help coloring my hair

[mrscoyote]

I am looking for advice. What do you all use? My hair is not doing well with regular dies anymore. It damages my hair, leaves me itchy and the color fades to fast. I am thinking about trying henna but don't want red/orange hair. I am naturally a light brown and my goal is to cover the gray any thoughts or experience? I have also heard some herbs will darken the color.

 

[Britesea]

I think what happened was that the silly hair showed people that I had a sense of humor, and that I wasn't likely to bite their nose off if they responded to it. These days, so many people appear to be overly concerned about their dignity. Life's too short for that... and anyone that has ever watched two people make love realizes that we are obviously God's comic relief....

 

[Beekissed]

To blend my skunk stripe, I kept a general rinse that you paint on the demarcation to sort of color the stripe and blend it with the hair until you've grown out the color. That worked very well, along with regular trimming of the old, colored hair. I have layered hair past shoulder length, so the layers sort of helped to blend it all and not be so noticeable.

I was very happy the day I no longer needed to use that grey hiding rinse at the roots and could just let it all hang out. My boys made fun of me for awhile...I think they didn't want to see this very visible sign of my aging. Finally, one day, my middle son was sitting out in the yard with me, basking in the sun and balmy breeze, and he said: "Mom, I'm really glad you let your hair go grey..it's really pretty in the sun."

You could have knocked me over with a feather! One, boys just don't notice much in the first place when it comes to their mothers or their appearance, other than to tease them. Second, that he would notice and then think it was pretty...that was major. I've never heard him call things "pretty"..either before or since, so that was quite the day for me. Did my heart good!

 

[DollDoctor]

If you want natural brown hair color, you use a combination of henna and indigo. Henna makes your hair red, indigo makes it blue, but together they are a beautiful brown. I have used it before, stopped for awhile because I was broke, but am ready to order some more. The indigo fades a little faster than the henna, so your hair gets more red over time. I loved the way it made my hair feel - nice and soft. No conditioner needed!

 

[baymule]

I started turning gray at 12 years old. I finally gave up and colored my hair on my 27th birthday. I was a dark brunette. For years I colored my hair brown. By age 35, I was white headed and 2 weeks after coloring my hair, I looked like a skunk. I lightened up and colored my hair light auburn. I used that for 20 years. Finally I quit.

Growing out my hair was dreadful. I wanted to shave my head just to get that 2 toned scraggly stuff off my head. I did get it cut real real short for a few hair cuts until it was all white. Now I am letting it grow out and it is past my shoulders. I haven't decided on a cut yet, but it darn sure won't be short! My hair is nuclear, glow in the dark, WHITE! I will never color it again. Done. No more white roots fresh road kill looks for me!

If you really want to keep coloring your hair, try the henna. Just do a patch test on a strand. Then if you hate it, it will just be a strand and you can blend it in your hair and put brown color over the top of it. It won't be a disaster. I loved having red hair. People treated me different and I could get away with anything. I have an over the top personality anyway, but as a red head, people expected me to push the limit. So naturally I did. Try it, you might like the benefits of being a red head.

 

[Denim Deb]

OK, I think I need to dye my hair red!

 

[raro]

One of the coolest dyes I ever saw was from across a parking lot. I saw a lady, must have been 80 years old, pushing a shopping cart, and her hair (which I'm sure was pure white originally) was this neon pink-orange sunrise color. It was so bright I could see it from across the lot, and all I could think was, "You go, girl!" She marched as if she owned the place, and I loved the vibrant color. Sure, it was obviously a dye job, but at 80 years old, I figured she could dang well dye it whatever she wanted to!
My son tried once to dye his hair midnight blue. He was 17 and I figured what the hey, it's only hair. Well, he is 1/2 Asian, and dyes don't always work the same on Asian hair, he discovered. He ended up with Kool-ade, smurf blue! Talk about weird...

 

[so lucky]

I finally quit dying my hair after about 20 years. It was to cover the grey for about the last 10 years. The color always faded out to a lighter brown, and looked much better after a fresh touch-up. I finally got fed up with using the chemicals on my hair. Now it's pretty much salt and pepper, unruly, thin, straight and fly-away. I wear it short, and am not happy with it at all. I think if my head was shaped nicely, I would just shave my head. Guys do it all the time. (Not that I like it, but it looks pretty easy-care!) Or get some hair extensions. Yeah.

 

[Britesea]

I have a whole collection of those spray on hair colors that wash out- One time I did purple and wore it all over town. It was amazing how much friendlier everyone was to me- young and old alike. I had the most fun that day...

 

[Beekissed]

Stopped coloring some years back and I'm in love with the way my hair looks again. It was looking so dry and brassy looking and then I was contending with three different colors as underneath my natural hair color was darker...it started feeling just silly. What was I trying to prove? I'm old and there ain't no shame in getting old.

I got a lot of flak from my co-workers, my sisters, and even old friends my age when I let my hair go grey...they were seriously angry and said some mean things. Seems like the other folks my age or older were trying to keep this secret of some kind and if someone breaks ranks, their secret is revealed....surprise!!! We're all old women!

I hadn't seen one friend for many years...upon seeing me after all that time, her very first words were, "They run out of box color at Walmart?". I slowly looked at her hair and replied, "I guess not!".

Now my hair is healthy, shiny, no split ends and a nice pewter color where the grey blends with the brown. I love it!