Do you dye your hair?

[basil]

To change the color? To cover greys?

With drugstore stuff or at a salon?

I'm considering this for the first time in my life. I have dark dark brown hair that I've always liked, but I'm getting more and more greys even though I'm only 33. Bleh.

I wonder if I can just go to CVS and buy something off the rack. I would want to match my hair as close as possible. I sort of hate the hair salon. Any suggestions?

[SnuggleBuggles]

I started out just getting a semi permanent color done at the salon. It wasn't expensive, it perked up my brown hair and it covered grays. I have progressed to hi lights and low lights now. I get those done at the salon (partial foils). I really like it. :)

[ellies mom]

Absolutely. I've been coloring it to hide the grey since I was 22. Now that I'm 43, I am mostly grey. It is too hard to color it well at home because I can't do an all-over color anymore so I have to go to a salon. I leave a streak at the front grey but the rest is colored dark brown, a shade or too lighter than my natural color.

[khalloc]

I've had my naturally blond hair highlighted 3 times in my life. I think I'll start doing it once a year. If I do it in mid-winter it brightens my hair a bit. I have it done at a salon.

[brittone2]

I highlighted and such when I was younger, but I haven't dyed in years. I won't rule it out once I start getting grays ;)

[crl]

I highlighted and such when I was younger, but I haven't dyed in years. I won't rule it out once I start getting grays ;)

:yeahthat: Except I have greys and have had them for a long time. From a distance my hair still looks dark brown, but close up you can see the grey. I just don't have time or money or energy for highlights anymore.

Catherine

[Twoboos]

I only color the grays at my temples. I call those my "Bride of Frankenstein" grays, which DH does not appreciate. ;)

I really need to start doing more. But my hair is practically black with natural red highlights, which I know I will never be able to recreate. I'm afraid it will look flat.

DDs pass the time in the car counting my grays. It's time.

[pinkmomagain]

I have become a slave to coloring my brown hair to cover greys. Because I am going to school and working I am usually the oldest one around (at 45!) so I have gotten very vain about my greys. I am too afraid of doing at home hair color, but my sister does hers that way and it comes out very very nicely. I go to the salon and get demipermanent.

[AnnieW625]

I have never once dyed my hair. I have no greys that I can see, neither does my mom who will be 61 in July (although she has used Sun In for years and has done some at home semi permanent lightening since the late 90s from time to time. She lost her highlights after she had kids) . My hair is dark blond with natural highlights that look like they have been dyed in. I said I might consider dying it if I were to lose my highlights, but it hasn't happened yet.

eta: I am 35, will be 36 in just over 2 months.

[citymama]

I have raven black hair and maybe 10 strands of white hair. I am 40.

As my stylist once told me, I have virgin hair - never been touched by any kind of dye or color.

If I go very white in my 40s or 50s, I would color. If, like my mom and grandma, I'm mostly jet black right until my 70s, I will wear it elegantly and flaunt my natural color!

[Cuckoomamma]

I've been dying my hair since my mid twenties when my silver hair got out of control. Naturally I'm black haired. I had it dyed once in a salon and after awhile it turned orange from being in the sun. Ever since I've dyed my hair using dye from CVS. My hair grows incredibly fast, so I have to dye it every 10 days or so. I HATE it. It's disgusting, but I can't face being almost completely white in my 40's. And honestly, I'm 99% white.

I use a semi-permanent to avoid harsher chemicals and only apply the new dye to my roots. The color never washes out of the rest of my hair and it's beneath my shoulders. That being said, the only color I can use is black and I find it to be a little harsh. Any lighter than black doesn't adhere to the white and I end up with these blondish/orangish roots.

I wish I could afford to go to the salon and have it done, but I can't.

[egoldber]

I've been coloring since I turned 30 (I'm 44). At 30 I had significant gray in my medium brown hair.

I highlighted for a few years. At some point, blond highlights did not adequately blend my grays any more, so I started allover color. That was a mistake for me because I can't always get to the salon every 6 weeks like I would need to in order to prevent the "line".

So about 3 years ago we started doing two color low lights with foil. One is a blend to my natural color and one is a "highlight" to that low light. We use semi-permanent color, so it fades gradually and does not leave a harsh line. The gray in the new growth looks more natural (or so I tell myself...). I can go 3 months between colors with this method.

[nfowife]

I don't have gray but I do have a very blah brown color. I do a partial highlight every 8-10 weeks. Only the top half of my head.

[Beth24]

I have very dark almost black hair and a lot of grey! I have been covering the grey for almost 18 years now with color to match my natural hair color. I found a stylist that comes to my house that costs the same as going to the salon so the arrangement works for me better now.

[lizzywednesday]

No, but I have in the past.

I've done home kits (messy, smelly, and generally mixed results with respect to color dimension, hair strength post-processing, and fade-time) and salon (expensive, but a good colorist is worth his/her weight in gold) and have to say that I much prefer the salon.

However, I wasn't dyeing my hair for gray-coverage then. I was dyeing it because I was sick of having dark brown hair!

I've gone auburn, caramel, blonde, black (worst - box dye!), brown with golden undertones, highlights, lowlights, etc., for the heck of it.

I don't have the time or money to do it again, but if I did, I'd like to find a less toxic coloring process.

[123LuckyMom]

I started going grey in my late teens! At first I just did highlights, and the gray blended into my blonde, but for years now I've had to do base color and then highlights and lowlights. I get it done in a salon. I've never tried to do a single process at home, but I feel my hair would come out looking very one dimensional and dull. My hair is a dark, very golden blond that glints red in the sun. It's the color my hair would be if it still had color! My kids' hair is lighter, but we all match.

