Hi, I’m Lorna and I started turning grey at the ripe old age of 25.
It sounds like I’m part of a ‘Grey Anonymous Group’ confessing all my hair sins. I would say I was an early bloomer amongst my friends. In fact many are still fortunate enough not to have spouted one grey hair yet. What’s their secret – is it just down to genes?
My Dad turned grey even earlier than I did, at a mere 18, bless him, so I suppose I have him to thank for my grey locks. But men seem to look more distinguished with grey hair don’t they? I mean take George Clooney, George Lamb or one of my all time personal faves Eric Dane who played Mark Sloan a.k.a McSteamy in Grey’s Anatomy for example they are all classed as silver foxes aren’t they, plus they all Get a haircut in nashville, can it get any better than that?
My grey area on my crown seemed to develop not long after having my first born Elliott, and is now rapidly spreading to my fringe! I firmly believe my grey mass is assisted by my husband, who thinks it’s funny to surprise me and whip them out unexpectedly for his pleasure. He has even got our boys joining in on the action now! My hairdresser is of course mortified when I tell her, as she says they come back courser and do you think it’s true that when you pull one out two grow back in its place? Gosh I do hope not as if my brood carries on like they are I’ll have a full head of grey hair by the end of the year!
I used to dye my hair dark, dark brown, almost black when I had a little more time, but since having my third child things at home have turned up a notch and I just can’t find the time. I definitely need to apply a few tips from Lauren’s time management post to my daily routine, although I know the getting out of bed earlier tip just ain’t gonna happen! I’m seriously considering reaching for the bottle again! No not the gin bottle to drown my sorrows, although that is tempting, but the dye bottle, especially as like I say the grey is creeping into my bangs where I just can’t hide it anymore.
Many people are actually opting for a full head of grey hair at the moment and I absolutely LOVE all the different shades of grey and silver available. Our very own founder Charlotte even sported a gorgeous ash tone herself (and I’ve added a few of her favourite hair products below) and many celebs including the fabulous Cara Delevingne have been seen with grey locks. Although I absolutely covet the look, I know I’m simply just not brave enough to take the plunge. So I think I’ll try and hang onto my dark roots a little longer. So any tips for dying your hair, do you pop to the salon to get a bit of R and R or do you brave it at home?
Lorna loves a new posh frock, is a hopeless romantic and is lucky enough to be living her ‘happily ever after’ with her wonderful husband & three beautiful babas.
Follow Lorna on Instagram @belle_and_blues
I’ve been going grey since I was 17. My dad went grey in his early twenties so I must have inherited that gene. When it first started going I would tweezer them out, but unfortunately doing that now would result in my being almost bald (not a good look). I have always dyed it dark brown to match my natural colour, but in the last few months I have considered ditching it in favour of going grey. I love the look of it, I have a pixie crop and think if I was brave enough it could look amazing. However like you I’m not sure I’m ready for such a drastic change. I am lucky in that my grey isn’t grey, it is white so when I do let it go it will be all one colour. I’m just not ready to give up on being dark yet. X
Oh and mine is salon dyed, I just don’t trust myself to do a good enough job with at home kits.
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Charlotte O'Shea
October 19, 2015 at 09:02 - Reply
AlexH I’m not saying you should do anything you’re not comfortable with but…it’s naturally white?! And you have a pixi crop?! Wow. I bet it would look amazing x
Thanks ladies. I’m just worried because I’m really really pale that I might look like Casper the ghost! ? But if I go for it I will definitely show you’ ? xx
Alex, I am a pale polly but 3 years ago I had an epic silver pixie crop and I loved it. I say go for it, if you really don’t like it it will grow out and you can dye it a different colour. That is the wondrous thing about hair we just have to be brave and have fun with it 🙂 I think pale plus silvery grey ashy tones look lush. If you do it we definitely need to see ?
