Just curious about how many if any of you color your hair? I do because I hate my natural color and it helps with my oily hair. Ofcouse I only do the roots when it grows out. Thought I'd ask.

I colour mine! It's hair in a bottle!
Been doing so for the last 10 years. I usually use Feria...but I've also tried that Garnier one as well.

Because I colour red, it tends to be a bit more difficult to keep up. It looks great the first couple weeks, but then it gradually gets a bit brassy the longer I go before doin it again.

I colour because I hate my natural colour too. Its too ashy, (from what I can remember of it. lol)

I color my hair. My hair improved after I started coloring it, it seems like it has more body and is actually healthier. I have dark brown hair that is almost black when my natural color brown faded at the ends I decided to do it black, that was ten years ago. I color the roots about every 5 weeks and sometimes once a year or even every other year I color all of my hair right down to the ends. I used to use Ultress but lately have been using Garnier (which I really like).

I wanted to go natural for the health of my hair, but
now I've got these grays coming in.  I'm not ready to
go gray right now, as it kind of makes me look too
washed out.  I don't want to use henna right now, either.  Has anyone heard of Revlon Colorsilk?  I thought
about buying it but when I saw it on sale (no ammonia)
but it also sounds like Garnier is a favourite, too.  I'm
kind of scared to colour my hair at home, but the salon
gets expensive.

I tried Revlon colorsilk and didn't like it much. The color fades very quickly. I now go to the beauty supply and get Loreal's Excellence in Baby Beige. I really like it and it is simple for to do at home and I save quite a bit on doing it that way.

I've got salon highlights that I haven't kept up since
May because I want my hair to be healthier.    I don't
care  for my natural color, either.  I use to get auburn
highlights but they faded so fast I switched to blonde.
BIG MISTAKE!  Anyway, if it weren't for these grays
I would just let it go for awhile  so it could get back
to healthy.    I've heard good and bad on Colorsilk.

I've tried Revlon Colousilk ages ago....I don't remember much about it except that it faded pretty quick.

Babyfine, I know what you mean about the salon gettin expensive. Out here, it's REALLY expensive. I have always coloured my hair at home. The only time I ever went to a pro to get it done was last year when I was invited by a friend who works for Revlon to sit as a hair model experiment. It came out really nice. One of the longest lasting, best dye jobs I've ever had. Its a good thing it was free though. If I had gone in off the street, it would have cost me €120!! OUCH!

Oh, I know what you mean!  Since I already have these
highlights I'm Kind of in a quandry. I don't want to do
permanent colour at home over these.  I'm scared to
try henna because I've heard you shouldn't use it over
chemically treated hair.  Might wind up with green hair! :o    Anyway, the grays are just in the bang/fringe
area which I can live with for awhile.

I've colored my hair in all of the rainbow! But I'm trying to get it healthy as much as possible. I'm currently at a medium brown, which I really like on me, even though my natural color is black. Sometimes I should go back to black and let it grow out naturally, or keep on dyeing it a medium brown (doing roots only). Both colors are pretty. Some people always envied my natural black hair because it was so glossy and silky. I forget what that was like. The last time I had really natural black hair without color was 5 years ago lol. For some reason I was bored with it when I should not be!  ;)

Black hair is stunning, Aeryn. Why don't you let your natural color grow out again?

/Kate

wrote on Sep 25^th, 2004 at 8:33am:

I'm currently at a medium brown, which I really like on me, even though my natural color is black. Sometimes I should go back to black and let it grow out naturally, or keep on dyeing it a medium brown (doing roots only). Both colors are pretty. Some people always envied my natural black hair because it was so glossy and silky. I forget what that was like. The last time I had really natural black hair without color was 5 years ago lol. For some reason I was bored with it when I should not be!  ;)

Wish I could trade hair colors with you   ;) mine is brown and I color it black cause I love black so much.  :D

I hate my natural color too. It's a super super light ashy blond. I get low lights at an Aveda salon because I can never find a color in a box that looks good. I can't go too dark with those or my hair will turn a weird color. I only get a 1/2 head of lowlights every 4 months. It's $60 and I usually get a cut at the same time for $40. That is a bit expensive, something like $300 a year. BUt my boyfriend gets a hair cut at a barber every 2-3 weeks and pays $15. That's like $260 a year, so I figure I'm just spending the money differenly. And Aveda has BEST color of anything I've ever seen.

