Not sure if this is the right place so,if not sorry? My hair is graying and I am trying to get away from using harsh and damaging chemicals on it! Not sure if it would just be easier to go gray? Any suggestions on how to do that without driving myself nuts or any alternatives in color that would be more natural?  [smiley=undecided.gif]

Well, you might want to look into henna.  Curlgirl64 has much more experience with it than I.

Hello!

I have just answered this question on another board here is what i said;

You sound very fustrated and i can understand that, i have also decided to let my natural colour come through.

I think the thing is when women get grey hair they cover it with dye until there hair is almost 80% grey and then they cant go natural because (the insecurity kicks in) it would be a major colour shock to themselves and to others (some even belive the dye is your natural colour ) but it is far far worse to grow out your natural colour when your grey is more than 70% than just a few greys here and there, because you can get used to your grey as it comes and love it and others can also get used to your grey.

There are so many people that look good with grey hair and each persons grey is a unique grey to them which matches their genetics perfectly.

Going grey is just one issue the other issue/fustration you seem to have is the damage of chemical dyes. Yes they are harmful, lets not pretend they are ok anyone who dyes there hair and has great looking hair and scalp does not know what their hair and scalp will look like in the future neither does the damage become immediate a bit like smoking some people get cancer after a year whilst others smoke their whole life and just develope a bad cough and some difficulty breathing.

I would not reccomend using henna if you dont like or want the colour or a full head of colour. Highlighting is far gentler for you than a full head of colour, it also allows your greys to come in and blend nicely with your highlights. Let me also say that henna is better above all chemicals but you seem very happy with your stylist why not get some highlights matching your natural colour rather than a full head of colour.

The problem with hair dye is that it is addictive!! Over the years i hated my natural colour more and more and yet i had not seen it in 9 years! One thing is for sure growing out dyed hair does not stop at one colouring it becomes addictive and then you realise you have bleached on top of bleached and you have tried every colour (you feel fustrated with your colour and condition) etc etc.

Natural allows you to love yourself, self-acceptance and self assurance, be confident that if you treat your hair right you will gain its respect and if will reward you.

This is a decision only you can make but growing out dye is the worst thing i have had to do that last so longggggggggggg!!!!! Its never ending!!

I hope you can be at peace with your hair

I hope this helps, sorry its so long!

Allowing yourself to go grey is a very personal decision.  Only you will know if or when you will be ready to accept your natural color with the grey.  Highlights or henna are nice alternatives that can help you transition.  

I think the whole thing comes down to: "do you like yourself?".  When you like who you are, you can accept the color of your hair, whatever color that is.  

Good luck in deciding what you want to do.

bikerbraid those are very wise words you just said

"When you like who you are, you can accept the color of your hair, whatever color that is."

I will keep that in mind  

I remember back in 2003, after I finished chemo for ovarian cancer.  Up until that time I had been a natural dark blond--and happily so.  Of course, the chemo made all of my hair fall out, and when it started growing back in, I discovered I was now a brunette.   :o  I was NOT happy.  My mental reaction was sort of like a little kid stomping their feet and yelling "NONONO!"   ;D  But then the very next instant I thought to myself, "You're so stupid--you've just won a major victory over cancer and you're stressing over HAIR COLOR?!  PUH-leez!"  LOL

Trisha, you are truley blessed! Who cares what the color, you are here and now you have more hair! I will tell you something I do not usually talk about.. My mother died of Luekemia 8 years ago. She too lost her hair with chemo... She knew it would all come out so because my husband had been a barber she asked him to shave her head. I had only seen my husband cry once and that was at the birth of our son! I think he was touched that she would trust something that important to her to him? And I will say my mother was as paticular about her hair as my Grandmother was! Reeval and rejoice in what you have accomplished! Keep gowing! Naturegirl

Im so sorry, to both of you

I colored my hair for about five years, and mostly hated it.  I could rarely get exactly the color I wanted.  When I went dark, within two weeks I would have a silver stripe down the middle of my head.  (I have pictures).  When I went blond, the process for getting my hair to blond was so damaging that my hair couldn't do much, and it felt awful.

So I started getting low lights and less blond.  When it seemed like the gray was growing in without an obvious stripe, I just let it grow until I had about two inches of virgin growth.  Then I cut it all off that short.  I still had a tiny bit of color on the very ends, but you wouldn't know unless you looked for it.  

I have not regretted that decision, even when a twenty year- old guessed my age as 51 (I was forty at the time) and a 60 year-old said "Well, you know, when you get to be our age..." (I was thirty-nine at the time).  

It is true that some people see gray hair and that is all they see.  But that is true of weight, height, skin color, and a myriad other things.  What matters most is you, and what you see.  

I know that going grey and letting your natural colour come through is hard, it was hard for and i dont have grey, but you will be beautiful when you embrace what you have. The most beautiful i have ever seen are those who love what they have not those who have what they dislike.

We are all here for you whatever you decide

Well, it is official! I have made the decision to go color free! Even my spouse was supportive, he has always been pro natural in food and too many chemicals on your body in general! If I do anything it will be with Henna. My salon will be crying,Oh well! Even went out and got a pair of good timming scisorrs...gonna do my own dusting :-? Going natural is scary, but I think it is because we are told "you don't want to do that all the time?" With all that money I save on colors I can buy Hair Stick!  ;D  I may need some hand holdin as the color fades though? Natuegirl

We'll be here for ya, Naturegirl!

naturegirl, you have my deepest sympathy at the loss of your mother.  Cancer is a cowardly thief that deserves the worst type of execution imaginable.  

Congratulations on your decision to go chemical free!     8-)

Trisha, Thanks! I think that is why when I hear a surrvivor that is winning I am sooo pleased and thank my Creator for each one that does make it! It  really amazed me at the toxins they put in that stuff! We have so much of that thrown at us that we can barely control,but this we can!  naturegirl

I think that all this "it's so difficult and time taking to take care of your own hair" talk is invented by stylists afraid of losing their business. Really, once you stop deliberately damaging your hair, you'll find out that hair is pretty strong stuff that requires only little care and can even take a great deal of neglect.
    I also changed my salon & product budget to hair accessory budget and think that my money is much better spent. I still enjoy hairsticks I bought a year and a half ago, but I couldn't say the same, if I had spent that same money into getting a haircut. A pair of Longlocks sticks is just a weeny bit more than I used to carry to my stylist every single month back in dark ages when my hair was still short (and needless to say, they are a zillion times more beautiful and luxurious than any cut style I ever had).
 
It may take some time and experimenting (which can be fun) until you find a natural routine you are happy with, but once you have found it, I'm pretty sure you will enjoy both haircare and how your hair looks.  :)

Well, here we go with my 2 cents! ::) One of my sayings is,"I don't care what color my hair is...as long as it stays on my head!!"  If you ever do want to try henna,do a harvest sample test.  This way you'll know what you'll get before you do the whole head.  Regardless of what you will do or not do with your hair color;we along with your spouse support you!! :) BB is very right,I think, that it is a personal decision and if you're comfortable with yourself......,hey your hair color could be the colors of the rainbow, in my opinion!!!