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OT - Women Wednesday

Aniki-Moderator's picture

This morning, I was brushing my hair and thought, "Wow. I've been in the sun a lot more than I thought!" I'm blonde and the light behind my head made it look like I had a halo (bahahahahaaaaaa!!!). I took a closer look and realized I have a lot of WHITE hairs. No wonder my hair looks lighter!!

At 52 - and seeing women my age or older dye their hair vanilla blonde - I've often worried that my blonde hair will emphasize my laugh lines and crows feet and make me look like an old hag. However, I am NOT about to color my hair. I have a sensitive scalp and am paranoid it will ruin my hair (it's fine and flyaway).

Do YOU color your hair?
How often and what kind of coloring system do you use - at home or salon?
Do you worry about how the chemicals affect your hair? Then again, maybe you're coloring with beet juice or blueberries...LOL
What tips/warnings do you have for those who are considering it?

Comments

ESMOD's picture

We are the same age.. and I am also noticing some intruders that I soundly blame on my DH and his health problems and financial stress as a result. Obviously we are both too young to have white hairs!

I actually do have my hair highlighted. I have pretty fine hair. I was white blond as a child and it just gradually got more and more "dirty blond" till it is probably now a bit of a "mousey brown" if I didn't have the color.

I have tried at home highlight and color. I finally gave up as I could never do as good of a job as the salon can. I go to Omar 3-4 times a year (probably should go more but it is $200/visit with tip sooo).

I have been plucking out the ones I see.. but since i can only really tell at the first inch of root.. it's a bit tougher. plus with fine hair.. ugh.. hard to see.

Aniki-Moderator's picture

ESMOD, I'd end up with bald spots if I plucked!! I actually have 'patches' of white hair - at my temples and a big one above one eye.

ESMOD's picture

Oh... guess I'm pretty lucky.. I have them just peppered in a little. My Omar said that I didn't have many... he is such a liar.. hahaha

Dovina's picture

You are lucky to have naturally light hair. I go to a salon about every six weeks. I do get roots, and every few months highlights. My hair is also fine, so I would recommend a salon so you don't burn your hair.
Perhaps some warm blond highlights would soften the look, and take some years off. Mind you, you are 52 years young rock that look!!!

Aniki-Moderator's picture

Dovina, there is NO way I'll color my hair. I'm paranoid!! Actually, I have a very sensitive scalp and cannot tolerate the chemicals. My hair isn't vanilla blonde - it's sunflower.

advice.only2's picture

I see a hairstylist every 6-8 weeks, not only does it get me all pretty, but its a chance for me to just sit and gossip and have somebody else pamper me for a bit.

Aniki-Moderator's picture

Nobodysbaby, your hair sounds lovely!

Admittedly, the white hairs didn't just start showing up. They first appeared about 6-7 years ago, but were very sparse. And since I'm blonde, they're not all that noticeable unless you look closely.

If I spend a lot of time outdoors, the sun lightens my hair naturally. The summers when I played softball, I was a major towhead!

BethAnne's picture

I'm 33 and have a few grays. I got my hair dyed for the first time at a salon about 18 months ago and went for a copper tone, I did it more for the change in color than to cover my gray hairs. I love the color i think it suits me so much better than my natural color. I have been going only every 3-4 months as I cannot pay more than that and my roots do not bother me too much.

Aniki-Moderator's picture

My sister has (what she calls) "mousy brown" hair and went for a reddish-copper tone. It's gorgeous!

mommadukes2015's picture

I am naturally blonde-of the strawberry family to be exact. I've dyed my hair brown, black, people eater purple and I've done the salon kind the box kind and it all fries my hair.

I have not dyed or used a blow dryer or heat tool (with the exception of my sister's weddings this summer) in 3 years and I kind of wince at thought of ever putting my locks through that torture again.

My hair is so shiny and healthy now as compared to the dull wirey-ness it was before. It's also oober long (which I'm going to hack it off ASAP).

DON'T DO IT.

Aniki-Moderator's picture

Mommadukes, I have no plans to do it! I've even been intimidated by colored hairspray - was always afraid it would stain my hair. :O

Cover1W's picture

I only have a few white hairs so far, take after my dad who didn't go fully gray until his 60s. My natural color is a terrible wishy-washy dishwater blonde that is not flattering with my skin. I have colored my hair for years...red when younger, then blonde highlights. But as I'm nearing 50 (!!) the blonde was not working any longer.

A couple years ago I told my hairdresser to make it dark. And it was lovely and I've not gone back to blonde. Due to trying to pay off debt rather than pay for my hair, I do use a box, Natural Instincts semi-permanent, medium cool brown (the warm colors are way too red/brassy like nobodys mentioned above). I color it about every other month. I'll go back to hairdresser once I have my credit card paid down.

ksmom14's picture

I haven't colored my hair since I was a freshman in high school...so about 15 years now.

