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Springlets
December 7th, 2012, 12:50 AM
It took me awhile to figure out a proper title for what I'm trying to convey. :p As a blonde, it annoys me that there are a million blondes in Hollywood, and almost all are bleached/dyed/highlighted. I feel that this perpetuates a standard of blonde that is fake and makes people appreciate natural blonde hair less. I wondered if redheads feel the same way, because, as I tried racking my brain for famous redheads, I realized most of them are dyed (Emma Stone, Christina Hendricks, Amy Adams), and the ones who are naturally redheaded dye their hair blonde (Nicole Kidman, Laura Prepon). Even Bonnie Wright (the actress who played Ginny Weasley) who is naturally redheaded seems to be dyeing her hair a darker, richer red (compare this (http://media-cache-ec5.pinterest.com/upload/94646029638469499_DzqM1TCP_c.jpg) to this) (http://media-cache-ec6.pinterest.com/upload/23573598019744248_E8Jkxhxi_c.jpg). Is this annoying to you, redheads? I'm sure brunettes also get some highlights and things, but somehow I feel that they may be allowed to wear their hair naturally more than others in Hollywood. I'm guessing it's because if you're blonde, you should be really blonde and if you're redheaded you should be really redheaded. But somehow you can be light, medium, and dark brunette... :rolleyes:

riceball
December 7th, 2012, 01:28 AM
Does it matter so much for people to "appreciate" your hair color? Yes, blonde and red are rare colors, so they seem more special to the rest of the world. And if you already have some kind of blonde or red hair, you would want to enhance it to stand out even more. I think what you're saying is that the uniformity of blonde and red hair in Hollywood annoys you. Maybe people ask you if you bleach your hair because it's naturally so light? I don't know. Those of us who were born with duller hair colors just want a more exciting shade.

I am a very dark brunette. It is very boring for me. I completely understand why a lot of brunette and black haired people go for the bleaches and dyes. And, lots of natural brunettes in the entertainment industry go blonde (or red): Mariah Carey, Shakira, Jennifer Lopez, Jessica Alba, Beyonce, Eva Mendes, Rihanna. I am not sure if anyone imposed that decision on them.

Loveisaverb
December 7th, 2012, 01:51 AM
:shrug: As another blonde myself, it really doesn't bother me. If people in Hollywood want to dye their hair blonde or red or any other color of the rainbow than that should be their choice because they made it themselves. Even outside of Hollywood there are tons of people who dye their hair whether to enhance their color or to another whole different color in itself. That's the beauty of any kind of hair coloring because they can, I'd say people with a stigma to hair color to ignore them.

woolyleprechaun
December 7th, 2012, 02:30 AM
Looking at the flip side of it, does'nt that mean that now the 'natural' colours will become the unusual ones? :D Bonnie's hair is much like mine ie, started off muted and became enhanced to a richer colour (mines henna though).
I would say that it is a trend that affects all hair colours equaly. All the beautiful shades of brunette appear to be enchanced, too. I rarely see a starlet with the more natural 'mousey' tones.....

Rosetta
December 7th, 2012, 02:30 AM
I'm guessing it's because if you're blonde, you should be really blonde and if you're redheaded you should be really redheaded. But somehow you can be light, medium, and dark brunette... :rolleyes:
I so get what you're saying! (At least I think I do ;)) Though I don't think it's just Hollywood, it's probably more like media and society in general...

But yes, most people's idea of "blonde" is level 10, 11 or 12 (though the latter two are mostly just used in hair dyes - telling, isn't it), something like level 8 isn't really considered "blonde" anymore (at least here). And for red, yes, most people who dye their hair red want a really, really bright red (and then complain when the really bright effect doesn't last very long, "red colour is so hard to maintain" :rolleyes:).

Ayjay
December 7th, 2012, 04:03 AM
I'm both! *laugh* I'm a natural blonde who dyes the underlayer a bright crayon red and thats how I like my hair. Not to be different but I feel more like myself with it that way.

Lilli
December 7th, 2012, 06:18 AM
I get what you're saying, though I don't think it annoys me, per se. All of Hollywood beauty is exaggerated: no one's skin is that smooth, no one has that many eyelashes, no one is that svelte without Spanx, etc. The bright hair colors are just part of the package. I enjoy those "stars without makeup" tabloids because you can see how very normal-looking they all are without six pounds of black eyeliner and some girdles.

Carolyn
December 7th, 2012, 06:21 AM
I can't say I've ever felt too much appreciation for blonde hair or on the other hand, a lack of appreciation. I never expect to get any feedback or appreciation on my hair. I grew up in southern lower Michigan and live in the upper midwest now. Blondes are a dime a dozen here. There is a lot of Scandinavian heritage here. Believe me, we natural blondes are nothing special. Sure there are a lot of dyed blondes too and dyed red hair seems to be a fad right now. I guess I don't have any issues with non natural hair. I have my silvers dyed back to my natural blonde tones. I still consider my hair to be my natural blonde color. Hair color has evolved so much in the past couple of decades. I think lots of women enjoy playing around with it. To them it's just hair, something to be played with and changed on a whim.

jacqueline101
December 7th, 2012, 06:33 AM
It doesn't bug me that people want to be blonde infact it makes me happy. I'm flattered people want to be like me.

kitschy
December 7th, 2012, 06:39 AM
The fakeness of Hollywierd, just helps me appreciate the natural beauty of natural people all the more. Each of us is responsible for our own reactions to what we see and experience.

There will always be people who more appreciate flashy, shiny, bright, man-made objects, while others have an appreciation for nature and beauty that is subdued, unique and organic. I fall into the latter category even though I can enjoy the theater of the imaginary.

MonaMayfair
December 7th, 2012, 06:59 AM
Personally I love fake. I'm a natural blonde, but a fake brunette. Before that I was a fake redhead...

spidermom
December 7th, 2012, 07:33 AM
In high school, I bleached my naturally blonde hair with a product called Summer Blonde that lightened it a shade or two. I remember sitting around a table with several other students talking about hair color, and one of them said "if the rest of you would stop bleaching your hair, everybody would see that MY hair is blonde." From what I remember, her hair was that in-between shade that is hard to pinpoint as either light brown or dark blonde. Anyway, for some strange reason, that has always stayed with me. For myself, although I've often wondered why more people don't leave their hair its natural color, which comes in more shades than you can buy, these days I don't feel anything negative about people who don't, especially celebrities.

LadyCelestina
December 7th, 2012, 08:32 AM
Okay,I'm no expert,but this is my theory on why celebrities usually dye their hair,regardless of what their natural colour is.So I take in both brunettes and blondettes along with redheads and blondes.

I think the thing is that all those people just can't alow themselves to limit the colour of their clothing just to "their best " colours,and so goes for makeup.Meaning they sometimes have to wear colours that could make their natural hair look dull and drab.
Somehow,this effect is less obvious with dyed hair.Because dyed hair looks,well,dyed, moreoften than not.ETA: And since it looks "dyed" ,it doesn't clash as much with colours that don't suit them.

HintOfMint
December 7th, 2012, 10:10 AM
I don't know, I see what you're saying, but it doesn't really annoy me. I mean... it's Hollywood... it's supposed to be glamorous and exaggerated.

vanillabones
December 7th, 2012, 10:37 AM
I actually feel it is OK in Hollywood, but Hollywood hair is Hollywood hair; not practical for every day life. With film hair you can never know the truth so it is always a bad thing to follow any of these trends in every day life because you'll be chasing a dream. I will never dye my hair again and I loved being blonde! It is just so much easier to grow virgin hair and by embracing my natural hair it gives me more confidence in accepting myself and I struggle with that. I love Bonnie Wright's natural red hair and I like what she's done with it too. She has enhanced her red beautifully but I prefer the softer natural shades of virgin hair any day. The upkeep of dying isn't appealing and the cons weigh so much heavier when fighting your hair (texture or color) instead of working with it. Plus by being on LHC we can appreciate how any accumulated damage may affect extreme lengths.

Hypnotica
December 7th, 2012, 10:46 AM
I'm fake and I like it!

Wahinee
December 7th, 2012, 10:57 AM
Their hair has to look great on film under studio lighting which is even more difficult now that everything is in HD. Natural hair colors, regardless of whether they're blonde, brunette, or red are just not rich enough to look good under these conditions. The changes are just as extreme in the brown hair spectrum. My ashy brown hair looks dull compared to a glossy chestnut brown or jet black.

Micayla47
December 7th, 2012, 10:57 AM
i agree with wooleyleprechaun. bleached and dyed hair is hardly noticeable, but a natural blond or redhead always catches my attention. in fact, anytime i see a grown woman with any virgin hair color i take notice. (keep in mind i live in los angeles, the land of artifice!)

Springlets
December 7th, 2012, 06:18 PM
i agree with wooleyleprechaun. bleached and dyed hair is hardly noticeable, but a natural blond or redhead always catches my attention. in fact, anytime i see a grown woman with any virgin hair color i take notice. (keep in mind i live in los angeles, the land of artifice!)

This is pretty much where I'm at now, too.

Everyone brought up really good points, and I would agree that Hollywood can have its own rules and standards except that Hollywood is the trendsetter and people tend to follow whatever is going on in there. When I see movies from the 90s, 80s, and 70s, people's hair, even when dyed, looked a lot more natural and they were allowed to have natural hair even if it wasn't bright or flashy. This seems kind of surprising to me since the style trend of the 80s at least was really bright and flashy clothes.

I suppose I could compare it to if everyone got breast augmentation or plastic surgery. If we get to the point where we can't find beauty in something that is all natural, where are we headed as a society?

Mesmerise
December 7th, 2012, 06:31 PM
I kinda get what you're saying... but I also think that a lot of the "brunettes" you see in Hollywood are probably enhanced in some way too! I would imagine that very few are 100% natural.

Honestly, I don't think it matters. I would love to have the natural haircolour of my youth again, but as I can't I henna it (because it's natural and it stays) ergo I am a fake redhead :P. (I could go natural but it'd add 15 years to my perceived age so I don't!!).

Although I guess I know what you mean about people's perceptions of blonde hair. To me blonde hair doesn't look at all brownish, it's blonde... that light blonde colour that is clearly blonde (yeah I know I'm as clear as mud). People call my daughter's hair blonde, but all I can see is light brown hair (with some blondish highlights that come from the sun) because it's NOT a colour I think of as blonde. In my eyes, then, I guess very few people are naturally blonde and a lot more are just light brown. I don't see it as insulting... I just see it as my perception of colour!

Springlets
December 8th, 2012, 12:54 AM
Maybe I've been a bit unclear on some things- I have no problem with people dyeing their hair. If they want to be something that's totally different from their natural hair color, I'm fine with that. It's the fact that despite their being so many blondes in Hollywood, they pretty much only ever look like this (http://media-cache-lt0.pinterest.com/upload/40743571598346368_fNePZuxx_c.jpg) and this (http://media-cache-ec3.pinterest.com/upload/114208540521307461_i8ECYX17_c.jpg). It's that which makes girls who have this (http://media-cache-ec2.pinterest.com/upload/122582421076978790_UTPlqHio_c.jpg) and this (http://media-cache-ec3.pinterest.com/upload/245938829622607405_LvZFmPki_c.jpg), which are both already blonde, bleach their hair. I wondered if redheads felt the same way because it seems that actresses who dye/are redheaded in Hollywood are always intense, firetruck red redheads. It seems to me that there are perceptions of a single color that is a "true" blonde or "true" redhead, but we don't have similar perceptions about brown hair.

auburntressed
December 8th, 2012, 01:58 AM
Maybe I've been a bit unclear on some things- I have no problem with people dyeing their hair. If they want to be something that's totally different from their natural hair color, I'm fine with that. It's the fact that despite their being so many blondes in Hollywood, they pretty much only ever look like this (http://media-cache-lt0.pinterest.com/upload/40743571598346368_fNePZuxx_c.jpg) and this (http://media-cache-ec3.pinterest.com/upload/114208540521307461_i8ECYX17_c.jpg). It's that which makes girls who have this (http://media-cache-ec2.pinterest.com/upload/122582421076978790_UTPlqHio_c.jpg) and this (http://media-cache-ec3.pinterest.com/upload/245938829622607405_LvZFmPki_c.jpg), which are both already blonde, bleach their hair. I wondered if redheads felt the same way because it seems that actresses who dye/are redheaded in Hollywood are always intense, firetruck red redheads. It seems to me that there are perceptions of a single color that is a "true" blonde or "true" redhead, but we don't have similar perceptions about brown hair.Weeell... I can't speak for Hollywood, but I grew up with a mother who definitely believed that anything less than her head-on-fire shade of red meant you weren't a "real" redhead. Even people whose hair was bright red, she would say things like, "Her hair isn't as bright as mine." Or of others who had duller shades, she would say, "Her hair is ALMOST red, but not enough to count as a redhead." I have never met any other redhead who has as much redhead snobbery as my mom, however I have met some with varying levels of redhead snobbery. As an auburn-haired girl with my hair heavy on the redder side rather than the browner side, it caused me a bit of grief growing up. I use henna on my hair now. The difference is so small and yet so great at the same time. :)

I don't mind at all if actors or actresses in Hollywood dye their already red hair to make it richer, darker, more vibrant, or anything else that they feel they need. Red hair also fades the older one gets, so any actress over 25 probably feels some pressure to keep her locks artificially vibrant for that reason. Hollywood is a cult of youth.

Though I have this thought about all the bleaching and dying for Hollywood folks: Could the fact that they are on camera affect their dye choices? We at LHC know better than anyone how dramatically a shift in the lighting can affect how our hair color looks. Maybe blonds feel the need to go REALLY blond so that their hair looks blond in all lighting conditions? Maybe the redheads want shades that keep them from being washed out under the harsh glare of stage lighting?

Unofficial_Rose
December 8th, 2012, 02:03 AM
I prefer the second two pics, and I am not necessarily a fan of 'natural'. I do think natural blonde is prettier than enhanced generally.

Having said that, I'm not a fan of natural mouse with grey (on me, at least), so I'm off for highlights this afternoon!

I have also noticed that film stars look more artificial than in the 70's, 80's and nineties, but as well as hair dye, they so often have extensions now, so as well as a more dramatic colour, they have hair of a thickness, glossiness and length that is rare to find naturally (except maybe on here!). Then there is more facial work especially Botox and fillers which we didn't have back in those days, which give more of a doll-like appearance. And far more fake breasts. My friend and I were having a discussion re the women in films in the 70's and 80's to the effect that they would never be able to be in films now without some kind of breast enlargement + gym sculpting program. Not that they were unattractive, far from it, but the desired look seems to be largely based on something unattainable naturally. And these days one meets far more young women who want fake boobs - wonder why that is? :rolleyes:

You are really lucky to be a natural blonde. I think you can allow us mouses to get a few highlights. You won't have to worry about roots, after all.

Springlets
December 8th, 2012, 07:27 AM
I prefer the second two pics, and I am not necessarily a fan of 'natural'. I do think natural blonde is prettier than enhanced generally.

Having said that, I'm not a fan of natural mouse with grey (on me, at least), so I'm off for highlights this afternoon!
...

You are really lucky to be a natural blonde. I think you can allow us mouses to get a few highlights. You won't have to worry about roots, after all.

Well see my hair is almost exactly like the first of the second pics (medium ashy beige), but I feel that in society's view, even that is too mousey because it's not yellow or very light. It can look lighter and it can look darker, which is I think what frustrates people about non-dyed hair. I do understand the desire for highlights (been there, done that), but it seems like people with this type of hair always feel the need for highlights, which I think comes from society, rather than the person him/herself.

Auburntressed I do think the changes in lighting is a big deal, although for everyone who chooses to dye, not just actors and actresses.

EtherealDoll
December 8th, 2012, 07:42 AM
Well see my hair is almost exactly like the first of the second pics (medium ashy beige), but I feel that in society's view, even that is too mousey because it's not yellow or very light. It can look lighter and it can look darker, which is I think what frustrates people about non-dyed hair. I do understand the desire for highlights (been there, done that), but it seems like people with this type of hair always feel the need for highlights, which I think comes from society, rather than the person him/herself.


Most of girls I know(me included) were platinum blonde as children and then became "mousy" dark blonde/light brown, and always wanted their hair back to how it was because they didn't like it, not because of society.

Do you only have a problem with people with this hair colour dyeing their hair lighter, or also darker as well? In Hollywood brunettes also are not all natural brunettes.

Arya
December 8th, 2012, 09:09 AM
As a redhead, I'm fine with people who want to join our club (as long as they don't go all "i'm such a fiery passionate redhead!!"). It's the natural redheaded traitors who dye their hair other colours I slightly resent. What, our hair isn't good enough? They also invariably go blonde.

Except for lindsay lohan. I'm happy with her disassociating herself from our clan. Nothing is more annoying than hearing "hey lindsay!" directed at your back.

Katze
December 8th, 2012, 09:19 AM
I get what you're saying, though I don't think it annoys me, per se. All of Hollywood beauty is exaggerated: no one's skin is that smooth, no one has that many eyelashes, no one is that svelte without Spanx, etc. The bright hair colors are just part of the package. I enjoy those "stars without makeup" tabloids because you can see how very normal-looking they all are without six pounds of black eyeliner and some girdles.

This. The standards they set aren't real anyway, but I agree with the OP that hair color is one of many things misrepresented by the entertainment industry. Also hair texture, length...when I was a kid I was really disappointed to find out that women in films changed their hair so dramatically from scene to scene by using falls, hairpieces, etc. I wanted to be able to do that with my hair too!


The fakeness of Hollywierd, just helps me appreciate the natural beauty of natural people all the more. Each of us is responsible for our own reactions to what we see and experience.

There will always be people who more appreciate flashy, shiny, bright, man-made objects, while others have an appreciation for nature and beauty that is subdued, unique and organic. I fall into the latter category even though I can enjoy the theater of the imaginary.

This! I love costumes and drama too, but also appreciate natural, healthy beauty. Child of the 70s, I guess...

Whoever thought yellowish-blonde bleached hair and black eyebrows/roots looked good in the first place set a bad standard for so many women!

I am not really blonde (dark gold/ash mix with silver and a few *gasp* highlights), but I consider myself blonde because I have blonde eyebrows and body hair and was blonde as a kid. Here in Northern Europe there are indeed a lot of women with my hair color, but most either bleach or dye red (there's that desire to be redhead again...) so my hair color is unusual and stands out. It's not 'mouse' , at least not most of the time, and I have often got compliments on it being 'unusual' even though you do see many men here with this tawny or ash or mouse colored hair so there must be many more women whose hair is naturally that color. But influenced by Hollywood etc they bleach, when it honestly does not suit lots of people to have that yellowish pale hair color!

I would feel weird dyeing my hair red, somehow more like I was cheating than I did in all the years I bleached it. Red seems more unique and special, whereas many women seem to convince themselves, as I did, that since they were blonde as a kid they should be blonde now...

HintOfMint
December 8th, 2012, 09:35 AM
Maybe I've been a bit unclear on some things- I have no problem with people dyeing their hair. If they want to be something that's totally different from their natural hair color, I'm fine with that. It's the fact that despite their being so many blondes in Hollywood, they pretty much only ever look like this (http://media-cache-lt0.pinterest.com/upload/40743571598346368_fNePZuxx_c.jpg) and this (http://media-cache-ec3.pinterest.com/upload/114208540521307461_i8ECYX17_c.jpg). It's that which makes girls who have this (http://media-cache-ec2.pinterest.com/upload/122582421076978790_UTPlqHio_c.jpg) and this (http://media-cache-ec3.pinterest.com/upload/245938829622607405_LvZFmPki_c.jpg), which are both already blonde, bleach their hair. I wondered if redheads felt the same way because it seems that actresses who dye/are redheaded in Hollywood are always intense, firetruck red redheads. It seems to me that there are perceptions of a single color that is a "true" blonde or "true" redhead, but we don't have similar perceptions about brown hair.

Hmm, I don't know about it not applying to brunettes. They seem to generally fall in the category of "chestnut" or "black." Sandra Bullock, Anne Hathaway, Salma Hayek, Mila Kunis, Lea Michele, Katie Holmes...etc. of course there are exceptions like Natalie Portman or Kiera Knightly who have done a "light brown" or with golden highlights, but the general impression seems to be that there's a bold, "true" brunette as well that's just as pronounced or intense.

And of course I could point out to all the variants of blonde in Hollywood, like Sarah Jessica Parker or Julia Roberts (occasionally a blonette as it were).

MsBubbles
December 8th, 2012, 08:22 PM
[QUOTE=Springlets;2345358] It's that which makes girls who have this (http://media-cache-ec2.pinterest.com/upload/122582421076978790_UTPlqHio_c.jpg)

I hope I included the right pic. Who is this in this photo? I adore her hair color. I am bored with mine. How do I get this? LOL. Of course it helps that she is young and beautiful...

Springlets
December 8th, 2012, 09:26 PM
Most of girls I know(me included) were platinum blonde as children and then became "mousy" dark blonde/light brown, and always wanted their hair back to how it was because they didn't like it, not because of society.