I started going grey at 17, and died my hair, first my natural very dark brown, followed by highlights and gradually going blonde until about 30. Then, work was busy and I didn’t have time to go to the hairdresser. Before I knew it I had roots long enough that people were complimenting me on my shade of grey. I haven’t looked back since. My hair is healthier, shinier and still receives loads of compliments from strangers of all ages. My hairdresser now proclaims he wouldn’t die it again if I paid him (which, I point out, is generally how it works)!
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Charlotte O'Shea
October 19, 2015 at 09:04 - Reply
Anne-Marie This sounds amazing! I have gone slightly less grey/ash of late as my skin on my face was looking a bit odd (I’m very yellow) but I do miss it! When I go a bit paler as the months progress I might just go back to silver again….I am VERY jealous of your natural hue! x
I love the grey hair look, my hair is blonde so I could prob put a grey colour on only my skin has a red hue to it and am a bit worried they grey hair would make me look a bit mental, do you have any home hair dye kits that you recommend? I use the “bleach” products for when u fancy pink blue or green, don’t think they have a silver though
No going grey here yet but I am sure it won’t take long before they start to sprout. All the ladies in my family started to go grey in their late teens and early 20’s… I managed to escape that but substituted it with a long love hate relationship with bleach instead! Us girls and our hair!!!!
I bet you are very happy you escaped that little gene Nicci. I must confess I just don’t think I’d be able to maintain the upkeep of bleached hair, but I do envy all that time you must spend in the hair salon getting pampered 😉 xx
I have always dyed my hair at home and gone for chocolate or reddish browns, just slightly darker than my own natural colour as I love the glossy look you get from colours. Earlier this year for a change I had an ombré colour (which I love) but from not touching up any roots I do occasionally find a white hair. Because it is only an occasional hair I pull it out. All of the hairs I have found are perfectly snowy white and so shiny which I find reassuring as when I do embrace them one day (a long way away) I would be happy to have pure white hair.
I love the grey colour dyes and think they look great with a touch of lilac in them. If it didn’t mean bleaching my hair to start with I would love to give it a go.
I have long, thick, brown hair and spotted my first grey when I was about 26. I also used to pluck them out but again, after having my first child at 30 they seemed to multiply overnight! I’ve now got a fair scattering but I cover them up by having a permenant root tint every 8 weeks with my usual trim. It’s doubled the cost! But it does look completely natural and matches the rest of my hair. I have to top it up inbetween with one of those nice n easy kits on my parting and hairline though. It is a lot more high maintenance but I’m just not ready to show any grey yet, I think a scattering would be ageing on me and I’m only 33…also none of my friends have any greys at all! I do wonder whether going blonde would make it less obvious but that would be a pretty drastic change!
Ohh a root tint, I hadn’t considered that Sarah, that seems like a good way to keep things topped up.
I’ve never even had highlights so I know I wouldn’t feel like me if I went blonde. 😉 xx
I started going grey at 17, at the age of 42 I’ve stopped dying and had a crop and I love it, wish I’d done it years ago as it suits my colouring so much better now. I read somewhere that going grey is a style choice and not a sign of giving up and make a lot of effort to keep the condition and style right to avoid the frump factor.
Ohh Rachel I’m so envious you can embrace the grey, I’m at a bit of an in-between stage which is why I haven’t fully made that style choice, but your positive vibes are certainly inspiring me just go with it. Here’s hoping I have luscious locks like yours 😉
Secondly, love this post. I’m considering getting more silver back as the winter months approach. I spied my first grey a couple of months ago. It would be nice if they’d arrive in full force… It would certainly save me a small fortune at the hairdressers.
