At age 55, I have a few white hairs, but I have no intention to embrace them because my skin is light. I already know how bad my white eyelashes look. I don't need a head full of white hair.

I stopped using a demi to cover my grays 13 months ago after being inspired by women here who have done so. I'm 53. I thought I would be more gray than I am....I'm about 20% according to my stylist. I just went cold turkey letting my demi fade out.....no intervention from a stylist. I must say it IS liberating. My hair is shoulder length and every time I get a cut it gets healthier. I still have about 5 inches of old hair to go. Can't wait!

I do have days of doubt. Other days I feel great about it. It's a process but I'm embracing it and just going with it. Recently, a women who I chat with while dog walking said, "ok....I have to ask about your hair". I braced myself for a "what the heck are you doing" but she said I had inspired her to go gray. She said my hair looked great.....that the gray looks intentional and like highlights. She's concerned about being viewed as old and such....all the things society throws at women. I told her to search "gray hair over 50" on Pinterest to look at all the beautiful grayed haired women out there. She said she already had a whole board. LOL Anyway, I feel good knowing that I was able to pay forward the inspiration I gained here to another woman.

My clothing hasn't changed much yet. I wear a lot of black and I do find myself preferring navy more now. It's a bit softer. On the hunt for navy!

Marilyn, now you've got me thinking of white and grey haired icons I admire. Christine Legard comes to mind immediately. And now I'm wondering if Ruth Bader Ginsburg colors her hair.

Well, it was a theory! I had noticed that I seemed to be alone in wearing pretty much what I always wore, and also in being late to gray, so I put two and two together and evidently got twelve.

As for the binary switch, I was picturing a woman trying on current fashions in a store--if she sees gray hair in the mirror, the clothes look too youthful, "not for me", but if she sees her original color, they look fine. Like I said, a theory...

In my experience women are more understanding and accepting of grey hair then men. I got my share of comments about 'what i was thinking' and 'when will i start coloring again' and 'that I looked much better with colored hair' and they were all from men. Fortunately my husband is not one of those.
I am also one of those who did not expirience any change in hair structure, it feels same as before. I have completly white hair arround my face and find it difficult to maintain even with many different purple based products.
I have not changed the way I dress or colors I wear at all. But I never liked brown and beige anyway. i will
be 48 in 10 days and I don't think I look older then that because of my hair.

Theories are always worth floating!

But honestly, I think it has more to do with health, financial means, interest in fashion.

I definitely don't see "too youthful for me." I'm far more likely to see "wrong style for me," or "wrong cut for me," or "not a great colour for me."

I dress essentially the way I dressed at 20, with updates, of course. Admittedly, I do not have to work in an office, and I wonder if complaints are coming more from women who do. It might be difficult to find fashionable, modest, and age-appropriate office wear. I know that other area of complaint is dresses. They are often too short. That is not necessarily age related. I would have disliked extremely short skirts when I was 20 also.

With the help of my hairdresser, I have begun the transition to gray hair....well, it looks like a lot of mine is white, or silver. Here are some pictures.
The first 2 pictures are before I left for the salon. The others are after spending hours in the chair, over the course of 2 days.
Tomorrow I will spend some time trying on tops to see which colors work with my new look. So far, navy is a winner.

This close-up shows what I like best about becoming a "silver fox"; it isn't all sleek silver. The actual texture of my hair is changing very little, but the appearance of the different shades mixing together gives it visual interest, almost like texture.

I just saw this post. I have been tempted to let my hair go gray but haven't been able to take the plunge. I am 55 and my mom and aunt still color their hair (!) so it would be a big deal to be grayer than they are! But regardless, this monthly hair coloring is a hassle. My skin tone is warm, although pale, so I am afraid that it would just look dull and mousy.

Love the new look, Mainlady!

Mainlady-- love your new hair!

Navy is a complete slam dunk for me with my grey. It was always one of my best colours.

Hi all --

Jumping in, having just hit my 2-year "grey-iversary." (started process in mid-40s. started greying in teens!)

Definitely, definitely inspired to finally take the leap by the stylish YLFers who'd gone before me.

This is a GREAT place to make it through.

Natural color was dark brown with red highlights, grey is silver (not white as I'd always thought from roots). Super-pale skin.

I have some threads here with photos, none terribly recent. One focused on a big milestone trip -- I did it with serious on-purpose roots!

But really at about the 10 month point I had what I have now. Most of mine is a big ole clump on the right -- former bane of existence -- then left temple zone, and then "highlights" elsewhere. So maybe 30-40%? Because hair is long-ish it still reads as pretty dark.

Below is not-great but recent shot. During transition and now I wear a lot of prints with white/silver shades to help tie in my multi-colored mop.

yet more details...

I stopped coloring for 2 months to get to 3" roots, went to hairdresser and had her leave shorter front pieces as-is but lowlight in a zigzag to break up "skunk stripe." That got me over a big hump and then I just white-knuckled it from then. Kept hair ~ shoulder length the whole time and found wearing it up helped with the ombre situation.

Had lots of support here, from Mr Vix, from many pals, from random
people. Did/do not have support from still-coloring mom -- she doesn't like the age-marker on me as it ages her! -- but her friends love it haha!

