When a person goes cold turkey, the body and brain are deprived of the effects of alcohol and require time and support to adjust to life without the substance. Aveda Blue Malva Color Conditioner. As far as men are concerned if they care so much about the color of my hair , then I wouldnt want to waste my time with them . I have to admit, I loved it! I have received positive comments to date excepting only my origianl hairdresser. I have been to many countries; I spent 1 year in the U.S. at the age of 16 and moved to Austria 18 years ago. I'm happy with my silver streaks and want to set a good example to my little girl about beauty and self acceptance. Silver Sisters Community supports womens transition to self-acceptance, as well as the #GrayHairMovement, in general. My very expensive and expert colorist advises that it is nearly impossible to remove all of the semi-permanent color from my hair and it cannot be returned to gray just by removing it. In the grocery store, I just love to pass the aisle with the hair dyes, and feel so thrilled I am done spending my time and money looking for the perfect colour every 2 or 3 weeks.I had the perfect colour all along.. I am 62 and like so many women, feel our outward appearance is a measure of our beauty, vitality and relevance. We celebrate, empower, encourage, motivate and inspire each other. Glad i went foxy white gray after years of abusing my hair with dyes. I am 64 years old and a Qigong teacher- hoping to show the world that we can age with health. But even if the Internet culture is moving toward a change in mentality and generating debate about what we should consider beautiful or not, the social norms to which weve subscribed are so anchored in some of us that its really difficult to break free from them. For a very long time, my hair will be two tones and I am not sure what I will look like. I'm glad there are so many of us to lend support to each other! For more information on going gray naturally, you can follow along here where Ive journaled about my experience along they way. It's great. 8 Books to Read. Just let your natural gray hair come in as it will. And dont give a f#ck what other people think. It was a vicious and messy cycle. This woman had such an impact on me and she will never know it. My husband is very supportive and anxious to see the end result, I might just make it this time. I filled my head with knowledge and my heart with self-love.And it changed my life!!! Age: 25; started graying at 12. Something that will not leave it dull looking. I just chose to go gray cold turkey, no color corrections, no interfering in my natural grow-out process even if this surely wasnt the most stylish solution. Cold turkey, shave, partial color, and strip color and add toner. will often in their eagerness to please over promise and under deliver. My favorite YouTube channels are Erica Johnston, Nikol Johnson and Miranda Parker. I started meditating, reprogramming my brain by giving myself daily affirmations, helping others in ways Id never thought of before, reading more and more and more! You do need to worry about what your husband thinks. And its been 3 years and the best thing she ever did. It was absolutely thrilling. . In the beginning, of my transition to gray hair I scoured the internet, Pinterest, and Facebook looking for women who had posted about their full transition to gray hair. The only real problems with going cold turkey is the psychology of saying goodbye to hair dye and dealing with a bold demarcation line (where the coloured hair stops). Here are their stories. To Tanya, dont worry how youll look and especially dont worry about what others think. This is the most gentle technique next to cold turkey. For me, it is not just the gray hair, it is more about feeling comfortable in my own skin and not been bother about what people may think of me. Add to Cart . I love this blog! 5 years dye free and happy to be me.~Rachel T. I started growing out my gray at age 44. It was literally; WTF am I doing??!! 6. Its like being pregnant in your first trimester where you just feel fat but you dont look pregnant yet. She went grey cold turkey with long hair and looks fabulous! I havent been ready to feel like I look old but seeing so many women who look terrific with gray hair like Helen Mirren is encouraging. I decided right after that although the color is pretty I hate the way the unnatural feels in my hair. She was awesome and very helpful. The next thing I knew I heard myself say, Hi! I started to go gray in my very early 20's and have since then always had my hair professionally coloured. My hairdresser was very supportive of my decision, as was my husband. What changed? You can always dye it if you dont like it, LOL. I'm 56 (almost 57) and would be totally gray if I stopped coloring every 4 weeks. Once I made up my mind that I was going to go gray, I just had to lean into perseverance after that. Bypassing the entire grow-out by either shaving your head or getting a cute shortie or pixie cut. I have seen several women in grocery stores and other various places who are letting their grey grow out and sometimes I stop and talk to them for support. Apr 25, 2019 - Feeling blah while going gray? Do you want him to worry about what you think? Something about turning 50 that made a shift in my psyche. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. I agree, not to even try to transition with semi-permanent. The last picture is at 17 months dye free. I was shocked to find that embracing my grey hair would be a positive and strangely freeing experience. I was also growing tired of keeping up with the roots. Less drying time = less damage. Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. In a nutshell; I have elbow length hair that has been colored and hennad since the 80s. It was the best choice I've made and the transition will be difficult in the beginning but I swear I go on Pinterest and look up pictures of women with gray hair as inspiration when I feel the need to turn back , This is my third time going gray, and I believe that this will be the last time. I love this blog and have been enjoying reading about everyones various experiences. I don't like myself in short hair, so, I bit the bullet and decided to go gray cold turkey. I look at this blog every night when I come home from work. I started to build my own self-worth, my own self-confidence, based on the person I found out I was. I experienced the kind of support thats often rare to find even face to face. I felt rebellious. My husband told me a few months ago he was so happy my hair was getting longer as he really despised my pixie cut. You can also find amazing Facebook groups, such as GGG (Going Gray Guide), Silver Revolution, Grombre and Silver Sisters International. My husband likes is long (hes ok with me going natural color) so cutting it super short may be out of the question I dont knowanyway, I know it will be process. dark brown) hair just was not working.After 28 years of coloring, my hair looked dry, rough, and too brassy/warm. At the end of the year I will have everything that was permanently colored cut off. . While removing the old dye made the skunk line not so visible, it did drag out the process. To add insult to injury we are going on a cruise together in February celebrating our 25th and I want to look fabulous! Your hair seems to grow EXTREMELY fast. Color correction, cold turkey, shave your head, try a pixie.Whatever floats your boat. PROS & CONS TO THE COLD TURKEY GRAY GROWOUT METHOD. i love it and it took a while to grow it this long! I thought I was just growing my hair out but little did I know I was growing and changing on the inside too. i did the same, i brought back all my dye and said I am EMBRACING my grey..sorry if you dont like but I am ready.plain and simple.. But I am ready to embrace my new self in being who I am and where I am in life. This sound like me. So, with the encouragement from my husband, (who is completely gray) I am sticking it out. But there I was dying my hair again and again. BUT I am scared and am going through all the "ageistic" thinking that society has thrown onto me. In the country I now live, people seem to be more relaxed about their looks and tend to judge less or not care at all about how others look. The thing that really helped was browsing pictures of other brave women who took the step and let their silver shine. I had women coming up to me asking me who my stylist was because they wanted the same unique colour. Mix a little in with your conditioner and experiment on strength. I have absolutely no regrets. young. 2017-2022 All Rights Reserved by Joli Campbell. But opting out of some of these cookies may have an effect on your browsing experience. Definition of go cold turkey in the Idioms Dictionary. During the growing out phase, my hair was such a mess, a mixture of the old dyed color, my new natural dark brown, and the gray . Well, some people said this would make me look old, others said that I was really brave! Photo by Carolyn Simpson Hair by Donna Dellaero, Donna Hair Design. The root hair around my face is snow white but the rest of my hair is white, gray and brown at the roots and the rest of it is the auburnish color plus blonde highlights and dark low lights, so its a mix of many colors right now. So, I do not think it will be a good idea to apply semi or demi permanent color with the expectation that it will just fade out to your gray hair. My husband is totally behind me so that will help. I have been coloring my hair since I got my first gray hairs in my early thirties. Its been a lot of trial and error to see what products work with my gray hair and my new gray hair needs. In the past few years I have had to spend a small fortune every 4 weeks at the hairdressers just to keep the re-growth under control. There h. How long does it take to fully grow out gray hair naturally? Im now 48 (49 in a couple months) and am so over all of it! Was I happier then? Wig Method. I plan to retire in the next year and cutting expenses will be important so I think I am going to transition to natural hair color. I would have to say that after fretting and thinking about letting my natural silver shine for over 20 years, I finally made the choice to be free at the age of 50. SITE CREDIT. Anyway, long story short, I took the plunge, and could not be happier with the results. Yes, there is always going to be that one person with an opinion but that person's opinion really has nothing to with you but their own issues. Full Highlight, Toner & Haircut. OWN it! I have wavy hair and I chose not to blow my hair out straight during most of my grow out to help make the demarcation line appear less prominent. But its always there if I need it. Quitting addictive drugs such as heroin can be much harder cold