Colouring your hair

[Triskeliongirl]

Hope you did not take offense from my post (the part about my not being willing to spend the moolah to get it colored professionally). I freely and frankly admit that I'm a cheapskate when it comes to my hair. I'm so miserly that I even get it cut at Great Clips.

Not at all, I was just making the point that there is nothing wrong with either choice. I know some argue one should look their age, but I feel younger than my biological age, so I like my persona to reflect how I feel. But we all have to decide both how we want to appear on the outside, and how to spend our money. FYI, I noticed you are in San Antonio. I go to David, a co-owner of Shag the Salon near downtown. They are a great salon (David has been my stylist for years, even before he had his own place) and I think his prices are quite reasonable. It definitely doesn't cost hundreds of dollars, at least not for one session.

[Jen-Jen]

I find that I too am on the cheap side of my hair colour and I did do a wonderful do-it-at-home box colour. Only problem is that my hair grows very fast and super thick!!! I was on a 4 week hair cut schedule and the colour was about the too, because my roots showed so badly. Spent alot of $$ on my hair.

I just found three grays in mine several weeks ago. I haven't colored since. I think that I just might like gray!

[Bad JuJu]

My hair, "dirty" blond since my 20s, started showing lots of grey in my mid 40s, so I started having it colored--nothing drastic--just keeping it looking more gold than silver. A couple of years ago, when I was just past 50, I decided I wanted to spend that money and time on other things. No moral significance to that decision--just a change of mind. I feel much freer with my hair as it is, but that's just me.

I never had much trouble keeping my hair looking and feeling good when it was being colored--just ask the stylist for some recommendations about products that will be best for your type of hair.

[Aggie_Ama]

I have been dying mine so long I am not sure what color it really is under there. When I started helping it with sun-in and highlights it was a dirty blonde with red natural highlights.

My hairdresser found my first grey at 19 and I was horrified! My father started going grey at 15, his natural black hair is now completely silver and gorgeous. I am very fair skinned and cannot believe I will look good grey. I now see quite a bit of grey when my dye grows out probably about 10%. Also I am 27 and unable to embrace being grey. I am cheap, have my husband grandma cut my hair (she will not let me pay) and dye it myself.

Ms. Clairol says it is medium golden blonde right now.

[singletrackmind]

It's original....brown on top and dark brown where the sun doesn't hit it. Some greys throughout with a bride of Frankenstein thing going on and slowly gaining momentum. I'm plain old me and I like it that way.

[KnottedYet]

Redhead going white and gunmetal-gray in patches.

I use mahogany henna about once a month. $3 worth (half of a $6 box) is good for one application on my thin baby-fine hair. Nice thing about the henna is that it leaves golden highlights where my white hair is, rich red highlights where my red hair is, and deep mahogany highlights where the gunmetal-gray is. So it doesn't really change the look of my hair, just the color tone. And it gradually washes out over the course of the month, so as my hair grows there really aren't any "roots" to speak of.

Tried letting it go natural a few times, and I looked like I had bald patches. My hair is just too thin. When my whole head is white or white-with-scattered-red-strands (like my Grandma's, our hair is similar) I'll let it be.

[emily_in_nc]

I have light ash brown hair that has gotten to be about 30-40% gray. I have been coloring it for years, since I found my first gray at 25 (I'm 47 now). I am too cheap not to do it myself, but I'd been unhappy with the damage from drugstore products like Clairol or L'Oreal. I recently found a hair coloring product I really like. It's a bit messy to apply because it is a powder that you mix with water, and is runnier than drugstore color, but the results are much more natural (no one who doesn't already know even believes I color my hair), and the damage much, much less. It's Robert Craig hair color and is available online. The color I use turns the gray into highlights (light golden blonde) and doesn't lighten the darker part (no ammonia or peroxide!) I love the Robert Craig shampoo and conditioner for colored hair too -- they make mine very soft and help with the frizzies. I have to touch it up (only the roots, except every couple of times) about every four weeks, but the roots seem to show less than with the drugstore products.

I do eventually intend to go naturally gray and cut my hair short, but like someone earlier on this thread said, "I'm not there yet". Once I am no longer in the corporate world, I might be ready. My DH wishes I'd just let it go natural now; he thinks hair coloring is silly, but he doesn't really understand -- the youth obsession definitely hits women harder in our society than it does men.

Emily

[tc1]

Started at 21. Been every color of the Rainbow from Billy Idol Blonde to purple. Only went black for 2 days; I looked like my mother. Now it's dark chestnut. I don't want to go all grey yet, its not a good look for me. If I let my hair get too patchy and raggedy I get mistaken for a man whenever I am in work clothes, which is most of the time.

[Andrea]

I am a redhead who has been coloring my hair black for the last few years. Two nights ago, I went after it with a #3 guard on the clippers

Since my roots had grown out, I'm a redhead again! Not sure what to do now. I haven't colored it back yet, and I haven't decided if I'll keep it shaved- it feels awesome under my helmet, but I get pitiful looks from people who apparently think I'm recovering from cancer treatment.

[mimitabby]

brunette gone grey.
for some reason the front of my hair (over my face) is completely white and the back is mostly still brown.
so i dye it. i go from red to brown... I could never pay someone to do it, I am too cheap. And one of these days I'll stop coloring it; but not yet.

[michelem]

My hair is very dark brown and I am getting close to the big 4-0 and just started to see the grays these past couple of weeks. For about a week it seemed I was finding one each day! My hairdresser told me NOT to pull them out. She said that by pulling them out at the root, it will cause them to grow out in a "sticking out" fashion. She said that instead, I should clip them very short with scissors. This way they will grow back in more naturally like the rest of my hair, rather than poking out like beacons. We'll see how that works . . .

[Possegal]

gray hair by nature has a different texture. i don't think your hairdresser's advice will make much difference. i've never pulled mine out, and when my hair started going gray, the gray ones had a mind of their own, sticking up in all sorts of directions.

[CATWOMAN]

I agree with the gal that said it is like exercising to stay fit. I debated for several months. For a long time my stylist foiled my hair, which meant I had some grays mixed in. That was good until I got about 50% gray in the front. Now I have her color it all. She touches up the roots (Which she said is really impossible to do at home by oneself), and occasionally pulls it through. I just figured, hey, I look too good right now to be aged by something that I can so easily change!!!

Go for it if it will make you feel better.

[emily_in_nc]

She touches up the roots (Which she said is really impossible to do at home by oneself)

Not so -- I do it every four weeks. It does take some practice. I use a big comb and comb and part my hair about every 1" as I go to get to different roots. The back is difficult, though. If DH helps, it's not too bad, but since he is usually not around, I just wing it the best I can. I can do a really good job on the roots on about 2/3 of my head, though, and I have much, much less gray in the back, so it works out just fine.

It's not loads of fun, to be sure, but only costs me $9.99, and the ole roots come out looking really good.

Emily

[PinkBike]

I just figured, hey, I look too good right now to be aged by something that I can so easily change!!!

Go for it if it will make you feel better.

i love this response. just went today for my roots touch up. i never really thought about coloring my hair til it got really long. i found a good program for keeping it healthy looking. now that it looks decent i want the color to look decent too.

i went to the local toni and guy academy so it's only $25, and she did a great job.