I’ve been really happy with Clinique Moisture Surge. It comes in a glass jar and you can easily get it all out. It’s very similar in consistency to the Neutrogena hydroboost water gel, just works a little better for my skin. I basically stalk the Clinique website for sales and order it when there’s a really good deal, which is at least 4x a year
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ooh I forgot about that. I used it in highschool and loved the consistency. I might grab a mini to try.
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Shout out to my favorite moisturizer: Malezia 5% Urea Moisturizer | Fungal Acne Safe
It comes in a metal tube! It’s reasonably feasible to get all the product out! It’s only semi horribly expensive! ($30) I think it’s approximately the texture you want? Half way between a gel and a crema is say! Opaque, but soaks in/dries quickly. CeraVe is good too tho
I do love that one but I’d call it a classic cream
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thank you everyone for the suggestions! my drugstore had a bunch of testers for the fancier stuff, so I ended up getting the Avene hydrance aqua-gel, which is in a plastic tub, so checked all the boxes! and it was on sale.
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I’m interested to know how it is! I love a lot of Avene products, but haven’t tried that one
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Haircare can be in the skincare area, right? I had posted in random questions about 6 weeks ago but now I have a bit more info so I thought I would move it here so the uninterested can skip. Sorry in advance for writing a novel! 
TLDR help me transition to gray hair.
So, I’m at 8 weeks with no color, going for a gray grow out which I know will take at least 18 months if I don’t cut it all off which is a thing I admire people doing but I don’t think I can do. I plan to cut it a bit shorter but I need to be able to pull it back, so maybe a few inches to start with. But even with cutting as much as I’m comfortable with, I know it will take a minimum of a year. I’ve done research and watched approximately 1000 YouTube videos and of course still have questions because there are so many different ways to do this. I will obviously ask my stylist when I see her next, probably in a few weeks. I don’t think my dyed hair is as red as the 2 pics I just took show it, but I would say it’s definitely faded from the medium brown box dye I used. My coworker looked through it and says my growth is white mixed with like charcoal gray, and in the back underneath it’s more of my natural brown. I’m really hoping for a nice white stripe near the front but it’s probably too soon to tell.
I work in sales, in person, with new clients all the time, so mostly I just don’t want to look stupid or have a big growth line with bad/faded/old color on the rest. I am certain that my self esteem won’t handle a long natural grow out without intervention of some sort. I don’t put it up for work, so there’s no “hiding it” (it’s always like the first picture because I don’t know how to do anything else) I only do ponytails to keep it out of my face when I’m working outside or around my house.
I’m hoping for input on how to best handle the growing out process if anyone has any. At this moment, I’m thinking of simply using semipermanent dye because I’ve read that it doesn’t cover gray and it washes out in something like 20 washes so it’s not a big deal if I don’t like it. If I do this, should I go a step darker than the medium brown I’ve always used to be closer to the dark gray? The other thing I’m thinking about (and can of course do anytime) is getting lowlights but honestly I’m a little scared because I’ve never had professional color, but I’ve seen pictures online and it looks gorgeous. I definitely do not want to go lighter or blonde because that would still be a terrible growth line what with having a good amount of dark hair left. I’m not planning on doing anything for another month or so in order to see what I have going on first, but I’d like to try to have a plan.
Here are a couple of pics from different top/front areas. Any ideas are welcome!
The last pic is from online, but I think she looks good, and started around the same color as me. It might be a good picture to share with my stylist?
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Can you book 15 min with your stylist? Or get a haircut and discuss it? I think the lowlights look great, and when I didn’t love my highlights they did a root smudge with toner (aka semi perm dye) to blend the roots with the rest. A lot of the gray grow out videos I saw used highlights/lowlights like your pic. Semi permanent dye can stain so the wrong ones might give you another line to grow out, but I bet it would be more subtle.
I think with your job and keeping your confidence it makes sense to see a professional- especially since the timeline you’re expecting is 18 months it won’t be a lot of visits!
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I love that look on the bottom left photo. I’ve thought about coloring to help my grey look more intentional, but I don’t work public facing and the truth is probably don’t care enough to spend the $ (which may change change any time). (There is another reason I might not now related to it’s length and my mother, but that is different drama! 
) My grey is similar, I am all (or nearly all) grey on top but underneath I still have most of my medium brown color (annoying! What I wouldn’t give to have a Rogue stripe!) I’ve been growing grey for probably 10 years and I will say that early on I did still color with a 2 step red/purplish color at a stylist (it was so fab) but I also used some similar dye at home in between, it was semi permanent I think and it definitely DID color the grey, but the grey hairs take up the dye differently. I think I used some sort of grey hairs pre treatment to help that though? It’s been a long time, I do remember the brand… Although it was only semi permanent, I don’t wash every day (too drying) so it still lasted maybe like 3 weeks (fading at the end).
Anyway, that’s all to say I hate how we are judged for grey when men are not, it’s totally normal even in your 30s or even earlier (my grandfather went totally grey in his 20s!) and then expected to suck up the time and $ when it is just a function of life! But I do think that highlight lowlight look is wonderful. Lean into it! Grey hairs say you have lived life and have knowledge and experienced and the patriarchy can F off.
But yeah try to get a consult. My hairdresser who did mine required a consult before she did color on a new client (which I was at the time) so that no one’s time was wasted and I also had time to think about it.