I completely understand that feeling because I also had platinum hair as a child which then darkened as a teenager. It's a pretty standard process, which is why it's silly of us to think, as Katze said, "many women seem to convince themselves, as I did, that since they were blonde as a kid they should be [that same] blonde now." How many children grow up with blonde hair and then have it turn brown or even black? Do they automatically dye their hair back to blonde? A few, but not all of them. Whereas almost all women with this dark blonde, "mousey", dishwater hair color put highlights in or dye their hair back to a "true" blonde... despite them already being blonde. It's like a dark brunette lightening her hair so that she looks "more brunette". It sounds a bit ridiculous, right? But we can understand doing such things for red and blonde.

I don't have a problem with a dark blonde darkening her hair to another color. I have a problem with the fact that it seems all dark blondes feel the need to lighten their hair to be "more blonde".



you do see many men here with this tawny or ash or mouse colored hair so there must be many more women whose hair is naturally that color. But influenced by Hollywood etc they bleach, when it honestly does not suit lots of people to have that yellowish pale hair color!


Yes, I think that's why it's silly of us former platinum blondes to think "well I had it before, it must look good on me now!" Your skin tone and other minute things have changed and, though we may be better able to carry off platinum than others, it still doesn't mean that we look best that way. Even when my natural hair occasionally looks platinum now, I don't think it really goes well with my skin tone.
http://i809.photobucket.com/albums/zz17/Blaircorneliabass/SANY0021b-2.jpg

There was a slight craze in the mid to late 90s for male actors with dark blonde hair to get highlights, such as Brad Pitt, Leonardo Dicaprio, and Matt Damon, but that seems to be the only time when men with this hair color felt the need to lighten it.



It's that which makes girls who have this (http://media-cache-ec2.pinterest.com/upload/122582421076978790_UTPlqHio_c.jpg)

I hope I included the right pic. Who is this in this photo? I adore her hair color. I am bored with mine. How do I get this? LOL. Of course it helps that she is young and beautiful...

I don't think she's famous, but she has the same as my hair color, which is a level 8 ash blonde. Taylor Swift has a similar color. (http://media-cache-ec4.pinterest.com/upload/188658671861884222_OsPuF21n_c.jpg) (She is a hero of mine because, despite going through the oh-so-familiar process of having very light blonde hair that darkened, she seems to be sticking with her natural color, rather than highlighting it.

AutumnLocks
December 8th, 2012, 09:37 PM
I"m a natural redhead...I was born with red hair and it is still a shade of red. It's that color of red where it could almost be a medium brown but not really....::shurg:: I love the fact that red hair is so popular here in the states. Everywhere you go you see women in particular with some shade of red hair. It's painfully obvious that it has come from a bottle. To me it is like my own private little bit of revenge for having been teased and tortured about my red hair as a little girl. I love red hair! I have several relatives who have or have had red hair. My mother was a redhead..I have a cousin who is also a redhead and her only child, a daughter, is also redhead as well as my great grandmother on my dads side. My DH is also a huge fan of red hair. He is a big fan of Wynona Judd too. I'm also thinking of Rita Hayworth, Lucille Ball, and of course one of the most famous redheads in Hollywood....Marilyn Monroe (yes she really was a redhead) But that was before the produces, agents, and directors got hold of her and made her into a bleached blonde.....sigh

Rosetta
December 9th, 2012, 02:33 AM
It's that which makes girls who have this (http://media-cache-ec2.pinterest.com/upload/122582421076978790_UTPlqHio_c.jpg)

I hope I included the right pic. Who is this in this photo? I adore her hair color. I am bored with mine. How do I get this? LOL. Of course it helps that she is young and beautiful...


I don't think she's famous, but she has the same as my hair color, which is a level 8 ash blonde.
Actually, that does look like Kate Moss, a British supermodel, though she usually has somewhat lighter-looking hair, e.g. http://www.teenvogue.com/images/fashion/2012-09/kate-moss-for-mango-01.jpg (How do you insert a link just under one word..? ;)) And she's not that young either. But I think it's probably her...?

sarelis
December 9th, 2012, 03:01 AM
She does look strikingly like Kate Moss, however Kate does not have blue eyes, though I guess they could be coloured contacts? More fakery lol!

Rosetta
December 9th, 2012, 03:44 AM
^ Oh yes, the eyes :doh: Quite telling that I didn't even pay attention to the eye colour, just the hair colour ;) Though you may be right!

Achlys
December 9th, 2012, 04:30 AM
It's Anna Selezneva, a Russian model. And she is young, 22 years old.

Achlys
December 9th, 2012, 05:06 AM
The most common natural hair colour here in Northern Europe is dark blonde, or 'potato peel', as it's called in my country. Often it's either bleached, dyed dark brunette/black or, in a bit rarer cases, bright red. I've known some girls who constantly switch between light blonde and brunette. Natural red hair is not that rare here (well, as not rare as it gets) and it seems to be rather envied and people who have it often don't dye their hair. There is a considerable portion of young people with natural hair, though.

It seems that here, like elsewhere, is some kind of need to have a well-defined hair colour. It's a shame, there are many beautiful more subtle shades. Oh, and hair has to be either straight or in true and symmetrical curls. Which means there are many women who straighten their hair and complain about not having natural curls.

I don't have anything against dyeing hair in itself, but it annoys me a lot when people change something in their appearance that makes them look worse, in my subjective opinion at least. But I try to keep it to myself.

AnimaSola3o4
December 9th, 2012, 05:28 AM
<snip>
Except for lindsay lohan. I'm happy with her disassociating herself from our clan. Nothing is more annoying than hearing "hey lindsay!" directed at your back.

She's a redhead again. Heh.

kitcatsmeow
December 9th, 2012, 06:15 AM
As A natural strawberry blonde I understand. My hair was a beautiful shade when I was young but sadly darkened as I got older. So I spent most of my life
bleaching it and now, dying it more red. Strawberry blonde sometimes looks like a mistake....like you were going for blonde but didn't quite get there or, were trying to go red but it faded. :P I like to keep it interesting anyway!

auburntressed
December 9th, 2012, 06:19 AM
Strawberry blonde sometimes looks like a mistake....like you were going for blonde but didn't quite get there or, were trying to go red but it faded. :P LOL, and this is exactly why strawberry blonde is one of my favorite hair colors ever.

Springlets
December 9th, 2012, 07:11 AM
The most common natural hair colour here in Northern Europe is dark blonde, or 'potato peel', as it's called in my country. Often it's either bleached, dyed dark brunette/black or, in a bit rarer cases, bright red. I've known some girls who constantly switch between light blonde and brunette. Natural red hair is not that rare here (well, as not rare as it gets) and it seems to be rather envied and people who have it often don't dye their hair. There is a considerable portion of young people with natural hair, though.

It seems that here, like elsewhere, is some kind of need to have a well-defined hair colour. It's a shame, there are many beautiful more subtle shades. Oh, and hair has to be either straight or in true and symmetrical curls. Which means there are many women who straighten their hair and complain about not having natural curls.

I don't have anything against dyeing hair in itself, but it annoys me a lot when people change something in their appearance that makes them look worse, in my subjective opinion at least. But I try to keep it to myself.

This is very interesting to me since I am always hearing about so many natural blondes in Europe, but kind of had a hunch that the most common would still be dark blonde. And it's funny to me that we think of dark blonde as an "in-between" color, but dark brunette is simply dark brunette, not blackette or between black and brown.

MsBubbles
December 9th, 2012, 08:49 AM
It's Anna Selezneva, a Russian model. And she is young, 22 years old.

LOL. Er, definitely not Kate Moss! Thank you, Achlys!

Springlets, maybe it's my computer monitor but Selezneva's hair color looks much darker than yours. My hair color seems closer to hers than yours does, which is why it got my attention. It looks doable to me for my hair, without totally frying it or making it so light, the roots upkeep would be a nightmare. I just thought you were a medium to light blonde (which I wish I had naturally, btw!).

I agree with your Taylor Swift comment and do an internal little cheer whenever I see her hair color. I am hoping it's going to set off a natural-dark-blonde trend here soon. Maybe that'll tip the balance back to a general association of blonde to also incorporate dark ash blonde again.

Annibelle
December 9th, 2012, 09:11 AM
I agree with OP about blondes feeling the need to go "blonder." I hear a lot of blondes and redheads get really snobby about their hair color... "Oh, she's not really blonde-- more dishwater blonde." Or "her hair's not really red." I also hear the same of different textures, though-- I used to have people tell me, "Oh, you should straighten your hair-- it's messy." It's not "messy"-- it's wavy. But if it's not perfect curls or stick-straight, it's "messy." If it's not bright blonde, it's "dishwater." The nasty descriptors say it all. :p

The brunette thing is interesting, though. There's soooo much variation, but it's all called "brown" or "dark." Or-- here's another less-than-appealing descriptor-- "mousy." :p

Springlets
December 9th, 2012, 09:29 AM
LOL. Er, definitely not Kate Moss! Thank you, Achlys!

Springlets, maybe it's my computer monitor but Selezneva's hair color looks much darker than yours. My hair color seems closer to hers than yours does, which is why it got my attention. It looks doable to me for my hair, without totally frying it or making it so light, the roots upkeep would be a nightmare. I just thought you were a medium to light blonde (which I wish I had naturally, btw!).

I agree with your Taylor Swift comment and do an internal little cheer whenever I see her hair color. I am hoping it's going to set off a natural-dark-blonde trend here soon. Maybe that'll tip the balance back to a general association of blonde to also incorporate dark ash blonde again.

This (http://i809.photobucket.com/albums/zz17/Blaircorneliabass/P1210164.jpg) is how my hair appears most often to me,(probably because I spend most of my time indoors in a non-well-lit room) which I think is about the same as hers, but it can look a lot lighter. Level 8 is considered light/medium blonde by hairdressing standards, but ash looks darker than its neutral and golden counterparts. I think if you lightened your hair to that level, it would indeed be fairly easier on your hair. :)

sihaya
December 9th, 2012, 10:08 AM
And it's funny to me that we think of dark blonde as an "in-between" color, but dark brunette is simply dark brunette, not blackette or between black and brown.

No wonder so many people dye their hair if they have dark blonde colour... It almost feels like you SHOULD, with such negative words to describe it. Who wants to have dishwasher/muddy/dirty hair colour - when you can be a "light" and "pretty", "real" blonde.

xoxophelia
December 9th, 2012, 02:52 PM
No wonder so many people dye their hair if they have dark blonde colour... It almost feels like you SHOULD, with such negative words to describe it. Who wants to have dishwasher/muddy/dirty hair colour - when you can be a "light" and "pretty", "real" blonde.


Yup, I agree. Even on a long hair forum such as this one I get inundated with negative comments about my hair color when reading general posts here. There are also more positive threads though and I believe all hair colors can be stunning and beautiful.

Long ago I went to a salon and the woman told me "ooh.. this is the hair color that people most often come to get covered up" (and I was only asking for a trim!)

My coloring is very similar to these photos:
http://www.google.com/imgres?um=1&hl=en&safe=off&client=firefox-a&sa=N&tbo=d&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&biw=1366&bih=649&tbm=isch&tbnid=E8FUclWK37bMjM:&imgrefurl=http://supermodels.nl/ruslanakorshunova/pictures/6&docid=wTzLBiqzGps7EM&imgurl=http://www.supermodels.nl/ModelPics/ruslanakorshunova/54.jpg&w=300&h=392&ei=mQXFUNyMNfKH0QG42YCoBg&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=4&vpy=104&dur=964&hovh=257&hovw=196&tx=101&ty=142&sig=113702051133449224120&page=2&tbnh=148&tbnw=114&start=33&ndsp=44&ved=1t:429,r:44,s:0,i:227
http://www.google.com/imgres?um=1&hl=en&safe=off&client=firefox-a&sa=N&tbo=d&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&biw=1366&bih=649&tbm=isch&tbnid=31svnOltPNIkeM:&imgrefurl=http://www.eroglamour.com/2008/10/06/print:page,1,ruslana-korshunova.html&docid=AV9ucWDYprmoTM&imgurl=http://www.eroglamour.com/glamour/20080710/ruslanakorshunova/15-ruslana-korshunova.jpg&w=732&h=800&ei=mQXFUNyMNfKH0QG42YCoBg&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=1110&vpy=198&dur=1658&hovh=235&hovw=215&tx=144&ty=145&sig=113702051133449224120&page=1&tbnh=141&tbnw=129&start=0&ndsp=33&ved=1t:429,r:21,s:0,i:158
http://www.google.com/imgres?um=1&hl=en&safe=off&client=firefox-a&sa=N&tbo=d&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&biw=1366&bih=649&tbm=isch&tbnid=fptrOV4bQ8gJcM:&imgrefurl=http://www.fashionmodeldirectory.com/models/ruslana_korshunova/showphoto/178924/&docid=jDi73kkjkyfs4M&imgurl=http://images.fashionmodeldirectory.com/model/000000178924-ruslana_korshunova-fullsize.jpg&w=930&h=1111&ei=mQXFUNyMNfKH0QG42YCoBg&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=312&vpy=193&dur=470&hovh=245&hovw=205&tx=112&ty=105&sig=113702051133449224120&page=1&tbnh=141&tbnw=117&start=0&ndsp=33&ved=1t:429,r:14,s:0,i:131

Why would people look at her and say what she needs is light blonde or bright red hair? On the contrary, I think it would take something away from her. The subtle softness of her coloring and versatility wouldn't be there in the same way.

spidermom
December 9th, 2012, 03:21 PM
I've seen a lot of what I think is called "caramel blonde" on celebrities.

Hairizona
December 11th, 2012, 05:31 AM
In regard to what OP said about Hollywood....

Hollywood was created to do the job of social engineering, and not just in regard to hair color, length, and style. They are setting a "standard" that you can choose to follow or not. You can also choose (or not) to allow what Hollywood does to bother you.

The people who jump and do whatever Hollywood says is the thing to do are "conventional"; they follow the crowd. There will always be those that follow the crowd, ie, "the mindless masses"...

Rosetta
December 11th, 2012, 07:29 AM
LOL. Er, definitely not Kate Moss! Thank you, Achlys!
Hmm, not sure why that would be "LOL", as she does look a lot like her, as others said as well..?


And it's funny to me that we think of dark blonde as an "in-between" color, but dark brunette is simply dark brunette, not blackette or between black and brown.
That would seem to suit my "theory" (:)) of most people just seeing hair colour in terms of 3 main groups - blonde, red and dark (or brunette); dark brunette would simply go into the "dark" category, so it's not seen as in-between anything.


No wonder so many people dye their hair if they have dark blonde colour... It almost feels like you SHOULD, with such negative words to describe it. Who wants to have dishwasher/muddy/dirty hair colour - when you can be a "light" and "pretty", "real" blonde.
Yeah, tell me about it... (Add "road coloured", as it's called here, to the dishwater and other negative terms. :()
Probably the main reason why I've dyed my hair most of my life, and only now starting to truly appreciate the beauty of my natural colour. Agree with everything Xoxophelia wrote in her post above, so well said!

diddoh
December 11th, 2012, 10:27 AM
I think with Hollywood and a lot of people who dye their hair is they want to change. Emma Stone is a natural blond and has in the past year or two been red, brunette, and back to blond. I have a natural dark brown hair color that is really pretty but I get bored with it. I recently dyed my hair red just because I wanted a change. I know at some point I'll get bored with this and change again, probably something dark. It's fun and hair grows back so why not have fun!

Unofficial_Rose
December 11th, 2012, 03:10 PM
Ha! Spidermom you beat me to it. This sort of light brown/dark blonde colour seems to be 'in', for the first time I can remember, and quite a few celebs have it lately.

MotherConfessor
December 11th, 2012, 03:37 PM
I think, in the case of blonds, quite a few blond women start out with a very golden or platinum type blond when they are young. Women then identify themselves with this color and dye their hair to get their "natural" color back. For the same reason these colors are associated with youth, and would therefore be desirable.

PrincessIdril
December 11th, 2012, 03:53 PM
No wonder so many people dye their hair if they have dark blonde colour... It almost feels like you SHOULD, with such negative words to describe it. Who wants to have dishwasher/muddy/dirty hair colour - when you can be a "light" and "pretty", "real" blonde.

I agree, I have dark blonde hair and I'm currently in the process of lightening it gently (with chamomile and it's totally working). Mostly so that my (very) dark haired friends stop insisting that I'm a brunette and thus can't get annoyed at dumb blonde "jokes".

Dark blonde is a very misunderstood colour, I think mostly because it needs certain light conditions to show it to it's best advantage.
Mine for example has an awful lot of golden tones in it which shows up best in direct sunlight (man my hair looks gorgeous then) but because most people only see me with my hair up and under artificial light (which has made my hair look varying shades of brown and in some awful photographs slightly grey) they decided for me that my hair is brunette. This is from people who are very dark brunettes and somehow can't tell the difference between my hair and theirs...

I hasten to add, I have nothing against brown hair.

MsBubbles
December 12th, 2012, 06:27 AM
Hmm, not sure why that would be "LOL", as she does look a lot like her, as others said as well..?


Just having fun. Didn't mean for it to come across as mean. Kate Moss is just probably about 20 yrs older than this other girl. The first thing that struck me about Anna whateverherlastnameis was how incredibly young she looks, and I'm incredibly not! I'm sorry if I hurt your feelings.

As a side note, when I see these photos of girls with my hair color, their young faces sell the hair color. That is, it just doesn't look great against my face, now that I'm mid forties. :violin:

SnowWhite
December 12th, 2012, 08:51 AM
Some women dye their hair 'because of Hollywood'.
Other women dye their hair just because they like it.

I like watching Hollywood movies, I occasionally read the gossip about the Hollywood-stars, but it's just for superficial entertainment.
In fact, I despise some aspects of Hollywood. Hollywood is just one big illusion. They show us things that aren't real real.
It's important to be well aware of that.

So, although I like watching rom-coms and the red carpet dresses worn at the Oscars, I prefer natural beauty.
I personally think moderation is beauty. I hate over polished looks. But that's just me, I'm not judging others who like it.
I love dishwater blonde, I have a friend with natural super curly hip length dirty blonde hair and that color looks so gorgeous!
I'm not against dying hair. As a dark ash brunette, I even hennaed my hair a little bit for a subtle difference. But I wanted to keep it as natural as possible.

I think it's sad that some people see Hollywood stars as the 'standard' of beauty. In fact, they makes a lot of women unhappier about themselves. :(

So, perhaps Hollywood misrepresents the hair colors. But then, we have the coice to look up to Hollywood or not. I do not.

Rosetta
December 12th, 2012, 09:10 AM
Just having fun. Didn't mean for it to come across as mean. Kate Moss is just probably about 20 yrs older than this other girl. The first thing that struck me about Anna whateverherlastnameis was how incredibly young she looks, and I'm incredibly not! I'm sorry if I hurt your feelings.

No, of course I wasn't hurt by it :), just wondering what you meant. Yeah, she's around 16 years older, but that photo could have been taken years ago, for all I knew ;)


As a side note, when I see these photos of girls with my hair color, their young faces sell the hair color. That is, it just doesn't look great against my face, now that I'm mid forties. :violin:
I think anyone can look great with this hair colour (or any other natural one), whatever their age :) I'm always taken for younger than I am anyway, but imo this natural colour (that I'm just in the process of growing) makes me look even younger than the red I had before; it's just softer and more subtle, I don't know how to better describe the effect. (Can you tell I'm falling in love with my natural colour...? ;D)

MsBubbles
December 12th, 2012, 10:04 AM
That's great, Rosetta. I did the same thing, except I grew out old salon highlights, plus a layer of at-home peroxide, which was not a lovely golden blonde, but just plain brassy! So my natural color is a lot better than what I had before. I did love it in the summer. Maybe I'm just having a bad case of the winter blahs!

I saw a photo taken of me back in October right before sunset, in the shadow of a tall building outside. I was horrified! But it's probably just a really bad photo.

I love this dark blonde color particularly on Julia Stiles in Ten Things I Hate About You. I think she pretty much kept her hair this color for a good while when she became famous. But I think she succumbed to bright blonde later (ETA I see she already has a few highlights here and there in her hair in that movie).

http://cherrylisz.files.wordpress.com/2011/03/10_things_i_hate_about_you.jpg

Mountaingrrl
December 12th, 2012, 10:24 AM
I aspire to that dark blonde color -- in fact I'm off to the colorist today! My hair is naturally reddish-brown, but since it's been greying, I've been gradually going beige. I like that it's not a color people usually dye their hair.

Kosmos
December 12th, 2012, 11:34 AM
For years I dyed my head red because I wanted my hair to be firey-orange-red like my fathers because I thought my hair was brunette (I'm partially colourblind). Turns out, after I went natural people still called me a red-head because I have auburn locks. I still want to emphasize the colour and make it brighter but that's probably because I can't really see the red very well myself.

