Anyone let their hair go gray?
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Coolbreeze, Is that you ? If so your hair looks great!!! I colored mine for years, but had actually stopped a year or so before chemo, but now it is all grey and I really love it and like a lot of you get so many compliments on it. I used to think you had to have black hair to end up with a nice silver, but not so. Oh and someone metioned the male pattern baldness growth....that's how it come back, but don't worry it will fill in. My friend is at that stage now. From the looks of what she has now I would say she is going to be just about all gray, but she's only 46 and has a 9yr old so I would not be surprised if she doesn't color it once they give her the go ahead sign.
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I'm in my early 60s and before my dx last year my hair was 75% varying shades of medium brown + 25% white. I never liked even the idea of haircolor and was actually glad to see the frosting/lightening effect that the increasing amount of white gave it, because I'm very fairskinned and do not wear makeup. So I guess I'm one of the few women actually happy to go grey naturally.
Fast forward to now, about 5 months post-Taxol and with about 1" of post-chemo hair... which has come in 50% white + 50% apparantly-black. Overall visual impression: steel grey. If direct sunlight hits it the white lights up and it looks almost all silver, but in normal room lighting it resembles the colors you see in a grey-squirrel's tail (actually... come to think of it... in other ways too, LOL!).
Obviously this makes me look older than I did pre-chemo but I still don't have any intention of coloring my hair. Not only am I chemicals-paranoid (I use a shampoo free of sulfates, parabens, etc etc etc) but I am too lazy to want to fuss with color-maintenance, LOL! My haircolor is what it (now) is, and if what I've read is typical, it may well start reverting to what would be its normal color in another year or two. So I will look "older" for a couple of years and then should start to look "younger" as it starts coming in shades of brown again -- right?
Can't complain about the prospect of looking "younger" just as I hit my mid-60s, now can I?
CoolBreeze, I'm envious of how long your hair is compared to mine! It looks fantastic, so nice and thick on top. I see you're outdoors in that photo; just curious, does your hair look darker under indoor lighting?
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This really wasn't the thread I was looking for, but it will have to do. I remember back when I had hair (currently am without) I was having a fit because they quit producing my Silver Pantene and there was quite a discussion about different shampoos to use on gray hair. I even wrote to Pantene and found out they were part of Clairol and they suggested some other products I could try, none of which I liked very much. Well, guess what I got in the mail today? A letter telling me that they are once again producing Pantene Silver and they even sent me some coupons. They said it is back by popular demand so evidently I was not the only one who liked the product. Even though I currently do not have hair due to the fact I am on Adriamycin (and am happy about this because it seems to be working), I am going to stock up on the stuff so that when I do have hair again I will be ready!! Just wanted to pass this news along to others who have taken the plunge and gone natural.
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Gee, took them long enough Marybe!! I remember your annoyance! Obviously they did too! hehehe
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wow not much current action on this forum...I have let my hair go grey and love it. I always wondered how I was going to segue into my natural colour since I have been colouring my hair for decades. Always dreaded the "grey roots" and the rest being dark. It was a problem taken out of my hands and it is one thing that for me was a positive SE. At the moment, it looks like a short shag a la Judi Dench. I love it. Am not too sure what I will do if it becomes curly.
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Hi all I never post on hair topics cuz I Love my grey hair. i am lucky! I inherited my mom's - silver white with darker strands and slightly darker at the back. Looks llke an expensive hair salon job. since I'm 3 yrs into arimidex and hair keeps thinning - and thinning - I have a super spunky chunky cut and can wear colours like coral and orange - I've never worn them in my life! a whole new look from decades of shoulder-length dead straight thick auburn hair but hey i don't mind, I'm 64 and it feels appropriate for me
.I have also taken to wearing plain loose tank style dresses that just float out - from walmart - with a slouchy tee with bias folds over top, to disguise the fact I only have 1 boob, also ankle socks and running shoes. I feel like I'm 16!!
have a great day all. and please, love yourself.
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I loved my gray hair, but unfortunately am just about bald. Am still doing the low dose Adriamycin with great results and hair is actually growing back.....looks mostly white, but it is always that way to start. I asked the onco why it is growing back since I am still doing treatments and he said he has no idea. Flannelette, Try Nioxin for thinning hair....you get it at a beauty salon....I think it helps. At this stage of the game, I think I would look foolish if I dyed my hair since everyone has seen it gray and it's not like I have a 45 yr old face.....I look my age for the lst time in my life so am going to just live with it.....LIVE, that's a good word.
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I have been gray for at lesat 20 years but had been coloring it ever since. When I got my hair back this year I decided to go natural and I love it. I am going today to look for this Pantene Silver. I do have some threads of dark hair running thru it but the rest is a combo of white gray and silver.
And Flannelette those Walmart dresses are fabuolous. I have bought an entire wardrobe of them this spring paired with tank tops. I have to stay away from styles as I have no boobs at all but the tank styles ones are perfect. They wash like a dream too. I tokk 7 of them on Vac with me-wore a diffeernt one every day. Problem is I have turnbed so many people on to them that 3 of us on Vac had the same dress in the same color-LOL
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I so wish I could 'go grey' - without a fair bit of cost and having to have it redone often. I was hoping when it came back after chemos it would be grey - no such luck (LOL)!
