slo’s TUESDAY poll - Coloring Your Hair

[ronandannette]

...I do not have any intention of dying it at this point because
1. I just don't think it's necessary
2. I'm too cheap and lazy to keep up with it (and I think it looks WAY worse to have grey roots than to have grey hair)

I know there is a perception of grey being old/ugly, but I personally find women with grey hair to be sexy and confident. I'm not really concerned with looking "old". I don't really think it will make me look older and if it does, that's not really a bad thing. People have always assumed I am significantly younger than I am so looking my actual age might be beneficial.

I completely agree with you here. I've watched people stop colouring and let it naturally grow out. I wouldn't be able to stand to look at myself with a daily enlarging skunk stripe. If and when I make the decision to stop I will have one last service done where all the colour will be completely stripped and a grey colour put on that will match new growth.

 

[fla4fun]

My natural color is a mousy brown, but I had red highlights when I went out in the sun. So I decided to embrace the red. I generally go for a medium auburn shade.

 

[JLTraveling]

I was light blonde when I was little, then it darkened into a sort of mousy brown. I've been dyeing it various shades of red, from hot pink to bright Bozo red, since my mid-teens. I didn't do it all the time until I started getting a lot of grey in my 20s, but now I have zero desire to go back to a mousy brown/grey combo.

 

[Lady Gaga]

I stopped coloring mine 3 years ago.
I have a big patch of gray in the front and the rest is brunette.

 

[tzolkin]

I completely agree with you here. I've watched people stop colouring and let it naturally grow out. I wouldn't be able to stand to look at myself with a daily enlarging skunk stripe. If and when I make the decision to stop I will have one last service done where all the colour will be completely stripped and a grey colour put on that will match new growth.

I’ve thought about dying my hair just for fun or to try something different but there is no way I want to go through the process of growing it out

 

[AussieFan8]

I've watched people stop colouring and let it naturally grow out. I wouldn't be able to stand to look at myself with a daily enlarging skunk stripe.

I completely agree with this. I'm 49 and I decided to let my hair grow out about 18 months ago. I'd rather deal with growing out the dye now when I just have some gray strands sprinkled in than grow it out when it's mostly gray. Luckily, I had been doing demi-permanent at-home coloring, so the demarcation line was not drastic and it continued to fade over time. Like someone else mentioned, my dyed hair takes on really red tones that are not attractive. It was also really dark when first dyed even when I used light brown or dark blonde, and the dark allover color aged me more I think than having some gray mixed in. The texture of the gray hairs (wiry) bothers me more than the color, so I started using a glaze once or twice a week. It blends in the gray hairs pretty well and overall I'm okay with it. I think it would look really nice if I highlighted it to blend the grays, but I don't want to deal with the cost and maintenance.

I have had women comment that they are shocked anyone would ever think of letting their gray hair show. However, I've noticed more women doing it since the pandemic and I hope that trend continues so it's more socially acceptable for people to color or not color - whatever suits them best. I do worry at times that it will be perceived poorly at work in a fairly professional environment.

 

[jaiminee krikit]

I've changed my hair multiple times over the years. My favorite is auburn. Right now it's as close to my natural color (mousy brown) as it's been, only because I have to really be in the mood to spend money on my hair and/or gamble and dye my own.
My mom never let me color or highlight my hair when I was younger, so as soon as I moved out I got chunky highlights. A month later I decided to dye it Kool-Aid red, that got a lot of attention lol.
For our Halloween WDW trip a few years ago, I dyed it as dark brown as I could (I was dressing as Edna Mode and just couldn't go full black), and got green and purple Maleficent highlights. I had done pink and blue peekaboo highlights a few months before. I love the fun, bright colors and would love to go fuchsia but the bleaching process is not fun.

 

[maxaroni]

Natural color - gray. I colored my hair for year but I hit menopause and wanted to stop. I had had enough of it as my roots would need touch up every few weeks.

