When to stop dyeing your hair?

[BlueStarryHat]

I last dyed my hair in August. After badly breaking my arm, I had other stuff to worry about and never got around to it again. I got a haircut yesterday and the last of almost forty years of dye jobs was finally cut off, and I found my dark brown hair was shot through with silver, about 50%. I bought a box of dye because I was a little horrified, but then I decided I kind of liked it and to own the silver and keep it...for now at least.

My questions are- when did you stop dying your hair? Have you stopped, or are you going to dye until you die? And how old were you when you had your first dye job?

I was fifteen and dyed my hair red to look like Molly Ringwald in Sixteen Candles.

 

[wgeo]

I last dyed my hair in August. After badly breaking my arm, I had other stuff to worry about and never got around to it again. I got a haircut yesterday and the last of almost forty years of dye jobs was finally cut off, and I found my dark brown hair was shot through with silver, about 50%. I bought a box of dye because I was a little horrified, but then I decided I kind of liked it and to own the silver and keep it...for now at least.

My questions are- when did you stop dying your hair? Have you stopped, or are you going to dye until you die? And how old were you when you had your first dye job?

I was fifteen and dyed my hair red to look like Molly Ringwald in Sixteen Candles.

I was in my 40s when I first got highlights, still am getting them just for fun, haven't seen any real grey hairs yet. My mom started turning grey in her teens - seriously we have pictures to prove it and my brother started turning grey in his early 20s and had a full head of grey hair before he was 30. Anywho - mom has been dying her hair since her teens and still does and is in her late 70s - she just asked if she should go natural and then laughed it off and said nah, not yet.

 

[MrsPete]

I've been asking myself this question lately.

I don't enjoy dying my hair -- I do it at home 'cause I'm cheap. Because I really don't enjoy it, I tend to "let it go" too long between touch-ups, and that's tacky. I don't feel "quite ready" to stop dying -- but I'm getting to that point.

A good friend of mine/same age as me has let her hair go gray, and she spent a year looking awful -- but now she looks great! I don't want to go through the "icky phase", so last time I got my hair cut I asked the stylist about dying my hair gray -- it seemed to make sense to me, but she said it wouldn't work like I expected. I'm thinking of cutting my hair short to "shorten the painful stage".

And on the other end of the spectrum, my mom is finished with her gray phase and has solid white hair -- except that she has icky yellow parts, which I think are from using cheap shampoo. I know that my grandmother at that stage dyed her hair a soft-soft blonde to avoid the stark white. I don't want to have to re-start dying again one day.

No answers, just my own place in the questions.

 

[WebmasterMaryJo]

I think I was in my early 40's when I started dyeing my hair. I used to do it myself, and about 8 years ago started having it and haircuts done professionally. Late 2017, I decided to stop doing my roots, and my stylist put low lights and highlights in my hair to blend in with the natural brown and silver (I typically go twice a year to have my hair cut). It's been a year since I stopped putting anything in my hair, and I like the dark brown/ silver streaks. If I get tired of it I'll go back to dyeing, but as long as my hair looks groomed, I don't really care about the color. My girlfriends (who'd NEVER let their hair go gray - one is 57, other 69, I'm 59, soon to be 60), have been very kind about not giving me a hard time about letting my hair go gray.

 

[Meriweather]

I started in my 40s.....did it myself, then went to a salon, back to doing it myself.
I have black hair, but I know it is a lot of gray now and I don't want to go that change (too drastic from black to white), so I will dye it or have it dyed always.
I am 65

 

[Minnie1222]

I have a feeling I am going to dye until the day I die. I had highlights in my teens and early 20's and then got lazy and stopped for almost two decades now. My dark brown hair has not turned gray, but I'm planning to go blonde once it does (so the roots won't be too obvious).

 

[StephMK]

I just dyed mine this morning. I have been putting some type of color in it since I was 12. Sun in, hydrogen peroxide, then moved to full on dye in college. It was to liven up my original mousy brown and now I'm hiding the gray.

I had grays around 30 and I imagine if I let it go, it would be fairly gray according to my roots. I hate doing it but I love the results so I think I will be doing it for many years to go.