turkey. Feeling nervous about letting my stylist know my plan for ditching the dye. So one day I casually mentioned to my husband, Maybe Ill stop dying my hair., Ill never forget what he said because it was the final push I needed. i've been coloring my hair since my early 20's. By going cold turkey, a person's body can begin to recover immediately from the damage the substance was causing. Instagram / @brizzolando. Help! Finally, there is no right or wrong way to do this Full Transition to Gray Hair; there is only your way. Maybe you can relate. This is a private Facebook group designed to inspire, create community, share insights, spark conversation and provide solidarity. I had a 25 square scarf on hand, so I folded it and tied it around my head, with the know beneath the pony. The Ones Who Did It Early. I will confess tho, that I have used the power for the back and top of my hair to break up the line I am however leaving the front, full coverage. WOW!!! And, very thankful to our younger women who embraced dying their hair white and gray; giving us mature women the courage to embrace life changes, from being simply identified as being old, whereby mature men hair graying and therefore be considered distinguished, Love the journey and most importantly, to thyself be true. The 3rd month was my breakthrough; I got a pixie haircut! Which ever way you choose to go with your gray hair Seattle be sure you only make this transition with a seasoned stylist. She was 45, it was hard at first but then it got easier. Susan's journey, told with honesty and humor, takes you through her own adventure of ditching dye, of questioning the . I do keep my hair in a short pixie. A pixie cut could have been an option, but I wasnt ready for a drastic change of color and cut at the same time! I decided to transition this week. So, I am excited to get to know people who are in this same boat, and share confessions and give advise to me. sounds great, maybe I can suggest my hairstylist to do the same. I shamelessly ignored it for quite a long time, until April 2016 my first and only grow-out attempt! If you want to transition so no one really notices the change, then find a stylist who can take you through the process. Go cold turkey and you'll get what is referred to as the "skunk stripe" of gray emanating from your part. Wish me luck yallAndrea the Actress in Virginia. Check it out. What about all the stares? I was just too white on my crown to pull it off properly. I have since found a new salon. I started coloring my hair in between jobs a few years back to look younger for interviews, and I regret that decision. I noticed too that, as is normal for women of the peri-/menopausal phase of life, my hair was getting a little thinner, especially at the front so my scalp was more visible through the dyed hair. Some of the links on this site are affiliate links to Amazon.com. Going grey is most easily done cold turkey with a degree of humility. Be prepared to take more selfies than you have ever done! This "sit and wait it out" method worked well for me. So, I became curious as to how much grey I actually had and if it would look as great as it did on my family members. Hair grows out to 1.5 cm per month, thus, after a few months, you will have a complete gray hairstyle and a new exciting look. Im determined and search Pinterest for inspiration. They are a tremendous help getting you through the rough patches of this process. Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. 3 years ago I did what many of my friends thought was crazy and foolish. Hey, ladies! There are SEVERAL ways you can grow our your colored hair to your natural gray hair. That being said, the best thing you can do to help ensure your success is find some support. I havent mentioned it to anyone else. I go every 5 weeks, but the last two weeks before my appointment isnt very attractive because I see the gray roots. No, no, and no. Let us know how things go. I couldnt help myself. The color is silver, grey, and an inch of brown dyed hair. Advantages of Going Gray Cold Turkey with Long Hair. Theres not a lot of rules when it comes to growing out your dyed hair to gray but these are 5 things NOT to do for sure. I refused to do the skunk stripe and cannot help but cringe when I see it on other heads. Katie at Katie Goes Platinum has many full transition stories including mine on her blog. NEVER. Complete rubbish as it is your skin or a too dark fake colour that make you look old and not your gray hair. Product information is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease. I never dyed my whole head, just had lowlights but in, but I still ended up with a white part. Definitions by the largest Idiom Dictionary. Check out my review of it. I had it all grown off and wore it silver for five years, and then in 2008 I allowed negative people to tell me I was too young to have silver hair. The most popular theory was repeated by the San Francisco Chronicle columnist Herb Caen in 1978: "It derives from the hideous combination of goosepimples [sic] and what William Burroughs calls 'the cold burn' that addicts suffer as they kick the habit." In Cop Speak: The Lingo of Law Enforcement and Crime, Tom . Hi I'm 48 and suddenly I just don't feel me, being brunette. Over the past 20 years, I figure Ive spent almost $17,000 and just about 30 entire DAYS in the chair getting my hair dyed. Depending on your hair type, it will probably take about2 years for gray hair to grow past your chin. Would I want to go back there? How did you do it? It will accentuate the gray base and seamlessly blend the demarcation line. I got my hair highlighted with 60-80 foils, cut/styled. If I could just buzz cut it & grow out from there Id be fine but that would sure look stupid for a while lol. Please ladies, understand how that looks!!! It is so healthy, and actual looks so much prettier on me than my dyed hair ever did. And dont give a f#ck what other people think.