why drastic hair color change?

[sarcasticgirl]

Why not?
I have had my hair some shade of red for nearly 20 years... A few months ago, I went dark brown, with hints of red.
I like to change it up... I have naturally curly hair and am limited in regards to hairstyles and cuts so I changes colors.

Sent from my Nexus 10

[zibazinski]

For up north my hair is a darker blonde which looks okay under the up north kind of light/sun. Down south it just looks drab and dull. My hair appt with my old colorist is the 19th and it will be a better color for the south. Unfortunately, I have to return to the north after the first of the year so back to drab my hair will go.

[Deleted]

Nov 30, 2014 15:38:01 GMT -5 zibazinski said:

For up north my hair is a darker blonde which looks okay under the up north kind of light/sun. Down south it just looks drab and dull. My hair appt with my old colorist is the 19th and it will be a better color for the south. Unfortunately, I have to return to the north after the first of the year so back to drab my hair will go.

When I worked at a petting zoo and I was out side so much few hairs got red. You couldn't see except you were close to me except they were soooo red!

[sarcasticgirl]

Nov 30, 2014 15:38:01 GMT -5 zibazinski said:

For up north my hair is a darker blonde which looks okay under the up north kind of light/sun. Down south it just looks drab and dull. My hair appt with my old colorist is the 19th and it will be a better color for the south. Unfortunately, I have to return to the north after the first of the year so back to drab my hair will go.

Oh god... I had to read this a couple of times through because it sounded like you were talking about your hair down south... Not your hair while you lived down south!


Sent from my Nexus 10

[zibazinski]

  Omg!!

[Deleted]

I had the same thoughts, lol... her 'up north' and 'down south' hair...

[NancysSummerSip]

Nov 30, 2014 11:42:55 GMT -5 mmhmm said:

Nov 30, 2014 11:19:40 GMT -5 @bluester said:

I never had the urge. All I want to do is cover up my gray. Having the roots touched up is a pain, so I was wonder why someone would do that on purpose.

I even learned to embrace the gray. I'm just not willing to go to all the trouble to do anything else.

Same here. I colored mine for 20 years and also added highlights (burgundy and red, which looked very good with my naturally very dark brown hair). The the gray became dominant, and I decided to let it go. We go gray early, but slowly in our family. So I have a mix of the two, and my hair is very long and very curly (both the "Shirley Temple" type of corkscrew curls and the more relaxed kind). I get a lot of stares and questions about my hair, most of them polite. And a few rather jealous women, who want to ditch their straight hair.

"North" and "South" hair? Sounds like the Follicle Civil War! And btw, didn't we used to refer to those as "drapes" and "rug"?

[billisonboard]

Nov 30, 2014 12:38:29 GMT -5 Shooby said:

I really don't care what kids or people do with their hair. It's just hair. But, our school does have rules in that regard as it being a distraction.

Back in the day - I had a high school teacher tell the story of teaching in a school that banned long hair on guys because it was "distracting". Wrestling season came around and the coach required that his boys get their hair buzzed off. Kids would walk down the rows of desks and rub the heads. She went to the principal complaining that the extremely short hair cuts were disrupting her class and asking that they be banned.

[steff]

I started playing with the color of my hair when I was 15.  I've been every shade of red, black, dark brown, blonde every so often (but the upkeep sucks), Last year I went pink and loved it.  I plan to do pink again after the holidays.  Hubby doesn't want me to do it before the company Christmas party. 

It's fun to mix things up, to do something different. 

[Deleted]

I've been dying my hair off and on since I was about 14yo. My natural hair color is a very dark dusty brown..... boring. It use to get reddish streaks in the summer from the combination of chemicals and sun I guess, but not anymore. Most often, I usually get light brown or blondish highlights. Earlier this year, I changed it to a dark red. Currently, it's a darker burgundy. It's not as visible now, because it showed mostly on my highlights and they've grown and been cut out for the most part.

I don't think changing hairstyles and/or color has some deep meaning. It's just doing something different. I usually wear my hair somewhere around shoulder length, but every few years I get it cut short. The last time I cut it short was late last winter. I always say "it's just hair, it'll grow back". People do seem to think it means you're having a crisis or something. When I got my hair cut off this last time and then turned around and dyed it red, I got a few comments from people wondering what I was going through. Ummm.... nothing.

