Hair dye

[FrannyG]

My biggest concern would be about your colour type. It's impossible to tell from your avatar what undertones your skin has. Do you look better when wearing a shade of purple/mauve or a shade of orange? Do you have pinkish undertones in your skin or yellow? If you don't look as good in warm colours, then henna likely isn't for you.

There have been a few members here who used henna and realized that it didn't suit their skin tone. I don't need to tell you that most of them went through an agonizing process to get their old colour back. Yes, there have been a few members who had success with Colour Oops, but that's not the majority, by any means.

It's also really hard to wear a shade that's darker than your own. I dyed my hair brown a few years ago, and it was a disaster. My roots started to show within a week, and I'm not kidding. I had to touch up my roots every 3 weeks, which definitely wasn't a good thing. I lost a LOT of length after getting my blonde back.

Please give it a lot of thought before you do anything, and please think about your skin tone.

Best of luck to you, whatever you decide.

ETA: I should have mentioned that I did read that you decided to stay blonde, but I know how it is; we keep obsessing about that which we want, and so I did want to give you my take on it.

[elbow chic]

Why don't you go to a good salon and talk to them about doing something temporary or semi-perm?

I think UltraBella had a lovely coppery shade with demi-permanent color, and got back to her natural blond several years later, w/o too much stress.

I think the having-to-cut-it-out part is why I would never consider henna. It's one thing if your hair is dark enough to blend it in, not have a really tough line of demarcation but for me... whoo! It would be something. lol

Totally hear you on the bored-blond thing. My natural shade is very very light, a color few keep into adulthood. And I know people lay out tons of cash to get the shade I'm bored with. Still, a change is fun sometimes. Usually I do some manic panic-- it lasts about two months and gives me a change, without having to commit to it longterm.

[sarahbrownie]

You could maybe use Manic Panic? It's semi-permanent, and shouldn't damage the hair. I'm sure that if your hair is already rather light that eg the vampire red shade would be stunning!

Second this. There are very natural colors if you pick the right one! You can go to this online gallery to see vegetable dye on everyday people. Depending on what kind of "ginger" shade you want there is a color for it. I think La Riche Directions has the best shades for natural reds. There's apricot, which is more of a blonde/red, coral red which is a bit more brassy red, flame and tangerine which is the ultimate ginger color imo. I recommend buying a few to play with and do a strand test. ALSO, if you're torn about two dyes, try blending the two to make a new color! You can always mix to achieve the color you want. Best thing is they only last about a month or so depending on how much you wash, so no commitment! Plus, you're hair feels amazing because it is very conditioning, so no damage.

[lidapida]

Thanks all of you for your perspectives and experiences with this! I get this need to dye annually so I'll just remember to go through this thread next time as well and hopefully it'll calm me down haha. Manic Panic seems like exactly the thing for me (at least if I still feel like dying sometime)!

All the best