I blame Daddy as his side of the family NEVER went 'grey' - they all stayed very dark brown (almost black but not quite) until they died - most (especially the women) lived into their 90's. Mom's side all greyed young. Daddy said she had been getting grey in high school.
I get a bit 'aggravated/peeved' when people I don't even know will tell me "You shouldn't dye your hair so dark at your age.". GRRRR! I don't dye it - it grows the way it grows, all on it's own. Don't assume that every older woman (or man) you see walking around with dark hair dye it - some certainly do BUT not all.
Oh I'll be 66 the end of this month.0 -
My Dad went gray early, then white. His brother who is only two years younger did not start going gray until he was about 80. It just depends on your genes I guess....Grandmother stayed dark for a long time and Grandpa went white, and balded early. Tell em to stick it if they make snide comments like that....even if I thought someone was dying their hair I would not be rude enough to say something....unless I was three years old. Last night this darling little girl at the restaurant told me she thought I was a "widdle" kid....asked me if I was a girl or a boy. I got a huge kick out of that, but would not have liked it if she was an adult. I said I was a big kid. You can pretty much tell the ones who dye it.....white roots unless they spend a lot of time of money keeping up with it.
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I live in MA, specifically the Boston area. Around here, women who don't color their hair are far more plentiful than other areas of the country.
I have never colored my hair, nor will I ever. This is what I have, and what I will live with. Every few years I donate my hair to Locks for Love. According to their thank you notes, adult hair that has never been colored, treated, and blowed dried is worth a lot. They sell the adult hair to raise money to create the wigs for the kids.
The amount I save per year not using products including color could fund a small vacation. Give it a try! You might enjoy the freedom.
*susan*
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Kids are great and ask honest questions and I love being able to talk with them and explain whatever they ask/say - no matter the subject. Back when I was wearing a lot of scarves, I would hear kids say 'something' usually to their Mom and I would ask the Mom if I could talk to them - educate 'um young. Still happens with my sleeve and glove.
Honesty/honest questions - I'm more than ready for and like to at least try to educate. In so many ways/things, I am a very private person but if I can give anything that might help someone else, I will in a heartbeat.
I'm not opposed to coloring hair, I have lightened mine often in the past (also am a Master Cosmetologist), but for an adult who does not know me to tell me I shouldn't dye my naturally dark brown dark - that's stupid. (The funny thing is often this will come from someone who has dyed red hair that is definately not a natural color.) Oh ha well - it's life and I'm still living so that's what counts.0 -
When I was younger, I had my hair every color under the sun.....started out with my blond streak when I was a sophomore in HS....looked like a skunk, but I thought it was great. Then I used sun in and went from there to streaking my hair and finally did a total strip job with Lady Clairol Ultra Blue which was a disaster since I ended up with over-processed hair that I could not even comb if it was wet and had my hair all chopped off. A lot of my hair fell out and I had this row of dark hair like a mohawk growing down my part. I only tried red once...horrible with my complexion, made my skin look dirty. In later years I always had highlights which gave my hair sort of a blond tone and when I went back to my actual color, my father says to me, I liked it the natural color better!! Then when I started going gray, I fought it for awhile and would add dark streaks as well as highlights, but once it fell out and came back sort of a silver gray and was really a nice color I decided just to leave it that way and could not get over all the compliments I received on it, including from my hairdresser who told me people would pay big bucks for the color. But she also told me that you can't create that color. Have you noticed how they no longer have all those Lady Clairol colors?....there used to be boxes and boxes of them on the shelves, a few of them that dreaded violet or blue the old ladies would have, but now there is nothing. Then I discovered that Pantene shampoo and what did they do, but discontinue it!?......but now it is back and when I have hair again, I am going to use it. My fuzz is mostly white, but I can see some dark mixed in with it so am hoping for that nice silvery look again....it's a surprise as each time it is a little different when it comes back. I just thank my lucky stars I still have hair after all the abuse it got in my younger days, but probably none of the abuse is as harsh as chemo.
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This post caught my eye because I decided to stop coloring my hair in January, 2017. I always said that I would go natural when I retired and that would be in June( I was a teacher) So we started with low lights and highlights and in the beginning of April, stopped coloring altogether (although we did put on a toner to counteract the brassiness.)We cut it pretty short & I liked it..
Then as soon as I retired, I was diagnosed with DCIS. I had my lumpectomy yesterday & will start rads at the end of August. I go to the hairdresser on Thursday & I am telling her I want nothing but gray & my natural color (dark brown) I am assuming I will be salt in the front and alot of black pepper in the back. I am sure it will be pretty short...but it will grow right? And who knows if I eventually will need Chemo. Nothing is certain, that is for sure!
This is what I planned to do all along but now that BC has entered the mix I am so glad I don't have to worry about my hair! I have enough on my plate!At least one thing worked out!
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I am now 71 and even after neoadjuvant A/C and adjuvant Taxol when I was 63, my hair is still as dark brown NATURALLY as it ever was. A 'curse' from Daddy's side of family - Mom's side got beautifully grey/white young.
It gets 'aggravating' (to say the least) to be told by total strangers in stores that I sho out ldn't dye my hair so dark as I would look younger if I didn't. I DO NOT DYE MY HAIR ! It's what I am 'stuck' with!
Added - this is a 5 yr old Thread that I had posted on.
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