WilfredAllen
December 13th, 2012, 12:14 AM
I think it's sad. I really love subtle colours - especially blonde and red. Ive too noticed alot of blondes and redheads keep their colour but dye it to exaggerate :(

Mrsbaybeegurl
December 13th, 2012, 12:43 AM
I'm not sure I agree that it's sad or upsetting that people with these natural colors (red and blonde...or any other color for that matter) color it to exaggerate the color. To me that would be like saying it's upsetting to wear tinted moisturizer and lip gloss. applying mascara or even wearing pantyhose or a french manicure. I don't see how enhancing the color of ones natural hair is any different. :confused:

Springlets
December 13th, 2012, 01:38 AM
I'm not sure I agree that it's sad or upsetting that people with these natural colors (red and blonde...or any other color for that matter) color it to exaggerate the color. To me that would be like saying it's upsetting to wear tinted moisturizer and lip gloss. applying mascara or even wearing pantyhose or a french manicure. I don't see how enhancing the color of ones natural hair is any different. :confused:

For me, it's the fact that because of these exaggerations and "enhancements" in hair color people's ideas of colors are being skewed. As others have said, many people now only call a dark, brick red hair color a "true" redhead and a very light sunny-yellow hair color a "true" blonde, even though almost all natural versions of red and blonde aren't like that. To use your example of make-up, it would be like if every woman started wearing fake eyelashes; for the few women who wore their lashes naturally, they would be teased about how short and thin their lashes are. Or if it became so standard for women to always wear make-up that always wearing mascara, lipgloss, and eyeliner was considered being natural (as in, "this is how I look naturally!"), and wearing no make-up was simply unacceptable. You could extend it to plastic surgery or eating processed foods over natural.

I have no problem with people changing their looks, but I wish they would do it in a way that mimics nature more realistically, and if there is a growing standard where obviously fake (http://media-cache-ec3.pinterest.com/upload/235735361715557430_z61Clvaz_c.jpg) is consistently preferred over natural (http://media-cache-lt0.pinterest.com/upload/251920172876219744_4XYHs6Uw_c.jpg) , well I just think it's bad for society in general.

Rosetta
December 14th, 2012, 01:36 AM
For me, it's the fact that because of these exaggerations and "enhancements" in hair color people's ideas of colors are being skewed. As others have said, many people now only call a dark, brick red hair color a "true" redhead and a very light sunny-yellow hair color a "true" blonde, even though almost all natural versions of red and blonde aren't like that. To use your example of make-up, it would be like if every woman started wearing fake eyelashes; for the few women who wore their lashes naturally, they would be teased about how short and thin their lashes are.
That was a great analogy, Springlets!

lunalocks
December 14th, 2012, 10:06 AM
I can understand a certain pride one has when you actually have the real deal. My daughter has perfectly straight hair and gets annoyed that so many people think the straightens it. And when I spent a summer traveling by sailboat, and my dark blond hair turned to light honey and when I returned to work everyone thought I had chemically bleached it. But I also lived through the 80s with big, asymmetrically cut and artificially curled hair. And in the 90's I, once, had my long hair beautifully foiled with what turned out to be almost silver strands that made me look, finally, how old I actually was (and I liked that, silly me). At this point in my life I am being as natural as I can. I have nearly every color there is in my hair, naturally. And even tho there aren't red strands, in certain light, you would swear I was a redhead.

I recently had to change jobs (in my mid 50's), and for a brief moment, wondered if getting rid of my few silver hairs would be an advantage. I can see how women feel pushed into the decision (I have a cooperate cousin who has been dying her hair since her 20's to cover gray) in order to succeed in a certain profession. Certainly you have to maintain glamour in Hollywood and in Hollywood you have to be extreme, larger than life and perfect in every way. No wonder the blonds are blonder, the reds redder and the boobs, uh, bigger. Whatever makes them happy and successful. Notice, not all of them turn out very happy.

Seeshami
December 14th, 2012, 10:54 AM
As people we are never happy with what we have.Some time Straight hairs want curls and waves, wavies and curlies want straight. Because every one is focused on trying to find what is beautiful to them there never stop to notice they are beautiful. That's why the naughty mess gets to be the naughty mess, yeah I change his color but for the most part he gets to do what ever else he wants.

MonaMayfair
December 14th, 2012, 12:12 PM
I'm not sure I agree that it's sad or upsetting that people with these natural colors (red and blonde...or any other color for that matter) color it to exaggerate the color. To me that would be like saying it's upsetting to wear tinted moisturizer and lip gloss. applying mascara or even wearing pantyhose or a french manicure. I don't see how enhancing the color of ones natural hair is any different. :confused:

Haha, what IS this obsession with "natural" anyway?? I love fake and I love glamor! I've been asked about 5 times this week if I have hair extensions and/or false eyelashes because my hair is long (not that long, just past waist) and my eyelashes are very long naturally (I dye them black because they're blonde)
I don't get upset, I just say, "no my hair and lashes are real" It's hardly a big deal.

CurlyCurves
December 14th, 2012, 01:33 PM
I find it annoying and I'm not even blond. But then, I'm not a fan of dyed hair.

MsBubbles
December 14th, 2012, 01:53 PM
I have no problem with people changing their looks, but I wish they would do it in a way that mimics nature more realistically, and if there is a growing standard where obviously fake (http://media-cache-ec3.pinterest.com/upload/235735361715557430_z61Clvaz_c.jpg) is consistently preferred over natural (http://media-cache-lt0.pinterest.com/upload/251920172876219744_4XYHs6Uw_c.jpg).

I started to think that the ombre trend was perhaps a backlash trend against the harsher, less natural lines that were common of salon highlights in the 2 decades preceding it. Since opposite styles often follow what was prevalent before, I got excited thinking "Great! Natural-looking hair is making its way back in style!". But then people were going to the salon & faking the natural ombre look too. Sigh.

Springlets
December 14th, 2012, 07:34 PM
I started to think that the ombre trend was perhaps a backlash trend against the harsher, less natural lines that were common of salon highlights in the 2 decades preceding it. Since opposite styles often follow what was prevalent before, I got excited thinking "Great! Natural-looking hair is making its way back in style!". But then people were going to the salon & faking the natural ombre look too. Sigh.

Haha, I feel the same way. Like that trend (I think started by Drew Barrymore) to have darkened roots with light blonde ends? Not natural-looking at all!

My issue honestly is not "I'm a natural blonde so I wish no one would dye their hair so I could stand out more! Boohoo!" My problem is that most natural blondes- whether light or dark- feel the need to highlight or dye their hair because only very light obviously yellow blonde is deemed as "true" blonde. And, although I pointed out that this probably stems from Hollywood, I absolutely believe that it had reached far into our normal society. How many girls do you see walking around with this color (http://media-cache0.pinterest.com/upload/174796029257418231_A3ReKaCf_c.jpg) of hair, and how many do you see walking around with this (http://media-cache-ec2.pinterest.com/upload/170081323397638954_kE3bB6ub_c.jpg)?

bobaerose
January 28th, 2013, 05:37 AM
Sorry to bump this, but i think this is a good thread i found thru a search.

Spriglets eveything you say is sooooo true, but i just thought maybe i would share Taylor Swift's new hair color b/c i feel, although not "virigin", it is rather a natural ash blonde that most women who are blondes have.

http://www.allure.com/images/hair-ideas/2012/08/blondes-taylor-swift-bronde.jpg

maborosi
January 28th, 2013, 08:27 AM
Honestly, I don't care too much. I have naturally very straight hair and when I wear it down, I am asked a lot if I straighten it. I guess I could see how it could be annoying.

But I'm one of those fakers. I have natural blonde hair that I like to henna over because red hair is awesome.

~maborosi~

Zindell
January 28th, 2013, 08:37 AM
I was in a meeting at work awhile back and they were discussing a new guy in another department.

Coworker 1: You know the one, with the long bangs?
Coworker 2: Ah, blonde hair?
Coworker 1: No, more like "Zindell".

Riiight... I wonder what they would call my hair color. I never dared to ask. :p

Springlets
January 28th, 2013, 09:41 AM
Sorry to bump this, but i think this is a good thread i found thru a search.

Spriglets eveything you say is sooooo true, but i just thought maybe i would share Taylor Swift's new hair color b/c i feel, although not "virigin", it is rather a natural ash blonde that most women who are blondes have.

Actually I'm pretty sure Taylor Swift's hair is all natural. :) But yes, even if it isn't, you're right, it's great to have a celebrity wearing a color that is not bleached platinum blonde for once.


I was in a meeting at work awhile back and they were discussing a new guy in another department.

Coworker 1: You know the one, with the long bangs?
Coworker 2: Ah, blonde hair?
Coworker 1: No, more like "Zindell".

Riiight... I wonder what they would call my hair color. I never dared to ask. :p

Wow,that is so strange. I can't imagine anyone calling your hair as anything but blonde... but I do see that you're from Sweden where the standards are ridiculously high. ;)

theemeraldskull
January 28th, 2013, 09:52 AM
It doesn't bother me at all... and I agree with what a couple others have said, it's not just the blonde and red in hollywood that is unnatural, all of the brown shades are at least somewhat tampered with, most of the time. Highlights, low lights, deeper shades, a little redder, etc. If someone wants to mess with their hair... oh well. Haha...

To be honest, I have found that the excessive unnatural coloring of hair gives everyone a greater respect and awe for completely natural hair. I've gotten a few awe comments about the fact that my hair is its natural color, and also how long it is. Since almost nobody in Hollywood (and now a lot of people OUTSIDE of hollywood) has natural length or color in their hair, I've found most people have a greater respect for those who do have their natural color and length.

Nedertane
January 28th, 2013, 09:43 PM
I started to think that the ombre trend was perhaps a backlash trend against the harsher, less natural lines that were common of salon highlights in the 2 decades preceding it. Since opposite styles often follow what was prevalent before, I got excited thinking "Great! Natural-looking hair is making its way back in style!". But then people were going to the salon & faking the natural ombre look too. Sigh.

Haha, I actually had a perhaps more cynical theory than stars trying to emulate natural looks. I thought ombre hair was one of the "recession inspired" trends we've seen in the last couple years. Whether taken from the public, or just kind of thought up on their own, I figured celebrities and models and whatnot were emulating the look of formerly highlighted/dyed hair that had grown out for a while because people (likely) aren't spending as much money on hair color in the economic downturn. If that makes sense.

mzBANGBANG
January 28th, 2013, 09:53 PM
Yep. Totally get it. I feel like I can never be blonde enough to count as blonde anymore. My dbf believes blonde is platinum.

And on the other hand I'm totally envious of medium to coarse deep brunette hair. I'm sure there are people who want my hair too though. The grass is always greener. I do try to appreciate what I'm working with, even if it means occasional highlights and tons of TLC.

Springlets
April 8th, 2013, 03:57 AM
Resurrecting this thread because I actually found a good representation of blonde hair in Hollywood! I was browsing Pinterest and found this picture: http://media-cache-ec2.pinterest.com/550x/20/83/e4/2083e42538227d9a1ffb4949c80f41fc.jpg. I was about to repin it onto my natural blonde hair board when I recognized the celebrity in it, Miranda Kerr, who I believe is naturally a brunette. I was very impressed with whoever did her hair like this, and also happy to see a normal, natural-looking blonde color represented. I don't have a problem with changing your hair to a blonde when it's naturally brunette or red, I just wish people more often changed it to a color that is natural, rather than like this: http://media-cache-ec2.pinterest.com/550x/7e/5d/46/7e5d46628ceb324426255692398ce6f8.jpg

long&blonde
April 8th, 2013, 07:59 AM
I enjoy looking at hair photos, period.
If i like the shade & photo, goood chance I'm ripping it out & saving it in an inspiration photo folder I keep. Also handy to peruse/take few with you,prior to heading to a salon.
If I don't care for the cut/color,

The photo would make me happy,appreciative of what I have.
Of course, I'm a 58 year old woman still reading Cosmoplitan magazine,not to take its advice,but to feel happy and blessed in the best of upbeat ways,of all I don't feel I have to be bothered with anymore! Lol.

kitschy
April 8th, 2013, 08:23 AM
MY DH and I got into a discussion just the other day. He saw a platinum blonde girl drive by in a red sports car and commented about how naturally light her hair was. I said that platinum blonde isn't natural... ...and he said, "yes it is! What about Edgar Winters?"

I said, "Edgar Winters is albino!"

He said, "No he isn't - his brother Johnny Winters is platinum blonde too!"

I just laughed - they are both albino. DH still doesn't believe me, even though I found it on the internet....he says, you can't believe everything on the interntet. SHEESH!

http://www.albinism.org/popcult/bros2a.gif

HylianGirl
April 8th, 2013, 02:23 PM
Haha, I actually had a perhaps more cynical theory than stars trying to emulate natural looks. I thought ombre hair was one of the "recession inspired" trends we've seen in the last couple years. Whether taken from the public, or just kind of thought up on their own, I figured celebrities and models and whatnot were emulating the look of formerly highlighted/dyed hair that had grown out for a while because people (likely) aren't spending as much money on hair color in the economic downturn. If that makes sense.

I thought the same thing about ombré ^-^


About platinum looking blonde, I live in a place where blond hair is not so common, there are natural blonds here, but they are unusual. I actually used to think (in my teens) that people who were platinum blond could actually be natural (I know they can in some cases, like albino, but now I know most blonds are medium or dark compared to platinum). Nowadays I have a preety good eye to spot fake hair color and texture though, and it seems this ombré/highlight thing is crazy! It seem all women out there have that on their hair, I see it everywhere when I walk on the streets!

About Taylor Swift, it is preety cool that she keeps her hair color even though she's a celebrity, I think dark blond is a beautiful color, I like colors that can look different in different lights, like dark blond, strawberry blond, auburn, seriously it's more awesome than hair that always looks the same ^-^ But then again I'm also part of the people who think all natural colors are beautiful ^-^

Kaelee
April 9th, 2013, 10:07 AM
It took me awhile to figure out a proper title for what I'm trying to convey. :p As a blonde, it annoys me that there are a million blondes in Hollywood, and almost all are bleached/dyed/highlighted. I feel that this perpetuates a standard of blonde that is fake and makes people appreciate natural blonde hair less. I wondered if redheads feel the same way, because, as I tried racking my brain for famous redheads, I realized most of them are dyed (Emma Stone, Christina Hendricks, Amy Adams), and the ones who are naturally redheaded dye their hair blonde (Nicole Kidman, Laura Prepon). Even Bonnie Wright (the actress who played Ginny Weasley) who is naturally redheaded seems to be dyeing her hair a darker, richer red (compare this (http://media-cache-ec5.pinterest.com/upload/94646029638469499_DzqM1TCP_c.jpg) to this) (http://media-cache-ec6.pinterest.com/upload/23573598019744248_E8Jkxhxi_c.jpg). Is this annoying to you, redheads? I'm sure brunettes also get some highlights and things, but somehow I feel that they may be allowed to wear their hair naturally more than others in Hollywood. I'm guessing it's because if you're blonde, you should be really blonde and if you're redheaded you should be really redheaded. But somehow you can be light, medium, and dark brunette... :rolleyes:

I honestly prefer natural blonde hair. I just think, for the most part, unless the colorist is REALLY GOOD and you take REALLY GOOD care of your hair, bleach blonde hair always looks....fake. I know I've seen some beautiful heads of bleach blonde hair, especially around LHC, but I think unless it's natural, blonde is the hardest color to pull off because it really depends on your skin tone and of course your eyebrows how natural it's going to look. Plus all the bleaching tends to fry your hair unless it's done REALLY carefully. Bleached blonde...shows...95% of the time.

I went to school with a girl who had the most STUNNING natural blonde hair I think I've ever seen. It was unusual in that it was incredibly light, not platinum blonde but only about two shades of gold above platinum blonde. Fairy-tale blonde hair. It looked so soft and beautiful. And it was natural. Granted, this was was in elementary school- as I understand it, blonde hair tends to darken you get older and that sort of color isn't all that uncommon in children (though she was older, 4th or 5th grade). If she managed to keep that color into adulthood she is really lucky. :agree:

Natural blonde is beautiful. So is natural red, and every other natural hair color. I'm a dyed redhead, my natural color is kind of a 'golden mouse brown', and the older I get the more I appreciate that color. I may at some point in the future grow out my henna. I could have an awesome ombre effect. ;)

Sharysa
April 9th, 2013, 11:36 AM
Seconding the notion that EVERY hair color is misrepresented/exaggerated, not just red and blonde.

Brown hair is always a glossy, rich chestnut/chocolate brown instead of the mousy or black-brown shades, black hair will always be the shiny blue-black and not the more common red-black or soft-black.

Springlets
April 9th, 2013, 12:23 PM
Seconding the notion that EVERY hair color is misrepresented/exaggerated, not just red and blonde.

Brown hair is always a glossy, rich chestnut/chocolate brown instead of the mousy or black-brown shades, black hair will always be the shiny blue-black and not the more common red-black or soft-black.

Well, I decided to look up lists that contained actresses with brunette hair: http://moviemusereviews.com/top-25-brunette-actresses-part-1/
as well as blonde hair: http://spiderbytes.hubpages.com/hub/The-15-Most-Beautiful-Blonde-Actresses-Round-3 (some of the pictures here involve scantily-clad women- the list being made byy a man- so be warned).

Tell me which list showcases a wider range of natural-looking colors in each spectrum? I understand that many of the brunettes may not have completely virgin hair, but I think they are allowed to stay closer to their natural color than blondes are. For example, in the list, I believe Anne Hathaway has naturally medium-dark brunette hair, like we see her showcasing there. She might be be using a deposit dye to richen the color, but I'm sure that it is not far from her natural color. Likewise, Keri Russel has naturally light brown hair, and she's allowed to wear it that way. I think she has a few very subtle highlights, but do you really look at it and think, "Well that color just doesn't look natural at all." I will definitely agree that Kate Beckinsales is not at all natural looking, and I don't think it means to be. When I look through the blonde pictures, all I see is bleached light blonde hair, several shades lighter than the owner's natural color and with no attempt at looking natural.

kitschy
April 9th, 2013, 12:53 PM
Well, I decided to look up lists that contained actresses with brunette hair: http://moviemusereviews.com/top-25-brunette-actresses-part-1/
as well as blonde hair: http://spiderbytes.hubpages.com/hub/The-15-Most-Beautiful-Blonde-Actresses-Round-3 (some of the pictures here involve scantily-clad women- the list being made byy a man- so be warned).

Tell me which list showcases a wider range of natural-looking colors in each spectrum? I understand that many of the brunettes may not have completely virgin hair, but I think they are allowed to stay closer to their natural color than blondes are. For example, in the list, I believe Anne Hathaway has naturally medium-dark brunette hair, like we see her showcasing there. She might be be using a deposit dye to richen the color, but I'm sure that it is not far from her natural color. Likewise, Keri Russel has naturally light brown hair, and she's allowed to wear it that way. I think she has a few very subtle highlights, but do you really look at it and think, "Well that color just doesn't look natural at all." I will definitely agree that Kate Beckinsales is not at all natural looking, and I don't think it means to be. When I look through the blonde pictures, all I see is bleached light blonde hair, several shades lighter than the owner's natural color and with no attempt at looking natural.

In that link of blondes, Heather Locklear and Michelle Pfeiffer are shown at a younger age with what might be their natural blonde....or at least close to it.

Nedertane
April 9th, 2013, 02:39 PM
Well, I decided to look up lists that contained actresses with brunette hair: http://moviemusereviews.com/top-25-brunette-actresses-part-1/
as well as blonde hair: http://spiderbytes.hubpages.com/hub/The-15-Most-Beautiful-Blonde-Actresses-Round-3 (some of the pictures here involve scantily-clad women- the list being made byy a man- so be warned).

Tell me which list showcases a wider range of natural-looking colors in each spectrum? I understand that many of the brunettes may not have completely virgin hair, but I think they are allowed to stay closer to their natural color than blondes are. For example, in the list, I believe Anne Hathaway has naturally medium-dark brunette hair, like we see her showcasing there. She might be be using a deposit dye to richen the color, but I'm sure that it is not far from her natural color. Likewise, Keri Russel has naturally light brown hair, and she's allowed to wear it that way. I think she has a few very subtle highlights, but do you really look at it and think, "Well that color just doesn't look natural at all." I will definitely agree that Kate Beckinsales is not at all natural looking, and I don't think it means to be. When I look through the blonde pictures, all I see is bleached light blonde hair, several shades lighter than the owner's natural color and with no attempt at looking natural.

Hmm, there's a couple in the brunette list where it's hard to tell if it's natural (Olivia Wilde, Marion Contillo). Jessica Alba's looks pretty fake, though, I won't lie. Oddly enough, there's a couple whom I would consider blonette or even blonde, like Jessica Biel and Natalie Portmann, lol!

As for the blondes, some of them just... Oh my God, the ROOTS (Sarah Michelle Gellar, Lydia Hearst, etc.) I hate to sound rude, but they are just. So. Obvious. I thought stylists were hired to take care of that? There are a couple more natural-looking ones, though (Emily Procter, Helen Slater, etc.).

As far as my eye can tell, the list actually seems fairly split between natural/natural-looking colors and more apparent dye jobs. The smaller sample in the blonde list should be taken into account, though.

FrozenBritannia
April 9th, 2013, 06:46 PM
I don't have time right now to read through the rest of the posts, so if I am repeating someone, I'm sorry!