With you on the full force comment Becky, I think it’s the gradual transition I have more of a problem with more than the fact that its actually going grey. At the moment my husband teases me & asks if I’ve been painting the cupboards again! 😉 xx
Like you, my dad was completely grey, almost white by the time he was 21. They started to creep in for me from a similar age but got worse after my first child. After number two, I lost loads of hair and ended up with little bald patches:-( it all came back, but grey! Hear your pain on the salon cost, it soon racks up, but I’m not brave enough to embrace it. Tried the full head home dyes, but being so dark the colour build up in the ends was awful and it took ages to do as I had very long hair. Then I discovered the nice and easy root touch up boxes – they genuinely cover my roots in 10mins ( some of the other full head home dyes struggled to do this) and at less than £5 a go, it’s a no brainer! Now I do this in between my salon colours to eeek it out.
It sounds like the Dads are the culprits for all our grey locks Kirsty A 😉
Bless you loosing your hair, having babies certainly plays havoc with our hormones, I’m still loosing hair all the time, so much so we’ve actually got a pet hair hoover even though we don’t have any pets!
I definitely need to give the root touch up dye a try, surely I can’t get in that much of a mess can I! xx
Well, I started going grey at the age of 11! yes! really! It runs in the family that everyone goes grey at an early age. I dyed my hair for so long from 11 yrs old to 25 yrs old, I have been blonde, brown, red haired.
Then one day when I was 26 I got super fed up of dyeing it all the time, so I decided that at that point I wasn’t going to dye it again. Now I am shoulder length grey hair with more whiter bits coming through at 31 years old, I adore it. It was the first time since I was 11 years old that I was truly happy with my hair colour. Grey was meant to be my colour!
I have had so much negativity at the start of the process but now everyone loves it on me!
I think more people should go grey as it is just a colour and not this whole “old age thing” 🙂 Grey rocks!!!
Oh Shona I love that you’ve embraced your grey locks, it certainly does sound like grey was meant to be your colour, how wonderful. YOU totally rock in my eyes 😉 xxxx
Hi ladies I’m just 40 and I’ve been colouring my ‘white’ for years. But no more. I decided a few weeks ago to let my grey shine through. It’s going to be really tough but I’m going to do it. My question is stay long or go for the pixie crop. My hairs thick, wavy and generally a tad wild tho lol
Philippa, Just rock the dark roots. If it’s too crazy for you, have your stylist “melt” the dark color into the white. Or do the dark root with a color melt into a silver or charcoal. That way your hair can stay long and stunning!
I grew my first white hair at 17! I highlighted and dyed it for about 20 years. My hair grows very fast, so when the white roots started being obvious a week after dying, I followed my dream. I bleached my hair and toned it silver/charcoal. Now, I’m letting my roots grow in naturally and toning it every 6 weeks. When the new growth is long enough, I’ll cut off the bleached part and go dye free! That might be a year or two, because I like my hair long. It was such a relief to know that my slavery to dye is nearing the end! And, I like it a lot!
It has been an adjustment to get my makeup right. I feel like my lips need more intensity and my eyes need less. But I am super happy.
I’ve been going grey since I was 17. My dad went grey in his early twenties so I must have inherited that gene. When it first started going I would tweezer them out, but unfortunately doing that now would result in my being almost bald (not a good look). I have always dyed it dark brown to match my natural colour, but in the last few months I have considered ditching it in favour of going grey. I love the look of it, I have a pixie crop and think if I was brave enough it could look amazing. However like you I’m not sure I’m ready for such a drastic change. I am lucky in that my grey isn’t grey, it is white so when I do let it go it will be all one colour. I’m just not ready to give up on being dark yet. X
Oh and mine is salon dyed, I just don’t trust myself to do a good enough job with at home kits.
AlexH I’m not saying you should do anything you’re not comfortable with but…it’s naturally white?! And you have a pixi crop?! Wow. I bet it would look amazing x
Oh AlexH I agree with Charlotte you should definitely go for it, a silver pixie cut sounds amazing & so cutting edge.
If you do go for it you’ll have to show us your end results, I know I’ll be green with envy you were brave enough to mix it up 😉
Thanks ladies. I’m just worried because I’m really really pale that I might look like Casper the ghost! ? But if I go for it I will definitely show you’ ? xx
Alex, I am a pale polly but 3 years ago I had an epic silver pixie crop and I loved it. I say go for it, if you really don’t like it it will grow out and you can dye it a different colour. That is the wondrous thing about hair we just have to be brave and have fun with it 🙂 I think pale plus silvery grey ashy tones look lush. If you do it we definitely need to see ?
