Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with grey

Name That Model

ThePinkSuperhero — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 18:35:43 -0800

What's the name of the grey-haired lady who models in the Lands' End catalog? She wears her hair in a chin-length bob. I can scan a page of the catalog, if that will help.

Help me cover my grey roots! (personal grooming filter)

Susan PG — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 23:49:30 -0800

Please give me techniques and tips for covering my grey roots, before I bankrupt myself or otherwise make myself crazy. I wear my hair in a short bob, pushed off my face -- sort of like Katie Holmes in this photo. My hair is naturally near-black, ash rather than red-based, and about 10 years ago it started greying at the temples and crown of my head. The grey isn't streaky or "interesting" -- it doesn't look good, and although there's not a lot of it, it's silver and contrasts strongly against my natural colour, making it super-visible. So, for 10 years I've been colouring it.

I used to do it myself, and destroyed lots of towels and countertops and grout before switching to getting it done professionally. But I'm a perfectionist fusspot, and I find myself now getting full colour done every five weeks, which is just way too expensive and time-consuming.

Is there a technique/product I can use to neatly cover the roots ---just at my temples, and where my hair parts--- between sanely-scheduled appointments?

* I've tried mascara-like temporary colour, but it flakes onto my skin and clothes. I've also tried spray powder, with the same messy results. (The powder is particularly nightmarish when it rains, gah.)

* I find colour-in-a-box (like Loreal) messy to apply, and also wasteful. It's a lot of product to throw away, when I only need a little bit.

* Ideally I would like to use raw ingredients rather than boxed kits, and would mix only what I need, and apply it using a small mascara-like (or eyebrow-brush-like) applicator. I don't think I necessarily need permanent colour: temporary or semi-permanent should I think do just fine. I'm in a major US city, so I should have easy access to the right materials, whatever they are.

Has anyone had any success doing something like this, and if so, can you tell me what you do?

Thanks in advance. I have spent way too much time experimenting: I would like to get this figured out.

Choosing an affordable projection screen for my living room?

cortex — Sat, 20 Dec 2008 17:08:32 -0800

What do I need to know when choosing a wall-mounted projection screen for my living room? We're looking at upgrading our ad hoc living room theater setup from our current White Sheet Clothespinned To Drapes to something in the way of an actual screen. Looking at 84"x84" as the best fit for our setup, doing a mix of movies and console gaming.

As far as I can tell, we'd probably be fine with something as simple as a Luma or Luma 2 or Silhouette—and in fact I'm not clear what the significant difference between those is other than the styling of the hardware. The Luma at under $200 bucks is attractive as the budget choice, but is there anything I should know? Any surprises here?

The other question: surface treatment. I know ambient light might be an issue for daytime use—setting aside the use of drapes and such on our windows to minimize that, is there a good reason to drop the extra cash on a high contrast grey type surface instead of simple matte white? Or is the distinction fairly minimal in practice?

Wash that grey back into his hair!

pearlybob — Mon, 26 Nov 2007 14:45:19 -0800

How do you keep grey hair from yellowing? Without going the 'bluehair' route! My husband is 37 and he has a head full of thick, beautiful, grey hair. Think Anderson Cooper's color. He doesn't like it but it suits his coloring, makes him appear older and distinguished (a plus in his business) and it's different! Recently, it is starting to yellow. We don't know why, nothing in his routine has changed but it definitely is getting a yellow tint. He has been using the Pantene shampoo for grey hair hoping to restore the color but it is not working. Why would this happen all of a sudden and what can we do to stop it? Any natural fixes? I know my grandma would go every week to have blueing put on her grey but that is really not an option. If he has to do that, he'll probably just dye it a color and I really don't want him to have to have his roots done every 6 weeks. It's hard enough for me to keep up that maintainence schedule on my hair. It would be impossible for him with his work duties. Thanks for any tips you can offer!

Covering my grey in a healthy way

greta simone — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 16:44:20 -0800

The most natural way to cover my grey? So, it's time to start dyeing my hair. I have naturally very dark hair (of the caucasian variety, in case this matters), but the grey's are starting to take over like weeds. I've never dyed my hair before because I've always loved the color and didn't want to ruin the texture. Because of this, I want to figure out the most natural way to cover grey that will do the least bit of damage, in both the short- and the long-term. I will be going to a salon most likely, because I'm lazy.

I want to look for a salon that carries the most natural products and uses the most natural process. Thing is, when I call to research a salon, I don't know what to ask for. Henna? Aveda products? Some other organic brand? Semi- or demi- or permanent? Let me know everything I should know to cover my grey but to keep my hair healthy--
Thanks!