I've had the occasional gray strand pop up here and there. It's been so few that I just pull them out. The myth about pulling them out is not true.

[Deleted]

Nov 30, 2014 11:19:40 GMT -5 @bluester said:

I never had the urge. All I want to do is cover up my gray. Having the roots touched up is a pain, so I was wonder why someone would do that on purpose.

Having roots touched up is not that big a deal. Some people are less lazy than others I guess

[msventoux]

I haven't colored my hair in years, but I should probably get back into doing it.  I can no longer fool myself that the gray hairs are just golden highlights, they're turning flat out white.    I started getting gray hairs before I was 18.  It kinda bothered me then so I did all sorts of colors for a few years.  I got tired of the upkeep and expense, and honestly the gray hairs weren't that plentiful, it was mostly noticeable if I had my hair pulled up into a ponytail or something.  My hair is naturally dark brown with a slight amount of auburn undertone.  It does get a little bit of blond highlights naturally if I spend a ton of time outside in the summer, but I really can't pull off lighter colored hair. 

[Spellbound454]

Do my roots about once a month. Just part it in rows with a tail comb and put the stuff on 30 mins

then 5 minutes with it all over.

I was naturally blond until my twenties, then it went a sort of mousy.

I tried red once... but it didn't go with my skin tone at all.

[milee]

Nov 30, 2014 13:28:29 GMT -5 The Walk of the Penguin Mich said:

My niece did this.  She went from blonde to brown and the change was striking.  Her very light eyes with dark hair was gorgeous.  She kept it up for about 2 years, but went back to her normal color this year.

My hairdresser talked me into that once.  My natural color is a light blond and since my eyebrows and eyelashes are that almost translucent white color and my eyes a light grey/blue, there's not much contrast going on. He talked me into a fairly dark red (my dad's a redhead, so I guess I have coloring that works with that).  Although the dark red was a bit of a shock at first, it was hands down the best color combination on me - wish I'd been born with that color. Even though I don't wear much makeup, it was flattering. I kept it that dark red for several years until with the business and kids, it was too much money and hassle to keep up. My hair grows quickly, so I had to touch up the roots at least every 4 weeks or I'd have an inch of growth at the base; with light blond hair, that color at the base of dark red looks like you've gone totally grey and are covering with red - not good.

I don't do any color now. It would be a waste of time and money with the amount of time I spend in sun and salt water it would just fade in weeks. But if I ever stop spending all this time in the sun and salt, and were willing to get it done every month, I'd go back to the dark red in a heartbeat.

[daisy]

I'm a natural white-blond even in my 40's and I get asked all the time what color I use on my hair.  You would think that since my eyebrows and lashes are non-existent it would be a no brainer...but I pleasantly say, "I'm Eastern European and it's a family trait".

I usually go pink in October and I have put colored streaks in my hair when my girls wanted to experiment on themselves and me.  I'm in the 'it's just hair' category.  When mine fell out after chemo I freaked until I realized how easy upkeep was!  I had a red wig because DH has a red-head fetish but it was too dark for my skin tone so I mostly went bald.  Ps...you know why babies need hats year round A cold bald head really does make your whole body cold.  

 If I could find someone to replicate DD2s strawberry blonde I would give that a go.  

[swamp]

I'd love to color my hair pink, but I really shouldn't because of my job. 

[daisy]

Nov 30, 2014 19:26:36 GMT -5 swamp said:

I'd love to color my hair pink, but I really shouldn't because of my job. 

My old hospital was cool with it but the new one says "no dramatic colors".  Pink probably falls into that category.      

[taz157]

I'd love to color my hair blue but I can't because of my job.

Also, I'm too chicken to color it anyway. My color of choice would be red. Naturally, I'm a light/medium brown hair.

[Cookies Galore]

I colored my hair from ages 15 to 25 for the craziest of reasons - it was a fun and cheap way of playing with my hair. A bad hair cut feels like forever, but a color boo-boo can be (relatively) easily fixed.
I have naturally awesome hair (humble brag) and I have no reason to color it, but every so often I get the urge to do something crazy. Hair color is controlled crazy.
And if I did seriously something different with my hair? Damn fucking right I'm showing it off!

