident that this time the product would work as claimed....

On drying DD's hair this time we found it to be a mixture of bright ginger....red...pink...orange..yellow...

Cue one upset 14 year old !

Again , I emailed Scott and his response was that I may need to use the product up to 7 times (7 times ...even though the instructions state to use the product a max of 2 times ?Mmmm)

So , not wanting to do this , we again ask for advice and we are told that we should just put a little semi permenat dye into DD's hair to cover the multi colours . Off I go to tesco and buy a semi dye in lightest ash blonde (to cover the reds) and we apply the dye leaving it for the required amount of time. After rinsing DD has a full head of JET BLACK HAIR !

It seems that you are not supposed to apply a dye straight after using colour b4 as the shafts of your hair are still "open" and no matter what colour of dye you use your hair will return straight back to the colour you have just spend ages trying to strip out !

So , please , anyone considering using this "miracle product" dont ! Save your money as it doesnt work (and Scott doesnt pay compensation:rotfl:)

I paln to post this on the praise vent and warnings board to make others aware.

****All of the above is either my own experience with the product or my own opinion which I believe to be correct*******

ali-t

rather than just letting it grow out can you go to a hairdresser or training college and have your hair lightened, heading more towards blonde so it is less noticeable when your natural colourcomes in.

Roberta1

I'm quite dark and I think blonde would look a bit odd. I wonder about other colouring though - lowlights? Still expensive to maintain though I imagine?

SnowyOwl_2

I've had a look through that goinggraylookinggreat website and am really quite surprised! Some of the ladies really don't look their best with their coloured hair, and are transformed by letting the silver shine. A bad colour is definitely worse than any shade of gray! It also shows that a really good cut is so important. No amount of dying or highlighting or lowlighting etc etc will ever make a bad haircut turn good.

I must admit I am sick to death of dying my hair to cover the gray - I started going gray in my early 20s. Maybe it's time to let nature take its course.