Can we have a forum for "older" people with bc?

CeliaC

After many years of coloring to remain a redhead, I gave it up. Needed root touch ups every 3-4 weeks. Let it grow out "gracefully" by having color stripped, then a light blondish color back in, then toners & highlights until it reached it's "natural" silvery white color. This was when lots of young women were purposely having their hair colored grey. Lots of other people like it, but I miss being a redhead.

Wren44

It looks good gray. I think redheads have the right coloring to look good with gray hair. I can see how it would be hard. Being a redhead is different from having mousy brown.

VelvetPoppy

Gray hair... I started graying in my late 20s. My hair was salt & pepper when my son was born. I was 30. The graying didn't bother me until he was about 7 years old and we were at the church for an outdoor Rosary with his 2nd grade class. I was standing behind him when a parishioner came up and said something like : "Mama had to work, so Granny came. So sweet." I went home and cried. That's when I started coloring. I colored until my son graduated from high school. By then, my hairdresser told me my hair was completely gray, so I decided to stop coloring. It was a really pretty silver and I was happy with it for a long time. After my surgery & radiation, my complexion lightened a lot. One day I looked in the mirror and felt like my face and hair were merging because they were both so light. I began to feel invisible. My hair was a deep chestnut when I was young, so I get medium brown low-lights. I like the effect.

carolehalston

There are so many attractive looks with highlights and lowlights and a stylist who is good with color. Natural hair is not a solid color. It's pricey to go to the salon but the outcome is usually much better than the do-it-yourself.

The younger women are going for blues and reds and purples mixed in with the natural colors. It can look good. On them!

I'd better change into my gym clothes.

Happy Thursday.

Tappermom383

My stylist puts highlights and lowlights in my hair - I have no interest in dyeing my hair (which is still brown with gray streaked throughout) as I don’t want to deal with those roots! When I finished my rads, I had her put turquoise highlights in my hair as a celebration. I loved it but my DH hated it. Oh, well - they didn’t last long but long enough to make me happy!

MJ

IllinoisLady

There are simple antidotes to complacency. Gratitude is one of them. Every morning we can take a few moments to appreciate all the goodness in our lives. Another powerful antidote is taking the time to consciously contact our Higher Power. God is always available to help us; we simply have to open the door. Sharing hope with others is perhaps the most powerful of the antidotes because it helps at least two people—ourselves and the listener who hears our story. -unattributed

IllinoisLady

I think that is the key -- being happy with what we are given. Doing a few enhancements is fine ( I'd do them too ) but the overall idea is that we are a little of everyone who came before us and contributed. I am glad for the moment that I don't have anything close to hair that needs ' a little help ', but I'll keep checking back. I don't think I'd ever go overboard -- I don't feel inclined to deal with roots either.

Ah --- I think Puffin I may now have a way to make eyedrops easy for me. No boulders for me thanks. I always felt like surely there was some way for people with sensitive eyes/reactions. I wasn't highly concerned yet, but I'm not going to dread cataracts anymore.

Sunny today and warming again -- 50's. Are we going into the back and forth. I'll just adore the sun and not worry about the rest.

Wren44

I know a young woman with long hair. She gets 3 shades of henna and uses them to get depth and highlights. After that she mixes the 3 colors for the final coloring. Gorgeous hair but more work than I would be willing to do.

Ellyn27

Hi everyone! I just found this thread. I was actually searching for "hair coloring" and some posts from here popped up. I need to color my hair badly and was starting to do some research on whether there are any safe/more natural hair coloring products out there. My guess is no. I heard about Henna but that it doesn't last long. What are you ladies (that are doing color) using or are you just going for it and let the salon decide? I'm at the point where I think that's what I'm going to do. Thanks for any tips.

I don't think I could go gray, not now anyway. Just having gray roots makes me look older

ChiSandy

I used to get henna in the interim between getting my hair dyed auburn (from its duller deeper brown--all through college and until getting married & living on a shoestring) and going lighter again (strawberry blonde and then light neutral blonde). Just before my wedding day (I was 20), I visited a different salon that took my hair to a true (although not "ketchup") red--looked good in the photo but tough to get used to. I let it grow out once I started law school--had neither the time, money nor expertise to keep it up.

After I began practicing law, I decided to "get on the bandwagon" and got my hair cut in a Dorothy Hamill wedge, with a henna treatment that smoothed it out and gave it an auburn sheen. But it lasted through only three shampoos. And my hair was too wavy to maintain just the right contour. Later, after my first miscarriage, as a consolation we took a weekend getaway at the Abbey resort in Lake Geneva, WI. In preparation, I got a henna and a "cellophane" which looked great--until I got out of the pool (yes, I wore a cap) and to my horror found my white towel had gone red!

A few months later, on a trip to NS and then NYC with our best friends, I bought some Sun-In spray to give me highlights. Instead, it turned my hair an ugly rust color. Tried to even it out myself with some Clairol "Born Blonde" and the results were so uneven that normally-frugal Bob said to go get a professional dye job--and to pick a color and stick with it, because he hates change. (One reason I'm not surrendering to the gray). Hence the strawberry-blonde I had through my pregnancy (and in the OR in photos Bob & then the nurses shot during my C-section). I also let it grow to shoulder-length and haven't gone shorter since. After awhile, I had my "colors" done (remember the "Color Me Beautiful" craze?) and was told that as I was on the cusp of "winter" & "summer," I should be either blonde, brunette or--eventually--gray. Brunette, even when it was natural, always made my skin look washed-out, so I went blonde and haven't looked back.