Premature grey hair--what to do?

humblepigeon — Wed, 30 May 2007 11:25:15 -0800

How to deal with grey hairs amongst an otherwise brunette headset? A 'friend' of mine (cough) has naturally brunette hair but has recently started to get annoying singular grey hairs. If genetic history is anything to go by, his head will be fully grey in 10-20 years, but what can he do until then to minimize the effect? He has long hair.

My hair is befuddling me.

stormygrey — Mon, 12 Feb 2007 13:19:26 -0800

Help me with my mysterious hair medical mystery. I have always had pretty thick, wavy hair. About six months ago I started thinking my hair was falling out. It seemed like I was pulling out handfuls at a time. Everyone told me that it was my imagination, that I just noticed it more because it is significantly longer than it used to be and because my stylist had thinned it out about 3 times in the last year.

Then I started noticing a lot of white around my crown. Not gray, bright translucent white. Meh, I thought, I am getting old. (27 y/o) A couple of days ago I was checking my hair out and noticed a ton or new growth, baby hairs everywhere and not only that, when I plucked two of the grays out they both had over an inch of brunette growth.

So my hair flipped out, fell out, and went white and then looks like it is now fixing itself.

I haven't made a drastic change in diet or meds, or any crazy stressfull events. Any ideas?

Grey flakes in my humidifier?

anonymoose — Mon, 02 Oct 2006 22:46:48 -0800

What are these grey/black flakes coming out of my humidifier? I bought a cheap Kaz warm steam vaporizer a year or two ago, and every time I go to the sink to refill it, I find a large amount of dark grey flakes on the bottom of the water reservoir. I've tried rinsing the steam unit itself, and no matter how much I rinse it out, more black flakes will come out of it.

3 questions:
1) What are these flakes
2) How does this finite-mass object produce an infinite supply of black flakes
3) Can I get rid of them once and for all by doing something like dumping ammonia or vinegar or CLR into the steam unit?

What does a grey double border mean in Illustrator?

designbot — Thu, 28 Sep 2006 12:08:46 -0800

What is this mysterious double-bordered grey box that appears in Illustrator CS? Sometimes when I have something selected in Illustrator, a grey box will suddenly appear around the object. It has a distinctive thin/thick border, and it appears with some padding around the object. It looks like some kind of display glitch, but it usually doesn't disappear when I zoom or scroll. Deselecting the object doesn't make it go away, but eventually it does disappear as I continue to work.

In this sample image, the grey border is not part of my Illustrator artwork, and it appears in both Outline and Preview view modes. I'm using Illustrator CS2 under Mac OS X. Is this a bug or just a feature I don't know about?

What was I thinking...? Notes to myself are cryptic.

chase — Fri, 15 Sep 2006 18:10:57 -0800

What does this statement mean, "Life is 18% grey."? Recently, I came across one of my old notebooks from a photography class that I attended about 15-20 years ago. The class covered the usual: composition, aperture, shutter speed, depth of field, lighting, etc.

In the margins of one page, where I had notes about using a gray card in determining lighting needs, I have philosophically written that "Life is 18% grey."

I can't figure out what I meant by that. As I study the handwriting in the notebook, the only thing I remember about that night in class, is feeling really wowed by myself during the lecture when I wrote the note... like, "that's deep." So, now I feel really bothered because I can only recall that I had felt like I had this really powerful thought... but now I have no clue what it means exactly.

I have bipolar disorder... and hence, I often view the world using a very polarized perspective. I remember being in a depressed state at the time of this particular class. So, I'm not sure if I was being morbid.

Anybody have some ideas of what I was thinking that day long ago? What does a photographer's gray card have to do with defining life?

It's time to give up on yanking them.

amro — Sun, 29 Jan 2006 15:39:57 -0800

Is it possible to dye only the few white hairs I have, without also dying my very dark brown hair? I want to dye the pesky whites bright red, but I don't want to change the color of the rest of my hair. I know that in order to dye my dark hair a lighter color, I would have to bleach it first or it wouldn't take. So it stands to reason, I think, that if I were to use a lighter hair color on my whole head it would only dye the white hair. Is this correct?

Gray? Grey? Same or different?

cohappy — Sun, 06 Jun 2004 01:53:29 -0800

What's the difference between "gray" and "grey"?

Should I color my grey hair or leave it as is?

lilboo — Wed, 25 Feb 2004 15:17:45 -0800

Grey hair. I found my first at age 18. Fast forward fifteen years later, and I'm about 30% grey, which seems to be causing a lot of grief and despair amongst my friends and relations. Fifty percent of those feel fiercely that I should color my hair, the other percentage feeling just as fierce that I leave it alone. Since I have found something that is gentle enough for my tender scalp, I do have the option of making a change, but I just don't know what to do.

So, should I run away and hide? Should I be proud of my whitening locks?

What would you do?

(And, most importantly, to gentlemen ever make passes at silver-haired lasses?)