Do You Color or Not - Ladies Only

[blueyedgirl5946]

My stylist was coloring my hair all over with a very light brown and then putting blonde highlights. When I looked back in the checkbook for last year and I realize how much it is costing to keep up these two chemical processes, I have decided to stop coloring. Now starts that growing out process, but it is going to be a nice silver color. I am just wondering how many more ladies on this board are coloring their hair or how many are like me and trying now to grown out their natural color.

 

[sharky]

I used to color it ( both myself and by pro) but now leave my natural light auburn show thru

 

[emrldsky]

Every 8 weeks! But only because I look better as a blonde.

My husband and I have decided to cut back when I'm pregnant, and stop completely once we have our first child to save money. Right now it's just us, so he budgets for it.

 

[icklemiss21]

I colour, but have started to do root touchups at home as it was getting really expensive

 

[lyrajean]

I do henna by myself. The only problem I'm finding now is that here in the sub-tropics the red tint does not last long in the strong sunlight.

 

[catlover19]

No I don't. I used to but stopped because it faded so fast and was a waste of money.

 

[sarahp]

I used to do it a long time ago and did some horrible things to my hair! Took me a while to realise I actually like the natural strawberry blonde

My aunt was dyeing her hair constantly to hide the grey, and it was getting really thin and didn't look good. She finally decided to dye it all grey then let it grow out naturally, and her hair is so much thicker and healthy looking now!

 

[ut0pia]

I used to get an all over very light brown with blonde highlights- yea that didn't last long, my hair got so dry and damaged (naturally i'm a brunette)
Then I switched to just getting highlights, but really, it isn't worth it especially since I want to have healthy long hair, and I'm growing it out now.
That was 3 years ago, and it's so hard for me to believe that it was such a short time ago because all of the colored hair has grown out and has been cut!! I did cut it to my chin once, but now it's almost to my shoulders, and I'm really happy about that because my hair is so much healthier now..Now I just have my natural dark brown color. I have been contemplating going back to getting back to coloring my hair with some kind of herbal dyes...I'll have to look into that.

If you have stopped dying your hair only because of cost,you do know you can do it at home?? it is not hard at all and if you are doing one all over color it will have the same effect- for highlights it will most likely not work, unless you're a pro or really good with your hands...That's what my mom does to hide her gray hairs.

 

[yosemite]

I stopped colouring my hair about 30 years ago and now it is a beautiful silver. I have many compliments on it. It's not grey - it's truly silvery so I'm lucky. I had one male hair dresser that refused to colour it one time when I asked him to.

 

[kscatlady]

I hate my natural color. So I brighten up with some blonde highlights. They stay in for a long time, so I don't feel too bad about the money.

 

[trouts mom]

Absolutely not. People pay to have my hair colour

 

[Willowy]

I have NEVER colored or done anything chemical (perm, etc.) to my hair. A lot of people don't believe me when I say that.....30 years and never dyed my hair, not even once to experiment as a teenager. It's funny to see the reactions.

 

[white cat lover]

I used to always dye my hair red - I actually have been working at my job for almost 3 years now....I let it go back to my natural "poop brown" color about 2 months ago. I had one co-worker want to know why & when I dyed my hair brown. I had to explain that it wasn't naturally red/reddish brown. That kind of made me think maybe I shouldn't dye it so much. I love my hair red, but like others, it's just too $$ to have done all the time. And when your hair is a few inches long, it's not practical to pay $50 every 6-8 weeks.

 

[carolina]

Henna here! Lots of work and a huge mess of saran wrap and foil, but love what it does to my hair, and the cost is nearly nothing...

 

[trillcat]

I was a born a platnium blonde who's hair has turned darker over the many years of my life.
It's now a dark "dishwater" or a light "mousy brown" depending on who you ask. Neither are good descriptions of natural hair. *sigh*
I am determined to grow out my natural hair color again, got about 2 inches of virgin hair at the roots, and grow baby, grow!
Though with the weather getting nice agan, my inner blonde wants me to bleach! What I see in the mirror is not me, I am a blonde!
I am trying not to listen, I am growing my hair long, and chemials are not really good for that whole process. Dry staw blonde, good to the eye with lots and lots of help from product, not good over all for the condtion of my fine hair.

 

[alicatjoy]

I do not color my hair now, but I used to -- especially during the high school years

. I have natural auburn hair, but it's not dark. In the summer there is more blonde which makes my hair almost a strawberry blonde color and in the winter months it gets darker and a deeper auburn. I love my hair color now, but I used to despise it. And, believe me, I did everything I could to try to change it.

I had red hair (I always wanted "Irish red" hair, but it never came out that way), dark brown hair, light brown hair, blonde hair, and every color in between -- except for, of course, my natural auburn color. Coloring my hair destroyed it and it took a long time and a lot of haircuts to get it to where it is today. And, now, every time I go to a stylist, I'm complimented on my auburn hair. Most people think I have highlights, but, no, it's all me!

I tried coloring it a couple of years ago and it faded almost immediately. I think that was a big hint that I'm supposed to keep my hair au naturale. And, after all these years, I kind of like it like that

.

 

[mbjerkness]

No I tried to lighten my hair once as a teenager, It turned bright orange.

 

[otto]

I don't mind the gray so much, but my blonde hair has gone very dirty dishwater in recent years.

In the summer I don't bother with color, as the sun keeps it bright enough, but in the winter I can't stand the dingy color it gets, sort of a mix between dishwater blonde with red.

The gray doesn't hold the color anyway (I do it myself) so my temples are gray year round. When all of it goes gray (or hopefully silver) I'll stop coloring.

I was the last of my sisters to succumb to the bottle blonde (she says smugly) we were all tow headed babies, and stayed naturally blonde into our twenties, but my sisters started dying then (in their 20s) I was a hold out until after I turned 40.

 

[laureen227]

i had brown hair, which is morphing into blonde as i go gray. i use a demi-permanent blonde on it - only changed the gray, so that it blends better w/the small amount of brown that's left.
i use natural instincts sahara - lightest blonde they make.
before i went gray [i'm on the left, the heavy one]:


fairly recent pic [shows how blonde i've become!]:

 

[missymotus]

I colour mine at home, $30 compared to over $100 at the salon. I get my mum or sister to help if I want highlights and not just a straight colour.