 

[StephMK]

I started coloring my hair at 13 with Sun In. It was a mousy brown and now at 51, it would be mostly gray if I grew it out. I don't have any plans to stop coloring. It's a reddish color I mix from boxes of light auburn and caramel blonde. People have said it looks natural because I have freckles and light eyebrows. It's the color I was supposed to have.

 

[MamaMermaid]

I've spent years highlighting... one year I got wild and went red (loved it but the upkeep was impossible). Now it's just its natural color. I don't have hardly any greys and I figured I'll save money now not dyeing it and using that money later when I am super grey (if I even care then).

For the record, my hair is super dark blonde/light brown.

 

[mumto3girls]

I completely agree with you here. I've watched people stop colouring and let it naturally grow out. I wouldn't be able to stand to look at myself with a daily enlarging skunk stripe. If and when I make the decision to stop I will have one last service done where all the colour will be completely stripped and a grey colour put on that will match new growth.

Yes. I agree with this. All gray would be fine with me especially if it’s silvery. It’s the some gray, some dark blonde I am trying to avoid.

 

[TCRAIG]

I’m 58 and have only colored my hair once for our son’s wedding and that was 14 years ago. I have some grey hair but I’m still a brunette. I have no plans to ever color it again.

Same - except I’m 65 - still just a little gray with natural brown…I have no desire to color my hair.

 

[LuvOrlando]

My hair is a natural auburn, the color of rootbeer & my eyes match so I've never been inclined to change. The past few years I box color because while it seems most people avoid what they call "brassy reds" I totally lean into it and actually like the way it lands on the gray so it's sort of like highlights on top of the already auburn color. I do get compliments on the red and blurt out, "Thanks, it's just Loreal 6AB," I really need to practice faking it with a special fancy story that's way more interesting.

 

[SaludosPenguinos]

Brunette for life...now by way of Madison Reid.
I bleached and dyed my hair purple in high school in the 90s, and my mother warned me it would cause me to go gray early. Insert eyeroll. I did indeed start going gray pretty early on as it runs in the family, and it picked up enough in my early 30s that I've been dying it 1x month since, with touch-ups in between. I did let it go for a couple of months in early quarantine just to see how it might look, but it was close to bone white and I did not like the lack of contrast against my pale skin. Nope.

 

[NMBCFangirl]

I've done fun colors since the days we used Koolaid and a curling iron to get them. Heh. Used to bleach and then use Manic Panic or Special Fx colors. Now that I am 50 have toned it down and also opted for less damage. My hair is naturally dark auburn. I now use Extreme Magenta Overtone. It's a deposit only coloring conditioner. It's not as pink as I used to do, but 50 year old hair doesn't want the bleach anymore, and as a bonus, the bits the ARE going grey take the color so it looks like a metallic pink, which I love as the most notable bit of that is right in the front.

 

[TLSnell1981]

I've always had dark hair and always will

 

[Kathryn Merteuil]

I color mine medium brown

 

[mickey916]

Mine is dark brown with red mixed in. I started seeing stray gray at 20 and started coloring my hair at 31. During the pandemic I discovered there's a lot more gray there now at 53! I get gray from my Dad. My mother has just a few pretty gray highlights in her light brown hair and has never colored it at 78! I'm not ready yet to be grayer than my mom!

 

[unrequited23]

I started growing out my color two years ago, expecting to be at least half silver. There was a lot less 'sparkle' than I was expecting. Now, I play around with different shades of color depositing conditioner from overtone or garnier. Depending on the month I have pastel purple, rose gold or golden blond highlights since the color takes differently on the grays.

 

[leebee]

I'm sure if I let my hair go it'd be all-over grey. I use at home color every 6 weeks. Natural color is light brown but I use a dark blond L'Oreal color to get the light brown I want; all the "brown" shades turn my hair really dark. About 2 months ago, instead of using my usual box color when it was time, I bought a tube of purple wash-out dye... Colorista? I like the way it colored the roots and gave my hair an overall lilac look. It washes out every time I used it so right now my hair is generally light-steel with a lilac hint. I like it. I might do it again, or might try Burgundy next time. Why not? It's fun, and if I don't like it, I don't have to look at it- my students do!!