[weltschmerz]

I have two friends who decided to revert to their natural grey. They look 20 years older.

[Martivir]

I'm just starting to go gray. In the not really noticeable unless you really look, kind of way. But a couple of years ago I bleached my super dark brown hair and went blue. Took 5 hours and 3 rounds of bleach before it was light enough to color. I did it because I could and I had always wanted to. My ex would threaten to leave me if I did anything to change my appearance. Even something as temporary as dyeing my hair. DH didn't care but he did say he didn't care for it. But I don't think I am ever going to color my hair again with anything other than the stuff that washes out after one shampoo. I was done with it after 6 months and I've still got blond tips. Also blue fades into purple and I didn't like having lavender hair. 

[swamp]

Nov 30, 2014 20:52:17 GMT -5 weltschmerz said:

I have two friends who decided to revert to their natural grey. They look 20 years older.

I have a friend who is 46 who let her hair go gray. She looks 56

[Deleted]

I think long gray hair looks awful....like you're keeping it long to be youthful.

[Deleted]

I don't think it means anything, except she wanted to try brown hair.  I stopped dying my hair at 20, got sick of dealing with roots.  Before that I tried different reds, browns, and highlights.  It was fun.  I wanted to try it again, but decided to wait until I started to grey and "had" to.  So it is likely I will be 40 and people will think it is a drastic change, but I have been planning on it for years. 

[lynnerself]

I think about not coloring the gray, but my DH at 61 has all of a dozen gray hairs.
I refused to be gray if he isn't.

And like several posters, I'd really like to try some out there color (pink or purple tipped) but work won't allow.

I'm not sure I'll have guts to do it when I retire at age 61. (Although Helen Mirren got away with it.)

[Cookies Galore]

Dec 1, 2014 11:01:16 GMT -5 lynnerself said:

I think about not coloring the gray, but my DH at 61 has all of a dozen gray hairs.
I refused to be gray if he isn't.

And like several posters, I'd really like to try some out there color (pink or purple tipped) but work won't allow.

I'm not sure I'll have guts to do it when I retire at age 61. (Although Helen Mirren got away with it.)

What can't Helen Mirren do?! Sigh...

[siralynn]

I tried highlights once as a present to myself after a big milestone (passing qualifying exam in grad school). I really liked how it looked, but I'm way too cheap and lazy to keep it up. My natural hair color is dark blond and I wear it in a ponytail approximately 99.8% of the time.

I have a couple of friends who do crazy things with their hair. I wish I had the guts to give mine a stripe of purple or something fun, but I've never managed to work up the courage.

[HoneyBBQ]

Nov 30, 2014 12:12:27 GMT -5 @bluester said:

Nov 30, 2014 11:59:55 GMT -5 @ezzie said:

If she has never done it before, it seems like some kind of mid-life crisis.  Mid-life crises make people do some crazy things!  That could be a whole thread unto itself!

She posted a picture on Facebook and everybody told her how beautiful and awesome she looks.

She thanked them.

Do people do that to feel good about themselves?

What if it looked awful? It doesn't seem that awkward to ask your friends if this looks ok.

I've always wanted to dye my hair auburn or dark red. I think I could pull it off as I have green eyes and freckles.

why?

Just for fun. Why not? Boredom, etc.

[HoneyBBQ]

Dec 1, 2014 10:26:34 GMT -5 @singlemominmd said:

I think long gray hair looks awful....like you're keeping it long to be youthful.

I love it. Why cut off your hair just because it's grey or you are old(er)? Why do little old ladies have to have short hair? I love it when a see a long mane of cascading grey hair. I think "There's a lady who likes to have fun!" and bucks social norms.

[Deleted]

Dec 1, 2014 12:01:28 GMT -5 siralynn said:

I tried highlights once as a present to myself after a big milestone (passing qualifying exam in grad school). I really liked how it looked, but I'm way too cheap and lazy to keep it up. My natural hair color is dark blond and I wear it in a ponytail approximately 99.8% of the time.

I have a couple of friends who do crazy things with their hair. I wish I had the guts to give mine a stripe of purple or something fun, but I've never managed to work up the courage.

Sometimes I put a pink strip but its sprayed and I can wash it free.