No. I don't color my hair. At the moment I love my natural color, but there are times when I wish I was a brunette. Or have a raven hair. Or have anything else but my natural color  ::) .

When I get this mood a walk in nearest shopping mall (or any place with lots of people) helps. Coloring hair is very popular here- quite often I notice that I am the only person in a crowd who hasn't colored her hair.
  I suppose that one doesn't notice it if there is nobody to compare with...but coloring really damages hair and kills its natural shine. And though there are special products for colored hair, none of them works perfectly, at least in the common cases when hair is dyed repeatedly.
   Yes, some colors are lovely- as colors. I understand people who are willing to exchange their natural quality of hair to the color they have dreamed of. It's their choice, and I just wish that they have made it well informed.
   I also believe that there are people whose hair quality actually benefits from coloring. Only, based on my "research" they seem to be a very small, happy minority.

Though one's natural hair color is nearly always something that she hates at least occassionally, it is often from the artistic point of view one of the colors that naturally matches to her skin and eyes. Also, the colors that one wears around heir hair will have a huge effect on how it looks. For example, if I wear a certain shade of light gray near my hair, the whole hair looks somehow sickly yellow. Raspberry red, on the other hand, makes it look very beautiful.

Colouring definatly compromises the health of one's
hair, theres no doubt about it.  I'm a chemical junkie-
first it was perms, then it was highlights in red and 'blonde ( I'm a natural med-light brown).  If you go
black, brown or red, that is not nearly as damaging as
going lighter, as I was doing, because those only colour
over your hair as opposed to bleaching it.  With my
ultra fine hair- chemical processes are very damaging
but I can get away with doing highlights over the few
grays(brown or red highlights) without doing too much
damage if I baby it afterwards.  But I don't know if my hair will grow really long if I continue to do that.  If I was
going to keep my hair shoulder or mid back length I don't think it would be a problem.  But I want hair as
long as it will grow.   I keep thinking about henna, because I love red- but I'm scared of the mess and results.  I marvel at these celebrities that seem to change their hair colour every other week without
doing much damage.  Every time I see a picture of Julia Roberts, for example, she's sporting a different hair colour- without doing an y noticible damage to her hair!
Last summer she was highlighted blonde- the last picture I saw she was back to dark auburn( which looks
great on her)  If I did that my hair would all fall out!!!! :o

Oh I know what you mean about the celebrities. I can't figure that out! They must have a team of stylists at their beck 'n' call to do emergency treatments on their hair because NO WAY could real people do as much as they do to their hair and still have any left over.

Then again, maybe their hair isn't in as good nic as we think. Photoshop does amazing things to people! LOL  ;)

wrote on Nov 4^th, 2004 at 1:59pm:

I marvel at these celebrities that seem to change their hair colour every other week without doing much damage.  Every time I see a picture of Julia Roberts, for example, she's sporting a different hair colour- without doing an y noticible damage to her hair! Last summer she was highlighted blonde- the last picture I saw she was back to dark auburn( which looks great on her)  If I did that my hair would all fall out!!!! :o

Nicole Kidman and Rene' Zellweger are two actresses that also change their hair frequently.  I sure would like to know what condition their hair is in after all that coloring.

Maybe they're able to afford expensive deep conditioning treatments on a regular bases that we
can't, Because my hair would be totally fried!! I wanted
to colour back brown over my remaining blonde
highlights but even the stylist told me that would be hard on my hair if I didn't want to eventually cut it off
down the line as I told her of my long hair goals.