Your natural colour even your natural grey will always compliment your skin tone.
Go for it!!
I started going grey at 17, and died my hair, first my natural very dark brown, followed by highlights and gradually going blonde until about 30. Then, work was busy and I didn’t have time to go to the hairdresser. Before I knew it I had roots long enough that people were complimenting me on my shade of grey. I haven’t looked back since. My hair is healthier, shinier and still receives loads of compliments from strangers of all ages. My hairdresser now proclaims he wouldn’t die it again if I paid him (which, I point out, is generally how it works)!
Anne-Marie This sounds amazing! I have gone slightly less grey/ash of late as my skin on my face was looking a bit odd (I’m very yellow) but I do miss it! When I go a bit paler as the months progress I might just go back to silver again….I am VERY jealous of your natural hue! x
Oh wow, fabulous hair without the cost, this is the dream Anne-Marie xxx
I love the grey hair look, my hair is blonde so I could prob put a grey colour on only my skin has a red hue to it and am a bit worried they grey hair would make me look a bit mental, do you have any home hair dye kits that you recommend? I use the “bleach” products for when u fancy pink blue or green, don’t think they have a silver though
Ooh I will have a look into this for you Emma & get back to you asap xx
No going grey here yet but I am sure it won’t take long before they start to sprout. All the ladies in my family started to go grey in their late teens and early 20’s… I managed to escape that but substituted it with a long love hate relationship with bleach instead! Us girls and our hair!!!!
I bet you are very happy you escaped that little gene Nicci. I must confess I just don’t think I’d be able to maintain the upkeep of bleached hair, but I do envy all that time you must spend in the hair salon getting pampered 😉 xx
I have always dyed my hair at home and gone for chocolate or reddish browns, just slightly darker than my own natural colour as I love the glossy look you get from colours. Earlier this year for a change I had an ombré colour (which I love) but from not touching up any roots I do occasionally find a white hair. Because it is only an occasional hair I pull it out. All of the hairs I have found are perfectly snowy white and so shiny which I find reassuring as when I do embrace them one day (a long way away) I would be happy to have pure white hair.
I love the grey colour dyes and think they look great with a touch of lilac in them. If it didn’t mean bleaching my hair to start with I would love to give it a go.
The bluey purple shades are gorgeous aren’t they Claire B and I second you on the bleach front. I seriously wish I wasn’t such a wimp! x
I have long, thick, brown hair and spotted my first grey when I was about 26. I also used to pluck them out but again, after having my first child at 30 they seemed to multiply overnight! I’ve now got a fair scattering but I cover them up by having a permenant root tint every 8 weeks with my usual trim. It’s doubled the cost! But it does look completely natural and matches the rest of my hair. I have to top it up inbetween with one of those nice n easy kits on my parting and hairline though. It is a lot more high maintenance but I’m just not ready to show any grey yet, I think a scattering would be ageing on me and I’m only 33…also none of my friends have any greys at all! I do wonder whether going blonde would make it less obvious but that would be a pretty drastic change!
Ohh a root tint, I hadn’t considered that Sarah, that seems like a good way to keep things topped up.
I’ve never even had highlights so I know I wouldn’t feel like me if I went blonde. 😉 xx
Love the look of silver hair. xx
Me too Victoria. It’s so polished and edgy 😉
I started going grey at 17, at the age of 42 I’ve stopped dying and had a crop and I love it, wish I’d done it years ago as it suits my colouring so much better now. I read somewhere that going grey is a style choice and not a sign of giving up and make a lot of effort to keep the condition and style right to avoid the frump factor.
