Money spent on hair - women only

[Cattusbabe]

Hmmmm...wigs...interesting. I don't think I could wear one all day long, but the thought is appealing for....ummmm...nightwear.

Yes. You have hit on another fun advantage to wigs.......the one hubby likes.

 

[Meadbh]

Hmmmm...wigs...interesting. I don't think I could wear one all day long, but the thought is appealing for....ummmm...nightwear.

....as part of the outfit with the boots, the bustier and the whip?

 

[Meadbh]

I hate going to hair salon - feels like a waste of time but a necessary evil. So, I wear my hair layered and long - go for a trim twice a year. Need to colour quarterly and do the roots myself monthly. Actually, one hairdresser advised to do the roots myself at home - saves so much time and money. I would love not to colour my hair but when one has naturally black hair, it's difficult to grow grey gracefully. In anycase, each visit for cut, colour and special conditioning costs around $100.

I would like to know if anyone has taken the plunge and just stopped colouring. How did you deal with the ugly transition? Did you just accept the stares, shave your head, or wear a scarf? When your true colour was revealed, did you feel older? Were you retired or working when you did it?

 

[Moemg]

I would like to know if anyone has taken the plunge and just stopped colouring. How did you deal with the ugly transition? Did you just accept the stares, shave your head, or wear a scarf? When your true colour was revealed, did you feel older? Were you retired or working when you did it?

I haven't taken the plunge yet but a few of my friends have and the ones that look good were blonds and they have short cuts so the transition was smooth . One of my friends that recently went gray is a twin and I have to say her hair is a gorgeous shade of gray but her sister who is still blond looks younger . One of my friends is retired and the other two are still working . I also swim with a woman who went gray and it is an awful shade and it makes her complexion look ashy. She was a brunette . I'm waiting for my older sister to go gray first . No way am I going to look older than her . She'd enjoy it too much !

 

[haha]

I haven't taken the plunge yet but a few of my friends have and the ones that look good were blonds and they have short cuts so the transition was smooth . One of my friends that recently went gray is a twin and I have to say my her is a gorgeous shade of gray but her sister who is still blond looks younger . One of my friends is retired and the other two are still working . I also swim with a woman who went gray and it is an awful shade and it makes her complexion look ashy. She was a brunette . I'm waiting for my older sister to go gray first . No way am I going to look older than her . She'd enjoy it too much !

I don't see any reason to ever quit coloring. If men were judged the same way women are, I would color too.

Ha

 

[audreyh1]

I would like to know if anyone has taken the plunge and just stopped colouring. How did you deal with the ugly transition? Did you just accept the stares, shave your head, or wear a scarf? When your true colour was revealed, did you feel older? Were you retired or working when you did it?

I had highlights to help cover the white and gray that was already coming in in my 30s - particularly in my bangs and the hair near my face. Stopped mid 40s as RVing made it impractical.

Because it was only highlights, the growing out wasn't that obvious and I think more whitish streaks had developed in that time.

Was retired.

Did it make me feel older? Not sure.

Since, my hair has been developing it's own unique "highlights" - the bangs are mostly white. I'm complemented on my unusual hair occasionally which always blows me away.

Audrey

 

[audreyh1]

I don't see any reason to ever quit coloring. If men were judged the same way women are, I would color too.

Ha

A great reason to quit coloring is that it is a hassle and can hamper your lifestyle if you like to travel a lot. And since DH really doesn't care - actually prefers it "natural" (he can't stand makeup either) - I don't really care about what other men think.

But I notice a lot of women seem to color well into their 60s.

Audrey

 

[bbbamI]

....as part of the outfit with the boots, the bustier and the whip?

You left out the cuffs......

 

[Meadbh]

I don't see any reason to ever quit coloring. If men were judged the same way women are, I would color too.

Ha

Thanks Ha. Lots of men colour their hair. I read a survey somewhere that said approximately 30% do. I certainly know a lot of guys who do. One in particular had beautiful white hair. IMO he looked much more striking with white than brown hair.

Here's a very obvious dye job: Silvio Berlusconi......and if I'm not mistaken, he's wearing makeup too!

 

[bbbamI]

I started getting gray very early (took after my dad). However, the gray is only dominant at my temples. If I didn't color my hair, I'd look like the bride of Frankenstein.

 

[REWahoo]

If I didn't color my hair, I'd look like the bride of Frankenstein.

That ain't necessarily a bad thing....

YouTube - Young Frankenstein ending

 

[bbbamI]

ahhhhhh...dadblastit...I thought I was the only one that had that video showing my bedroom antics!

 

[Cattusbabe]

I would like to know if anyone has taken the plunge and just stopped colouring. How did you deal with the ugly transition? Did you just accept the stares, shave your head, or wear a scarf? When your true colour was revealed, did you feel older? Were you retired or working when you did it?

This is a pretty good book on the subject.
Going Gray: What I Learned about Beauty, Sex, Work, Motherhood, Authenticity, and Everything Else That Really Matters (Kindle Edition)by Anne Kreamer (Author)



Me? My natural hair is salt and pepper and that is the way I leave it. I play around with the wigs when I want a change.

 

[ksr]

I would like to know if anyone has taken the plunge and just stopped colouring. How did you deal with the ugly transition? Did you just accept the stares, shave your head, or wear a scarf? When your true colour was revealed, did you feel older? Were you retired or working when you did it?

I've never done all-over color, but have added highlights for most of my adult life. When I was younger, it really lightened and brightened my medium-dark hair. Now my hair is lighter naturally - I seem to have more both blonde and grey. I still highlight it, and I think it helps to camouflage or at least blend the grey better.

