Terri HolleySo you are loving your long hair. But you are wondering, Can I grow out my gray while keeping it long? As usual, our Facebook community went right to work offering some great advice. Read 30 bits of advice and suggestions (unedited Facebook comments):
“I shaved my head .. Started with a fresh head of healthy silvery hair, it grew fast and I had fun with different haircuts then grew it long!”
“My hair was a little longer than shoulder length. I just let it grow… knowing I wouldn’t exactly look my best while it was growing out. I had the skunk stripe for a while.”
“I got a shoulder-length haircut I loved + my stylist foiled it (twice) during the growing-out phase. Imo, this stage is like early adolescence: awkward and necessary.”
“I cut mine short. I was so excited by the silver re growth I just wanted the old brown dyed hair gone. Loving the short hair now.”
“I highlighted the existing red very very heavily several times and just let it grow. It is very white on the top layer so I just called it reverse ombre. Almost ready to ‘lob’ or and get the remaining blonde out.”
“I kept mine long, should have cut it shorter sooner but couldn’t deal with gray and short because I don’t look good in short. Pulled back, headbands and strategic layers can make it all do able. You will be so happy when done, mine is now long and silver.”
“When I decided to let the grey grow and do no more hair dye, I had over shoulder hair length. I only cut about 10 cm because the difference between the old colour and my natural tone was too much. Now I still have shoulder length hair, with slightly different colour and silver (salt & pepper) in my bangs and fringe. I like it and it looks very natural as people tell me. My only problem was to get used to see my natural colour again because I forgot how dark my hair originally was since I had it dyed brighter.”
“Mine is shoulder length and getting gradually shorter with every visit to hairdresser. Want to keep it as long as possible though as I feel the change to short would shock me more than the change to grey. Has been 9 months for me and there’s no going back. Am just living through the skunk stripe stage as want to be dye-free.”
“Let mine grow out and trimmed it up to shoulders, then as that color line made it to my ears I hacked it to a cool spiky cut. I’m growing it out, it’s about where it was when I cut it short. I just really want to see what I look like with all natural color now. I truly liked the short cut though.”
“I used temporary hair dye and just kept coloring it until the roots grew out enough that I could just let the dye fade out to the grey.”
“Sorry, I wish I had advice. Pixie cut, color gone completely in 12 weeks, a few more months to grow it back out. Done.”
“I retired in May of 2013 and was going to grow my hair out, but my daughter was getting married that August. The last time I had my hair colored was the week before her wedding. I’ve always kept it short and cut in a modified wedge. It is growing out a nice silver, really wanted that beautiful white, but this isn’t bad.”
“I’m with the high bun. I want my hair longer too!”
“Took me 18 months from the Pixie haircut to longer hair than ever…2 years now and think getting it cut short first was worth it as I didn’t have to go through having a skunk track or two-toned hair….go for the short cut!”
“My stylist super foiled a couple of times in the two year period I took. Zigzag parts, putting it back, super side part hid it all pretty well.”
“I kept my hair mostly shoulder length until the very end. I had my stylist cut lots of layers in to break up the line between my old dye and new growth. I also avoided the skunk stripe as much as I could by using a zigzag part.”
“I am a hairstylist and I grew mine out strategically. I kept coloring just where the hair parted on top (it was a side part). I allowed the entire underneath to grow out, then I flipped my part to the other side and allowed the rest of the colored hair on top to grow out. I am salt and pepper and I colored my hair as close as possible to my natural color before starting the grow out process. I barely even noticed a grow out stage. I kept trimming about an inch every 4-6 weeks. It took 18 months before it was grown out long enough to cut the remaining color off and still have hair past my shoulders. Good luck!”
“My hair was mid-back length when I started to transition. I added thin foil highlights only in the front where most of my gray was. I continued to grow my hair from mid-back length to past waist while still transitioning with the very odd mini trim to even my ends. The highlights were super easy to grow out and blended the stark root line extremely well… My roots were about 2 inches long when I did the highlights. I never cut short BUT actually grew longer!! You DON’T have to cut off if you don’t want to..to spend years growing back long hair after cutting it all off to gray fast was never for me… I kept my dyed hair ends well conditioned and to my surprise they slowly became shiny and healthy again.”
“I kept mine long and just let it grow and trimmed the ends periodically. However, I was in the jungles of Costa Rica at the time, so it didn’t make much difference. If your hair is dark, you might want to start with a wide head band so demarcation is not so noticeable.”
“Either just let it grow out and be two toned or use highlights/lowlights.”
“I’m about 8 months in, and started with long hair. I chopped it to chin length a few weeks ago because I just want the colored portion gone! I could have gone all the way to a pixie to get it over with, but decided to give it a few more months to avoid going extremely short. I say do whatever you are comfortable with – if you can handle the multiple colors for a long time, don’t cut it. But it will take a lot longer until your hair is completely dye-free. I was itching to get the color off.”
“I don’t like short hair on me either. It’s new growing out since January. My hair was longer but I bobbed it below the chin. Then it got long enough to pull back. That worked well. Now recently did a long bob with light layering. A nice change. It’s getting there. The transition was not as difficult as I thought.”
“I’ve trimmed mine but it’s been two years and I am just going to wait it out another year. I don’t like short hair on me and I have read about women who had long hair and then cut it short and didn’t like it. Do whatever feels right for you!”
“I did that successfully using Wella Color Fresh to blend, as recommended by my hairdresser. Keep persevering!”
“I have below shoulder length hair with streaks of wonderful witchy silver coming through beautifully. Loving the long hair again. Your hair is so thick and with bright vibrant silver, let it grow if you can cope with it.”
“After my roots were several inches along, I had my stylist add really light highlights to the rest. It got me through the first year or so. But I did eventually have her cut it short, not because of the color-I just like it better that way.”
“I hacked it off. It grew back. It was a little overwhelming to go from long, brown and highlighted to short and salt & pepper in a day though….”
“hmmm well I grew my bangs long and pulled it back with a hair band to hide roots first but just keep trimming it.”
“Keep it long…looks beautiful..I regret cutting my hair, as it takes longer to grow…”
“I, too, don’t like short hair. My hair is curly and medium length. The curls help camouflage my roots though I have been getting ash blonde highlights on my dyed ends. I now have about 5 inches of gray growth. In a few months I will probably get shorter layers cut. For now I will style my hair in ponytails or buns. Transitioning to grey is a long process but well worth it if you don’t want the maintenance of dying frequently. Good luck.”