~Melissa L. If I were going to give words of wisdom, Idsay to wrap your brain around WHY you want to do this.Hair is much more than just hair.Ask anyone who lost it from cancer treatment or who was losing it in handfuls from autoimmune disorders.Gray hair is just a color.Weve been conditioned and brainwashed to believe that the gray looks old, bad, witchy, or unprofessional so that well be either buying box dye each month or so that we visit our stylists.Research the ways to do this transition and learn as much about each of them as you can.If getting it cut short or if you use chemicals on it, research and research to find the right stylist to help you.There is nothing as discouraging as putting your trust in the wrong person. Truly the most liberating thing I have ever done. I must say the hardest part for me was the patience. I started with my first grey streak when I was 20 years old. I love my grey hair (my husband loves it too). They wanted a mom with long, dark hair. It's a blessing. I decided over a month ago that I would like to stop dying my hair. Even with the dye I am unhappy with the results~ broken hair-never the exact shade I am looking for. and this is my last unnatural thing that i've been hanging on to. I just found you when I started looking for help on going gray. I am active and happy and I am not the color of my hair !! It's the surgeries, the hair dying, the going to the ends of the earth to find the proverbial fountain of youth.All of this is creating skewed expectations of what a 40-year-old woman should look like. A different cut helps to eliminate a bulk of the hair you're trying to match or catch up to it also introduces the element of new. Somebody needs to read this today. My hair stylist and I came up with a plan to grow my gray out gradually. It's going to take some time and just like growing out a . Cant I just dye my hair gray and skip the whole transition? In that moment, she kinda blew my world open. Judging by your pictures it looks like an inch per month! But that's ok. Add to Cart . She went grey cold turkey with long hair and looks fabulous! I stay fit and eat healthy. Hey, ladies! The truth was that the dark brown had turned grey a long time ago, it started turning gray in my late teens. For anyone planning on growing out gray hair or for anyone wondering how long it will take, I would say to plan on a solid 2 years for the grays to grow past your chin. At this point, I was unstoppable; I was determined and excited about my new path! SITE CREDIT. We should feel good about ourselves as a whole, physically and mentally. I feel I'm putting rubbish over platinum. Hi Roxanne My husband is also behind me in my decision. Thank you, and good luck to all of is going gray gracefully and we are going to be beautiful. We cut through the marketing B.S. it has good reviews. I sit here with a huge desire to do it but the doubt that I have the strength and perserverance to stick with it. The hardest part about going gray was actually deciding to go gray in the first place, committingto the process, and just starting. I strongly felt like shedding everything that wasnt truly me. I still feel that maintaining good health, grooming and diet are now as important as ever. We went on a cruise and between the salt in the ocean and sun bleaching out some of my dk. Save. I would get compliments all the time on the gray!!!! 3. And check out a few of the support groups on Facebook. You have given me a lot of hope. I call this my final cut because its where I cut off all the remaining dyed bits of my hair marking the first time in over 20 years that my hair was 100% its natural color. If you get your gray hair all the way grown out and you hate it, then you can cover that gray back up anytime you want. Not in the sense that it was a utopic scenario. I went cold turkey, and it took me about a year, with a lot of patience, to grow out the dyed colored hair. August 31, 2020 (updated December 19, 2022). i'm going to start today in honor of my mother's disease of bulbar ALS. Give up??? Karen and I first decided to start this endeavor as an Instagram page. But, after years of covering up, you can't just go cold turkey on the color. Check out my first 18 months here. I truly appreciate the beautiful sisterhoodI found on this journey. September 29, 2009 . Why take the chance that it won't wash out. We live in a world of instant, yet our hair doesn't instantly grow without extensions or a wig. I have a short pixie hair cut already so I know growing it out will go quickly. I hope you found this post educational and helpful. Haircut $80. 3) I did not want to go gray quickly . 1,503 posts. We agree that going gray does not mean not taking care of yourself. This has been a true transformation both inside and out. Turned 50 this year and have lost some weight and just decided its time to be healthy and fit.