Vix, I don't quite understand what's going on in that pic, but I like the colors of your top and the top of you (hair on your head) together. Also, generational differences like older women coloring their hair, while younger women go grey, is in your mom's criticisms always interest me.

I'm interested in that also Fashiontern. I wonder if there is an element of the women who were youngish at that time of extreme femininity ( say from Dior's New Look in 1947 through the 1950s until the Youthquake and Swinging London hit in the 1960s) who have a greater sense they must still look "young" and "feminine" than those of us born later than that where fashion is more diverse?

Fashiontern and Vix, I love the pictures you posted showing your varying hair colors. Gorgeous!
Thank you Suz and Robin F. I am very happy with how the stylist blended my own white, silver and red/brown with the help of highlighting and toner. So far, so good, although I am surprised at how much lighter my hair is overall. It will take some getting used to. I am going to live with it for a few days and have an appointment next week, to go in and see if we want to do any tweaking. We may decide to add a few lowlights, but are holding off for a bit. Th goal is to get to my authentic color, so we are only adding color, or toner to help with blending in the skunk stripe.
Robin F, I am tan right now and curious about how my hair will look with my skin when I am much paler. Now is the time for me to play with clothing and makeup colors. It will be trial and error for a while, but I find it to be exciting!

Also, Mainelady, your new hair is so pretty. It looks like it did take a long time to get it that good! I think that's what Imogen Lamport, a stylist from Australia did and wrote a series of posts ( you could Google her).

Cross posted Mainelady!

Had to jump off before I could compliment the new cut and color transition, Mainelady!

Smart to live with it a bit. Honestly from here it doesn't seem like you need lowlights but I get it...have wondered myself whether I'll do that way down the line.

One thing I'd read but didn't 100% understand til I lived it is that until all the old color is really gone you don't know how you'll like the overall effect. [Like Fashiontern, most love it!]

As a coloring brunette I used to HATE the 3-week point (more than 1" of roots, too early to justify recoloring) because I'd look so "washed out."

And then when I let the roots get longer I hated it because the light roots (really silver, looked white) made me look like I had a receding hairline at top and sides...ugh, that was Not Good.

But once you get to the end point -- whether you have a mix of tones or only white/grey/silver hair -- it's a whole different thing. So to those in the process, hang in!

ps to Fashiontern -- ha, it's just me in the lap of high-privacy Mr Vix at the end of a wedding reception.

This is the 10-months in look: https://youlookfab.com/welookf.....grey-shots

This is more or less the current look (needed a haircut): https://youlookfab.com/welookf.....ues-greens

Vix, now I see that you are beautiful, in a beautiful dress, in a beautiful place. On my phone's screen, the shorter/lighter hair on the side of your head looked like it was a different color, like you were wearing part of a bath cap or something. But you seem to have a more interesting interpretation of my comment...

I never have colored my hair. Did perms for a couple years in high school. That was enough for me. No lye or harsh chemicals for my son's hair either, tyvm.

Jenni NZ, that makes sense to me. My mother's self-definition is all tied in with performance of certain female duties, including looking good. Observing without judging is also hard for her; I think that's generational too. Assigning a value to the color makes it much easier to know how to respond to it.

I embraced my grey/silver hair a couple of years back... but I had been having blonde highlights for a number of years to blend the grey when it first started.

I found I really suited the grey/silver. Still do. I'm also fair freckly skinned and was unsure as to how it would look but it made me look like I had more colour.

Like most people have said I had to avoid beiges and browns, which also meant I couldn't or didn't feel I could wear gold jewellery anymore. So silver it was. I also use a violet shampoo and conditioner to keep it bright and not brassy. Fudge do a good shampoo and conditioner.

As I still felt relatively young ....ahem 40's... I also had an edgy hair style cut, my profile picture shows an undercut asymmetrical bob. I like the hair American hairy stylist Emily Anderson does.

However, after a couple of years I grew bored the beginning of this year so I had some blonde highlights put in, mainly so I could wear gold again. So this year, I have worn gold to death. Beige and neutrals made it back in too. But .... when I look in the mirror I see blonder hair, yet in photos it still looks silver. So what I have learnt is, despite the blonde highlights and my hair still looking silver, I can wear gold or neutral tones. But I haven't ventured as far as brown yet.

Thank you Jenni. I will google Imogine Lamport. I like being informed and learning from others.
Vix, I love your hair! IF I had let mine go gray when it happened naturally, I might have been able to enjoy hair like yours. I still have some of my own dark brown hair, especially in the back, but up near the front of my face and at the top, I have a lot of white and some silver. I think my colors are going to be blonder and whiter, with brown/gray tones. We will see!
Juecav, I am on a learning curve for sure. I have always worn earth tones and autumn colors. Brown and tan have been a great neutrals for me. That may have to change. I am happy to see that olive greens still look great on me. I think a lot of it has to do with skin color, but the overall look is impacted by the lighter hair.
I am 56 and for some odd reason, still think of myself as being 35.

Maine lady, this is off topic, but your last sentence is something that bugs me when I think about dating again. I don't want to be with an old man!

Lol fashiontern. Age really is only a number. Some of the best things come with time: great wine, experience, wisdom, icon status, diamonds....