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You might want to look into henna hair coloring. There are several here who have used it. However, be careful about what kind you buy as I have heard that some henna dyes contain heavy metals which aren't good for you.
You might also want to check out the avatar of our very own Chris G., a man also blessed with a great, dark mane and a striking streak of silver. I don't think Chris, or anyone else here for that matter, considers his silver streak to be a bad thing. To the contrary, the consensus seems to be that it adds a wonderful sense of uniqueness and dignity to his appearance.
Au contraire mon ami :)
This grey streak did almost keep me from even growing out my hair at all. If not for the fact that here I saw people with much more gray who had awesome looking hair PLUS the repeated brainwashing, I mean compliments of other people about my grey streak I wouldnt have bothered growing out. So listen to us when we say leave the gray alone. I do love it now but it took all these great guys to open my eyes.
Is the gray I have similar to yours. Post a pic of yours here I bet you get lots of positive reactions :)
As hair turns grey, it also changes in texture. It usually becomes more fine. Hair color can help thicken the shaft and help with texture.
I would only recommend professional coloring at a good salon. I've been having mine greys colored ever since I began growing it. I love the texture and look after a visit to the salon.
Please do not use over-the-counter products. They will hurt your hair.
Also, there is much less damage potential if you stay within a shade of your natural color.
Lestat,
The coloring processes that use amonia or peroxide are not good for your hair. Tehy take our color, while the deposit color. They can add texture, but the deposited color fades, and then you have bleached hair, which is not going to be the color of our natural hair.
However, coloring processes that coat the hair in new deposited color will not harm your hair. They can not take you lighter, but only darker. If you use them carefully, the worst case is that they wash out and you go bace to the status quo ante.
Read the labels carefully, and do not use anything containing peroxide.
I say this not in cricism at all of a paralel group of men who like to bleach their hair. This group consists mostly of potentially blond men who do not intend to grow their hair long. Indeed some of the produce dramatically handsome effects, but with hair at max 6" they can maintain the results without damage, or let it grow out to natural as they like.
C
I regret that I did not say at the beginning of my previous post that gray is beautiful.
Where between NC and Oklahoma is your Cherokee origin?
C.
My wife doesn't like my grey hairs. However, I too am concerned about the effects of synthetic dyes damaging my hair, so I have never used them.
Old-fashionned henna and other vegetable dyes won't damage your hair. However, many things are sold as henna that are adulterated with other ingredients. Henna itself or 'natural henna' always dyes red/orange, so it has to be mixed with something else to get other colours. This is distinct from 'neutral henna', which is really senna, which is a great conditioner but doesn't dye your hair atall.
Mixes of henna with other herbs such as woad, indigo or amla can produce various shades of brown or something approximating black, although to really get black hair you have to dye your hair in two steps, using henna first, then indigo. If you are greying a lot you will end up using some kind of mix, or risk ending up with orange hair!
The danger is that some henna mixes contain metal salts to make different colours. This was mainstream technology in the days before synthetic dyes (I know that synthetic dyes per se were invented in Germany at the end of the 19th century, but I guess it was a while before they were used on hair). The problem is not that you will get heavy metal poisoning as Bragi suggested. The problem is that metal salts can react exothermically with synthetic dyes, i.e. the reaction can produce heat, often enough heat to destroy your hair! Sometimes the reaction between these two types of dye can turn your hair green instead of, or as well as, frying it.
As both types of dye stay in your hair, anyone who uses a synthetic dye and then a henna based dye that they suspect may contain metal salts, or vicea versa, i.e. it doesn't matter which was applied first, should test a shed hair to see if anything nasty happens, or just don't do it.
The 'brown henna' that I currently use says that it contains only henna and 'other herbs', but it doesn't say which ones. This is typical of how vaguely labelled these things are. I assume it contains no metal salts, but I have no plans to use synthetic dyes anytime soon, so I should be safe either way. It tends to make the greyer areas look like blond highlights, although for the first day or two they look unnaturally yellow, and the rest of my hair light brown, although it is naturally much darker.
I might try to dye my hair darker some time, maybe using henna followed by indigo, to try to get closer to my natural colour.
I think using henna mixes only is the safer route, as you hear all the time of people who get bad synthetic dye jobs and have to cut their hair. Just be careful about mixing and matching vegetable and synthetic dyes (ideally don't do it).
You can find more info at the Henna for Hair site (just Google it or add .com to it, typing it as one word).