Blondes in Hollywood tend to stick to a few shades because as most anyone who has ever dyed their hair blonde knows, its SO much easier to take a good picture. (Natural blondes wouldn't know that unless they dyed their hair darker and suddenly discovered they're not so photogenic as they thought. ;) ) I am not sure if it is because the lighter hair tricks the camera into focusing on the face (slightly over exposing it giving a more radiant and blemish free look?) or if it is because it reflects the light back onto the face like a white screen at a photo shoot, while dark hair absorbs the light, but in my own experience, I was much more photogenic as a blonde.
Naturally I am in the murky area of blondette, as a child I was fully blonde. I've been every hair shade except black and the only other one that I found to be remotely photogenically altering was in fact red. Not sure if red moves light the way blonde does, but I am sure someone will know. Not everyone can be a blonde- not everyone can be a redhead. But most people can be one or the other with a really good hairstylist and perhaps a spray tan. The key in Hollywood is to get noticed- and to look good in all photographs even paparazzi shots. Bright hair is an easy way to do it. JMO.

Bright hair also is a symbol of youth- most kids have really gorgeous hair colour, naturally. People want it back!! Lol

Springlets
April 9th, 2013, 09:19 PM
As far as my eye can tell, the list actually seems fairly split between natural/natural-looking colors and more apparent dye jobs. The smaller sample in the blonde list should be taken into account, though.

The different lists to me illustrate how a range of depths is acceptable in brunette hair, but not in blonde hair. In the brunette list, I saw very light brown (basically blonette), light brown, medium brown, dark brown and even very dark brown (the kind where some might call it black). Considering that it is a list of 15 Best Brunette Actresses is also significant since they are shown as being clearly under the umbrella of what brunette can be. The blonde actresses all have the same level 9, sometimes 10, light blonde hair color. Sometimes it looks more natural and sometimes it doesn't (aka roots) but I just would have been glad to see that variation that is present in the brunette list. We also have to remember that most of the women on the blonde list have dark blonde hair (probably close to the colors you see on Keri Russell, Jessica Biel, and Jessica Alba in the brunette list), but their hair is lightened to light blonde. So, it would be like taking all of the women with medium and dark brown hair and lightening it to light brown. That's I think the transformation that Jessica Alba's hair has gone through, and you can see the results are rather fake looking.

If I were to make my own list of blondes showing the different ranges (and I think looking far more natural), it would be like this:
http://media-cache-ec3.pinterest.com/550x/17/93/e5/1793e5d4acd14c77946f51a5f43ff3cd.jpg

http://media-cache-is0.pinimg.com/550x/57/f6/ac/57f6ac083aad24ccf31ed6960d216f3b.jpg

http://media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/550x/49/dc/1c/49dc1ce81e8b933ed7f6b7cceb0b4ad5.jpg

http://media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/550x/35/64/c6/3564c6f926ca094c170aba2e4c302511.jpg

http://media-cache-ec3.pinterest.com/550x/08/d6/c4/08d6c4c073214cea75bb5415796d8a9d.jpg

http://media-cache-is0.pinimg.com/550x/38/64/12/3864127bf766b1fa469ded6ed8d23bc9.jpg

http://media-cache-ec2.pinterest.com/550x/5d/1b/9b/5d1b9bc37537684f5dd9743ea5338ed8.jpg

http://media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/550x/c4/f3/e1/c4f3e1d1729c8353125543d5e41d3da3.jpg

http://media-cache-ec2.pinterest.com/550x/21/5a/a2/215aa21ea1c9e78c31037e1afa6cc820.jpg

http://media-cache-lt0.pinterest.com/550x/55/d2/cc/55d2ccd04a1361abe2e0006b640bc562.jpg

http://media-cache-ec4.pinterest.com/550x/84/f1/44/84f1448035da46fa4975dece8139a1fb.jpg

Now, maybe people want to point out to me that the original list was not meant to show different hair color ranges, but just celebrities with a certain hair color. But I think that just proves my point; the brunettes showcase celebrities with light, medium, dark and even darkest brown hair. The blonde one doesn't because we don't have celebrities with different depths of blonde.

Kitschy, I can see more of Michelle Pfeiffer's natural dark ash blonde in the younger picture, obviously back then more natural colors were acceptable. Clearly from the picture of her today, it's no longer acceptable.

Michiru
April 9th, 2013, 10:05 PM
I've thought about this before. My hair is a light brown and can be considered a dark blonde. But when I'm around a lot of artificial blondes there is no way anyone would ever consider me blonde, not without highlights. But I figure I'll stop when everyone else does. Which is never. I do wonder how everyone would look if all of a sudden everything people did for appearance enhancers was taken away.

anitacs9101
April 10th, 2013, 03:53 AM
It took me awhile to figure out a proper title for what I'm trying to convey. :p As a blonde, it annoys me that there are a million blondes in Hollywood, and almost all are bleached/dyed/highlighted. I feel that this perpetuates a standard of blonde that is fake and makes people appreciate natural blonde hair less. I wondered if redheads feel the same way, because, as I tried racking my brain for famous redheads, I realized most of them are dyed (Emma Stone, Christina Hendricks, Amy Adams), and the ones who are naturally redheaded dye their hair blonde (Nicole Kidman, Laura Prepon). Even Bonnie Wright (the actress who played Ginny Weasley) who is naturally redheaded seems to be dyeing her hair a darker, richer red (compare this (http://media-cache-ec5.pinterest.com/upload/94646029638469499_DzqM1TCP_c.jpg) to this) (http://media-cache-ec6.pinterest.com/upload/23573598019744248_E8Jkxhxi_c.jpg). Is this annoying to you, redheads? I'm sure brunettes also get some highlights and things, but somehow I feel that they may be allowed to wear their hair naturally more than others in Hollywood. I'm guessing it's because if you're blonde, you should be really blonde and if you're redheaded you should be really redheaded. But somehow you can be light, medium, and dark brunette... :rolleyes:


Maybe I've been a bit unclear on some things- I have no problem with people dyeing their hair. If they want to be something that's totally different from their natural hair color, I'm fine with that. It's the fact that despite their being so many blondes in Hollywood, they pretty much only ever look like this (http://media-cache-lt0.pinterest.com/upload/40743571598346368_fNePZuxx_c.jpg) and this (http://media-cache-ec3.pinterest.com/upload/114208540521307461_i8ECYX17_c.jpg). It's that which makes girls who have this (http://media-cache-ec2.pinterest.com/upload/122582421076978790_UTPlqHio_c.jpg) and this (http://media-cache-ec3.pinterest.com/upload/245938829622607405_LvZFmPki_c.jpg), which are both already blonde, bleach their hair. I wondered if redheads felt the same way because it seems that actresses who dye/are redheaded in Hollywood are always intense, firetruck red redheads. It seems to me that there are perceptions of a single color that is a "true" blonde or "true" redhead, but we don't have similar perceptions about brown hair.

Completely agree with everything! I was just thinking about this today, how what most people consider "blonde" is something almost completely unachievable unless you a. dye or b. are 2 years old. :rolleyes: I think it very much does affect perceptions of "blonde." With these standards it's almost impossible to be born with hair that fits the criteria. To me, the first natural blonde pic you linked is one of the most beautiful hair colors. Because as you said it's something most people would choose to enhance, making it more rare.

I do know several people in real life with very blonde or very red hair, though. Two of my male friends who are brothers have insane bright orange hair. And one of my cousins, who is 14 turning 15 had platinum hair as a child and it has only darkened a few shades. I don't know anything about hair color levels but it's definitely rather light, maybe medium by hollywood standards. I am constantly jealous :) And she wanted to dye it brown! I was like "NOOOOOO!!"

Kaelee
April 10th, 2013, 08:55 AM
You know, I never really thought about it before I read this thread, but you're right. I knew a lady once who said she had blonde hair (it's very dark blonde) and I always thought to myself "you're delusional...that is NOT blonde". But now I see that I was wrong. I'm just so used to seeing bleached blonde...no matter how unnatural it looks...that I think of anything else as not really blonde. I don't even pay attention to Hollywood (I really, truly don't. There are very few celebrities who's names I can put to a picture) but it's so inundated in our society that our perceptions have completely changed.

Nedertane
April 10th, 2013, 09:18 AM
The different lists to me illustrate how a range of depths is acceptable in brunette hair, but not in blonde hair. In the brunette list, I saw very light brown (basically blonette), light brown, medium brown, dark brown and even very dark brown (the kind where some might call it black). Considering that it is a list of 15 Best Brunette Actresses is also significant since they are shown as being clearly under the umbrella of what brunette can be. The blonde actresses all have the same level 9, sometimes 10, light blonde hair color. Sometimes it looks more natural and sometimes it doesn't (aka roots) but I just would have been glad to see that variation that is present in the brunette list. We also have to remember that most of the women on the blonde list have dark blonde hair (probably close to the colors you see on Keri Russell, Jessica Biel, and Jessica Alba in the brunette list), but their hair is lightened to light blonde. So, it would be like taking all of the women with medium and dark brown hair and lightening it to light brown. That's I think the transformation that Jessica Alba's hair has gone through, and you can see the results are rather fake looking.

Okay, I guess I misinterpreted you at first. And I guess my saying that Alba's hair looks blonde/blonde-ish sort of proves your point. :p But the lists you posted are 25 Best Brunette Actresses, and 15 Best Blonde Actresses.

Springlets
April 10th, 2013, 09:33 AM
I don't even pay attention to Hollywood (I really, truly don't. There are very few celebrities who's names I can put to a picture) but it's so inundated in our society that our perceptions have completely changed.

I kind of regret putting Hollywood in the thread title because honestly, we see it everyday in regular society. Sure, all of this bleaching to platinum business started way back in Hollywood in the 1920s, so of course it's reached far into everyday life. I imagine you could make a drinking game at some public place for every bleached blonde you saw and you would get quite drunk. ;)



Completely agree with everything! I was just thinking about this today, how what most people consider "blonde" is something almost completely unachievable unless you a. dye or b. are 2 years old. :rolleyes:

I know, so many of us think that the hair color we had as toddlers should still suit us somehow. It doesn't! Take it from me, when I look at my old pictures with Sun-In platinum blonde, I realize how it didn't suit me at all. I'm much happier with my natural shade, even if it sometimes looks a little dowdy. :)

(I put these on the Giving Up Dye thread, but I'll post them here as well)
Sun-In version (http://s809.photobucket.com/user/Blaircorneliabass/media/2323232327Ffp5393nu33654622465553258ot1lsi-1_zps73baf2a5.jpg.html)
Natural version (http://s809.photobucket.com/user/Blaircorneliabass/media/7d553845-f2ad-43c9-b38a-866f9cd9ee89_zps790cb74a.jpg.html)


Okay, I guess I misinterpreted you at first. And I guess my saying that Alba's hair looks blonde/blonde-ish sort of proves your point. :p But the lists you posted are 25 Best Brunette Actresses, and 15 Best Blonde Actresses.

I don't blame you for misinterpreting since I think I said something along the lines of 'which has the bigger range of natural-looking colors' and I meant to say something about the range of colors (aka light-dark). Really on the blonde list, the hair doesn't look so unnatural, it's just that it's all the same and represents a color that for most blondes is rather rare. Ah and you are correct about the list titles, I mixed 'em up. :)

vindo
April 10th, 2013, 10:18 AM
It does not annoy me if people dye their hair. But I do think it is sad if natural colors don't get appreciated anymore because the dye is always brighter and more intense. Even dyed brown and black is always more saturated than the real thing. I dyed my hair for half of my life because I believed my color to be "ugly".
Natural colors are just different and to understand people need to examine undyed hair from root to tips, nit fret about their supposed ashy roots. ;)

meteor
April 11th, 2013, 01:13 PM
It does not annoy me if people dye their hair. But I do think it is sad if natural colors don't get appreciated anymore because the dye is always brighter and more intense. Even dyed brown and black is always more saturated than the real thing. I dyed my hair for half of my life because I believed my color to be "ugly".
Natural colors are just different and to understand people need to examine undyed hair from root to tips, nit fret about their supposed ashy roots. ;)
Interesting! I actually prefer natural hair because it usually looks shinier and there is this richness of multiple undertones that is hard to maintain with dyed hair (even if it's shiny and bright right after application). But I think people often dye hair out of boredom or "grass is greener" mentality. Тo understand the beauty of one's own hair color, one sometimes needs to wear a wig or to dye hair for a while and then "rediscover" the beauty of the color that was always there.

vindo
April 11th, 2013, 03:48 PM
Interesting! I actually prefer natural hair because it usually looks shinier and there is this richness of multiple undertones that is hard to maintain with dyed hair (even if it's shiny and bright right after application). But I think people often dye hair out of boredom or "grass is greener" mentality. Тo understand the beauty of one's own hair color, one sometimes needs to wear a wig or to dye hair for a while and then "rediscover" the beauty of the color that was always there.

Lol, that's how it was with me. I started to appreciate my color after I got tired of dye.
I know what you mean about the undertones/ facets. I find natural hair color often has a basic color, plus an overall shimmer of some sort, and then reflexes. I took some really interesting pictures of my hair recently where it showed all three. I have a cool base color, golden shimmer and red reflexes and you can't dye all this at once :lol:. So I guess I am fine with my natural hair color now.
I see this in a lot of peoples hair, just some have cooler shades, some more golden or warm/ reddish. But they all have so many facets.

palaeoqueen
April 13th, 2013, 03:30 PM
I know, so many of us think that the hair color we had as toddlers should still suit us somehow. It doesn't! Take it from me, when I look at my old pictures with Sun-In platinum blonde, I realize how it didn't suit me at all. I'm much happier with my natural shade, even if it sometimes looks a little dowdy. :)

(I put these on the Giving Up Dye thread, but I'll post them here as well)
Sun-In version (http://s809.photobucket.com/user/Blaircorneliabass/media/2323232327Ffp5393nu33654622465553258ot1lsi-1_zps73baf2a5.jpg.html)
Natural version (http://s809.photobucket.com/user/Blaircorneliabass/media/7d553845-f2ad-43c9-b38a-866f9cd9ee89_zps790cb74a.jpg.html)


It certainly isn't, I only hope that mine is as beautiful once the bleach has grown out some more, it's still a bit hard to tell how it will turn out. My "before" picture is very like yours, I also thought it looked natural because I had white blonde hair as a child. Like you I now look back at photos and wonder how I ever thought that and why no-one told me!

As an aside I wanted to thank you for posting all the wonderful photos of natural blondes, it's really inspiring to realise just how beautiful natural dark blonde hair is and I can't wait to have my own back :D

Springlets
April 13th, 2013, 08:16 PM
As an aside I wanted to thank you for posting all the wonderful photos of natural blondes, it's really inspiring to realise just how beautiful natural dark blonde hair is and I can't wait to have my own back :D

You're very welcome and it makes me so glad to hear it! It greatly helped me in my growing out process and dark blonde fits in so well with other types of blonde when the pictures are all natural. Even natural light blonde hair looks not quite so blonde when compared to the bleach version.

Are you a part of my natural blonde board on pinterest? PM me your details and I'll add you. :)

Springlets
April 16th, 2013, 12:30 AM
Just showing this because it pretty much illustrates the evolution of every blonde: http://media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/550x/04/94/7e/04947eb42e4430f6d57265143714c562.jpg

Notice that she starts bleaching her hair in middle school and that she bleaches it to the color she had when she was in pre-k, not elementary school. And likely she will continue to bleach for the next 50 or 60 years... It's the story of so many of us. :(

Mesmerise
April 16th, 2013, 05:24 AM
I'm growing my natural colour out after colouring (various colours) for YEARS. The last time I had virgin hair I was 21 (and I didn't keep it for long... it was also super short at the time, so it was hard to get an idea of how it would actually have looked had it actually grown). Now, I'm growing out graying hair. The interesting thing is how PRETTY I find gray hair these days (on others cause mine's more ashy brown than gray). I've seen so many pictures of stunning shades of gray hair, from quite white, to silver, to steely gray.

I never really noticed what lovely shades of gray hair there were before, and now I almost wish I had MORE grays! Partly because they're a bit unique and special in these days when the vast majority of women dye their hair, especially those who are under the age of 50! I think it looks very striking when younger women grow their natural gray hair out!

Springlets
April 16th, 2013, 09:37 PM
Good for you Mesmerise! I also think it looks great when younger women have gray hair. Rini is an excellent example. :)

schweedie
April 17th, 2013, 03:35 AM
I also think it looks great when younger women have gray hair. Rini is an excellent example. :)
Gosh, yes. Our Rini is a perfect example of how stunning grey hair can look on younger women.

I actually had a discussion on this subject with my mum yesterday. She's claimed for the past few years that I'm not really blonde any more, and I'm pretty sure that's for the reasons discussed in this thread. The word 'blonde' has pretty much come to mean just one shade. The thing is, I got to keep my very light blonde hair for quite a long time - when I was 18, it still looked like this:

http://i1119.photobucket.com/albums/k626/growingmyhair/IMGP1507_zpsffa0f568.jpg
(That picture is from the morning I got home from my senior prom and had taken my hairdo down - my hair didn't naturally have that much poof back then, either. *g*)

I think it started only started to darken for real about the same time I started growing it out again, in my mid 20s, and now it's become this:

http://i1119.photobucket.com/albums/k626/growingmyhair/IMG_7748_zpsd1e494e6.jpg

http://i1119.photobucket.com/albums/k626/growingmyhair/IMG_7730_zps3f3a36a2.jpg

And sure, it's darker, but how is it not still blonde? What else would you call it?, I asked my mum, and she said, "Well, I think it's more brown now." *facepalm*

sihaya
April 17th, 2013, 08:05 AM
schweedie, to me it looks like a light caramel/honey blonde colour. Very pretty! And yes, it is so annoying, that the word 'blonde' has pretty much come to mean just one shade. I think this is part of the reason why so many of us colour our hair, because we want real-honest-to-god colour that dyes provide. Dyed hair usually have almost no variation and look similar in all lights. Recently it came up in a conversation with my mother in law. I said:
"I'm groing out my natural ashy blonde colour"
"No! I'm blonde, but you're dark featured"
I was like, seriously? I have pale skin that easily gets sunburned, green eyes, and ashy dark blonde hair, and this is "dark featured"? And she's bleached blonde, so she gets to be "real blonde"...

Nedertane
April 17th, 2013, 09:57 AM
*snip*Recently it came up in a conversation with my mother in law. I said:
"I'm groing out my natural ashy blonde colour"
"No! I'm blonde, but you're dark featured"
I was like, seriously? I have pale skin that easily gets sunburned, green eyes, and ashy dark blonde hair, and this is "dark featured"? And she's bleached blonde, so she gets to be "real blonde"...


It's always funny how people will interpret a hair color, whether theirs is natural or not. Take my circle of friends/family/acquaintances:

- Parents: both have called my hair blonde since I was born, and will probably never cease. My mom naturally has dark hair (level 4-ish), and my dad has a sort of dark-looking ashy color, similar to what most people's blonde hair turns into, but he's told me his hair was never as light as mine.
- Sister: says I'm more of a summer blonde and winter brunette, which is actually pretty accurate.
- Dark-haired close friends: one (male) will adamantly say I'm blonde, the other (female) has no idea what the other one thinks he's talking about
- Blonde/lighter-haired friends: one who was formerly a tow-head (male) says it's blonde, another who has lighter blonde hair than me (male) refers to it as blonde, and a third who was a tow-head and still has relatively light blonde hair (male), refers to it as light brown.
- Acquaintances/people I've only met once: seems like 50/50, honestly, but I THINK the majority may say blonde.


As for me, though? My hair behaves enough like blonde hair, with thin, pale yellow highlights that increase in the sun, and an overall yellow/gold cast. I'm very fair-skinned with pale green eyes. I still have to fill in my eyebrows - which are basically identical to my hair color - with a "dark blonde" pencil. SO, it's blonde enough for me! ;)

chen bao jun
April 17th, 2013, 10:39 AM
Gosh, yes. Our Rini is a perfect example of how stunning grey hair can look on younger women.

I actually had a discussion on this subject with my mum yesterday. She's claimed for the past few years that I'm not really blonde any more, and I'm pretty sure that's for the reasons discussed in this thread. The word 'blonde' has pretty much come to mean just one shade. The thing is, I got to keep my very light blonde hair for quite a long time - when I was 18, it still looked like this:

http://i1119.photobucket.com/albums/k626/growingmyhair/IMGP1507_zpsffa0f568.jpg
(That picture is from the morning I got home from my senior prom and had taken my hairdo down - my hair didn't naturally have that much poof back then, either. *g*)

I think it started only started to darken for real about the same time I started growing it out again, in my mid 20s, and now it's become this:

http://i1119.photobucket.com/albums/k626/growingmyhair/IMG_7748_zpsd1e494e6.jpg

http://i1119.photobucket.com/albums/k626/growingmyhair/IMG_7730_zps3f3a36a2.jpg

And sure, it's darker, but how is it not still blonde? What else would you call it?, I asked my mum, and she said, "Well, I think it's more brown now." *facepalm*
You are a blonde.

chen bao jun
April 17th, 2013, 10:42 AM
I've thought about this before. My hair is a light brown and can be considered a dark blonde. But when I'm around a lot of artificial blondes there is no way anyone would ever consider me blonde, not without highlights. But I figure I'll stop when everyone else does. Which is never. I do wonder how everyone would look if all of a sudden everything people did for appearance enhancers was taken away.
reassess their ideas of 'beauty'. And have a lot more money in their pockets.

chen bao jun
April 17th, 2013, 10:59 AM
schweedie Recently it came up in a conversation with my mother in law. I said:
"I'm groing out my natural ashy blonde colour"
"No! I'm blonde, but you're dark featured"
I was like, seriously? I have pale skin that easily gets sunburned, green eyes, and ashy dark blonde hair, and this is "dark featured"? And she's bleached blonde, so she gets to be "real blonde"...