 

[Nova]

I would like to know if anyone has taken the plunge and just stopped colouring. How did you deal with the ugly transition? Did you just accept the stares, shave your head, or wear a scarf? When your true colour was revealed, did you feel older? Were you retired or working when you did it?

I am retired and I let my natural color grow out last year. My hair is naturally "dish-water" blond and I already had heavy blond highlights. At the time, my hair was extremely short and the "grow out" period was relatively short. I was traveling in Mexico at the time and knew no one except DH knew any difference.

The process was not traumatic. I wanted to like my natural hair color, but I didn't. The front was adequately highlighted, but the back was all brown. So...I'm back to the heavy highlights.

I would never have undergone this little experiment if I had still been working!

 

[audreyh1]

Well - getting the bride of frankenstein streaks in dark blond hair at age 35 did not amuse me!!!

But bangs solved most of the problem - for another decade.

It's funny - now that my bangs and hair framing my face is mostly "white" it really looks more like sun-bleached blond rather than white. Maybe it's because most of the rest of my hair is brown.

 

[Meadbh]

Hmmm. Sounds like the blondes have the advantage when letting it all [-]hang[/-] grow out!

 

[freebird5825]

I wear my hair short and straight (like a ruler). Haircuts to shape it are $10 plus $3 tip out here in the middle of nowhere. I need to go for a reshape about every 2 months. I am growing it out a bit longer now.
I use no chemicals on my hair. There is a family history of thinning (both male and female) so I leave it au naturel. There is just a little bit of salt/pepper happening on the top and sides. It actually looks pretty good.
However...snicker...I am thinking about using one of those temporary color rinse treatments to go dark auburn for the sheer fun of it. I've never done this before.

 

[Zoocat]

Alas, I'm going to be extravagant and go to a salon for a color and highlight treatment. I'm going to a conference in June and need to look my best. I expect to pay about $150 for cut, color, and highlight. I'm afraid that this will be the start of a new line item in my budget.

And to answer Mead's question, I did start letting my gray grow out and it added ten years to my appearance. Not ready for THAT!

 

[happy2bretired]

Everyone is talking about highlights...how about some lowlights? I was going naturally grey up until Feb. I have medium shortish hair with most of my grey in the front, mostly the bang area. The back of my hair is mostly medium to dark brown. I really liked my hair when I first started going grey since it was what I consider silver and it looked like I had some silver streaks. BUT, over time, those streaks became more dominate and really made me look washed out.

Last Feb. I had some lowlights put in. Dark hair color that matches the darker parts of my hair (not blonde like highlights). The color is pulled thru a cap just like highlights but it's dark. It grows in very naturally. Right now the darker color has faded to a lighter brown and it looks very natural. I have some darker brown, some grey and some lighter brown that kinda looks like highlights.

Probably will have it done maybe 3 times a year or so. I'm gonna try a lighter brown the next time and not as much so that more SILVER shows through.

 

[mews]

Yes, low-lights are what I do -

I originally had that very dark brown that looks black except in bright sunlight, with very pale Irish skin.

White hair came in evenly initially - ok with that.

Then I started to get clumps around my face. Whiteout!!

I get a half-head 'low light' and haircut about every 6 weeks. I view it as a job-expense - my, don't I look young and perky?

ta,
mew

 

[Meadbh]

I had lowlights for a while but currently have a full colour. Maybe I will go back to lowlights as a transition.

 

[caninelover]

I started getting gray hairs in early 30's (yikes). Not that many but my natural hair color is black, and the little white hairs really stood out. And its not so cool with the thirty-something crowd to wear the salt and pepper look. I went to the salon for the first few times, but after the cost started adding up I decided to try home hair coloring.

Glad I did. I find it super simple once you have a few basic tools (clips, hair cap, old towels). After that the rest is as simple as following the instructions on the box. So...$7 bucks every couple of months vs. $100...sold...plus no hassles with making appointments, etc. I can do it whenever I have a free hour around the house.

For haircuts, I am not brave enough to cut my own hair, but I wear a fairly simple style and just head to Supercuts and get their $16 haircut.

This has worked well for me for a couple of years now, and I get quite a few complements on my hair!

 

[DangerMouse]

I went gray very early, started in my 20s. In my late 30s I was probably 80% gray. I went and had all the dye stripped out of my hair with the idea that I was going to let it go naturally. I nearly died of shock at how bad I looked, it easily added 10 years to me. I looked so washed out. I think a lot depends on your skin tones and what type of grey you have.

I also had very dark hair when I was young. However, I now go for light brown combined with blonde highlights. Reason is the darker my hair, the more noticeable the skunk stripe is as it regrows.

I do think dying my hair is a pain in the butt and a huge chunk of money, however it's something I am going to continue doing for the foreseeable future.

 

[DeborahB]

I am lucky - almost 62 and virtually no gray. My hair is dark brown. About a year ago I was wearing my hair a few inches long, layered, cuts every 6-8 weeks (~$45). After my last (excellent) cut, I decided to let it grow so I haven't had any hair expense for a year . I cut my own bangs, not a problem.

It has become curly/wavy over the past 10 years - some kind of hormone change? Anyhow I just spray water on it in the morning and the curl comes back. I was thinking about having it trimmed some time this summer, just to even it out, but with curly hair it hardly shows. I pull it back with 2 barrettes to get it out of my face. I haven't decided when I'm going to need to cut it back - so far I'm happy with it.

I used to spend (20 years ago) over $100 to have a perm to achieve curls - go figure... every 8 or 10 weeks. My hair still grows fast. I figure by the time I go gray it won't matter at all. Both my parents grayed very late - my dad is 89 and not all gray. Genetics.