The gray of my hair when it grows in is actually silver. When I'm a granny, I'd like to have my natural silver hair. Now, though, with two little children, I prefer looking closer to my age.

[westwoodmom04]

I've medium brown hair. I use to just get highlights, but have been doing single process color for at least the last five years to cover grays. I also get highlights around my face in the winter months. Not talented at all in this area, so I always go to the salon. Single process only is usually pretty reasonable in terms of price.

[boolady]

Absolutely. :) I have, as nfowife described her hair, very blah brown hair. I've been getting foil highlights/lowlights for years now, just to perk it up a bit. I also get a partial, and my stylist does them in a very natural way-- they're not chunky or stylized, not that there's anything wrong with that.
I really just want a look that's like my own hair, only better.

I wish I went every 8-10 weeks, but if I'm honest, I go every 12-16 weeks, because that's as frequently as I get there. They're subtle enough that the growing out in between isn't too terrible, or so I've convinced myself.

[stinkyfeet]

I have not dyed my hair to cover my greys yet, but I am in the same boat as OP. I have jet black Asian hair with 5-10% greys mainly around my hairline.

Some days, the grey really upsets me, and other days I feel that I can't be bothered with the idea of maintaining the color. (I dread that "line" of new growth).

I usually just try to fix my hair so most of my greys don't show. :bag

[mom2khj]

I alternate between semi-permanent dye and highlights/lowlights. I do it to cover greys (mine are all right in front on the top). I have it done at a salon.

[BabbyO]

I dye my hair occasionally - but it is getting more frequent (we're talking maybe 4x a year now).

It used to be for halloween, then sometimes for a show I was in, now just because I like my hair with more red in it. I have lots of red in my hair, but it doesn't show up unless I curl it. I won't curl my hair everyday...but I like the red. So I spend $6-10 and get a home kit and do it on my own. I've never had trouble. When my hair was longer I had to get 2 kits because I have LOTS of hair. I usually get a temporary color that is only supposed to last 28 washes. It usually lasts longer and if I hate a color I can mostly wash it out right away.

I can't afford the salon.

[MamaMolly]

Dye no, bleach yes. ;)

I did darken my strawberry blond hair in college a couple of times, but color just doesn't stay in my hair. It won't really take pigment. But it bleaches like a dream. I have gone for salon highlights, done my own paint on kind, and even the cap at home. FWIW the cap gives the best results.

Now I just bleach/color everything because I have a short pixie cut and the at-home caps are too much of a bother to try to do for such short hair. I recently tried the new Olio brand and really, really like the results. Just about every other brand makes my hair a bit orange or brassy, but the Olio gave a nice, blond color.

[theriviera]

I do a single process color, at a salon. It matches my natural hair color. I've been doing it since I was 28 (I'm 35) to cover grays. I hate being a slave to the color but I hate the grays more.

[sidmand]

I've only ever done it at the salon. It started out as a foil to give my hair more red (it's a dark brown with a tiny bit of red) but it's progressed to all over color (a lot of gray!) and foils.

It's fairly gradual although after 8-9 weeks (I get color every other visit but cut every visit) the gray becomes quite noticeable!

[WatchingThemGrow]

I go to the Aveda Institute every 3 mos or so. It's $50 max (coupons and gift card offers abound.) My gray is right around my face - like just at the perimeter. They use permanent color that matches my natural color, and it looks fine.

[wallawala]

I used to foil and bleach my dark blonde hair back to medium blonde until I was complimented on my amazing "strawberry blonde" hair. Gack! Ie.. it was too orangy/pink. My Gma was strawberry blonde and is beautiful... bad box orange is NOT!

Since then I've relied on the salon, and every time I see someone new I have to let them know my hair lifts slowly so they crank up the bleach volume. Explains why the box stuff never quite did it.

I also go to an Aveda institute, and get 2:1 highlights to lowlights about every 2-3 months (depends on if kids get sick and when...). With a haircut, a partial foil runs me around $50. I've paid as much as $300 at a salon for the same, so now go back to the institute and have never been unhappy with the students.

While I was preggers with DS, I let them grow out, and actually got complements on my "ombre" look -- yeah.. um.. no... those are ROOTS!:bouncy:

[teresah00]

I never have. My mom is 56 and still no grays. Hope to follow in her footsteps. I won't rule it out in future but it requires too much maintenance for me to do now.


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[buttercup]

Never! This red hair is natural and meant to be :)

(no gray, about 15 yrs now, mostly at home)

[bigpassport]

I go to Aveda too. I have a lot of gray on top of my head, not so much underneath. And I have dark brown hair, so the gray really stands out. I have to get it colored 6-8 weeks. And I HATE IT. I hate sitting in the salon wasting time. I can't relax and read a book. I have too much to do to waste time at the salon. Did I mention I hate it? I hate it. I was hoping more people would have responded with what great success they have with home hair coloring. I'm distressed about the situation and looking for a solution to stretch it so I don't have to go to the salon so often.

[daisysmom]

I have always done salon highlights ever since I started working after law school (prior to that, I did sun in or at home kits...or my friends did the, on me). I have naturally pretty dark hair.

My father, at 75, still has very few grays. My mom was gray at 37.

Until laat year, I was following my fathers pattern. But holy cow, just in 6 months, they grays really sprang out. Like a pp said, my dd loves to count them. So I just switched to all over color at the salon. I go one shade lighter than my dark brown. I like the look of highlights better but I would have to go once s month and I don't have the time or want to spend that money. All over color is cheaper at my salon and quicker. I need to go monthly though, and will probably move it up to every 3 weeks.

My mom went naturally gray early but I am resisting that with every bone in my body. Then again, she had teenagers at 36 and at almost 44 I have a 6 year old. I may go gray by her wedding but my inclination is to dye it for a good long time.