I spoke too soon - just discovered 4 or 5 grey hairs. How did I not notice this before?!

A lovely transition to grey hair. I recently started mine but have a long way to go as I do not plan to cut it short to speed things up.

I'm soon to turn sixty and still have relatively little grey hair. I have it minimally highlighted -- never full color, so I really only go to the salon every 10 or 12 weeks. For many years it was only three times a year. I've always had blondish hair. I don't plan to transition to grey anytime soon, unless the grey becomes more predominant. If coloring required more frequent trips to the salon I'm quite sure that I would re-think things. My mother turned grey in her thirties and has always had gorgeous hair.

I'm late to this thread but very interested. MaineLady, your hair looks wonderful. I've been getting mine colored for almost 15 years, and my stylist assures me that if I quit and let it grow out, it would be "blotchy". This sounds pretty unappealing, so I figure I'll go a few more years getting color. Maybe when I retire it will be a good time.

Yes and SW prof doesn't your stylist have a *significant* conflict of interest in telling you that? Don't stylists earn a whole load more if clients colour rather than cut? I once read a male owner of salons here say that if clients asked if they should go grey he asks them if they want to look 10 years older and I was significantly p***** off by that. My feminist hackles were rising, lucky for him he wasn't nearby.

Anne, those sneaky silvers slide in when you aren’t looking.

Lisa, enjoy the journey. You will be more comfortable if you make it your own and take steps, or not, on your timeline.

Jill58, ahh, a nice smooth slide towards aging gracefully, like yours, would have been my first choice.

SW prof. Your stylist might be right. Your stylist is probably aware of options to avoid the blotches or skunk stripe. My hair has blotches that are darker. That is why we have been highlighting and using toner as needed. Each time we have highlighted less, focusing on breaking up the dark patches. I just returned from having some toner applied to cut the gold. My stylist used a new shade called Pearl. I really like it....it helped blend the darker hairs underneath and gave my hair an ashier blond/ white color. This is a cooler shade and I think it works well with my skin.

Jenni NZ, I think the best stylists are the ones who tell you the truth! My stylish is as thrilled with the results of my process to gray as I am and she has some new customers because of it!

Mainelady -- I meant to add that your hair is absolutely gorgeous -- so healthy and the length is perfect. I too think that the best stylists will tell you the truth. My stylist has never tried to talk me into anything. In fact she does her best to keep my hair low maintenance with salon visits spaced out as far as possible. She has never encouraged me to switch to full color which would require more frequent appointments.