 

[mrsstats]

I have red hair or did. I died it for a number of years but read that red would be blonde so I just let it go and I have more or less blond hair and get lots of compliments on it. Happy not to have to go thru the dying stages

 

[morgan98]

I will be 50 in April and have not had my hair dyed/colored/highlighted in probably 12 years. I do pay for regular professional haircuts, so my hair always looks nice. I naturally have dark brown hair with reddish highlights so it is a good natural color.

I have started to go grey in the past couple of years. However, they are coming in more as a streak here or there are look fine. Even my hairdresser says my hair color is good and that it isn't time yet to color it. Plus, my husband is 10 years older than I am, so the bit of grey at least makes me match him a bit! LOL!

 

[Kitty 34]

I stopped dyeing my hair about 12 years ago. I'm 65 and don't worry about the color of my hair anymore. So glad I don't have to deal with coloring especially when the roots started showing!! Such a pain.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

I can't recall when I started dying my hair. But I wasn't faithful about it. It could be 3 months to 12 months later before I'd dye it again.

Last time I dyed it - over a year ago, but I'd already decided to stop. Funny thing, my sister is 2 years younger than me and she gets her hair dyed professionally, regularly. Purple & teal. Her attitude is "if I've got to dye my hair, it may as well be purple". I just used a hair color that was what my natural color was. She told me the hair stylist had to pull out all her natural color, giving her white hair before adding the purple/teal combo. My hair has just a small area in the front that has some grey, so my hair color is still basically the same as it's always been, and I'm well over 60. Only difference is it's not as intense, it's somewhat faded overall, but still more brown than grey.

 

[MamaLema]

I started dyeing in my early 20s when my pregnancy hormones turned my hair at least 25% gray.
In my mid 40s now and while I hate dyeing my hair, I don’t have plans to stop anytime soon.

 

[Searc]

I embrace my bright silver streaks and since I have very dark hair, there is no hiding it.

I colored it for a few years, but once I hit 40 I stopped. My gray didn't take color so it was showing through after a few weeks. I got tired of the cost and maintenance so went totally natural. I have grayed a lot in the last year because of stress and I still don't plan on ever coloring my hair.

 

[AustinTink]

I was fifteen and dyed my hair red to look like Molly Ringwald in Sixteen Candles.

I did the exact same thing at the same age.

 

[AustinTink]

I'm over 75% gray now and dye it every 5 weeks at the salon. I don't plan to give up the dye until I'm 60-ish. My sister is 63 and has the most beautiful long, full gray hair now. It took her well over a year to achieve starting with a very short buzz cut. I'm not ready for that.

 

[vikequeen]

I’m 52. Started dyeing it blonde As soon as I graduated from high school. Most people in my life (including my husband and kids) have never seen the real color (which is a mousy brown now increasingly streaked w gray). I’m following my grandmothers plan of going straight from blonde to whitish/gray. It worked for her so seems like a good plan for me. She always looked fantastic.

 

[Tattylou]

I started dying mine when I was 14 - mostly highlights. I pretty much always go and get it professionally done. I had tried every shade of blonde for about 20-something years - platinum to golden to ash to dirty blond - you name it. Then about 5 or so years ago, I started to play around a bit. I've been bright red, dark red, purple. Right now it is a nice auburn color that I've stuck with for the past few months. I don't mind dying my hair at all. I actually love going to the salon and having some "me time". I can see a few greys coming in now when my roots start to show, but it seems minimal. I'm 42.

 

[quandrea]

I have never coloured my hair and have no plans to. I’m 47 and about ten percent grey according to my stylist. I think it’s more than that! Truthfully, I’m very low maintenance and the thought of colouring fills me with dread. My hair is so healthy, that I’m going to embrace the grey. If you like it too, go for it.

 

[Lynn CC]

What brand of at home color do you all use?
I tried one from wholefoods but it dried my hair out so much after using it for about 6 months my hair looked like hay, so dry.
I’m at the salon again, I don’t like paying for it every 4-5 weeks.
Is there an at home color that won’t dry out my hair?

 

[kaytieeldr]

I colored my hair various shades of red since my first grays in my early 20s. I stopped completely a few years ago, let my hair grow, and got all the color cut off.

Then, in August and November last year, I used a temperament green. When that washed out, I coincidentally encountered a permanent emerald color. As long as the shade stays available, I'm a dyer for life.