Thats interesting your stylist said that. I would've thought that since you are ADDING in colour rather than stripping out, that you wouldn't be inflicting anymore damage to your hair.

Hmm...how puzzling.... ???


Geez, I wonder what she'd say to me if she saw the state of my hair? "You are a disgrace for all the horrendous things you've done to your hair. Get out of my salon!" LOL - only messin.

Hi Rua!  You don't colour the whole length of your hair
every time, though? (Except Maybe for the last few
minutes).  Since my hair is already coloured, adding
more perixide might be more damaging( at least
according to her.) So I think I will just grow the light
colour out, trimming as  I go, Until I I have mostly virgin
growth, then maybe I can colour( or henna) over that.

I'm not sure if I remember correctly...
but I think I've heard a rumor that Christina Aguilera had changed her hair so often that her real hair started to fall off and she had to start to wear a wig.

I remember reading some time ago that Tina Turner used so many chemicals on her hair that it fell out in chuncks and she had to wear wigs for her performances. I don't know whether she was using color or straightener but all those chemicals did plenty of damage. :(

wrote on Nov 4^th, 2004 at 9:54pm:

Hi Rua!  You don't colour the whole length of your hair every time, though? (Except Maybe for the last few minutes).  Since my hair is already coloured, adding more perixide might be more damaging( at least according to her.) So I think I will just grow the light colour out, trimming as  I go, Until I I have mostly virgin growth, then maybe I can colour( or henna) over that.

No. I haven't done that in an age. My hair tends to fade or go brassy after about 5 or 6 weeks (aside from the embarrassing length of roots that has developed because I get too lazy to colour it sooner!). So what I usually do is colour my roots first and then put any left over colour on the rest of my hair for the last 10 minutes of developing time to avoid overdoing it (which as of late has been difficult since my hairs gotten longer and it doesn't go as far and I'm too cheap to buy 2 bottles!). It just refreshes the red a bit without causing too much havoc.  ::)

wrote on Nov 5^th, 2004 at 5:19am:

I'm not sure if I remember correctly... but I think I've heard a rumor that Christina Aguilera had changed her hair so often that her real hair started to fall off and she had to start to wear a wig.

That wouldn't surprise me actually. She's done some REALLY drastic changes. (Going from having those grey extension things in "Dirrty" to her Marilyn Monroe wannabe look. It can't be good for the hair!)  :o

Geez, I wonder what she'd say to me if she saw the state of my hair? "You are a disgrace for all the horrendous things you've done to your hair. Get out of my salon!" LOL - only messin.[/quote]

Oh Rua, I'm sure she would never say that!! I'm sure
your hair is beautiful! :) I used to highlight my hair red
and I really wish I had kept it that way instead of going
blonde, it was really much less damaging to my hair.
I just had my stylist touch up the roots a slightly darker colour so the grow out  more to my natural colour.  I
think going red, brown or black is far less damaging to
hair, and even seems to be good for some peoples hair.
My hair has bleach on the last 2/3rds of it, which means
I have to do a lot of deep conditioning and micro trims
every other month to get rid of the damage.  I hope your not mad at me!
As for Christina Aguilera, it looks like she cut a lot of
her hair off, maybe it IS a wig, she's changed colour
so much, I just wonder how they do that without going
bald!

Babyfine! LOL! Of course I'm not mad!

You gotta do what you gotta do to make your hair healthy as possible! That's interesting what you were saying about colouring being good for some peoples hair. I've always actually thought that about mine, but I don't normally say anything to anyone because most people would think I was mad as a hatter.