This is hilarious--and so true. Not just about blonde hair. I had a similar conversation with my sister-in-law a couple years ago when I got a haircut.
SIL:why did you do that?
ME: I wanted shorter hair.
SIL: I like my long hair better. (tosses very very obvious hairweave backwards dramatically)
The idea is, if I bought it, it's mine and it's as good as or better than natural.

A couple of thoughts re: blonde-- I wonder if part of the whole hairdying thing is financial. Dyed blond hair is very hard to keep up. Sometimes I think people are admiring the money they know is spent on an obviously expensive dye job, kept up carefully.
Also, one thing that I think is really sad is that as people get used to how fake blondes look, they tend to forget what makes natural blondes so attractive. It's not just the hair color (which usually is not bright platinum or bright yellow) but a sort of softness and the softness is made up of the characteristics which go with this appearance--very fair, often slightly rosy skin; faint eyelashes and brows; a general unobtrusive delicacy about the person that often looks youthful for a long, long time. Artificial blondes don't have this same 'aura' and now people fail to appreciate real blondes because they expect them to be tanned, have clearly defined eyes and lashes and just a more 'bright' less delicate look(I don't want to say 'garish, but that happens). The people that really look right are called 'bland' and driven to doing artificial things to try to match up to a look that really, at least in my eyes, looks obviously unnatural and not at all as attractive.

Bedhead
April 17th, 2013, 11:17 AM
I have to say, it does just make me appreciate natural hair colours and texture more.

However on the annoying side, when I go to my hairdresser, he tends to try and push red streaks onto me. And when I ask why, he simply says so I'll have MORE red, then I decline.

I suppose it's that media/society message that what I am naturally is never enough. And yes, I find it annoying. I'm just grateful I don't allow it to dictate how I think of myself.

I have a friend who has gotten scooped into this mentality. She has a beautiful ginger red hair and one day we walked around town and she kept commenting on how beautiful all these redheads' hair was, in a way that made it sound like hers wasn't vibrant enough.... Not one she pointed out was a natural redhead.

As for actresses with red hair... Julia Roberts, she tends to wane between her natural auburn and blondish.

sihaya
April 17th, 2013, 11:54 AM
It's always funny how people will interpret a hair color, whether theirs is natural or not. Take my circle of friends/family/acquaintances:

- Parents: both have called my hair blonde since I was born, and will probably never cease. My mom naturally has dark hair (level 4-ish), and my dad has a sort of dark-looking ashy color, similar to what most people's blonde hair turns into, but he's told me his hair was never as light as mine.
- Sister: says I'm more of a summer blonde and winter brunette, which is actually pretty accurate.
- Dark-haired close friends: one (male) will adamantly say I'm blonde, the other (female) has no idea what the other one thinks he's talking about
- Blonde/lighter-haired friends: one who was formerly a tow-head (male) says it's blonde, another who has lighter blonde hair than me (male) refers to it as blonde, and a third who was a tow-head and still has relatively light blonde hair (male), refers to it as light brown.
- Acquaintances/people I've only met once: seems like 50/50, honestly, but I THINK the majority may say blonde.


As for me, though? My hair behaves enough like blonde hair, with thin, pale yellow highlights that increase in the sun, and an overall yellow/gold cast. I'm very fair-skinned with pale green eyes. I still have to fill in my eyebrows - which are basically identical to my hair color - with a "dark blonde" pencil. SO, it's blonde enough for me! ;)

Thanks for sharing that! This makes me feel better. I guess it really depends from person/season/light how the colour is perceived.... After that conversation with my MIL, I almost felt delusional or colour-blind. I used to dye my hair black, it was nice to have this colour that everyone agreed on :D However my features are light and I used to need a lot of make up not to look ridiculous with dark hair and lighter eyebrows. Now that I'm growing my natural colour out I realize it suits me much better.

sihaya
April 17th, 2013, 12:30 PM
This is hilarious--and so true. Not just about blonde hair. I had a similar conversation with my sister-in-law a couple years ago when I got a haircut.
SIL:why did you do that?
ME: I wanted shorter hair.
SIL: I like my long hair better. (tosses very very obvious hairweave backwards dramatically)
The idea is, if I bought it, it's mine and it's as good as or better than natural.

A couple of thoughts re: blonde-- I wonder if part of the whole hairdying thing is financial. Dyed blond hair is very hard to keep up. Sometimes I think people are admiring the money they know is spent on an obviously expensive dye job, kept up carefully.
Also, one thing that I think is really sad is that as people get used to how fake blondes look, they tend to forget what makes natural blondes so attractive. It's not just the hair color (which usually is not bright platinum or bright yellow) but a sort of softness and the softness is made up of the characteristics which go with this appearance--very fair, often slightly rosy skin; faint eyelashes and brows; a general unobtrusive delicacy about the person that often looks youthful for a long, long time. Artificial blondes don't have this same 'aura' and now people fail to appreciate real blondes because they expect them to be tanned, have clearly defined eyes and lashes and just a more 'bright' less delicate look(I don't want to say 'garish, but that happens). The people that really look right are called 'bland' and driven to doing artificial things to try to match up to a look that really, at least in my eyes, looks obviously unnatural and not at all as attractive.

I don't know about the financial aspect of it, but I think people are definitely admiring the time and energy spent for the upkeep. In this society, it is applauded if you "take care of yourself". However that "care" seems to extend further and further with dye jobs, getting fake lashes, fake tan, etc. I agree that this is sad, when someone decides to have natural colouring and they are perceived as bland and/or lazy even. It could be money also and status... somewhat of a statement "I have time and money to invest in my appearance". I think the word I'm looking for is glamorous.

palaeoqueen
April 17th, 2013, 01:09 PM
Gosh, yes. Our Rini is a perfect example of how stunning grey hair can look on younger women.

I actually had a discussion on this subject with my mum yesterday. She's claimed for the past few years that I'm not really blonde any more, and I'm pretty sure that's for the reasons discussed in this thread. The word 'blonde' has pretty much come to mean just one shade. The thing is, I got to keep my very light blonde hair for quite a long time - when I was 18, it still looked like this:

http://i1119.photobucket.com/albums/k626/growingmyhair/IMGP1507_zpsffa0f568.jpg
(That picture is from the morning I got home from my senior prom and had taken my hairdo down - my hair didn't naturally have that much poof back then, either. *g*)

I think it started only started to darken for real about the same time I started growing it out again, in my mid 20s, and now it's become this:

http://i1119.photobucket.com/albums/k626/growingmyhair/IMG_7748_zpsd1e494e6.jpg

http://i1119.photobucket.com/albums/k626/growingmyhair/IMG_7730_zps3f3a36a2.jpg

And sure, it's darker, but how is it not still blonde? What else would you call it?, I asked my mum, and she said, "Well, I think it's more brown now." *facepalm*

You are definitely blonde!

Springlets
April 17th, 2013, 09:21 PM
Schweedie, I have similar conversations with my mom. I was once talking to her about how my brother said my sister and I were the lucky ones to have gotten the blonde hair in the family, and she shook her head and said "Well, you're not blonde anymore now are you!" Then after seeing my reaction she said, "Oh I'm sorry, did I hurt your feelings?" Sigh, I actually think that everyone, from my husband's family to my new friends to my old friends that I grew up with (and went through similar hair darkening) would call me blonde except possibly my own family! My dad might because I got his hair color and I know he definitely considered himself blonde. But my stepmother (his wife) would not call me it, I suppose because she met me as a teenager when my hair was darkest (because I liked to stay inside and read all of the time).

I wonder if some people go by how dark your hair can appear rather than how light or the color in between. For example, Schweedie, in the first picture your hair isn't really dark, but does not show any yellow or ashiness, the two qualities most people associate with blondeness. In the second picture, your hair isn't so much lighter than the first, but it does have that yellowy, honey tone to it so it looks very clearly blonde. Compared to your prom picture, I don't think your hair has gotten so much darker, more that the tone has changed from ash to golden/honey. :) I wonder if some people think (especially in Sweden where you're from) that if hair is blonde, it will never look not-blonde (i.e. not-yellow and not-ash). I wonder how many brunettes think this, and yet take plenty of pictures where their hair appears black.

My theory is that the lighter your hair is, the more it can change with the lighting. I feel that my hair color changes run the whole gamut of blonde color variations:

Lightest (http://s809.photobucket.com/user/Blaircorneliabass/media/SANY0021b-2.jpg.html?sort=3&o=13)
Lighter (http://media-cache-ec3.pinterest.com/550x/c8/f5/2e/c8f52ec89002fc31b966aca80d2930a7.jpg)
Light (http://s809.photobucket.com/user/Blaircorneliabass/media/Untitled-24.jpg.html)
lightish-medium (http://i809.photobucket.com/albums/zz17/Blaircorneliabass/P1210548.jpg)
medium (http://i809.photobucket.com/albums/zz17/Blaircorneliabass/P1210164.jpg)
Dark (http://media-cache-lt0.pinterest.com/550x/92/2c/bc/922cbc068214995fb6741458cdef1038.jpg)
Darkest (http://i809.photobucket.com/albums/zz17/Blaircorneliabass/SANY0020.jpg)

What's funny is that the lightest and darkest pictures were taken on the same day. The dark one was taken under the shade of a tree, and the light one was taken under fogged over yet still bright sunlight. :shrug:

schweedie
April 19th, 2013, 01:14 AM
sihaya, thank you! Honey blonde is a term I often find rather fitting.


You are a blonde.


You are definitely blonde!
Heh, thanks for backing me up. I tried explaining to my mother that 'blonde' is a spectrum, not a particular colour, but no dice.


I was once talking to her about how my brother said my sister and I were the lucky ones to have gotten the blonde hair in the family, and she shook her head and said "Well, you're not blonde anymore now are you!" Then after seeing my reaction she said, "Oh I'm sorry, did I hurt your feelings?"
This made me laugh. Like, it's not so much about one's feelings being hurt as it is about the general ideas about blonde hair, and how anything between light blonde and full brunette is considered drab and boring!


I wonder if some people think (especially in Sweden where you're from) that if hair is blonde, it will never look not-blonde (i.e. not-yellow and not-ash).
I think that's almost certainly true. Some seem to have a hard time grasping the 'spectrum, not a colour' part.

In those pictures you posted above, I think all but the last one look pretty light! (And hey, my hair has almost the exact same shade as yours in that 'darkest' picture in similar settings. *g*)

I sat behind a couple of girls on the bus yesterday who had dark blonde hair, probably level 6. So, so pretty, and rare to see out in the wild!

marykatz
April 19th, 2013, 09:14 AM
Perhaps Hollywood's distortion of blondes is worse than brunettes, but there is still some distortion. Hollywood brunettes have rich dark hair with lots of highlights. But in real life, when brunettes dye their hair, it tends to become monochromatic, all one color, not natural. When we start putting highlights, it can look pretty unnatural unless your willing to spend a lot of time and money in the salon. The opinion of many Beauticians is that dark hair does not look good against an aging face. many of my brunette friends are putting blond highlights into their dark hair.

I guess I can only see this from the prospective of a brunette. Although the actresses appear more natural, I know it is very difficult to get those subtle yet natural highlights at a salon so their hair appears as unnatural to me as a bleach blonde.

Springlets
May 1st, 2013, 03:29 AM
In those pictures you posted above, I think all but the last one look pretty light! (And hey, my hair has almost the exact same shade as yours in that 'darkest' picture in similar settings. *g*)


Yeah I think we have the same level 8 hair, but mine might be a bit more ashy and yours more on the honey side (just from the pictures I've seen of yours). I remember when I was first growing out my natural hair color and how I hoped it would be similar to yours- I got my wish! :D


So I will give Hollywood this, it allows its blond men to keep their natural color generally:

Ryan Gosling (http://media-cache-ec3.pinimg.com/550x/b3/23/1e/b3231ebef690a0f2149677ac6e61821b.jpg)
Chris Hemsworth (without the Thor highlights) (http://media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/550x/87/d7/ce/87d7ce7db150be4358365eda58e2e947.jpg)
Alexander Skaarsgard (http://media-cache-ak1.pinimg.com/550x/59/46/d3/5946d3c26c00c58de3607e3f5f83ca35.jpg)
Neil McDonough (http://media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/550x/97/2b/b6/972bb6e8d545d309938cb0c507d5f68f.jpg)
Sean Bean (http://media-cache-ec4.pinimg.com/550x/5f/5f/4d/5f5f4d1098b723141422d2051fff594a.jpg)
Nikolaj Coster-Waldau (Jamie Lannister) (http://media-cache-ec2.pinimg.com/550x/88/24/d3/8824d3a1e498f3204248db5ed324b2e3.jpg)
Brad Pitt (http://media-cache-ak1.pinimg.com/550x/68/69/41/686941604000256d9c5d7c3a69bcabf1.jpg)
Liam Hemsworth (http://media-cache-ec3.pinimg.com/550x/27/58/fe/2758fe7314bff8b604488ce5ad3d0c11.jpg)
Paul Walker (http://media-cache-ec3.pinimg.com/550x/76/7a/e5/767ae57b68340e2663df621eb7e4a4e2.jpg)
Austin Butler (from the Carrie Diaries) (http://media-cache-ec4.pinimg.com/550x/1a/fb/84/1afb84baf1f63812b3833022677b1ed7.jpg)
Paul Bettany (http://media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/550x/ae/15/79/ae157992dd6c1668495b6fb717a4fc90.jpg)

If you wondered what the standards of blonde would be if women didn't use bleach on their already blonde hair, just take a look at the men you consider blonde around you. For example, when looking through pictures, I saw a lot of comments about Neil McDonough having "super blonde" hair, when I think if it was on a woman, it would be just medium or light blonde.

UP Lisa
May 1st, 2013, 06:55 AM
My hair is a Level 7, but my boys consider it Brown because of all the bleach-blond heads they see. They don't believe that hair can be even darker than mine and still be considered Blond.

ilandree
May 1st, 2013, 07:32 AM
I get what you are saying, but if anything about Hollywood and hair color actually annoys me it is the stereotypes surrounding hair colors. It has always bothered me to some degree but now as my own children (4 blondes) begin to ask questions like "Why are blondes always dumb or mean in movies?" and wish they had a different color hair so people won't think that way about them, I can tell you it absolutely infuriates me.

Rosetta
May 1st, 2013, 09:46 AM
My hair is a Level 7, but my boys consider it Brown because of all the bleach-blond heads they see. They don't believe that hair can be even darker than mine and still be considered Blond.

I just recently saw a level 8 hair colour called "light brown"... :bigeyes: It was on a Finnish online shop, for Wella Color Fresh shades 8/0 and 8/03 (they were named respectively 'light brown' and 'golden light brown' in Finnish of course). I know most people would call level 7 "light brown", but for level 8, that's really new to me! :rolleyes:

Springlets
May 1st, 2013, 09:54 AM
My hair is a Level 7, but my boys consider it Brown because of all the bleach-blond heads they see. They don't believe that hair can be even darker than mine and still be considered Blond.

That's true, UP Lisa, and I can definitely see the blondness in your hair especially in your new signature pic. Do any of your kids have blonde hair from you? It's interesting because when my siblings and I were growing up, we would call my dad blonde (his hair is similar to yours) and we said that my mom had black hair. That made her mad because she said she had dark brown hair. Now that I'm older I can see how that's actually true. Maybe your kids will be the same?


I get what you are saying, but if anything about Hollywood and hair color actually annoys me it is the stereotypes surrounding hair colors. It has always bothered me to some degree but now as my own children (4 blondes) begin to ask questions like "Why are blondes always dumb or mean in movies?" and wish they had a different color hair so people won't think that way about them, I can tell you it absolutely infuriates me.

I do find this upsetting, too. I think it's even infiltrated books lately because I find that so often the main character will be brown-haired (therefore more "normal" and "relatable") who has a best friend who is blonde and is, therefore, beautiful, model-like, star of the show type. One of my favorite books to come out recently is Divergent by Veronica Roth because the main character is described as blonde-haired, blue-eyed but not 'pretty'.


I just recently saw a level 8 hair colour called "light brown"...
Wow and that would mean that level 9 would be dark blonde?! Haha, it just gets crazier...

racrane
May 1st, 2013, 11:01 AM
My blonde hair is getting darker and I don't mind. As the years go by, I'm enjoying my hair more and play around with it. I don't get so upset by what my hair (texture, color, etc) isn't. In terms of celebrities, everything about them is fake - at least their presentation to the world. So as annoying as it can be, I mostly just ignore it and then have fun with my own hair.

I LOVE my son's hair, though. He has strawberry blonde hair and he gets so many compliments. I feel more proud of his little baby hairs than of mine, lol.

ilandree
May 3rd, 2013, 07:57 AM
Oh yes Springlets! Or they change the character's hair color when they put it to film. We got Percy Jackson (dvd) at the library earlier this week and one of my older children was very irritated that the character Annabeth, who in the books is smart and brave and loyal and blonde, was brunette in the movie. I know that as adults we look at that and say "Big deal" but children have always looked to books, television and film for inspiring role models who look like them, its in their nature. As a mom it makes me sad.

Springlets
May 3rd, 2013, 09:35 AM
I agree ilandree, I remember seeing somewhere a website promoting movies/books with red-haired protagonists for children with the same haircolor. It was run by parents who obviously desired fictional characters that their children could look up to, and specifically with their hair color. Of course, this works with anything; anytime we are presented with a person in a book or movie who is portrayed as attractive, likable, good, yet even with some perceived flaws such as being overweight, clumsy, not book smart, etc., it validates any person who feels that way about themselves. I think so often the media doesn't have to say specifically what is "acceptable", our notion of it simply comes from what we're repeatedly exposed to.

Ack, I read Percy Jackson too, and rejoiced in a smart blonde being portrayed, but never saw the movie! Well, I'm kind of glad I didn't now. I'm hoping that they won't do the same for my Divergent series, I know they hired a brown-haired actress to play the main girl. Here's hoping that she'll wear a wig. :)

Sofialu
January 27th, 2014, 07:39 AM
This thread is the reason I first found this forum, I searched google for real dark blonde/light brown hair and I don't think it brought up anything other than dyed blonde...apart from the link to this thread. Going back to your original post Springlets, the very reason I first started to bleach my hair was due to a teacher categorising me as having "dish cloth blonde" hair colour at the impressionable age of 14. After that I did not think it was blonde enough to still be considered blonde and have dyed it ever since. Now at 30 I've let it go, had a brown put on it and will slowly grow this colour out and back to my natural head of hair. I'm not sure how much my colour will have changed since I was 14 but looking back at photos of my root growth as a teen (I didn't dye it very often at all and frequently had 4 or more inches of re growth) it really wasn't dark at all - it was definitely more ashen than the yellow/brassy colour of the bleach but not darker per se, just a different tone. Now I'm the age I am I feel confident enough in myself not to have to justify my hair colour through dye and if my hair is a dirty blonde or mousy brown when it grows through - so what? I'm pretty sure that in the winter it will be darker and in the summer it will lighten and if I wish to brighten it in the future then hopefully some sort of natural product such as cassia? will have the desired effect. But I won't do it because I'm not perceived to be blonde enough by everyone else, I'll do it if I fancy a small change or if I want to accentuate any natural highlights.

Springlets
January 27th, 2014, 01:42 PM
That's great to hear Sofialu! I feel the same way when I look at pictures of before I started using Sun-In when I was 14. My hair back then was actually similar to my hair now, and I think I only started using it because my best friend wanted to. Then of course when I tried to grow it out, it seemed like my hair was much darker (now I know that hair is always darker when starting out, especially in contrast to dye).

palaeoqueen
January 27th, 2014, 02:07 PM
I'm the same, started bleaching at 13 years old only to finally discover 20 years later that my hair isn't that dark after all. It's darker than the platinum blonde I had as a child but still clearly blonde and getting lighter the longer it gets.

Sofialu
January 27th, 2014, 04:11 PM
Springlets and Palaeoqueen thank you for sharing your own personal experience which sounds so similar to mine! During the time I had my hair bleached my roots did look very dark in comparison so it is encouraging to know that that's normal :)

SkyChild
January 28th, 2014, 06:51 AM
This is really interesting as I'm a fan of natural and non natural hair colours.
It reminds me of a friend I had who (at 13) was blonde but always went to the salon and got her hair dyed blonder. It was almost identical to her natural look, but there was a higher ratio of platinum-y highlights. It cost her a fortune and I never got why she did it.
I'm brunette just now and am just starting to learn to love my natural shade, but I know that when I went ginger I wanted to be ginger and the reason I was dithering about going blonde was because of the amount of damage involved in going platinum blonde... so I'm sticking with brunette just now and growing out my dodgy not-quite-dip-dye.
But as for Hollywood - I guess maybe they're feeling the pressure to be more themselves than themselves? Or maybe they're just doing what they want with their hair, like we are with ours?

