Undyed hair: how much of a difference is there between your ends and roots?

[Larki]

Someone posted a photo of their hair in the photo thread a few days ago, and I thought it was so cool that their ends were reddish but their roots were ashy brown! So I was inspired, because my ends are drastically different from my roots after years of sun and chlorine exposure, although it's difficult to see both in photos and in person unless my hair is in a style where the ends are directly next to the roots. I took a few photos and WOW, big difference! And yet in length photos and in person/in the mirror, my hair looks all the same color, there's little noticeable variation from the roots to the ends.

My hair is waist length so it was difficult to get the very ends to sit on the top properly for a picture, the section of hair I was holding kept slipping forward!

http://i60.tinypic.com/119qg44.jpg

My hair's entire length:

http://i58.tinypic.com/2eek60i.jpg

[MungoMania]

Makes a pretty hairband!

[inanna]

Ooh, I think it might have been me who inspired you! What a great picture. :)

I know that a lot of LHCers will look at this and shudder, because essentially the pretty colour change is due to damage, but I have to admit I quite like the effect. My roots are at their ashiest this time of year, because the winter around here is dark and long so my hair (like the rest of me) hasn't seen sunlight for months. :lol: Looking at my ends has actually made me think about trying cassia to maybe boost the gold/red tones a bit.

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-2fxUD2XA494/U2yzQNkffWI/AAAAAAAAAU0/_cu5nvrY5sQ/s400/roots_vs_ends.jpg

[Tota]

My colour change must be due to sunlight although I'm not on the sun a lot. I do like the effect and I wish my roots would be a bit lighter or at least less ashy. My haircolour at the roots is something that we call "mouse-grey" here and I'm happy that it changes while growing! But I am often asked if I dye my hair and I swear I haven't dyed it in the last five years.

http://i1298.photobucket.com/albums/ag52/daubelj/IMG_3989_zps8476eecb.jpg (http://s1298.photobucket.com/user/daubelj/media/IMG_3989_zps8476eecb.jpg.html)

[Rosa Harris]

Mine is henna'd now but natural it is jet black roots for about the first 4 or 5 inches with more and more white streaks closer to the scalp fading to mouse-ass brown with no white. I despise the fadeout because of the color it goes to.

[Simone_Fatale]

My ends (now between collarbone and APL) are one or two shades lighter than my roots, roots being dark brown - almost black while the ends are medium reddish brown. I can't say I love the effect but it's just how my hair is and I made peace with it :)

[arelrios]

My ends are brownish red and my roots very dark (almost black) ... and nope, I don't like it... I know there is nothing I can do, but I would love to have my hair all the same color/tone.... but ... nothing to do...

[panffle]

Oops sorry, mispost.

[LongHairLesbian]

My roots are about a level 8 blonde, and my ends are... closer to level 9? Some pieces are even a level 10. I don't mind the colour change, and it's not really noticeable to me most of the time anyway.

[hypersensitive]

Not as big a difference as I thought.

http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f305/silverstardust/rootsandends_zps0bf88d4e.jpg

[neko_kawaii]

I love my sun bleached ends! The difference came out really nicely in a recent picture. I didn't realize the ends had not been tucked in properly, but I really like the effect here.
http://i1247.photobucket.com/albums/gg632/neko_kawaii_hair/spiral_zpsff957bd6.jpg

[noludoru]

I have brown roots and red/blonde ends. It's weird.

[trolleypup]

Not as big a difference as I thought.
http://www.trolleypup.info/lhc/140514-175228-BackPorch-E-med.jpg
Now that I keep it up and covered more, the sun bleaching is much less, but still, yeah, (part) asian hair color.

[Jumper]

I've had ends so sunbleached that I dyed my whole head as close to my natural color as I could find in the store. That was awhile ago the last time I had to do that. I have gotten a tiny bit better about it. My solution was to not wear my helmet as much when I ride the horses (hair in a low pony/braid the ends get really sunbleached while the roots get no sun that way) but that's actually NOT a very smart plan for less of a difference.

