For Ladies Only: To Dye or not to Dye?

[Tussiemussies]

There is a website all about henna, I think it is henna for hair. It is totally natural, from a plant. Side-effects, there are no chemicals, but some people I would imagine could be allergic to it. It coats the hair instead of lifting the cuticle to deposit the color.

The only henna that you can use to dye your hair and it be permanent is henna that they use for body art . This is what they sell there and they go over some other things you can add to the henna like indigo to get more of a brown color. You can use straight indigo for jet black hair. The site is really great ! It isn't cheap though to dye your hair this way, I used to have to use more because I had long hair. But it could cost $40.00 for the materials and then it takes time for it to mix and bloom so to say and then you have to leave it on your head for about two hours, it could have been one hour but I forget it has been awhile.

Even though I used different items that they recommended I still got a red highlight to it. It wasn't too bad for my face...

Oh well, it might be what I do again as my hair is shorter. Presently I buy my dye from the health food store, it has less chemicals than commercial dyes but all-in-all still has chemicals.

Doing the henna once every 6weeks doesn't sound like fun to me but one thing is that my hair was ver soft, now it is not with the dye.

Just some info on the henna!

[Tiam]

When I was younger, I used to henna. Wonderful hair conditioner. Then as I got older I went to dying it, and as mentioned, I find I look much younger with dyed hair. Finally I decided to go natural. My hair is coming in silver grey, still mixed with dark. I think it ages me. But I have to say, I get SO many compliments on my hair. All the time. Never really when I died it. So, it's my personal take on it. I did a quick search for Henna and can't find the kind I used buy in the tin that was just the green powder. I can still kind of smell it.

[lizii]

I tend to agree with cattledog...I quit dyeing my hair about 4-5 years ago. I have medium brown hair, with gray/white coming in slowly but distributed throughout. I just decided I wasn't really kidding anyone, and why go to the expense, take the time, or possibly be doing something unhealthy?

When I dyed my hair I rarely got compliments. Now that I'm older, have grown out my gray, and gotten a short, contemporary cut, I get compliments ALL the time! I may look my age, but I look GOOD! I think the way you carry yourself, your visage, your attitude, have so much more to do with how you're perceived in terms of age.

EGGSACTLY!

[Spartana]

Haven't started coloring my natural blonde hair yet - just have the beginning of some light white hair rather then dark grey at my temples. Very tiny amount that blends in well with my natural (but very sun lightened) hair. But if it gets more white I may color it blonde.Maybe use one of those "washes out in X-amount of shampooing" box colors like Natural Instincts that is closest to my natural color. Don't know how well those work to cover white/grey hair but worth a try first before deciding if coloring is right for me or not. May end up being too much of a hassle to bother with. Not really sure why I'd want to color my hair, not really to look younger (although I think coloring does achieve that), but just because I like blonde hair on me.

[rose]

I let mine go gray at age 50. Before that my hair was dishwater blond and I used to get it foiled to highlight it. When my hair turned white around my face, the highlights wouldn't cover it. I dyed it blond all over but got that flat one color look. My hair is gray in the back with some dishwater blond still there and white around my face. I wear it in a long bob and get compliments. The young woman who cuts my hair tell me NOT to dye it. I'm not worried about how old I look. I think going natural takes some confidence.

[ApatheticNoMore]

I don't think it necessarily makes one look younger as such, I suppose it depends on the person. But you see plenty of people that dye and you wonder: why? Really why, who do they think they are fooling? It's so obvious it's a dye job. A lot of hair dyed hair is really monochromatic as well, it doesn't look like natural hair color, it just looks like they've painted on top of gray hair in effect, you know it's gray underneath.

That said I can easily believe for some people the colored haired might be more flattering than gray in the exact same way that certain colors of clothes are more flattering on some people than others. So I could easily agree that gray may be aging on some people for those reasons, wearing the color black is aging on me for instance, but I'm not sure it really stands up to a generalization about gray being aging and color not for everyone. And if you get a fancy salon job with lowlights and highlights and all that, it's probably going to look much better than the monochromatic thing, at an expense of course. I've seen colored hair done well (frankly FAR less often than I see ugly dye jobs, but I've seen it done well and it's pretty then). Me, I'll see how natural looks, if I hate that or if it's very unbalanced (a giant white streak rather than salt and pepper say) I'll try henna/indigo and only if I hate that (I might have to put up with the side effect of it making my hair straighter but if it's actually pretty and shiny and I hate gray then it may be worthwhile to go straight ), would I get chemical dyes.

[artist]

I was in my mid 30's when I stopped. I'm 43 now and am completly gray. My hair is cut short and my face is young. I like the ease of taking care of my hair. No fuss hair cut and no need to dye it. I love it. Do I look older than I am... Yeah, but dh says he likes the natural look better than when I dyed my hair.

[JaneV2.0]

... I've seen colored hair done well (frankly FAR less often than I see ugly dye jobs, but I've seen it done well and it's pretty then). ... .

That's my take. Unless your hair grows slowly, you have roots showing within days of a dye job, and thirty year old hair framing a sixty year old face is disconcerting, but it can be done well and it's certainly a popular alternative for many.

Not that my opinion should matter one whit, but I feel the same way about dyed hair as I do about plastic surgery--if it looks right on a person, if it doesn't scream "fake done badly," or better yet if it's undetectable, I'm all for it. On the other hand, if the end result is Michael Jackson or Jocelyn Wildenstein...

But what really matters is how the person involved feels about it.

[pony mom]

I work in a salon where most of the clients are over thirty. A well done haircolor that looks natural and flatters the person's skin tone can make a person look younger. If it's well done and maintained and the hair is taken care of properly, it looks healthier, which looks younger.

cattledog, I'm one of those people that looks ten years younger than my age.

I'm 46 and have some grays showing. I get very subtle highlights now and then because I want it to look natural and don't want it to look bad if I don't keep up with it. The grays are a bit depressing, but I'm excited that my hair's texture is changing. I've gone from pin straight to wavy/curly----and it's great! Now that it's long I feel really girlie and have different style options.

[awakenedsoul]

That's what I've found with the henna. My hair was getting really dry, like straw. Since I started taking fish oil, the texture is like when I was in my early twenties. The emollients make a big difference. I've never used hair dye, so my hair is healthy. Since I have freckles, the reddish tone works fine with my skin. (Henna will turn grey hair orange!) You can do a second coat, and that will cover the orange with brown or black.