I have SUPER low maintenance hair and just don't have the energy or interest to keep up with dying the roots. My hair is stick straight, and quite thin so I wash/condition, then brush out of the shower, it dries within 20 minutes and looks the same as it would if I put a ton of product in and tried to do anything...hangs there straight lol.

So I've decided that I will avoid hair color until I start to grey...then I'll try out an auburn that I've always wanted to test. Until then, the hassle just isn't worth it to me, I'm a low maintenance woman!

Aniki-Moderator's picture

My hair USED to be low-maintenance. That was when I had it cut short because I played a lot of sports. I hate having short hair, so... no more low maintenance. Darnit.

ksmom14's picture

Yea my hair is even less maintenance when it's short. Anything shorter than shoulder length and I don't even have to brush it, it won't knot!

Dovina's picture

Do you remember Sun IN, from the 70"s. You would spray it in your hair then go out in the sun. It turned my hair orange, very orange. After that I didn't colour my hair for 20 years.

Cover1W's picture

Oh YES.
I used it all the time...didn't seem to do much as my hair was already blonde.
I see pictures from back then though and my hair was at least a shade or two blonder than it naturally was so I guess it worked. :?

Dovina's picture

That's lucky that it turned out nice. Maybe I should have read the fine print :? Not recommended for dark hair. I see my pictures of it and think did I actually think this was a good look. My kids love to make fun of those photos, and so do I.

queensway's picture

Dovina I was born in the 70's so I never used it. But I remember my mother using it. I wounder if it is still around.

Aniki-Moderator's picture

Sun-In is still available. The first 2 ingredients are water and hydrogen peroxide. So....why not just mix water and HP and some lemon juice?? Actually, some people use lemon juice to lighten their hair.

secondplace's picture

I get my roots touched up every four weeks or so and now get my hair cut every eight weeks or so. The problem with mine is that I use a blended colour (dark blonde and medium brown/red) for my roots, but unfortunately, the rest of my hair has really lightened over the summer.

So, I've got a blondish, light brown thing going on with most of my hair.

Within an inch or so of the roots, I've got a reddish blonde strip.

Close to my roots (1/2 inch), it's about 75-80% gray with dark brown. Looks ridiculous.

I'm not even sure what to ask for when I go to my appointment tomorrow.

Oh yeah, and my hair is slightly longer than shoulder length, wavy, with a mind of its own. I wish I could just wash and wear it.

WalkOnBy's picture

I have a very high maintenance love hate relationship with my hair.

I was a red head for years, but when I broke up with AssholeAbusive XB, I went back to my natural color - a light golden brown.

I used to have curly hair and I LOVED it, but as I got older the curl pattern changed it was just frizzy. when my auto-immune disease showed up, it got thin and even more frizzy...

So, I became friends with Keratin treatments. I just switched to the Brazilian Blowout brand.

My curly red hair is now straight and not frizzy Smile I have now rekindled my romance with my curling iron Smile

It is also highlighted - lots of blonde highlights all over. Shoulder length...

I see my hairdresser every 8-10 weeks for highlights and color. I see the salon owner two weeks after that for a BB.

I am super high maintenance when it comes to my hair and my nails.

ESMOD's picture

My DH must have had a mean redhead beat him up as a child.. I am not 'allowed' to have red hair... even a hint of it in my blonde. lol.

I never really wanted to be a red head... soooo.. but it means that my only real option is to go light.

MoominMama's picture

i'm turning into a silver fox vixen }:) I have vitiligo so I have developed thick grey streaks through my hair, luckily they're a nice silver grey. It's impossible to colour hair that's gone grey this way so i'm going with it. DH thinks its pretty too. I have to convince myself i'm going platinum blonde.

strugglingSM's picture

I've tried coloring my hair on occasion, but my natural color is a very dark brown, so not much shows up. I've had copper highlights a couple of times, but the last time it was done (supposedly with a more mild coloring process), my fine hair couldn't handle it and was a tangled mess until the highlights grew out. So, I've just given up and learned to love my natural color.

Aniki-Moderator's picture

A friend of mine has dark brown hair that she dyes blonde. The hairdresser bleaches out her hair (or something like that) before she turns it blonde. I'd be very concerned about damaging my hair!

momjeans's picture

I just turned 46 and color my hair. I've colored it since my late teens, so roughly 30 years.

I go to the salon 3-4 times a year for color. When I do, I go to an Aveda salon and pay anywhere between $150 for a solid color to $300 for a full head color weave of different blondes. My hair is naturally a mousey medium brown, so I can go either way with color. I generally start going lighter at the end of spring.

I have very, VERY thick and course hair. Very little grey too. The older I get, the more curl I find that I have. I generally straighten my hair, though, as I'm pretty high maintenance when it comes to my hair - more than anything else. I honestly like the idea of not coloring my hair, but cannot imagine not having some sort of color.

Stylist ALWAYS comment on the thickness of my hair. Always. I've also had several tell me I have "white girl ethnic hair". All this to say, my hair can withstand a lot of chemical processing.