Colouring your hair

[shootingstar]

Just had my haircut yesterday. Quite short. Went to my hairstylist who gives me excellent cuts that look and grow out well for a few months. She pointed out the 1 grey strand of hair amongst my naturally black hair.

I genuinely have no interest in dyeing my hair because the amount of care required to keep coloured hair (based on what I hear first-hand from others) conditioned and healthy, then dealing with the colour fade / roots issues, etc. I'm 49.

I have 4 other sisters younger than I --with the youngest at 39. None of them have coloured their hair either. Yea, there maybe the odd silver strand if you look hard enough. But their hair is still black.

Do you /have you coloured your hair? And how long now and how often? What is your natural hair colour now and what is the dyed colour?

[wackyjacky1]

49 and only one grey strand? That's awesome. I'm 45 and I'd say my hair is about 10% grey, the rest medium brown.

I used to "search and destroy" any grey hairs that I spotted. Now I've kind of given up on yanking them out -- there's just too many of 'em.

When the greys first started showing up, I tried some of the home coloring products (Clairol, L'Oreal, etc.). Boxed hair coloring is fine the first time you use it, but then you have to deal with the roots that show up in a few weeks. Ugh, I hate when you can see the roots. In my experience, it's nearly impossible to color just the roots on subsequent applications, even with the kits that are designed specifically for that purpose. Also, no matter what color I tried, eventually the color turned kind of brassy on my hair. I didn't like that it looked so obviously fake.

I'm not willing to spend hundreds of dollars to get coloring done at a professional hair salon, so I don't know how much better that might work.

In the end, I decided against continuing with coloring my hair. It looked fake, and it was just too much trouble. Don't get me wrong -- I'm not happy with the fact that my hair is growing grey -- but I'd rather keep it natural.

[Possegal]

I have auburn hair, I know because it says so on the box.

When I was in grad school and about 26, a guy referred to me as the one with "salt and pepper hair", that was when I started to color it.

In my family, you aren't allowed to complain about the gray hair though, my mother first found gray hair when she was getting bangs cut into her hair and the entire row of bangs were gray. She was 11. She was totally gray at 16. So no one was allowed to complain around her.

My natural hair was reddish brown, not quite auburn, but the brown isn't quite right either, so I went redder - it suits my firey personality.

I'm in my mid 40s and just about totally gray now. I keep saying one of these days I'll cut it real short and let it go natural. But I'm not there yet.

[Triskeliongirl]

I went totally gray in my 30s, and once a month I have my sylist cut and color it. He just does the roots (although periodically pulls it through) and with good products my hair is quite healthy. I feel more attractive when my hair is colored. Its no different than purchasing attractive clothes, or exercising to maintain an attractive physique. I do it because it suits me, it gives me pleasure. Would I do it if it meant not having resources to educate my kids? No, but I can afford it and meet my obligations so I do.

[snapdragen]

I've been playing with my hair color since I was in my twenties. I've been blonde, red, auburn, strawberry, dark brown, light brown. About the only color I haven't tried is black. I have no idea what my real color is.

[wackyjacky1]

I do it because it suits me, it gives me pleasure.

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.

[Crankin]

I don't have any gray yet (at 54), but my hair went from golden blond to brown when I was about 32. Since then, I've had various types of coloring, but now I do highlights about 3-4 times a year. I don't feel myself with brown hair. I guess when I go gray, I will have to do 2 processes, color and then highlight.
Silver looks really bad on me, just totally washes out my coloring. I guess I could accept salt and pepper when I'm in my 70s, but as long as I can afford it, I will keep the blond highlights. My hair is really short and I have it cut every 4 weeks, which is worth every penny.

[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!

[cyclechick2008]

My hair is dyed really blonde. I was really blond as a kid but as I get older and had kids it got much darker.

I have it professionally done about every 3months or so. I change the length of my hair regularly. I growing it out to a shoulder length bob right now from a really short layered cut.

Kim

[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.

[Jolt]

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.

Same here, only I'm even worse--when I need a trim, I usually have my mom do it when I go home!!

[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.