ChiSandy

Hi, Ellyn, and welcome. My former singing partner (daughter of a hairdresser) used to dye her hair mercurochrome-red with a "natural" color line sold at Whole Foods. She touched up her roots with a Q-tip. Last I saw her, she went to a much more toned-down shade of auburn.

VelvetPoppy

Hi Ellyn and welcome. I never had the courage to do my own coloring, so I have always gone to a salon. I had a dark brown -not quite chestnut-until I decided to go all the way gray. I got a little crazy when I was in my early 50s and had maroon streaks and later royal blue streaks put into my hair to add interest to the silver, but it didn't sit well with my director and assistant director. They didn't tell me I couldn't have the streaks, but when I got jet black streaks, the assistant director said it "looked more natural and suited me better". That was nearly 10 years ago...now a lot of the library staff have colorful streaks. Even the men and 'older' women. I worked at the main branch and it was very conservative.

Wren44

I tried on wigs one day and looked horrible in the blond one. Nothing worked until I got to gray, which looked great. Now i'm 77 and my hair is still mostly dark.

bonnets

Been doing my own hair for a number of years. I'm 75 and mostly grey, I think! I use a dark blonde or light blond-brown which fade to more of a blonde by the time I need to touch it up again. When I was young, I was what they used to call dirty blonde. I use LOreal Age Perfect or LOreal Excellence. I like Excellence as it is thicker cream, so less messy to apply, also they have a comb applicator , which I like. Had a good friend who tried to convince me to go grey, but I'm not ready for that yet. Lighter colors are also easier , as you don't see the roots as fast, as with a dark. Seen some people who look like a skunk with the dark color and white hair:O

ChiSandy

I went from blonde to dirty blonde to mousy brown to brunette in the course of three years in my childhood. I am a total klutz, so I am dependent upon my stylist. Have had the same one for four years now, followed him to a second salon. As my gray has become "saltier," the roots don't show as fast; but dark roots seem to be a "thing" among millennial & Gen-X blondes so I guess I'm au courant. This is me, at 67 + 2 days:

Wearing my six-buck (plus $30 for progressive add-on) Zennis.

Ellyn27

Thanks ladies. I guess I'll just stick with the regular color. Was hoping there was something more natural but haven't found anything. I guess coloring ones hair is not a natural thing to do. That and a once in a while manicure are the two things I like to treat myself to. I make my own coffee and I don't smoke so I feel I'm allowed haha I have an appt for today since I'm right now looking like a "skunk". Have a great day.

ChiSandy - Love your Zennis. My hubby buys from there all the time. He must have about 6 pair (regular and sun) at any given time!!

carolehalston

I find it so amusing that dark roots are "in." Or were "in." I remember the time well when dark roots meant you were overdue for color!

Some years ago, probably as many as 20 years, I bought a do-it-yourself highlight kit. It had a shower cap and I pulled hair through the cap. Ouch! It was painful. I think I had dh help me on the back. This was the technique used at that time before the foil method replaced it. My blond streaks had a greenish tint. That was my last self coloring effort.

I cancelled on playing golf today. It looks so gloomy outside and I have errands to run.

Happy Friday.

IllinoisLady

Self respect cannot be hunted. It cannot be purchased. It is never for sale. It cannot be fabricated out of public relations It comes to us when we are alone, in quiet moments, in quiet places, when we suddenly realize that, knowing the good we have done it; knowing the beautiful, we have served it; and knowing the truth, we have spoken it.

Witney Griswold

IllinoisLady

Sunny here today so hoping for a really decent day. Don't know what the temps will be but was nice and warm yesterday so I think ( a bit of a BREEZE so will see ) it should be quite tolerable. Hoping Dh gets off at a reasonable time. He has had a bit of extra work lately and made it dicey to 'guess' when to have supper on the table.

Wren44

I recently saw a photo of one of the Kardashians with bleached white hair and dark roots about an inch long. Looked awful. Definitely not for me. Even the white part looked totally fake.

ChiSandy

Remember Glamour mag's "Dos and Don'ts" feature (first thing I used to turn to)? Fashion & beauty faux pas, featuring photos of actual passerby with faces covered by a superimposed black bar to prevent embarrassment. The "Don'ts" back then would scarcely draw a glance today.

carolehalston

carolehalston

Some of the crocheted hats I've created this winter. It was fun

Wren44

Those are really cute! Lucky people who will get them.

IllinoisLady

Thinking the exact same thing Wren. How hard to pick one if you had to. Glad for those who will get one. I had my chemo long ago, but it was a winter ( a lot more snow though ) something like this yr. with biting cold. I so appreciated my outwear hats and gloves. I often don't bother to button my coat as I can get warm fairly fast, but that yr. I was cold whether inside or out. Those lovely hats are soooo appreciated I bet.

Puffin2014

A beautiful assortment of hats Carole, what a great way to use your talent.

IllinoisLady

"Colors are the smiles of nature."

-- Leigh Hunt

IllinoisLady

Lots of smiles in Carole's hats. All the warm air did bring us overnight rain. Seems some remains this a.m. As long as we don't have big pour-downs I can get by I think. Not the way I thought I'd be spending Saturday -- and not like what I normally expect this time of yr. but said so often that we don't really know what to expect anymore.

Hope you are all going to have a good Saturday where you are and hoping your colors are great.

Ellyn27

Carole, your hats are all beautiful. My neighbor lost her hair during treatments and when she's out walking her dogs she's always wearing the best hats that just make me smile. She wears alot of knit hats but they have these 2 huge pom poms on the top that look like ears!!! They make me smile every time I see her. She has many without the pom poms as well, but always styling. You definitely have a talent, beautiful work.

IllinoisLady

"Life always offers you a second chance.
It's called tomorrow."

— Author Unknown