Colouring your hair

[Duck on Wheels]

My hairdresser once talked me into getting a color "rinse". I guess it looked fine, but I was scared that I would never be able to let it go back to natural color again. Underneath the tinting it would be going greyer and greyer so the roots would look worse and worse as it grew out and I'd have to cave in and have it tinted again. I'm at sort of a dark pewter or oxydized silver now overall, given how much salt is mixed in with the pepper. Depending on your point of view (glass half full? glass half empty?) I guess my hair still looks kinda like the dark near-black brown it once was but with a silvery shine to it, or vice versa, pewter grey with a dark brown undertone. Sure, my hair looks my age (59), but I think the color as simply a color and not a symbol of age is quite nice.

A bigger problem is that it's thinning in front, or maybe thinned when I was flaring through an inflammatory disease and then never grew back. Anybody know of some hair regrowth treatments that work? I wouldn't care if it comes back greyer, but I would like to have more of it back.

[Zen]

I pull stands through the vents in my helmet then spritz with lemon juice.
Very natural effect.
And it also tends to make drivers slow down.

[indysteel]

My hair is a very dark brown. About three years ago, it started to fade a bit and then more and more white (not grey) hair started to sprout, mostly around my hairline. I started coloring it to it's "natural" color at the lon. The salon I go to is an a Aveda salon, and the dyes they use are vegetable base. I get a lot of compliments about how shiny my hair is after I get it colored. I try to do it every 3 months or so, but I'd do it more often than that but for the expense. I get it highlighted about once a year, too. Nothing dramatic, just some subtle strands around my face. I have fine hair and I wear it long and one benefit of the coloring is that it plumps my hair, making it seem thicker.

[SouthernBelle]

I'm in the process of growing out my natural grey & white, well at least 80% of it is.

There are different shades of grey. My mother had a rather dishwater shade. My grandmother had lovely silver and white. Fortunately, it looks like I've gotten my Nanny's shade.

[indigoiis]

I pull stands through the vents in my helmet then spritz with lemon juice.
Very natural effect.
And it also tends to make drivers slow down.

This is an awesome idea and very silly, too. Just my style!

I am about 60% grey at age 40 and am weaning off hair dye. I went from winter (auburn) to spring (sandy brown) to let it grow out. In about a month I will get highlights and a shine coat applied, and then I'm on my own.

I like the lemon juice highlight idea though.

Anj

[evangundy]

I found my first grey hair at age 13 and when I showed my mom, she told me she had too at 13, and that's the first time I remember her coloring her hair (she said she had been doing it since her early 20's). I colored mine when I was 30, so I wouldn't look old next to my little sister in her wedding pics (I had about 30% white by then). Treated myself regularly for 10 years, changing colors and cuts frequently. Then decided to grow it all out at age 40 to see how it looked. Haven't colored it since. And I keep it quite short. I get lots of compliments on my hair, but really, I keep it short and natural because I'm lazy and don't want to mess with it anymore. Here's a picture from my birthday party last July.
Edna

[Tuckervill]

I colored my hair for the first time in January, before I went on a cruise with the Barenaked Ladies. I was feeling mousy and I wanted to feel beautiful. Especially if I was going to meet my idols, who are younger than me.

It went bright brassy red on top instead of the chestnut brown it was supposed to be (don't ask me why) and I had to have my DIL fix it for me at her Aveda salon the day before we left. So, it grew out at the roots a few weeks later and I had to have it done again because it didn't look right. She did it in my natural color, but when I got a warning ticket for speeding the other day, the cop put my hair color as RED.

It looks almost like my natural color, to me, but I've always had red undertones. I'm about 30% gray, with it mostly in streaks at the temples. My grandmother was silvery, and my dad is bright white. If I thought my hair would be bright white like that, I'd do that. But--just yesterday on my ride I had two people who didn't believe I was old enough to have a son with a 3 year old child. Of course, both of these gentlemen were 62, and I'm 46. Perspective is everything.

I'm still trying to decide if I'm going to color it again when the roots grow out. :-/ Oprah said she doesn't believe in plastic surgery, but she BELIEVES in hair color!

Karen

[Bad JuJu]

I keep it short and natural because I'm lazy and don't want to mess with it anymore. Here's a picture from my birthday party last July.
Edna

Great hair color! I wish mine would go that color. It's getting there, but not there yet. I'm with you on the short-and-natural-because-it's-easy approach--I've got better things to do with my time than fool with my hair.

[Muddyfox]

Just thought I'd add one more to the thread. I'm 41, brunette and very slowly going grey (well, white actually). Like a few of you on this thread my hair grows quickly so the thought of having to dye it every 4-6 weeks depresses me - got better things to do - like cycling! I also actually like my own natural colour which there is still a lot left of so I'm sticking with it and see what the outcome is. It doesn't bother me and because I don't make an issue of it friends and family don't tend to notice it either. Only one person has ever said to my face that I should dye it (a female colleague) and I congratulated her on her honesty but thought that it was a shame that it bothered her so much.

[mimitabby]

I pull stands through the vents in my helmet then spritz with lemon juice.
Very natural effect.
And it also tends to make drivers slow down.

rotfl!

[Possegal]

hmmm, edna, see my post above about my mother starting to go at 11 and being 100% gray at 15. her name was edna. coincidence?

you look wonderful with the gray hair, i'm just not so sure i will, hence the coloring.

[shootingstar]

Evangundy, you look great in your hair. Lucky you. You also have a natural, glowing complexion that complements grey hair well.

It's been interesting reading the responses here..a world that I don't inhabit..hair colouring. In all honesty, I can't imagine conditioning my hair if I damaged it...it goes dead flat and dull 'cause my hair still has sufficient natural oil and is naturally straight. 'Course as a teenager eons ago, it was alot more.

I get a haircut every 3-5 months...yea, I try to make it stretch. But I appreciate a highly skilled, versatile hairstylist and will retain same one for years. So in terms of 'fashion' money that's what I do spend instead of pedicures, manicures, spas, etc.

But I hope that's all I will end up spending money and time in the future on my hair.

And when hair gets longer, I use a curling iron for touching up...that's the absolute limit of time for me...since I also wash my hair daily.

Personally I rather spend more time on my fitness..than on hair... I worry more about my teeth falling out when I get old, rather than my hair colour.

And I hope my father's genes help me...he doesn't have grey hair...at 79. But mother does.

[evangundy]

[QUOTE=Possegal;326612]hmmm, edna, see my post above about my mother starting to go at 11 and being 100% gray at 15. her name was edna. coincidence? QUOTE]

Well, my mother's name was Edna as was her mother, and they both started with white hair at a young age too ...... maybe you've got something there??????

I have a great sylist that I go to (for the past 3 years). I get it cut about every 4-6 weeks and I don't think I've gone with the same style twice in a row for the past 20 years. I'm always changing something about it, but still keep it short.

And Andrea, you have the right shape face and head to pull off such a short haircut. It looks great! And my DH said it looks great too.

Edna

[Andrea]

Thanks, everyone... I'm not sure what to do next

[snapdragen]

Thanks, everyone... I'm not sure what to do next

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