Sofialu
February 6th, 2014, 07:40 AM
Springlets and Palaeoqueen thank you for sharing your own personal experience which sounds so similar to mine! During the time I had my hair bleached my roots did look very dark in comparison so it is encouraging to know that that's normal :)

Here was my hair age 9

http://i907.photobucket.com/albums/ac280/reddij/Hair/image_zps1f7a0679.jpg (http://s907.photobucket.com/user/reddij/media/Hair/image_zps1f7a0679.jpg.html)

And here it is when I was 16 highlighted but with 2 inches of darker roots

http://i907.photobucket.com/albums/ac280/reddij/Hair/image_zps9b88d058.jpg (http://s907.photobucket.com/user/reddij/media/Hair/image_zps9b88d058.jpg.html)

Crumpet
February 6th, 2014, 09:21 AM
I'm glad someone resurrected this thread. Someone recently made some not very nice comments about my naturally dark blonde hair and I was starting to contemplate highlights...I think this thread has saved me!

Sofialu
February 6th, 2014, 09:34 AM
:) this thread was the reason I found this forum - I was looking for photos of naturally dark blonde hair on the Internet to spur me on to giving up the hair dye, which I only started using because of a silly comment made by a teacher of all people.

Rosetta
February 6th, 2014, 09:47 AM
Crumpet and Sofialu, you might want to look at the "Blonette pride" thread, too :)

Nedertane
February 6th, 2014, 09:49 AM
Here was my hair age 9

http://i907.photobucket.com/albums/ac280/reddij/Hair/image_zps1f7a0679.jpg (http://s907.photobucket.com/user/reddij/media/Hair/image_zps1f7a0679.jpg.html)

And here it is when I was 16 highlighted but with 2 inches of darker roots

http://i907.photobucket.com/albums/ac280/reddij/Hair/image_zps9b88d058.jpg (http://s907.photobucket.com/user/reddij/media/Hair/image_zps9b88d058.jpg.html)

Haha, sorry Sofialu, but I really can't see how your "roots" are any darker than the highlighted parts of your teenage hair. Just goes to show, I guess. :P

Sofialu
February 6th, 2014, 09:55 AM
Crumpet and Sofialu, you might want to look at the "Blonette pride" thread, too :)

Thank you Rosetta :) Blonette pride is a very good thread too, another reason I decided to join :)

Sofialu
February 6th, 2014, 10:04 AM
Haha, sorry Sofialu, but I really can't see how your "roots" are any darker than the highlighted parts of your teenage hair. Just goes to show, I guess. :P

Lol Nedertane I agree, that photo makes me wonder what I was thinking as my roots aren't even dark but I was convinced my hair had gone dull and dark. Now I know better I wish I'd had this forum back then!

Crumpet
February 6th, 2014, 11:39 AM
Crumpet and Sofialu, you might want to look at the "Blonette pride" thread, too :)

Thanks! I've followed that thread at times -- lots of inspirational hair there, to be sure!! Thanks for the reminder.

Marika
February 6th, 2014, 01:03 PM
It's not just Hollywood. Actually, in real life I don't know anyone besides myself who has natural hair color. And even I have had every color under the sun when I was younger. I feel like it's almost considered weird not to dye one's hair. I can only imagine what it's like in Hollywood!

On a side note, I've travelled a lot around the world and it's quite fascinating how people see my haircolor. I'm brunette in my own country but definitely blond in many others. Some people say my hair is red. And I'm sometimes frustrated with my fine hair but I once met a girl from Armenia who wanted to stroke my hair because it's so soft!:) I guess the grass is always greener on the other side, even when it's really not.

Springlets
February 6th, 2014, 06:26 PM
:) this thread was the reason I found this forum - I was looking for photos of naturally dark blonde hair on the Internet to spur me on to giving up the hair dye, which I only started using because of a silly comment made by a teacher of all people.

Hey I made a board on pinterest called Real Blonde Hair, where I have pictures of natural blonde hair (as far as I can tell anyway). There are a lot of great pictures of dark blonde, as well as medium and light. You're welcome to join it! http://www.pinterest.com/realblondehair/real-blonde-hair/

Sofialu
February 7th, 2014, 02:33 AM
Hey I made a board on pinterest called Real Blonde Hair, where I have pictures of natural blonde hair (as far as I can tell anyway). There are a lot of great pictures of dark blonde, as well as medium and light. You're welcome to join it! http://www.pinterest.com/realblondehair/real-blonde-hair/

That's very kind thank you Springlets I'd love to! :D

MissBubble
February 7th, 2014, 02:53 AM
During the last year of school, I was the only brunette girl. The rest of them had gone blonde.
Same in college, the majority were blonde. The one and only naturally blonde girl dyed it back.
Typically, we are dark haired people here, but if you go out, you will see that most of the women are blonde.

Sofialu
February 7th, 2014, 03:09 AM
I've joined! It's a great board Springlets, was exactly what I was looking for. Going through the pics I'm guessing mine will be dark ash but my roots are only 2cms long so I really can't tell for sure yet.

Sofialu
February 7th, 2014, 06:14 AM
I've managed to get a decent root photo of my hair just washed and still damp but it looks very ashy to me, hence why I've always described my natural colour as a dull grey nondescript colour! I won't be so negative now my eyes have been opened to what real blonde hair colour actually looks like.

First photo taken today

http://i907.photobucket.com/albums/ac280/reddij/Hair/image_zpsdc9ff58b.jpg (http://s907.photobucket.com/user/reddij/media/Hair/image_zpsdc9ff58b.jpg.html)

Close up of same photo

http://i907.photobucket.com/albums/ac280/reddij/Hair/image_zps06c92ef3.jpg (http://s907.photobucket.com/user/reddij/media/Hair/image_zps06c92ef3.jpg.html)

Springlets
February 7th, 2014, 08:58 PM
I've joined! It's a great board Springlets, was exactly what I was looking for. Going through the pics I'm guessing mine will be dark ash but my roots are only 2cms long so I really can't tell for sure yet.


I won't be so negative now my eyes have been opened to what real blonde hair colour actually looks like.

I'm glad you liked it! Making that board really helped me also to realize that real blonde hair is usually cream or beige colored rather than yellow. And I think all of the models look really pretty in the natural hair color, rather than bleached hair, it really complements their skin. Glad you're growing out your natural color, I'm sure it will be beautiful!

Aderyn
February 7th, 2014, 09:18 PM
I'm glad you liked it! Making that board really helped me also to realize that real blonde hair is usually cream or beige colored rather than yellow. And I think all of the models look really pretty in the natural hair color, rather than bleached hair!

Definitely. I think natural blonde hair is beautiful, any shade that it comes in. Really, any natural hair color is beautiful to me. I wish women would be more comfortable wearing natural blond hair, rather than dyeing it and I wish society in general would get over the misconceptions about blonde hair.

Blonde, as with any color of hair, is a spectrum, it's not as though it can be described by one shade. Also annoying how people assume that since blonde hair often times gets lighter over time from sun exposure and such (dark roots, lighter ends) that suddenly that person had their hair dyed. Only time I've seen someone with natural blonde comparable to that of bleach blonde hair was from one guy I knew in high school who had just moved from Hawaii.

Sharysa
February 8th, 2014, 12:44 AM
My photographer friend is naturally blonde with gorgeous curls. Sadly enough, she doesn't have the stamina for growing long hair (which means it may be either thin, fine, or just fragile/annoying due to the curls). Something about the texture and color just instantly lets you know it's natural, because it isn't a flat one-tone color like dye--her hair looks almost platinum in some lights and a darker blonde/light brunette in others, and in general her ends are much lighter than the roots.

Then I found out another classmate I've known since high school is blonde. I thought she was lighter-brunette for TWO YEARS, but suddenly someone describes her as "one of the blondes" and I just thought "WAIT, SHE'S BLONDE?! WHAAAAAAT!"

And then I realized that I don't see her outside in daytime often (and when we did, it was about five years ago), so I'd probably assumed her actual blonde color was just a trick of the light for years. XD Assumptions.

Sofialu
February 8th, 2014, 03:05 AM
I'm glad you liked it! Making that board really helped me also to realize that real blonde hair is usually cream or beige colored rather than yellow. And I think all of the models look really pretty in the natural hair color, rather than bleached hair, it really complements their skin. Glad you're growing out your natural color, I'm sure it will be beautiful!

Thank you Springlets :) It is a great board and covers a broad spectrum of blonde hair shades, I agree they all look very good with what appears to be their natural hair colour

Zindell
February 8th, 2014, 03:10 AM
Hey I made a board on pinterest called Real Blonde Hair, where I have pictures of natural blonde hair (as far as I can tell anyway). There are a lot of great pictures of dark blonde, as well as medium and light. You're welcome to join it! http://www.pinterest.com/realblondehair/real-blonde-hair/

Excellent! I love it. :)

Tini'sNewHair
February 8th, 2014, 03:22 AM
THIS, especially the bolded :)


I get what you're saying, though I don't think it annoys me, per se. All of Hollywood beauty is exaggerated: no one's skin is that smooth, no one has that many eyelashes, no one is that svelte without Spanx, etc. The bright hair colors are just part of the package. I enjoy those "stars without makeup" tabloids because you can see how very normal-looking they all are without six pounds of black eyeliner and some girdles.

DweamGoiL
February 8th, 2014, 10:22 PM
Hollywood has always been "hyper-reality", but in particular ever since Lucille Ball with her astounding red color and then Marilyn, Jane Masfield, Kim Novak, Diana Dors, Marmie Van Doren, etc. All these bottle blondes were around in the 50's and 60's. The closer to white your hair was, the sexier you were (white is associated with purity, being angelic, innocence, beauty, etc.) (red is associated with passion, lust, love, warmth, etc.). This is not a new trend. These ideas have been around for hundred of years. In fact, most brunettes were considered plain (brown has classically been associated with soil, plainness, modesty, humility, minorities, etc.). None of these associations have been very positive. This is why even some of the sexiest brunettes of all time like Sofia Loren and Jayne Russell felt they needed to go red at some point in their careers and Marilyn, who was also a brunette had to go platinum before she was able to land a movie role.

Nowadays, celebrities are always looking to up the ante and they do so much to their 'look' that I imagine they must have to dye it to add artificial shine and suppleness or they need to resort to extensions. Nothing is ever good enough in Hollywood. It must always be better. Movies are made much faster and there is a lot more competition in Hollywood than in years past. We also have all those pseudo celebrities that make a sex tape and get their 15 minutes of fame to add to the mix..

I, personally, do not care what Hollywood is up to. I don't buy beauty magazines or follow the latest trend. I don't make it my business to find out who is doing what in Hollywood, either. I don't wear designer bags to impress others or any of the other keeping up with the Joneses type of behavior people like to place value on. You can either accept to follow other people's preconceptions of who you should be or not. But, I don't feel that blondes and redheads are more pressured to alter their hair color as a general rule. What I do feel is that as of the last couple of decades, brown tones have finally been recognized as also being beautiful. There is finally a celebration of being brunette brought on by Angelina Jolie (although she is really a blonde), Catherine Zeta-Jones, Selena Gomez, Demi Moore, Lea Michele, etc. and really it's about time!

palaeoqueen
February 9th, 2014, 03:43 PM
I've managed to get a decent root photo of my hair just washed and still damp but it looks very ashy to me, hence why I've always described my natural colour as a dull grey nondescript colour! I won't be so negative now my eyes have been opened to what real blonde hair colour actually looks like.

First photo taken today

http://i907.photobucket.com/albums/ac280/reddij/Hair/image_zpsdc9ff58b.jpg (http://s907.photobucket.com/user/reddij/media/Hair/image_zpsdc9ff58b.jpg.html)

Close up of same photo

http://i907.photobucket.com/albums/ac280/reddij/Hair/image_zps06c92ef3.jpg (http://s907.photobucket.com/user/reddij/media/Hair/image_zps06c92ef3.jpg.html)

I must try and dig out some of my early growing out pictures, they're very much like this! The interesting thing I've found is that although I started out with that nondescript grey (I so know what you mean by that!) as my virgin hair grew longer it has turned into a more honey toned shade, so much that I'm not sure I'd even call it ash any more, probably neutral now. I am genuinely shocked how much it has lightened and warmed up with even just the smallest amount of sun. It's not immediately obvious but when I compare the hair at eye length with the roots there's at least half a shade difference, maybe a whole shade. I can't wait to see how light the ends will be when it gets to waist length.

I'll keep an eye out for you in the giving up dye thread and will try to remember to post some of my pictures there :)

Springlets
February 9th, 2014, 07:24 PM
But, I don't feel that blondes and redheads are more pressured to alter their hair color as a general rule. What I do feel is that as of the last couple of decades, brown tones have finally been recognized as also being beautiful. There is finally a celebration of being brunette brought on by Angelina Jolie (although she is really a blonde), Catherine Zeta-Jones, Selena Gomez, Demi Moore, Lea Michele, etc. and really it's about time!


You brought up a lot of excellent points about Hollywood, but the main reason why I included Hollywood in the subject at all is because of the way it influences all of society. I don't read beauty magazines or tv shows about celebrities either, yet every day I can go to the store or walk down the street and almost every blonde I pass by will be highlighted/dyed. At the church I attend, out of the 20 or so adult blondes I see, only one has undyed hair. And almost all are lightened to the same very light yellow blonde color. I certainly could not say the same for the brunettes I see. Although they sometimes will have highlights or dyed hair, I can see that a majority of them have natural hair. I think this is because most adult blondes have medium-dark blonde hair, which by society's standards is not considered "blonde enough." Luckily I've noticed that teenagers lately are wearing their natural color, and I think this is also influenced by Hollywood, perhaps from the ombre trend or Taylor Swift wearing her natural blonde color.

I would disagree that brunettes have always been thought of as having a plain color. In the classic books I've read which are usually from the 1800s, women with darker hair and dark eyes were considered the most beautiful. I think this was in part because women didn't wear make up back then, so women with light hair (and thus lighter eyebrows and eyelashes) tended to look less striking than darker-haired women. Methods for bleaching hair in slightly more safe methods were just being developed by the time Hollywood was beginning and as far as I've read, the main reason why platinum blonde became so desirable is because it stood out in black and white films (hence Jean Harlow became the first blonde bombshell). Although blondes and redheads may have been showcased as seductive temptresses in Hollywood, brunettes have usually been shown as smart and sophisticated, ala Audrey Hepburn, Natalie Wood, Mary Tyler Moore (all of whom I think influenced a brunette trend in the 60s). And I guess just because we have a cultural idea about 'blonde vs brunette' (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blonde_versus_brunette_rivalry) (as opposed to blonde vs redhead) at all leads me to think that brunettes have a stronger pull in society than some think.

Also, for those who would like to join my board on pinterest, the one I've recently linked to unfortunately will not be updated with new pins (because I have forgotten the e-mail I used to sign up for it-gah). The original board (which is still updated) is a secret board so if you'd like to be added to it, PM me your details and I can add you to it.

DweamGoiL
February 9th, 2014, 09:57 PM
I would disagree that brunettes have always been thought of as having a plain color. In the classic books I've read which are usually from the 1800s, women with darker hair and dark eyes were considered the most beautiful. I think this was in part because women didn't wear make up back then, so women with light hair (and thus lighter eyebrows and eyelashes) tended to look less striking than darker-haired women. Methods for bleaching hair in slightly more safe methods were just being developed by the time Hollywood was beginning and as far as I've read, the main reason why platinum blonde became so desirable is because it stood out in black and white films (hence Jean Harlow became the first blonde bombshell). Although blondes and redheads may have been showcased as seductive temptresses in Hollywood, brunettes have usually been shown as smart and sophisticated, ala Audrey Hepburn, Natalie Wood, Mary Tyler Moore (all of whom I think influenced a brunette trend in the 60s). And I guess just because we have a cultural idea about 'blonde vs brunette' (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blonde_versus_brunette_rivalry) (as opposed to blonde vs redhead) at all leads me to think that brunettes have a stronger pull in society than some think.

I thought we were concentrating on Hollywood, but yes, I think in older times, there was more of an even keel. Brunettes were considered to be the temptresses and blondes were considered to be beautiful, but innocent. Perhaps this is the actual stem of the 'dumb blonde' stereotype...not really sure. Audrey Hepburn, Natalie Wood, and Mary Tyler Moore were considered pretty, quirky, and smart. Natalie and Audrey were seen as sophisticated, but not so much Mary Tyler Moore, but this could be due to her being a comedienne. I wasn't old enough to really weigh in on that. However, the staying power of Brunette beauty wanes and waxes, but the blonde standard has stuck around much more consistently.

maborosi
February 9th, 2014, 10:09 PM
I'm fake and I like it!

Ahhh I love your color! :D

~maborosi~

Sofialu
February 10th, 2014, 02:35 AM
I must try and dig out some of my early growing out pictures, they're very much like this! The interesting thing I've found is that although I started out with that nondescript grey (I so know what you mean by that!) as my virgin hair grew longer it has turned into a more honey toned shade, so much that I'm not sure I'd even call it ash any more, probably neutral now. I am genuinely shocked how much it has lightened and warmed up with even just the smallest amount of sun. It's not immediately obvious but when I compare the hair at eye length with the roots there's at least half a shade difference, maybe a whole shade. I can't wait to see how light the ends will be when it gets to waist length.

I'll keep an eye out for you in the giving up dye thread and will try to remember to post some of my pictures there :)

I'd love to see your root/progress photos :) It's all very encouraging on this long, slow hair growing journey. How long have you been growing out your dye? Its funny you should mention that it may not be as ashy as it appears - my eyebrows are a warmer tone so maybe they are a clue of what the end result will be? (Sorry if this is a bit off subject now for this thread)

Michiru
February 16th, 2014, 11:43 AM
As I was reading this something else popped up at me. I know this post was about true blondes and reds but everyone was referring to Hollywood when they were talking about the entertainment industry. I live very close to there (like 2 miles) and believe me it's a very mixed bag. There are plenty of hispanics, asians, not dying whites and other people you would find in a city environment. I've seen a few of the plastic dolls we're just a regular city like Chicago and what not. Sorry to hijack. I do know what your talking about. It's just that now (I recently moved here) when someone refers to Hollywood I think of it as where I live, not the movie industry.

Springlets
April 3rd, 2014, 12:29 AM
Just a little something I made. :)

http://i809.photobucket.com/albums/zz17/Blaircorneliabass/Blonde1_zpsf192cd1c.jpg

Rosetta
April 3rd, 2014, 02:23 AM
^ That perfectly reflects the common view over here ;)

Nix
April 3rd, 2014, 07:00 AM
Christina Hendricks is NOT a natural redhead?! My mind is blown

Sofialu
April 3rd, 2014, 09:34 AM
[QUOTE=Springlets;2683256]Just a little something I made. :)

So true Springlets! My son has mid/dark blonde hair, my daughter has light brown hair - both aren't that different in shade but the tones of the blonde based hair to the brown based hair are completely different! You'd never say he had brown hair nor that hers is blonde.

Springlets
April 3rd, 2014, 11:28 AM
[QUOTE=Springlets;2683256]Just a little something I made. :)

So true Springlets! My son has mid/dark blonde hair, my daughter has light brown hair - both aren't that different in shade but the tones of the blonde based hair to the brown based hair are completely different! You'd never say he had brown hair nor that hers is blonde.

Yes, there is a similar difference between my brother and sister. It seems like a clear distinction to me, but others are not so eager to see.

Argh, so I posted that collage (http://9gag.com/gag/a75GbPq?ref=noti)on a supposed to be funny website, and I even changed the last picture so that it would reflect a more worldwide accepted blonde, yet the comments so far have been pretty much: "None of them are truly blonde. The bottom one is dirty blonde." :brickwall

Rosetta
April 3rd, 2014, 11:42 AM
Argh, so I posted that collage (http://9gag.com/gag/a75GbPq?ref=noti)on a supposed to be funny website, and I even changed the last picture so that it would reflect a more worldwide accepted blonde, yet the comments so far have been pretty much: "None of them are truly blonde. The bottom one is dirty blonde." :brickwall
Well, at least that includes the word "blonde" - here that last one would be called straight "light brown" :p In the above collage I mean, I'm not sure what the changed image would be called, probably dark blonde...

Springlets
April 3rd, 2014, 11:54 AM
Well, at least that includes the word "blonde" - here that last one would be called straight "light brown" :p In the above collage I mean, I'm not sure what the changed image would be called, probably dark blonde...