[Larki]

I've had ends so sunbleached that I dyed my whole head as close to my natural color as I could find in the store. That was awhile ago the last time I had to do that. I have gotten a tiny bit better about it. My solution was to not wear my helmet as much when I ride the horses (hair in a low pony/braid the ends get really sunbleached while the roots get no sun that way) but that's actually NOT a very smart plan for less of a difference.
It's really difficult to prevent. You basically have to put all of your hair under a hat somehow, which is basically impossible with long hair, or not cover your hair at all and live with it.

[hypersensitive]

http://www.trolleypup.info/lhc/140514-175228-BackPorch-E-med.jpg
Now that I keep it up and covered more, the sun bleaching is much less, but still, yeah, (part) asian hair color.

Interesting. It must be because we have so much pigment in our strands. I also protect the ends under a bun most of the time.

[inanna]

Jumper, maybe instead of not wearing a helmet you could try wearing a crown braid under it? At least on my hair, if I French braid it a crown braid lies fairly flat and might well fit under a helmet. Or you could always wrap a folded braid in ribbon, don't they do that for horses sometimes? :D

I'm loving all the pictures! Natural variation looks so pretty to me, I remember fussing over getting all my hair the exact same colour back when I was using synthetic dyes but now I enjoy the fact that I have all sorts of colours and textures going on in different parts of my hair. :)

[pri108]

wow you all have beautiful healthy hair!

My hair is also the same although i can't swim and i never go out in the sun and i have not coloured my hair in 5 years so don't know why the colour differs from root to the end?

[rigato]

I dye so often my hair that I don't have my natural color and it all looks the same :D

[TrapperCreekD]

Ooh, I wish this thread had been around a few weeks ago, before I lightened my ends. Now I'm curious!

[Lucky_Lucy]

http://www.trolleypup.info/lhc/140514-175228-BackPorch-E-med.jpg
Now that I keep it up and covered more, the sun bleaching is much less, but still, yeah, (part) asian hair color.


Interesting. It must be because we have so much pigment in our strands. I also protect the ends under a bun most of the time.

^Me too. I don't have a picture because I dyed the lower half of my hair, but I remember it used to be exactly like yours(or actually, I think the ends were even darker...); I kept reading about sun bleaching and how your ends might turn out lighter, but for me it never really happened, I was really jealous of my friend who had chocolatey brown hair, even though her roots were darker.

[Lippytoes]

I love the difference in colour between my ends and roots. My roots are pretty dark brown, but my hair lightens to auburn at the ends. I have red tones in my hair in general, so they intensify at the ends. I really love the two-tone effect when I wrap my braids around my head. :)

Will have to take a pic in the sunlight at some point!

[DarkSunny]

My hair definitely gets lighter at the ends during summertime. Here's two not so new pictures that kind of show it.

The second picture makes my hair look a bit brassier than it is in real life, but shows the contrast between the newer hair at the top and some of the older bottom bits in the bun pretty well.

http://i293.photobucket.com/albums/mm52/darkenedsun9/4572f96b-3a8b-468f-a5c7-62f61c549cfc_zps9b30d171.jpg

http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=8340&d=1387738747

[Wosie]

http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=11016&d=1400405789

Thought I could give this a try, too. :) I never put up my hair in the past, and the sun bleached hair is ~two years old... It won't be that much of a difference between the colours later on, I hope, with better care.

[Miss_Green]

I find that my hair is mostly the same colour from roots to ends, but the difference between the top layers and those at the nape of my neck is pretty striking - from light ash brown to a darker brunette colour. Does anyone else find this?

P.S. Lippytoes, love the sound of your contrasting braids and roots!

[Larki]

I find that my hair is mostly the same colour from roots to ends, but the difference between the top layers and those at the nape of my neck is pretty striking - from light ash brown to a darker brunette colour. Does anyone else find this?

I have this as well as the difference between the roots and ends.

[ashke50]

I have this as well as the difference between the roots and ends.

Me too!

Here is the difference between my ends and my roots:
http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=11064&d=1400702645 (http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/album.php?albumid=11558&attachmentid=11064)

And here is a photo showing some of the variation within hair of the same length:
http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=10897&d=1399935248 (http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/album.php?albumid=11317&attachmentid=10897)

[EdG]

My ends used to be a lot lighter than my roots, but about five years ago, I cut down on sun exposure. Today, the ends are not very different.
Ed