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Thanks! I do need a haircut, so I will discuss it when I see her. I have never spent much on my hair, but I am willing to for this so I don’t look stupid. Ha. I have bought slightly better products lately and am doing treatments and deep conditioning to try to help the condition and I think it is helping.
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There are so many photos online of beautiful results of gray blending, and I tried to find some that started at my color. I will talk to my stylist, and show her the pics that I have, but the truth is that I have no idea how accomplished she is at color because I have never seen any that she has done. She has been doing hair for like 35 years though, so I would hope she is skilled. But we are a smallish town, so I am not sure how much talent is here. She may be fabulous, but how do you know these things? LOL. I have been going to her for 10 or more years and she has never tried to “sell” me anything so I do trust her. There are also a lot of photos online of women doing the skunk stripe natural grow out and just not caring because eventually it will all be gray. Good for them, but I just know I cannot manage that. If I do something at home, I won’t expect it to last long, but I worry that it would stain the gray and I have to start over. There are SO MANY products too, that choosing a good one might be hard. So that is definitely a point for professional intervention.
I actually think a lot of the women I have seen pictures of look younger and better gray than they did when they colored their hair! My mom tells me she is shocked because she never thought I would go gray. I am just over the coloring every 3 weeks thing. And fingers crossed that I like the way the natural color looks in 2 years!
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My mother, in her 70s, still gets her hair colored at a salon, allbeit an much lighter color than her original very dark brown. I think this is a generational thing, but I just cannot even. I’m sure she thinks my lack of color is simply blasphemous. But I, on the other hand, think she has spent an awful lot of money, and time, on hair dye. 
To each their own I suppose! I sometimes do wish a more graceful transition though. Maybe someday I will pony up the $! (Or go back to a non- natural color maybe …) Good luck with the consult! Remember it is only hair, you can always change your mind, change the color, grow it out, etc!
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I think my mom started going grey at like 25? She at least dyes her hair at home, but it seems like such a hassle.
I’ve just this year started getting really noticable grey patches on my temples (on top of the smattering of greys throughout), and I’m turning 40 in October, so I’ve been pretty lucky. I’ve been getting highlights for the past few years to recapture the blonde of my youth, haha, but I’ve never dyed everything (except pink!), so I’m just going to see how it turns out!
Maybe I’ll hate it, but it will certainly be cheaper and easier than maintaining dye/highlights for the second 40 years of my life
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My mom dyed her hair from the age of 24 until 58 every two weeks. She used Covid as her excuse to grow it out grey and now she tints the grey purple.
My hair is currently falling out and what is left is turning curly and gray at an accelerated rate so I am gonna need to make decisions soon. I don’t like spending money though
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Product recs please!
I decided to upgrade my Vitamin C serum. The Ordinary never has the same kind twice and the most recent one I really hate, so I thought I should go ahead and get one of the l-ascorbic ones that’s been recommended around here (I got Dr. Brenner’s).
The website I got that one from doesn’t seem to have any retinol, which I have also been getting from The Ordinary. Has anyone tried/does anyone know anything about the various retinol-containing options at Costco? I would love to avoid having 2 different skin care websites.
I’m not especially particular and do not have sensitive skin.
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Rainshadow Labs
Oh I meant to share here but I never did! Last Black Friday I placed a big order of 2oz samples (plus a gallon of All Purpose Lotion) from Rainshadow Labs, which is local to me. Apparently they’re a white label manufacturer, which means they make products for retailers which put their own name on it. I found out about them because this float place I went to had really great lotion and I asked about it. And now I have a gallon of that lotion!
Their 2oz samples are amazing. I bought face oils for under $10 that would probably have cost 3x elsewhere for half as much. Anyway, before I ordered I looked them up on Reddit and apparently 10 years ago all of the Vit C serums on Amazon were just the same product rebranded from Rainshadow Labs! They have various products with retinol.
Here are some of my favorite products, I use the latter two for my oil cleansing routine:
- All Purpose Lotion
- The Problem Solver Serum (contains hyaluronic acid)
- Active Botanical Face Serum (face oil)
In addition I had purchased other products I also like:
- Extreme Antioxidant Mask (this is so nice, a very light mask that smells like grapefruit)
- Body Butter WF (in grapefruit)
- Anti-Oxidant Eye Cream
You do have to pay for shipping but if you buy a bunch of 2oz samples it’s so worth it.
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On my gray hair journey: I got 4” cut off tonight, now I need to figure out how to style it. I will have her assess it in another 10 weeks or so to decide what to do for color correction. I showed her the internet picture I had posted here and she said she can approximate it so that was good to hear. I’m at 10 weeks now and the roots don’t look completely terrible but they’re going to in another month or so.
ETA pics and I do think I will grow it back out but this will be easier for getting it grayer faster. It’s just hair, it will grow. It’s also only day one so maybe I will get used to it.
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Time for my monthly gray hair check in, it’s 12 weeks! I’m getting used to styling my shorter hair, still don’t totally love it but it’s fine. A couple of people have said they really like it, my mom does not! 
I’m really hoping the white chunk I’m starting to see come in ends up as a nice stripe. It’s probably time to start using the root spray I bought, it’s starting to get a little bit gnarly.
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4 months! I’m going ask my stylist this week if it’s getting close to correction time. My dyed hair is getting really light and quite red, it doesn’t look great.
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Not a suggestion, because I don’t know! But I’m wondering about those remove-hair-dye products. I once tried a different brand/color and hated it and then panic-bought some removal stuff. I think it worked a little? It lightened the bad color, at least. I was wondering if something like that would be a step in the process.
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