You're right, but the fact that they used blonde bothers me more. No one would say "dark brown hair is not truly brown hair", but you often hear that dark blonde is not a true blonde. How can it not be blonde when the word blonde is already in it?! :rolleyes:

Rosetta
April 3rd, 2014, 12:15 PM
^ So true ;)

LongHairLesbian
April 3rd, 2014, 01:37 PM
What I find slightly mind-boggling is that a surprising number of people can't tell when hair is bleached blonde, and they think it's natural. My mother's natural colour is a medium brown, and she bleaches her hair an extremely light, almost platinum colour. I am always astounded when people ask if I got my hair colour from her! My hair is probably lighter than a lot of adult natural blondes, but it is definitely NOT yellow-ish platinum; and neither is hers, not by a long shot. I think these are people who maybe don't have a lot of exposure to the "blonde spectrum", like blonde hair doesn't run in their family, because I can't see how they could believe that the bleached hair they see is natural. So when people believe that yellow-platinum hair is natural, it skews their understanding of what the natural blonde spectrum actually looks like.

Schweedie, Your hair is indisputably blonde, it's one of the lightest heads of natural hair I've seen on LHC so far. I get similar comments from my family members! The funny thing is, they are the only people who will ever say things like that; maybe it's where I live, but everyone else considers my hair to be very blonde. I think it's because they remember me when I was a towheaded child, and they remember what my hair looks like in the summer, so when winter/bad lighting rolls around they start commenting on how "brown" or "dark" my hair looks. Sure, it looks a lot darker when you compare it to the blindingly light colour it used to be/was recently... but when you compare it to actual brown hair, the difference is clear. I think there are cultural differences that affect perceptions as well; my family sees light hair all the time, and they are used to my fairly light colour, so when my hair darkens a bit, my brother calls it "almost brown now". But to people whose racial background exclusively produces really dark hair, that same "almost brown" hair looks more like the "baby blonde" towheaded colour when compared directly against their strands. Even when I separate my darkest locks of hair, the dark haired people of colour I know will call them blonde. Similarly, when I called my most recent girlfriend's hair black, she insisted that it wasn't. She said it's really dark brown, that truly black hair looks different. I could see that her hair probably wasn't jet-black, but it looked so much like it to me that I would call it black anyway. It's so fascinating how two people could see the exact same thing, and have two completely different interpretations of it.

Larki
April 3rd, 2014, 02:02 PM
I've also noticed that most people can't tell when hair is bleached vs natural. I mean, a dead giveaway is usually the shade variation, natural blonde hair has several different shades of color, as well as being lighter toward the ends and darker underneath, where the sun doesn't reach. Generally people who dye their hair blonde end up with one flat shade (at least the people I've seen!).

chen bao jun
April 4th, 2014, 12:51 PM
Well, LHL, its so rare to see any blonde that's not bleached once childhood is over that it makes it hard to people to tell when they actually see the rare natural unbleached blonde. And frankly, its not something that interests a lot of non-white people enough to pay a lot of attention. As you stated at the bottom of this quote about seeing your friends hair wasn't jet black only when she pointed it and that it looked 'close enough' to you anyway--it IS pretty much the same for us. And beyond that, honestly its confusing to us that its such an important cultural thing with so many meanings attached to it. I spent the first 15-20 years of my life among mostly people of color and though that has changed over the last thirty, I still find it bit startling that this is often such a big deal. I would just tend to think 'light hair', if I hadn't happened to have a naturally platinum blonde roomate in college and sort of lump it all together without much interest. It doesn't make people look more attractive to me, and I think a lot of people from 'brunette' or black-haired cultures feel this way. In fact, generally if I see two similar featured people and one is blonde and one is brunette, the brunette seems to me to be more attractive, probably just because its what I grew up seeing. I also usually think people look more distinguishable from each other, and usually better looking, once they quit being little kids and grow out of that fluffy headed dandelion cute little kiddy blond puppy look. I'm always startled to hear people saying how sad it is that a blond kid is not so blond anymore, because they usually look better to me after rather than before.
Because my roomate was so blonde (she was like the photo on the pinterest board someone put up, the picture that says 'natural white blond' or something like that) I can tell, ever since living with her for four years, when people are seriously bleached. Without that experience, I wouldn't be able to. Also because of living with her, I was gradually able to see how truly natural very light blonde hair can be very pretty. It wasn't one flat dull color and it matched with everything else about her. But I could never see why others would want to imitate that, because it just doesn't come out the same ever as when it is natural. Someone posted some photos recently of some actress playing Luna Lovegood in Harry Potter who was bleached to appear like the same color and she looked seriously dreadful to me and not realistic at all. I would just leave it at, its something unusual that's very rare and only looks right when a lot of factors come together, just leave it to those who naturally have it. Other people look good, too, albeit in different ways. But people will try to copy whatever society seriously admires, whether it suits them or not, I guess. And people notice things about themselves much more than other people do, because other people don't really care. I was so pleased in China that everyone noticed that my hair really is black and kept complimenting me on it, like people did when I was a child and in another culture where truly black hair is considered to be gorgeous and people definitely know the difference between that and dark brown. But people who aren't used to seeing it will never 'get' these subtle differences and really, why should they?

ETA: hair dyed black looks just as obnoxious to me personally as hair bleached unnatural platinum, both look flat, highlightless, lifeless adn somehow don't match the rest of the person. But if they like it, that's all that matters I guess.

What I find slightly mind-boggling is that a surprising number of people can't tell when hair is bleached blonde, and they think it's natural. ... Even when I separate my darkest locks of hair, the dark haired people of colour I know will call them blonde. Similarly, when I called my most recent girlfriend's hair black, she insisted that it wasn't. She said it's really dark brown, that truly black hair looks different. I could see that her hair probably wasn't jet-black, but it looked so much like it to me that I would call it black anyway. It's so fascinating how two people could see the exact same thing, and have two completely different interpretations of it.

MadeiraD
April 4th, 2014, 04:38 PM
Personally I prefer my blatant unnatural look, but to each their own

HazelBug
April 4th, 2014, 08:43 PM
For me the issue is that with all the hair dye, makeup and diets I can't tell anyone apart. Everyone looks the same.

veryhairyfairy
April 7th, 2014, 07:48 AM
I have an interesting view on this because I've never really worn my natural dark blonde hair. I've been dying since I was allowed to use hair dye at 13. (there was a brief 3-4 inch grow-out a few years ago, but I love henna too much)
But now when people ask if my henna-red is natural and I tell them I'm naturally blonde, I feel glad that they can't see much of my roots and say "Oh, that's not really blonde" etc. It's interesting to me because I'm defensive about it even when I don't have to be.

And on the red side, I got super confused when someone told me I had the same color as so-and-so, who happened to have what appears to be a pink-cherry-kool-aid manic panic color on bleached hair. I mean, seriously? It was neon!!! :lol:

I wish I could grow out my blonde and defy these weird perceptions, but I love my henna-red way too much!

veryhairyfairy
April 7th, 2014, 07:56 AM
For me the issue is that with all the hair dye, makeup and diets I can't tell anyone apart. Everyone looks the same.

Can I just say: "Amen!"
I'm all for expressing yourself however it makes you happy, but much of the time I see an expression of conformity, not identity.
It seems to me that many women feel that they have to alter their appearance in order to be 'acceptable' to society. It makes me feel bad that they don't think their own natural selves are good enough, and it creates this strange uniformity that I find both confusing (as someone with mild face-blindness) and off-putting in a sad way.

Of the Fae
April 7th, 2014, 10:58 AM
Why is natural necessarily better? :S I don't get it.
If people want to color their hair because they like a certain color more than the one they were born with then fine I think. Hair can be a way to express yourself, and with all the possibilities in the field of dyes one can try all sorts of colors!
I am a natural light blonde and I dye copper red with henna. I've never felt so much like myself :)
As long as a person alters their appearance for THEM, not for others to like them, I see no issue.

Sharysa
April 7th, 2014, 12:45 PM
She said it's really dark brown, that truly black hair looks different. I could see that her hair probably wasn't jet-black, but it looked so much like it to me that I would call it black anyway. It's so fascinating how two people could see the exact same thing, and have two completely different interpretations of it.

Oh boy, this is SO true for dark-haired cultures. I hate the problem in Western media when a fictional character is described as black-haired and then the actor who plays them ends up being, as my sister and I describe, "darkdarkdarkdark brown hair" (give or take a few "darks"). Seeing as we're Filipino and live in the Bay Area, we know what black hair looks like and that there are different types of black aside from the clichéd jet/blue-black. And the weirdest part is that nobody thinks to dye an actor's darkdarkdarkdark hair actual black, even if hair color is central to the character. It's not even a question of being too drastic a change, so it's pretty likely that Western casting directors genuinely don't see or mind the difference.

Might be similar to how "waist-length" tends to be the standard casting choice for "long hair," even if a character's hair is described or implied to be much longer; if people aren't exposed to something often, things muddle together past a certain point.

Springlets
April 8th, 2014, 12:56 AM
Why is natural necessarily better? :S I don't get it.
If people want to color their hair because they like a certain color more than the one they were born with then fine I think. Hair can be a way to express yourself, and with all the possibilities in the field of dyes one can try all sorts of colors!
I am a natural light blonde and I dye copper red with henna. I've never felt so much like myself :)
As long as a person alters their appearance for THEM, not for others to like them, I see no issue.

The problem I find is that a lot of people don't do it just for them, but because they feel the need to in order to be have an acceptable hair color. From my own experience, I can say that it sometimes feels extremely difficult to wear natural not-always-light blonde hair. There's a reason why all of my friends from when I grew up who had light blonde hair and had it darken all dye their hair now. The same hasn't been true for my brunette friends.


Oh boy, this is SO true for dark-haired cultures. I hate the problem in Western media when a fictional character is described as black-haired and then the actor who plays them ends up being, as my sister and I describe, "darkdarkdarkdark brown hair" (give or take a few "darks"). Seeing as we're Filipino and live in the Bay Area, we know what black hair looks like and that there are different types of black aside from the clichéd jet/blue-black. And the weirdest part is that nobody thinks to dye an actor's darkdarkdarkdark hair actual black, even if hair color is central to the character. It's not even a question of being too drastic a change, so it's pretty likely that Western casting directors genuinely don't see or mind the difference.

Might be similar to how "waist-length" tends to be the standard casting choice for "long hair," even if a character's hair is described or implied to be much longer; if people aren't exposed to something often, things muddle together past a certain point.

First off, hurray for living in the Bay Area (I live there too!). Second, I definitely understand the silliness of people lumping all "dark" hair into the black hair category. Of course, I would have been guilty of it too before I learned about hair color levels, but that was also the time when I couldn't distinguish between natural and dyed blonde hair. I am a little jealous though that in countries where dark hair is abundant, the people at least can distinguish properly between the colors. In places where blonde hair is more abundant, the standards for blondness is even stricter, and they basically refer to medium blonde hair as light brown. :/

I guess a good analogy would be if in these countries where dark hair is prevalent the standard for "true" brown hair was level 4 (http://img2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20120113215524/haircolor/images/1/11/Brown-hair-shades-01.jpeg) and anything below that wasn't really brown. Is it possible for someone from those countries to naturally have level 4 hair color? Yes. Does it occur often? No. So should it be the standard for brown? Nope.

Aderyn
April 8th, 2014, 01:07 AM
The problem I find is that a lot of people don't do it just for them, but because they feel the need to in order to be have an acceptable hair color. From my own experience, I can say that it sometimes feels extremely difficult to wear natural not-always-light blonde hair. There's a reason why all of my friends from when I grew up who had light blonde hair and had it darken all dye their hair now. The same hasn't been true for my brunette friends.

This is definitely true. Most natural blondes I've met haven't been too comfortable wearing their natural hair color out in public and that it's somehow "unacceptable" which is unfortunate, in my opinion. Natural blonde is a gorgeous hair color to have and I'd love to see more of it around.

It's not that dyed hair (evenly blatantly dyed hair) is inferior to the natural color (It's not - I love seeing a wide range of hair colors!), it's just sad when people feel "forced" into dying their hair. Forced is a strong word, a bit too strong, but you get the idea.

veryhairyfairy
April 8th, 2014, 04:48 AM
This is definitely true. Most natural blondes I've met haven't been too comfortable wearing their natural hair color out in public and that it's somehow "unacceptable" which is unfortunate, in my opinion. Natural blonde is a gorgeous hair color to have and I'd love to see more of it around.

It's not that dyed hair (evenly blatantly dyed hair) is inferior to the natural color (It's not - I love seeing a wide range of hair colors!), it's just sad when people feel "forced" into dying their hair. Forced is a strong word, a bit too strong, but you get the idea.

That's a great point, and I think it's the thing that irks me the most about the blonde thing. This feeling of inferiority and feeling unacceptable without alteration makes me feel bad for the people who believe it. It's one thing to alter yourself because it makes you feel beautiful (like me -I dye my hair with henna), it's quite another to have been societally (made up a word according to spell check) 'pressured' into an appearance that you feel you HAVE to have.

browneyedsusan
April 8th, 2014, 12:18 PM
Why is natural necessarily better? :S I don't get it.
If people want to color their hair because they like a certain color more than the one they were born with then fine I think. Hair can be a way to express yourself, and with all the possibilities in the field of dyes one can try all sorts of colors!
I am a natural light blonde and I dye copper red with henna. I've never felt so much like myself :)
As long as a person alters their appearance for THEM, not for others to like them, I see no issue.

Hear, hear!

My natural color is medium ash brown and gray now, but was light, bright red into my 20's. It hasn't felt right since the red went away. Henna is the best stuff in the world. (One of my girlfriends is about my age, and in the same boat. Her 3 children are flaming redheads, but she's ash brown now. I'm trying to convert her to henna! She'd love it, and it would look great with her freckles!)

Sofialu
April 8th, 2014, 02:11 PM
This is definitely true. Most natural blondes I've met haven't been too comfortable wearing their natural hair color out in public and that it's somehow "unacceptable" which is unfortunate, in my opinion. Natural blonde is a gorgeous hair color to have and I'd love to see more of it around.

It's not that dyed hair (evenly blatantly dyed hair) is inferior to the natural color (It's not - I love seeing a wide range of hair colors!), it's just sad when people feel "forced" into dying their hair. Forced is a strong word, a bit too strong, but you get the idea.

It is sad - I was made to feel I wasn't blonde enough by a teacher at the age of 14 and it was the only reason I started to dye my hair lighter. On this forum I've found so many people with a similar hair colour and so many of us dye it because of such derogatory descriptions of it, such as dirty blonde or dishcloth blonde, it's not a nice thing to say about someone's hair but sadly it seems to roll of the tongue, like it is an inferior colour and therefore acceptable to call it that. But this is why I found this thread so encouraging, it really isn't such an unacceptable hair colour to have, if you look at it from a different perspective - which is what I think Springlets is trying to show with all the photos of natural/dark blonde hair.

MadeiraD
April 8th, 2014, 02:30 PM
It's interesting my husband has a natural light honey as a kid, that darkened as he grew up. He dyed it black for years and years ad then eventually grew out the black and bleached it blonde.

You can see his natural on the roots there:
https://fbcdn-sphotos-e-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash2/t1.0-9/34790_484609252378_64068_n.jpg

There he is with the black (I cry over the loss of that natural wave);

https://fbcdn-sphotos-e-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-frc1/t1.0-9/648_44528813294_5767_n.jpg

and there it is now:
https://scontent-a-iad.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-prn1/t1.0-9/1546100_10152129176043326_315194394_n.jpg

I'm a natural brunette and I've been dying my hair darker (with occasional forays into red) for years

Sofialu
April 8th, 2014, 02:54 PM
Hear, hear!

My natural color is medium ash brown and gray now, but was light, bright red into my 20's. It hasn't felt right since the red went away. Henna is the best stuff in the world. (One of my girlfriends is about my age, and in the same boat. Her 3 children are flaming redheads, but she's ash brown now. I'm trying to convert her to henna! She'd love it, and it would look great with her freckles!)

From my own point of view this thread wasn't about natural vs dyed hair, it is about dark/dull red/blonde haired people feeling pressure to dye their hair to fit in with what society perceives a red or blonde head of hair should look like and that there is a broad spectrum of shades. I can't speak for redheads or any other hair colours but as a dark/dull blonde I definitely felt as though I needed to bleach mine so that people would instantly know what colour hair I had, rather than having to grin and bear the negative comments. Nothing wrong with dying hair at all if you like it, I never liked dying mine but felt my natural colour was so unacceptable that I didn't have much choice. Now that I'm older and have accepted that it really only matters if I'm happy with my hair colour (be it natural or dyed) I have made the choice to stop dying it and am loving my natural colour as it grows. In the future if I end up disliking my natural hair colour then I would dye it again but this time it would only be if I didn't like it and not for anybody else.

Sofialu
April 8th, 2014, 03:04 PM
It's interesting my husband has a natural light honey as a kid, that darkened as he grew up. He dyed it black for years and years ad then eventually grew out the black and bleached it blonde.

You can see his natural on the roots there:
https://fbcdn-sphotos-e-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash2/t1.0-9/34790_484609252378_64068_n.jpg

There he is with the black (I cry over the loss of that natural wave);

https://fbcdn-sphotos-e-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-frc1/t1.0-9/648_44528813294_5767_n.jpg

and there it is now:
https://scontent-a-iad.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-prn1/t1.0-9/1546100_10152129176043326_315194394_n.jpg

I'm a natural brunette and I've been dying my hair darker (with occasional forays into red) for years

Thanks for sharing these pics MadeiraD :)

blue_eyes
April 8th, 2014, 03:31 PM
The problem I find is that a lot of people don't do it just for them, but because they feel the need to in order to be have an acceptable hair color. From my own experience, I can say that it sometimes feels extremely difficult to wear natural not-always-light blonde hair. There's a reason why all of my friends from when I grew up who had light blonde hair and had it darken all dye their hair now. The same hasn't been true for my brunette friends.


This is definitely true. Most natural blondes I've met haven't been too comfortable wearing their natural hair color out in public and that it's somehow "unacceptable" which is unfortunate, in my opinion. Natural blonde is a gorgeous hair color to have and I'd love to see more of it around.

It's not that dyed hair (evenly blatantly dyed hair) is inferior to the natural color (It's not - I love seeing a wide range of hair colors!), it's just sad when people feel "forced" into dying their hair. Forced is a strong word, a bit too strong, but you get the idea.


That's a great point, and I think it's the thing that irks me the most about the blonde thing. This feeling of inferiority and feeling unacceptable without alteration makes me feel bad for the people who believe it. It's one thing to alter yourself because it makes you feel beautiful (like me -I dye my hair with henna), it's quite another to have been societally (made up a word according to spell check) 'pressured' into an appearance that you feel you HAVE to have.

Your thoughts have been really interesting to read, especially because I have always had "dirty blonde" hair and have felt that I must have light blonde hair. In high school I felt this pressure to dye my hair to a light blonde, but I was worried I'd get negative, catty comments from other girls. So, I dyed my hair dark red instead, but I still felt this need that I had to have very light blonde in order to be "beautiful". I couldn't get rid of the red dye with bleach, and it was too much to maintain since it faded so quickly. Eventually I dyed my hair dark brown/black. Now, 10 years later I'm growing out the dark dye in order to achieve healthier hair. But I still continue to feel like I need to have light blonde hair. My intention was to grow out the dye and then lighten my natural hair color...but lately I find myself asking "what is the problem with my natural color? Why can't I ever see it as beautiful?". I'm trying harder and harder to love it for what it is, but it has definitely been a struggle to change my perspective.

Springlets
April 8th, 2014, 11:34 PM
This is definitely not a thread about railing against dye. For a few months in college, I dyed my hair very dark brown, medium brown, and red all within the space of 5 months. I just did it for fun and because I wanted to see myself in a very different look.

I also realize that some people "find" themselves in a color that may be very different from their natural color and want to have that color for the rest of their life. That's fine by me too, so long as it really is an individual choice. What I have noticed for a specific group (natural blondes whose hair is darker than level 9) is that the majority tends to be dissatisfied with their natural color and feel that it doesn't suit them. I think this is because of the idea prevalent in society that the lighter blonde hair is, the prettier it is (and considered a "true" blonde). We don't seem to have similar ideas for brown hair: we have an array of light, medium, and dark brunettes in Hollywood. Even on the LHC, every few weeks it seems a new thread pops up with the title 'I hate my natural color' and 90% of the time the natural hair color turns out to be dark blonde. Most natural adult blondes have dark blonde hair, so it seems unfair to me that this color is usually seen as "not really blonde".

I posted this in the blonette thread, but here are some pictures of celebrities with their natural blonette hair rather than the bleached one we're accustomed to:

Gwyneth Paltrow
natural (http://media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/a1/6c/e6/a16ce66aa3e55ba03aa503c7aae1e064.jpg) bleached (http://media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/cb/43/41/cb43410d8e1f9e4b778cc4372690485f.jpg)

Katherine Heigl
natural (http://media-cache-cd0.pinimg.com/736x/b0/4f/ee/b04fee09192291f7c58e1845703f8917.jpg)bleached (http://media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/96/be/6b/96be6b99570d488cb103e314f883a746.jpg)

Reese Witherspoon
natural (http://media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/94/62/4a/94624adbb3c940c302ff2781c8d066ca.jpg) bleached (http://media-cache-ec0.pinimg.com/736x/3e/91/5a/3e915a10019b50e430ec6c6b3927935e.jpg)

Ingrid
April 9th, 2014, 01:33 AM
Maybe it's not that Hollywood is creating a misrepresentation of hair colours but it's trying to fit itself into the haircolour "moulds" created by society. It's probably seen as more favourable for an actress or actor to be called "blonde" rather than "dishwater blonde" so to fit with that image Hollywood tends to exaggerate and intensify the hair colour shade so that it's undoubtedly called "blonde", and for society undoubtedly blonde is somewhere near the golden-platinum range.