But honestly, by the time it comes time for me to colour again, I really feel like my hair NEEDS it. It feels a bit lifeless and dull...and then once I colour, it brings all the good stuff back again. It's probably just me....but it seems to be doing the trick anyway! ;)

I'm glad you're not  mad! :)If I had "virgin" hair right
now I would probably colour it red, too,or dark brown.
But I just want to get all this bleached stuff  trimmed
out right now.  One of the reasons I liked colouring
my hair is because is does give it body, I know what you mean about feeling lifeless and dull.   I think a darker colour( or red) can bring out shine,which my natural hair (med-light brown) doesn't seem to have.

i dye my hair about every three months and never more than that. i've been doing so for 11 years in december. i have this awfull noncolor medium brown that look plain greyish in my opinion. it was also rather straigth ... too straight. i use a mix with mostly black and a bit of dark brown cuze just dark brown looks too warm and reddish on me. i use pro products that every hairdresser i've seen uses as well: CreScendo from L'oreal professional with just a 3% (10 vol.) developper. so yes: i have great pale roots that in my opion really show after one month. but i also think they are less noticeble after two months. my color also fades a bit (especially the black dye, that's why i use a chunk of it cuze i know it will go the first).  after three motnhs i just feels it's finally time to dye them. so all in all: it costs me barely a thing! i do a year with a tube of black color (prize about 5€) and even longer with the brown. and the developper lasts ages too. luckily i have someone to help me to just do the roots.
i used to paint also the outer layer as well, and the whole of the hair after the summer. i never noticed real damage, but now my aim is hair beyond waist length so i think i am going to try to oil the lengths to prevent damage during the process: did someone ever try that in here?

oh yeah, i buy those products in a special shop for hairdressers (if you have a card to prove you're a hairdresser, you don't get to pay the TVA).
i buy them in brussels, never found such a shop where i live now.

wrote on Nov 14^th, 2004 at 10:23am:

i never noticed real damage, but now my aim is hair beyond waist length so i think i am going to try to oil the lengths to prevent damage during the process: did someone ever try that in here?

I was thinking about doing that next time I touch up my roots. Although I never apply dye except to my roots, I'm starting to realize that after I wash out the dye, the entire length of my hair feels stripped, which can only be from exposure to the dye during the rinsing-out process.

yes, my idea was to drown my hair totally in almondoil after i apply dye to the roots. i just don't know if oil can react strangely with dye.

I am a color junkie and I color my hair about every four weeks.  Every Sunday I use the VO5 conditioning pack which I found keeps my hair in pretty good shape.  Has anyone out there used the deep conditioners w/cow placenta.  I am curious is they work but totally disgusted by the idea of putting placenta in my hair :P

Yes I do.  right now, I have the bottem black and I had blond highlights in the front.. then I used pm shines ruby red all over except the black.  The highlights give me different shades of red..  The shines fad at about 6 to 8 weeks.. It puts shine and hydrates my hair.. and It fades on tone.. Which is great.. I look at the shines like lease with option to buy..

charmedpea

I have dyed my hair in the past, but am really trying to stay away from it from now on for the health of my hair, and also because I love the faded look you get with natural hair when it lightens at the ends.  I caved a little while ago with bleach and am absolutely hating myself for it!  Naturally I do have a very pretty haircolor which I get compliments on so I guess I'm one of the luckier ones. :)
To people like me who can't resist haircolor every once in awhile: why not try a wig?  If you get a high-quality mono-filament, only other wig wearers will be able to tell it's a wig.  You get the same fix, and even though it is more expensive than dye, you'll be thankful later on when your natural hair is long and still shiny.  
And another reason I don't dye my hair: my hair is made up of about 4 different haircolors; I have black, red, brown, and the occasional blonde hair on my head and they are all mixed in and it gives my hair a much more dimensional look than dye does.  Does anyone else have hair like this or am I just a genetic freak?   ???

Yes I colour my hair.  I use the paul mitchell shines its a demi-perment colour. Last 6 to 8 weeks.  But it hydrates my hair.. the hair around my face is bleach blond..

The shines colour is called ruby red.. Very vibrant I love it and it fades on tone no funkie colour.. Its great for a person that is not sure about colouring their hair.. Think of it as lease with option to buy.  It stays on for 35 mins..  

Charmedpea

wrote on Sep 17^th, 2004 at 2:23pm:

Just curious about how many if any of you color your hair? I do because I hate my natural color and it helps with my oily hair. Ofcouse I only do the roots when it grows out. Thought I'd ask.