Ohh Rachel I’m so envious you can embrace the grey, I’m at a bit of an in-between stage which is why I haven’t fully made that style choice, but your positive vibes are certainly inspiring me just go with it. Here’s hoping I have luscious locks like yours 😉
I wish my hair was a lovely shade of silver rather than the dull as dish-water mousey colour it is at the moment. Gorgeous inspiration here Lorna! x
Your hair is ALWAYS fabulous Mrs C 😉 xx
Firstly Lorna, Eric Dane. Man. God.
Secondly, love this post. I’m considering getting more silver back as the winter months approach. I spied my first grey a couple of months ago. It would be nice if they’d arrive in full force… It would certainly save me a small fortune at the hairdressers.
With you on the full force comment Becky, I think it’s the gradual transition I have more of a problem with more than the fact that its actually going grey. At the moment my husband teases me & asks if I’ve been painting the cupboards again! 😉 xx
Ooh you should definitely do it Becky 😉 xxx
Like you, my dad was completely grey, almost white by the time he was 21. They started to creep in for me from a similar age but got worse after my first child. After number two, I lost loads of hair and ended up with little bald patches:-( it all came back, but grey! Hear your pain on the salon cost, it soon racks up, but I’m not brave enough to embrace it. Tried the full head home dyes, but being so dark the colour build up in the ends was awful and it took ages to do as I had very long hair. Then I discovered the nice and easy root touch up boxes – they genuinely cover my roots in 10mins ( some of the other full head home dyes struggled to do this) and at less than £5 a go, it’s a no brainer! Now I do this in between my salon colours to eeek it out.
It sounds like the Dads are the culprits for all our grey locks Kirsty A 😉
Bless you loosing your hair, having babies certainly plays havoc with our hormones, I’m still loosing hair all the time, so much so we’ve actually got a pet hair hoover even though we don’t have any pets!
I definitely need to give the root touch up dye a try, surely I can’t get in that much of a mess can I! xx
Well, I started going grey at the age of 11! yes! really! It runs in the family that everyone goes grey at an early age. I dyed my hair for so long from 11 yrs old to 25 yrs old, I have been blonde, brown, red haired.
Then one day when I was 26 I got super fed up of dyeing it all the time, so I decided that at that point I wasn’t going to dye it again. Now I am shoulder length grey hair with more whiter bits coming through at 31 years old, I adore it. It was the first time since I was 11 years old that I was truly happy with my hair colour. Grey was meant to be my colour!
I have had so much negativity at the start of the process but now everyone loves it on me!
I think more people should go grey as it is just a colour and not this whole “old age thing” 🙂 Grey rocks!!!
Oh Shona I love that you’ve embraced your grey locks, it certainly does sound like grey was meant to be your colour, how wonderful. YOU totally rock in my eyes 😉 xxxx
Hi ladies I’m just 40 and I’ve been colouring my ‘white’ for years. But no more. I decided a few weeks ago to let my grey shine through. It’s going to be really tough but I’m going to do it. My question is stay long or go for the pixie crop. My hairs thick, wavy and generally a tad wild tho lol
Philippa, Just rock the dark roots. If it’s too crazy for you, have your stylist “melt” the dark color into the white. Or do the dark root with a color melt into a silver or charcoal. That way your hair can stay long and stunning!
I grew my first white hair at 17! I highlighted and dyed it for about 20 years. My hair grows very fast, so when the white roots started being obvious a week after dying, I followed my dream. I bleached my hair and toned it silver/charcoal. Now, I’m letting my roots grow in naturally and toning it every 6 weeks. When the new growth is long enough, I’ll cut off the bleached part and go dye free! That might be a year or two, because I like my hair long. It was such a relief to know that my slavery to dye is nearing the end! And, I like it a lot!
It has been an adjustment to get my makeup right. I feel like my lips need more intensity and my eyes need less. But I am super happy.
I’ve been collecting pictures of gray, white, and silver hair for several years now. It was so hard to find at first! https://www.pinterest.com/hollybmiller/hair-silver-gray-and-white/