I don't know why in Anglo-Western societies light blonde hair (whether natural or unnatural) is supposed to be such a desirable trait. Sure, some people may prefer the look of lighter hair than darker hair, but when people lament how it's "so sad" that a child's hair has darkened from platinum blonde to a medium or dark blonde this strikes me as a strange phenomenon. Hair is hair, right? Regardless of the colour it performs a certain function in our bodies, and people shouldn't make others feel bad about whatever hair colour they have. Surely, a person's hair colour isn't their most important attribute. I've lived in other countries where being known as having blonde hair is not such a big deal.

Rosetta
April 9th, 2014, 02:00 AM
On this forum I've found so many people with a similar hair colour and so many of us dye it because of such derogatory descriptions of it, such as dirty blonde or dishcloth blonde, it's not a nice thing to say about someone's hair but sadly it seems to roll of the tongue, like it is an inferior colour and therefore acceptable to call it that.
So true - and what's worst is that I've noticed many actually do consider something like "dirty blonde" a neutral colour term... How could something so derogatory ever be neutral...? (We have similar derogatory terms over here, "dirt road coloured" being the most common.)


Even on the LHC, every few weeks it seems a new thread pops up with the title 'I hate my natural color' and 90% of the time the natural hair color turns out to be dark blonde.
Hmm, I've been here a long time and I must say I've never seen such a thread, though there are several other ones that do seem to pop up every week, for some reason ;) I remember only one (a long one), "Why don't you like your natural colour" or something like that, where many who posted indeed were natural blonettes; but no others. Though I fully agree that sentiment you describe seems to be very common, in general.

Toffeemonster
April 9th, 2014, 02:33 AM
It is sad - I was made to feel I wasn't blonde enough by a teacher at the age of 14 and it was the only reason I started to dye my hair lighter. On this forum I've found so many people with a similar hair colour and so many of us dye it because of such derogatory descriptions of it, such as dirty blonde or dishcloth blonde, it's not a nice thing to say about someone's hair but sadly it seems to roll of the tongue, like it is an inferior colour and therefore acceptable to call it that. But this is why I found this thread so encouraging, it really isn't such an unacceptable hair colour to have, if you look at it from a different perspective - which is what I think Springlets is trying to show with all the photos of natural/dark blonde hair.

Very interesting reading, I'm really surprised people take offense at the term dirty blonde! I had never thought anything of it, to me it's just the name of the colour, as I was taught it, and I'd say it without thinking twice. There were never any negative associations when I said it, I never consciously thought the hair looked dirty or it implied the person was dirty in any other way. I probably won't call it that anymore though! haha

As for the rest of this discussion. I know loads of people who were blonde as children but their hair grew out to darker blonde or light brown, and they all seem to feel a need to dye it back to light blonde. I always just figured it was hard to let go of the idea they had of themselves when they were younger. I would love to see them with their natural colour, just out of curiosity.

LongHairLesbian
April 9th, 2014, 08:20 PM
chen bao jun, you are so right about the difference between natural and dyed blonde being a subtle cultural difference, and people who aren't used to seeing it often won't be able to parse out the difference, nor should they really care. And with the proliferation of dyed blondes in hollywood who can afford to get their roots touched up every 4 weeks, it can be even harder to tell who is dyed and who isn't. My mother's hair is SO fake looking to me, but that's probably because a. I grew up with her b. I have natural blonde hair c. I grew up around a few other natural blondes. I can tell which features tend to "go" with natural blonde hair (light eyebrows/eyelashes, pale skin, wispy light baby hairs around the temples, tons of highlights, darker indoors than outdoors) and which ones don't, so I can usually spot a bottle blonde a mile away.

I think the reason being light blonde is culturally/personally important to many people is because as children, blondes are often highly praised for their light colour. Being blonde has been synonymous with being beautiful for decades within white North American culture, and you can feel like you won the genetic lottery when you have this highly praised colour naturally. When a platinum blonde child sees their hair darken with puberty, people often stop complimenting them, and even go so far as to respond negatively. "What happened to your light blonde hair?" "Oh you're not really blonde anymore" "Your hair is darker every time I see you, soon you're not going to have any blonde left!" It makes the dark blonde/light brown haired teen feel like they don't have pretty hair anymore, that their natural colour, which was once so highly praised, has become ugly and inferior. Like they won that genetic lottery, but now have to give their "winnings" back. On top of that, dark blonde/blonette hair is given nasty names like "dirty blonde" and "mousy" and "dishwater"; negative adjectives that aren't applied to any other shade of hair. I agree with you, I personally prefer the darker blonde on adults; it usually comes with a thicker, stronger, more highlighted head of hair. I would NOT exchange the hair I have now for the fluffy, white-ish, baby fine wispiness I had as a child, it just wouldn't suit me or most adults. But most people don't agree, because in white culture, the blonder the hair is, the more beautiful, feminine, and desirable the person is. It's warped, and it's why I'm glad places like LHC exist, where natural dark blonde hair gets the praise it deserves, because it is just as beautiful as any other colour.

Springlets
April 9th, 2014, 10:47 PM
So true - and what's worst is that I've noticed many actually do consider something like "dirty blonde" a neutral colour term... How could something so derogatory ever be neutral...? (We have similar derogatory terms over here, "dirt road coloured" being the most common.)


Hmm, I've been here a long time and I must say I've never seen such a thread, though there are several other ones that do seem to pop up every week, for some reason ;) I remember only one (a long one), "Why don't you like your natural colour" or something like that, where many who posted indeed were natural blonettes; but no others. Though I fully agree that sentiment you describe seems to be very common, in general.

I may be remembering a time when it just seemed like a ton of similar threads popped up within the same time. A google search helped me find the ones I was thinking of:

I hate my real color but would love to stop dyeing (http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=116408)
going back to natural but despise natural color! (http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=112425)
Coming to terms with my hair color (http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=111440)


LongHairLesbian you summed up what most people who had light blonde hair that turned darker tend to feel. In society's eyes you go from one of the highest praised colors to the least praised color. It feels like you've failed somehow to stay a light blonde, when of course it's pretty much out of your control and this process is far more common than not. But I feel there have been times when dark blonde has been more accepted, including now with the ombre trend, so I think things are looking up. :)

Larki
April 9th, 2014, 11:34 PM
Just to throw in my two cents...I've always been blonde, and it's really been cemented as part of my identity. It always throws people off, because no one else in my immediate family has blonde hair. My mom was blonde as a child, but it turned brown when she was like six. My dad was blond until high school/college age. For both of them, their hair went from blonde to a medium brown, and my brother and sister also have the same medium brown color (but were never blonde). My mom let hers go grey like ten years ago, but my blonde hair has always confused people or caught them off guard, because I don't resemble anyone in my immediate family.

I had platinum/white blonde hair until puberty, and it darkened pretty dramatically, pretty quickly. And I feel like it has been gradually getting darker year after year, and honestly that kind of freaks me out. Not necessarily because it signifies beauty, or some ideal, but because it's what sets me apart in my own family. I'm scared that my hair is eventually, maybe by 25, maybe by 30, but eventually, turn brown, just like everyone else. It's stupid.

Stormynights
April 10th, 2014, 01:11 AM
Blonde hair lightens in the sun very quickly. My hair was always lighter in the summer because I was outside more. My hair didn't darken as I aged but I spent more time indoors as I got older so less sun bleaching. If you notice a natural blonde you will see that there are many shades of blonde blended together in their hair.

Rosetta
April 10th, 2014, 02:56 AM
I may be remembering a time when it just seemed like a ton of similar threads popped up within the same time. A google search helped me find the ones I was thinking of:

I hate my real color but would love to stop dyeing (http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=116408)
going back to natural but despise natural color! (http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=112425)
Coming to terms with my hair color (http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=111440)
Ok, thanks, those were all new to me; I guess that was a time I wasn't around here much ;)

veryhairyfairy
April 10th, 2014, 04:47 AM
That was very well put, LongHairLesbian, and I think many of us dark blondes can relate.
I had a strange upbringing and I didn't get many compliments as a child. Interestingly, I distinctly remember my mom telling me that my light blonde would probably darken up like hers did. And maybe it was an effect of the fact that I didn't expect to be light blonde forever, but I've only ever dyed my hair 'true blonde' (in my youthful mind) once or twice. I could tell that I didn't look as good in the bleached out color, so my experiments headed into the manic panic colors and black.

I wonder if I'd had attention for my towheadedness as a child, would I feel the need to get back to that color? It's an interesting topic. :)

SleepyTangles
April 10th, 2014, 05:39 AM
Larki: individuality is good, no need to feel stupid. I associate myself to my own face, hair, appearance, I'd too feel destabilished If my brown hair would gradually turn lighter and lighter.

browneyedsusan
April 10th, 2014, 06:05 AM
Well-articulated, LongHairLesbian.
I felt very similar when my strawberry blonde darkened to medium ash brown in my 20's. It wasn't the darkening that bothered, but the lack of red. I struggled to embrace it for years, but ended up with a pixie so I could color it every few weeks. (Red dye never stays very long, but I dyed it other colors too!) The ashiness didn't feel right with my pale skin and smattering of freckles. Henna was a game changer. Now, I feel comfortable in my own skin again. I look in the mirror, and see myself. :)

chen bao jun
April 10th, 2014, 06:06 AM
LHL sums up something that has always bothered me in her last post. People here and in Europe do act as if someone has won the genetic lottery when their hair is light blond (whether naturally or somewhat lightened past childhood) and people are indeed VERY rude about beautiful light brown or dark blond hair. I am amazed at the stuff that just comes out of people's mouths on this subject all the time. I hear people grieving aloud around someone that their hair is getting darker, when they are the vulnerable age of twelve or thirteen; I hear people exclaiming over the blondest kid in the family while the others, equally attractive, just sit there ignored; dealing with people who have adopted Ukrainian orphans, where sexual abuse and being forced in prostitution happens to vulnerable teenage girls, I notice that there is a huge propensity to adopt the blonder little girls, because people really think they are more at risk for the abuse to the point where you would think that all Ukrainian orphans were blond (unless you saw photos in the orphanages, a lot of darker hair there, but with dark hair you get to stay an orphan--and be trafficked, because if you're vulnerable the pimps actually don't care about your hair color); it just goes on and on. It is a very strange thing that goes on in European culture. When I read that so many people up in Scandinavia, the naturally blondest place in the world, actually dye their hair because even they aren't blond enough for this crazy ideal, its just got to the point where its ridiculous. Plus honestly very hurtful.
Whatever to happened to when they used to sing songs like "I Dream of Jeanie with the Light Brown Hair?"
If this was being done to people who were not white, everybody would scream racism. And it does slide into something very close to racism actually sometimes, as in the Ukraine adoptions. And it doesn't seem so different from the thing in black culture for many years where people had to change their hair texture by abusive means and couldn't be beautiful with 'excessively' curly hair (or any curls at all, actually).

Larki
April 11th, 2014, 12:12 AM
Something that was a big confidence booster for me personally, was Disney's Tangled. Rapunzel's hair was such a gorgeous blonde, and they threw in so many different shades, and even little waves - it just looked amazing. And it helped kind of kick me out of my "I miss my platinum blonde" funk, and realize how gorgeous blonde can be, even as it gets darker. Although Rapunzel's hair kicks my butt in every category, mine could never look that beautiful.

Rosetta
April 11th, 2014, 02:43 AM
People here and in Europe do act as if someone has won the genetic lottery when their hair is light blond (whether naturally or somewhat lightened past childhood) and people are indeed VERY rude about beautiful light brown or dark blond hair. I am amazed at the stuff that just comes out of people's mouths on this subject all the time.

When I read that so many people up in Scandinavia, the naturally blondest place in the world, actually dye their hair because even they aren't blond enough for this crazy ideal, its just got to the point where its ridiculous.
Oh yeah, tell me about it!! And what's elsewhere called dark blonde or even medium blonde is considered "brown" here... :rolleyes:

But then on the other hand, dyeing one's hair black or red is also very popular here (maybe not so much in other Nordic/Scandi countries, but here in Finland it is), so it's not as if anything else than blonde isn't considered attractive. It's more as if people feel the need to fit strictly into one category of "blonde", "red" or "dark" (dark brown & black), and if you don't unquestionably fit into any of those, your hair colour is seen as being neither here nor there... :?

dancingrain91
April 11th, 2014, 07:23 AM
The only thing that ever bothers me is when magazines are discussing color choices for "natural blondes" and aim it directly at pale pinkish skinned platinum (cool toned I guess) blonde. Maybe that's more common in other places but I'm peachy pale and yellow haired. They give variety with brunettes but blondes and redheads just get a little snippet which is more often than not aimed at people who dye their hair those colors than naturally born people or it just fits one stereotypical blonde or red haired look. I know natural blondes and redheads with lots of skin and eye color variety and it seems frustrating that there is nearly no information on certain color combinations. Also, the tanning industry. Many natural redheads and blondes I know fall into the vampire pale skin group so screw you Hollywood and your unattainable looks. I could not get that tan in my dizziest daydreams.

Larki
April 11th, 2014, 08:54 AM
The only thing that ever bothers me is when magazines are discussing color choices for "natural blondes" and aim it directly at pale pinkish skinned platinum (cool toned I guess) blonde. Maybe that's more common in other places but I'm peachy pale and yellow haired. They give variety with brunettes but blondes and redheads just get a little snippet which is more often than not aimed at people who dye their hair those colors than naturally born people or it just fits one stereotypical blonde or red haired look. I know natural blondes and redheads with lots of skin and eye color variety and it seems frustrating that there is nearly no information on certain color combinations. Also, the tanning industry. Many natural redheads and blondes I know fall into the vampire pale skin group so screw you Hollywood and your unattainable looks. I could not get that tan in my dizziest daydreams.
Haha yes! I'm actually part Native American, and even that doesn't help me tan. I go about one shade darker in the summer, and my hair gets one shade lighter. I don't burn particularly easily - at least, I don't get bad sunburns. Just redness and slightly itchy skin. ;)

chen bao jun
April 11th, 2014, 10:42 AM
Be glad you can't get that tan. You will not have wrinkles as early as your friends who are tanning.
My plat blonde (naturally) roomate is now 57 and has very few, teeny little wrinkles, almost as few as I do (and I have the advantage of olive toned skin). She could never do even a bit of sun. The ones who were out in the sun in our youth were already looking wrinkled at our college reunions when we were in our 30's, which shocked me a lot.
You need some sun for vitamin D but actually tanning definitely causes these premature wrinkles that most people have. Look at photos of back in the 1800's. Under those sunbonnets, those 50 year old women don't have wrinkles yet. Once I saw a photo of a plains Indian woman who had always been out in the sun and her skin looked like--well I can't even describe it. Lots and lots of wrinkles. And she was darker than I am so would have had some melanin protection. they compared her to a fair skinned buddhist monk of 80 years who had never toasted himself out in the sun, he had no wrinkles at all.
Genetics have something to do with early wrinkles but staying out of the sun during the day, drinking lots of H20, no caffeine (sorry ladies) and getting enough rest, plus applying some natural oil to skin that is still slightly damp after being washed at night (pat a little with a towel, definitely don't scrub) will keep anyone of whatever complexion unwrinkled into their fifties at least, I really believe. Satin pillowcases also help. And do get some aerobic exercise.
ETA: And there is nothing wrong with being fair skinned. Fair skin is often very beautiful and I love to see beautiful peaches and cream complexions, ivory skin, skin that is really 'as white as cream' as much as I love to see naturally golden skin, bronze skin, chocolate colored skin or smooth ebony skin. Our creator really had fun creating this lovely variety in humans, I do believe.

Rosetta
April 11th, 2014, 10:55 AM
Genetics have something to do with early wrinkles but staying out of the sun during the day, drinking lots of H20, no caffeine (sorry ladies) and getting enough rest, plus applying some natural oil to skin that is still slightly damp after being washed at night (pat a little with a towel, definitely don't scrub) will keep anyone of whatever complexion unwrinkled into their fifties at least, I really believe.
Why would caffeine cause wrinkles..? If anything it speeds metabolism. I drink plenty of it daily and have no wrinkles as yet, though most women in my age have... I think this is just one of those myths people start to believe in after they're repeated enough.
(And funny how this thread went from hair colour to wrinkles ;))

mcgg417
November 3rd, 2015, 10:21 PM
https://www.google.com/search?q=light+brown+hair&espv=2&biw=1366&bih=667&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0CAYQ_AUoAWoVChMIifqJkoL2yAIVwjwmCh22VwKm

I agree total misrepresentation. When I type in light brown hair, I get medium ash blonde, honey blonde, dark blonde, dirty blonde mostly, yet these are all associated with being brunette in hollywood.

Like it drives me crazy. How can hollywood classify this hair color as brunette when it is clearly an ashy-yellow color, albeit a dark one. between medium ash blonde and dark ash blonde. ARGH! https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/236x/a8/84/5b/a8845bf9e99e5130923678ede657043e.jpg

ebaviisakas
November 4th, 2015, 12:13 AM
I have naturally dark blonde/light brow hair depending on the light and I started colouring my hair as an early teenager because I thought my hair was ugly. I was never a super light blonde even as a child. I am from a country where it is the most common hair colour and it is referred to as potato colour hair. Women will often say things like "Oh yeah, my potato colored hair was just so dull and horrible" etc etc. It does get to me.. Its funny because it is the most common hair colour but among young women you are just as likely to see black and white blonde hair as the dark blonde hair. I have nothing against dyeing as I did it myself for years, but it is just so odd.

Ingrid
November 4th, 2015, 12:30 AM
I'm growing out red dye, after dyeing for years because I was convinced my hair colour was dull. And now the weird thing is that even though it's the most typical natural hair colour for someone of Nordic origin, I stick out like a sore thumb! Literally, there's nobody my age which has their natural colour. They either bleach to platinum, or dye it black, or sometimes red. What a strange experience.

I don't know, personally I feel like Tangled just reinforces the typology. Plus you never see a Disneyland Rapunzel with short brown hair.

ebaviisakas
November 4th, 2015, 12:41 AM
I'm growing out red dye, after dyeing for years because I was convinced my hair colour was dull. And now the weird thing is that even though it's the most typical natural hair colour for someone of Nordic origin, I stick out like a sore thumb! Literally, there's nobody my age which has their natural colour. They either bleach to platinum, or dye it black, or sometimes red. What a strange experience.

I don't know, personally I feel like Tangled just reinforces the typology. Plus you never see a Disneyland Rapunzel with short brown hair.

Do people consider the dark blonde, blonde where you are from? I am from estonia and I feel like abroad people call that hair colour blonde, but back in Estonia it is called brown.

Estrid
November 4th, 2015, 01:15 AM
Hah, I've thought of this too. I'm not sure if I blame hollywood, but I suppose the movies and magazines might affect people. Many here bleach their hair, white and light blonde hair is not called light blonde or white, is is only called blonde. Some people here will say that my hair colour is light brown (brother included, I'm medium blonde). I myself would call my hair light brown/dark blonde because I was confused by these things. Since some years back I know I'm not a brunette x) It is a bit silly, sure made me feel stupid.


/Margo

Ingrid
November 4th, 2015, 01:58 AM
Do people consider the dark blonde, blonde where you are from? I am from estonia and I feel like abroad people call that hair colour blonde, but back in Estonia it is called brown.

There's a separate word for this hair colour but when I try to translate it into English it just says "blonde". Only white-blonde or yellow-blonde is considered blonde. My hair would probably be called brown by most people, even though it's completely ash with no warm tones whatsover. My mum even says sometimes that I have "black" hair :lol:

mcgg417
November 4th, 2015, 08:48 AM
Hah, I've thought of this too. I'm not sure if I blame hollywood, but I suppose the movies and magazines might affect people. Many here bleach their hair, white and light blonde hair is not called light blonde or white, is is only called blonde. Some people here will say that my hair colour is light brown (brother included, I'm medium blonde). I myself would call my hair light brown/dark blonde because I was confused by these things. Since some years back I know I'm not a brunette x) It is a bit silly, sure made me feel stupid.


/Margo

Estrid I can definitely see how if you are in a region where level 7 and level 8 predominate hair color perception would not be attributed to Hollywood. I am talking about how in New York City where the most common colors are level 1, 2, 3 that in everyday life Level 6 and 7 are absolutely blonde some even call level 5 blonde but that same exact person will look at celebrities with level 7 or even level 7.5 hair and call it brown. It is very very unusual.


There's a separate word for this hair colour but when I try to translate it into English it just says "blonde". Only white-blonde or yellow-blonde is considered blonde. My hair would probably be called brown by most people, even though it's completely ash with no warm tones whatsover. My mum even says sometimes that I have "black" hair

Ingrid I definitely see how confusion can arise between different languages. My friend from Hong Kong once told me that the meaning of red hair in china has everything to do with undertones so when one says red or brown they still refer to dark hair but are distinguishing undertones.