The "my hair is definitely a medium shade of brown" thread

[Tangles]

This is the thread for those of you whose hair is nowhere near blonde, red, or black... in other words, those whose hair falls somewhere in the "medium brown" spectrum. Let's come together and share our frustrations as well as our pride!

You can share information like:
-the exact natural shade of your hair
-whether you are happy with your natural color
-whether you've ever hennaed and if you liked the results
-whether you have experimented with natural ways of altering your hair color (ie honey, tea rinses)
-what you think the pros/cons of this color range are

This should be interesting as I believe there are a lot of us :D

[Tangles]

Oh, I'll start.

-My hair is on the dark end of medium brown, with natural copper highlights and a few blonde highlights
-I'm currently tired of the red tones and want to neutralize them/darken my hair slightly
-I tried henndigo (LUSH, Rainbow) and got very short lived results and it dried my hair out
-I haven't gotten darkening from red raspberry leaf and sage tea rinses but they do make my hair shinier.

-Pros of this color: you have richness and depth but also natural highlights and warmth
-Cons of this color: ends can look very dry and brassy

[AmyJorgensen]

I think I qualify. I always call my hair indecisive. It is mostly medium brown but it has a lot of red and blond too. I have never messed with the color (other than one time a 5 shampoos rinse out) because I don't want to keep coloring it....now, if I could genetically change it to just grow red, I'd do it.

[Tangles]

Well, your hair is a lot lighter than mine but if the siggy pic (not the avatar) is an indicator then I would put it at the light end of medium brown, perhaps.

Mine is strange in that it sometimes looks very dark but it's not dark enough to be in the brownish-black range, mostly because of the many natural highlights I have.

Have you tried henna? In my experience it's so easy to gain red tones with henna glosses and such, yet so much harder to darken. So you're lucky in that sense.

[enfys]

-the exact natural shade of your hair
I call it "Labrador Brown" since it is the exact same shade as my MIL's dog. I was stroking her and my ponytail slipped onto her coat and blended right in. Good job I'm a dog lover!

-whether you are happy with your natural color
Yeah, it's easy to blend in with the crowd if I'm legging it from a Terminator.

-whether you've ever hennaed and if you liked the results
Nope, too permanent, too scared.

-whether you have experimented with natural ways of altering your hair color (ie honey, tea rinses)
Nope, the smell of honey makes me queasy and I'm too British to waste tea!

-what you think the pros/cons of this color range are
Pros:
I've never clashed with anything ever
It's not attention seeking
I don't worry about chlorine giving me green hair
It has lots of natural highlights

Cons:
It's not attention seeking
Everyone has my colour hair (but they dye over it, so I suppose they don't)
I can't dye it fun wash out colours because it's too dark to show

[Longlocks3]

My hair is on the darker end of brown but not anywhere near black.

I've never used any dyes, or anything to change the coloring, 100% natural.

I love the warmth of brown hair.
I hate that the ends of my hair look reddish in the sun.

[Pixna]

-the exact natural shade of your hair:
I call it caramel brown. Right now, though, it is streaked with silvers (au naturel), which I never thought looked that good in brown hair, but I'm kinda happy with them, to my surprise.

-whether you are happy with your natural color
Well, I've always wanted to be a redhead. Ah well. I guess I've thought of my brown hair as kind of mousy or boring -- just too common. I'd love to wave a magic wand and change the color (either all silver or pure red), but I don't want to use any products to do so.

-whether you've ever hennaed and if you liked the results
I hennaed my hair eons ago (and I do mean eons -- over 30 years ago). At the time, I liked it a lot, but it was incredibly messy and quite a pain. So many more products have come out since then. Back in the day, there weren't a lot of shade options. I just used the herb.

-whether you have experimented with natural ways of altering your hair color (ie honey, tea rinses)
Other than my henna experiment back in my youth (oh, and that ridiculous, one-time peroxide experiment in college), nope.

-what you think the pros/cons of this color range are
The pros are that brown has a huge range of variations, so it can be very light to very dark and rich looking. Lots of hair toys look good in brown hair. The cons are that we are so common. I feel like I blend into the background a lot because of that. I guess I just don't feel that brown hair is very exciting (at least not on me) -- kind of blah. On the other hand, if someone doesn't want to be the center of attention, brown hair is the way to go! :D

[jera]

My hair is chestnut brown and I love the color. It shines like a prism in the sunlight casting tones of oranges, ambers, and even purples. :) As a kid, I always envied and wanted to be a blonde. It took awhile for me to mature into liking my natural color, but I'm so glad I do. :p

[ClareDee]

Go Medium Brown! I fit in here too... I'd describe mine as mid-brown with red and light coppery hints. Sometimes I think it looks almost chestnut.

I'm quite happy with it, although I wasn't always.
Years ago I dyed it dark-red, and dark brown (chemical dyes). Somehow neither worked. The red didn't look natural on me (and it personally annoyed me to have hair and eyebrows different colours), and the dark brown covered all natural highlights and made my colour look very flat.

