When I was about 14, I started going grey. I had a rather large-ish chunk come up grey, a al Lilly Munster, right along my center part. Of course, I started coloring, and have been doing all kinds of icky bleachy/dye type things to my hair since. Now, I'm 'reformed'  ;D
Since I last touched up the roots (early December or late November), my roots are starting to peek out noticeably, my question is (drumroll) I know leaving it alone and letting it grow out is the smartest, safest thing to do, but should I attempt to remove the previous permanent color that's on my grey bits and tone it, or should I try to color over just the grey hairs themselves only with some silvery grey color, or should I keep touching up just the roots so the grey doesn't show and wait until I get more grey all over to worry about it?

thanks!

Hello and welcome!   :)  Just my opinion, so take it or leave it but...in your case I think I would opt for a professional dye job, coloring the hair as close to your now-original shade of grey as possible.  Then leave it alone after that (as in never dye again).  I'm usually not a fan of hair coloring, but I think the grey makes for a big exception since that's your natural color.  I know that professional dye jobs can be expensive, which is another reason I'm normally against then.  But again, in your case, I think the results would be worth it.  Some of the other gals who are Henna-ites (new word!!) may be able to give you a different approach.

Hi! I am in the same fix as you! I probably have about 30% gray, mostly at my temples. The rest of my hair is very dark brown. I don't want to use chemical dyes or henna (I have bad reactions), so I am trying to cover the grays temporarily with herbal rinses so they'll blend in a little better, until there is enough grown out to cut off the dyed ends and just let it be. I have been using Red Raspberry Leaf as a rinse. So far it's working fairly well!

Mellie

Hi there, Stop coloring is one of the hardest things for a woman who colors thier hair to do. Do not try to remove the hair color you have in there. You end result will not be your natural grey color. Believe me!

If you really want to stop coloring and go gray naturally, opt to get your hair colored one last time. Have it colored your natural color. This way when your natural color and grey srat growing out, it won't be as  noticable and you won't have a strong root line of hair color.

During the process of growing it all out, you can buy shampoos that are pigmented to blend the gray with your hair color. These won't cover the grey but they will blend it and make it livable lol.

Another option is to start having your hair either foiled or pulled thru a cap and colored to your natural hair color. What this will do is keep the color off your scalp, if you are worried about health effects (which there has never been any scientific eveidence linking hair color to health problems). This will also allow some of your grey to stay uncolored. And eventually, say a year from now when some of your grey is longer, you can stop coloring all together and your hair will look fine.

Good luck!!~~!

I understand your situation, as I started going grey at 15.  Mine wasn't really noticeable until my 20's, however.  I had two silver streaks off my temples, a la Bride of Frankenstein.  I started coloring it my natural dark brown color in my 30's.  When the grey started growing in I had a very clear silver stripe that I hated, usually in about two weeks.  I tried going blonde, but the amount of processing required for my dark hair left it very damaged.  I went back to grey after about 8 years, but very gradually.  

First I started getting more lowlights and fewer highlights.  I increased them each time I colored, about three times, until there was not a strong line between my grey and the other hair.  I still had a line, but one I could live with until my hair was about two inches long.  Then I cut it all off in an extremely short pixie cut.

Not a solution you would expect on a long hair site.  But I couldn't stand the stripe.  And I'm kind of a radical solution person.

Anyway, if you don't want to cut it off and you don't want a stripe, I would do the lowlights thing.