Yupyup, I color mine.  My hair is pitch black, glossy but course.  I find that coloring helps soften it up a bit.  I used to have about an inch of the front bleached (by my hair dresser), and would use semi-permanent color on them at home.  It was a lot of maintenance but the nice part is I could change the color frequently.  Also, the shades available in semi usually aren't available in permanent.  My favorite was a lavendar I mixed myself.

But for about the last year, I decided to go brown all over.  My hair dresser recommended using hi-lifts.  It's a one process color that just lifts the color of your hair about 4 natural  levels (hair dressers use levels to define hair  shades.)  She likes hi-lifts because your hair does not turn brassy.  

I like having brown hair because it looks different under different lighting conditions.  My lack hair pretty much looked black or very dark brown wherever I was.  :-)

Cynde  

I definitely color my hair.  I've had every color under the rainbow.  From dark blonde to red, black, medium brown, auburn, then back to blonde again.  My favorite coloring product is either clairol born blonde and l'oreal paris.  I've also tried ColorSilk, and I really like it.  It leaves my hair so much healthier and shinier.

I color my hair too.  I don't really hate my natural hair color.  I'm just bored with it.  Sometimes I really wish that I was a red-head or a blonde but I color my hair both colors.  I'll bleach my hair blonde in the summer months, and darken it red in the winter months.  Now yes, I do agree that coloring your tresses does damage it in the long run but I always pamer mine up with lots and lots of conditioners and excellent leave-in conditioners.  My natural hair color is brown with blondish highlights in the summer, and in the winter it changes or darkens naturally to dark-brown almost black.  I've been coloring my hair so far for 17 years now.  I do miss my natural hair color sometimes but right now I am really enjoying doing the bleaching as well.

I am a natural blonde, but my hair is a much darker blonde underneath than the top portions.  I have always wanted to be a redhead.  Maybe, I'll try to have a mixture of blonde and red....I really like the way that looks.   what do you think?

Blondestorm,  I think that sounds really nice.  I too was blonde (gray now) and did red for a try or two (I get mine done professionally) and I love the color and so did my friends.  One warning though, red tends to fade quickly, especially if you have hard water (which I do).  The red was pretty much toast after a month.  Of course, that said, there are shampoos now that are supposed to help you keep the color so perhaps they do work (I never tried them).  Let me know how you go on if you do it and if you are able to keep the color.  I would love to know.

BTW, I am just not ready to be gray so I do color my hair.  I get it professionally done and I just get the roots touched up and a couple of foils every 2 months so that the color is not flat and obviously dyed.  I guess my hairdresser does a good job because my female friends are always shocked when it comes up that it is colored.  I always get my hair done on a Sat morning so on Friday night I use AG Deep conditioner and leave it on with a shower cap all night, rinse in the morning and go and get the color.  Since I have been doing this, I have found that my hair actually feels softer after being done (and I know my hairdresser uses a REALLY ggod quality conditioner after she rinses the chemicals from my hair).  

i'm planning on doing something kind of drastic and scary (for me) to my hair.  i'm doing another temp. dark, dark brown, then i'm using manic panic pillarbox red in 3 or 4 fat streaks underneath and a few more thin ones throughout my hair.  which means of course i have to first bleach the strands i'm dying red.  which means 3 processes in a short amount of time.  i'm just so bored with my hair and i figure if i hate it or it screws up my hair too much i can deal with the loss of a few strands.  wish me luck!

Stacyp,

I am not familiar with the processes you are talking about, but it sounds like a lot, and it will not just damage a few strands.  It will damage it ALL.  Of course, we know I color my hair so I cannot say you should not do it.  If you do it though, make sure you condition really well both before and after.   Good luck.

i meant the streaks i'm putting in underneath my hair.  like starting at the back of my neck.  if i kill those, it's not going to upset me too much to cut the damage off.  i'm not dying my whole head, just some streaks.