I haven't tried henna. I don't think the colour would look good on me, and I no longer want to commit to any permanent all-over dyes. The only thing I'd consider is a few subtle blonde highlights to give my natural colour a lift.

A Pro, for me, is that my eyes are also mid-brown and almost the same colour as my hair. That's not much of a pro, I know, but I at least feel like I have a theme going :p
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v139/frogmella/haireyes.jpg

A slight Con is that I find it hard to get a dramatic colour contrast in terms of hairtoys... Of course plenty of colours go fine with my hair, but I envy the more 'definite' hair colours because they seem to contrast so well with certain colours. Red hair looks really good with green; blonde hair looks perfect with blue; dark brown and black looks great with bright reds, turquoise, colours that 'pop'.
What does mid-brown look great with? I don't find it easy to think up the perfect colours for my hair, especially since it sometimes looks ashy or coppery, depending on the light.

[GeoJ]

-the exact natural shade of your hair
Currently my natural shade is medium brown with a slight cool tone and blondish highlights with two white hairs. In some lighting my hair looks dark brown.

-whether you are happy with your natural color
Well, it used to be a little warmer with copper and reddish highlights. I miss that, but I have realized that it has been slowly changing over the years, and thus have come to accept it.

-whether you've ever hennaed and if you liked the results
I did henna twice last year. I liked the red tones, but I don't like keeping up with touching up new growth to match (so I no longer use henna).

-whether you have experimented with natural ways of altering your hair color (ie honey, tea rinses)
No. I am trying cassia now for shine, and catnip tea for split ends, but nothing deliberately for color.

-what you think the pros/cons of this color range are
For me a pro is that it doesn't clash with any colors I like to wear and it suits my skintone. I can't think of any cons. Overall I am happy with my haircolor (note that as a teenager I wanted it different, either blond or red).

:)

[enfys]

Clare, one of my favourite colour combos is brown and orange. It helps if you have a wardrobe from the 70s like me, but we can do autumnal shades really well. Olive green will bring out any red in your hair.

[Furiana]

A slight Con is that I find it hard to get a dramatic colour contrast in terms of hairtoys... Of course plenty of colours go fine with my hair, but I envy the more 'definite' hair colours because they seem to contrast so well with certain colours. Red hair looks really good with green; blonde hair looks perfect with blue; dark brown and black looks great with bright reds, turquoise, colours that 'pop'.
What does mid-brown look great with? I don't find it easy to think up the perfect colours for my hair, especially since it sometimes looks ashy or coppery, depending on the light.

Pink! Light pink is the magical color for me. :D White or ivory also look really nice, as can other pastel colors.

... IMHO, of course. They provide a contrast that medium and dark color don't! :p

[girlcat36]

My hair is just plain old brown. Nothing special. Very boring. It turns golden on the ends in the summer if I'm in the sun too much.

[ClareDee]

Clare, one of my favourite colour combos is brown and orange. It helps if you have a wardrobe from the 70s like me, but we can do autumnal shades really well. Olive green will bring out any red in your hair.


Pink! Light pink is the magical color for me. :D White or ivory also look really nice, as can other pastel colors.

... IMHO, of course. They provide a contrast that medium and dark color don't! :p

Thanks for the suggestions ;) I do like lots of natural colours, like moss/olive green. And Autumn colours do work, actually... (excuse the messy bun and earphones):
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v139/frogmella/pinoakleafhair.jpg

I'm not too sure about pink for my hair, because of all my red undertones. I do love pink with brown in general though. And I have a soft spot for pink even if it doesn't suit ;)

[Arctic]

Me, me!!! I have ashy medium brown hair, it was a bit lighter ashy brown when I was a kid. I started dyeing at 13 and am now growing out my henna. I haven't seen my natural colour in a looong time and I want to, before I start greying. I have never been happy with the colour but decided it's about time to learn to like it now. So far so good!

[deko]

-the exact natural shade of your hair
My natural shade is about 7.03, light golden medium blonde

-whether you are happy with your natural color
I'm not happy with it and because I've colored it many years I'm not used to it.

-whether you've ever hennaed and if you liked the results
I have hennaed many years. I tried blonde, trien my natural color and returned to henna. I love to be a redhead!

-whether you have experimented with natural ways of altering your hair color (ie honey, tea rinses)
No I haven't.

-what you think the pros/cons of this color range are
If I didn't use henna it would be kind of easy to change color to darker or to lighter tone, but with henna I can only go deeper red or maintain. Or add indigo and turn very dark.

[Arctic]

My hair is chestnut brown and I love the color. It shines like a prism in the sunlight casting tones of oranges, ambers, and even purples.*snip*


Thank you for saying this so poetically, I love, LOVE! your description!

[Cinnamon Hair]

-the exact natural shade of your hair
-whether you are happy with your natural color
-whether you've ever hennaed and if you liked the results
-whether you have experimented with natural ways of altering your hair color (ie honey, tea rinses)
-what you think the pros/cons of this color range are

I'm a brownie!
I am very happy with my color, although I do like the look of black and blonde hair, but for me it would be too much hassle to dye. Never hennaed or altered color intentionally in any way. It does develop blond-ish highlights in the sun though. I would call my color a warm golden brown. It is definitely brown, but there are areas, including a large one at my nape of blonde chunks. Looking at the highlights in comparison to the bulk of my hair they are blonde, but the color is really more of a light brown/dirty blonde. The pro of having my color is it has lots of shade variation. The con is that brown hair is very common.

Here is a color accurate photo
http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/picture.php?albumid=266&pictureid=13048

[Silver Strands]

Hard to follow CinnamonHair's gorgeous hair,

I would say my shade is: Walnut
I bought some walnut Ketylo's recently and they matched perfectly so that's my new shade name. I do have some silver strands and my hair will golden out in the sun and also show some reddish tones.

I used Rainbow "lt. and med. brown" henna to try and match my silvers to my natural color. It worked at first but in the end, I cut a lot off to get rid of the red.

Pros: I love brown hair. It has so many shades and highlights.
I love the color brown period.

Cons: I can't think of any. Maybe the fact that I lost over 2 years of growing due to trying to cover my grays.

[Furiana]

I guess I can get away with pink because my shade of brown is more neutral. :) To wit:

My natural shade is this color indoors (first three = natural light; last = flash):
http://i41.tinypic.com/20miq9.jpg
(http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/album.php?albumid=2963&pictureid=39283)


And these colors in sunlight:
http://i44.tinypic.com/2rzswtx.jpg (http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/album.php?albumid=2963&pictureid=39282)


Also, the pink color I'm talking about:
http://i41.tinypic.com/2u8i0z8.jpg

[Heidi_234]

I dislike my natural ashy mousy dull brown color. I love henna. Henna saved my hair, henna makes it shiny!
http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/picture.php?albumid=2075&pictureid=36954

[Tangles]

My hair is on the darker end of brown but not anywhere near black.

I've never used any dyes, or anything to change the coloring, 100% natural.

I love the warmth of brown hair.
I hate that the ends of my hair look reddish in the sun.

I think we are pretty much color twins :)

[Pixna]

Furiana, that is such a cool compilation of your colors!!! I hadn't thought about how my hair changes when I posted my prior answer, but you make a wonderful statement about the beauty of brown hair. If you take a look at my album, you'll see that in sunlight my hair looks very light and golden, and if you look at the indoor shot (my "after" pic), you'll see how dark it looks. Of course, that was taken in poor lighting in a hallway and the "before" shot was in direct sunlight, but the difference is startling (enough that some people here have asked me if I colored it!).

[Tangles]

A Pro, for me, is that my eyes are also mid-brown and almost the same colour as my hair. That's not much of a pro, I know, but I at least feel like I have a theme going :p
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v139/frogmella/haireyes.jpg

A slight Con is that I find it hard to get a dramatic colour contrast in terms of hairtoys... Of course plenty of colours go fine with my hair, but I envy the more 'definite' hair colours because they seem to contrast so well with certain colours. Red hair looks really good with green; blonde hair looks perfect with blue; dark brown and black looks great with bright reds, turquoise, colours that 'pop'.
What does mid-brown look great with? I don't find it easy to think up the perfect colours for my hair, especially since it sometimes looks ashy or coppery, depending on the light.

ClareDee, I like how your eyes and hair match! It's very cute.

My hair is darker than yours but I think brown hair looks great with light colors (light blue, light pink, light green) or very dark colors (black, dark blue) and also gold. I don't really like red or brown in my hair or in clothes, but other than that it's pretty open IMO.

[Tangles]

I wish I could use BAQ henna too, but alas, my skin does not look good with red. Rainbow just made my hair look flat and dry and faded out too quick.

Anyone here tried honey lightening?

[Tangles]

Enfys, I love your hair color. Mine was like that when I was a little kid, more golden brown.

[sneakybea]

I'll play!
The exact shade of my hair is, I guess, a medium ash brown. My mother is always commenting on how dark it is, but I don't consider it dark. It might be darker than it used to be because I wear it up and protect it from the sun.
This color is the exact natural shade of my hair, because I have never done anything to its color, other than spray on dyes for Halloween and such.
I'll admit it, I'm not crazy about my natural color, but there are a couple of things I like about it. I like the contrast between my brown hair, fair skin, and dark blue eyes. I love red hair, and I wish I had some red highlights, but I really like wearing the cool colors that are most flattering to my natural coloring. As I get more silvers, I also think they are unobtrusive and even flattering to ash brown hair.

[enfys]

Enfys, I love your hair color. Mine was like that when I was a little kid, more golden brown.

Thanks :D Labrador Brown is asafe colour, and with a bit of sunlight it gets a lot lighter. That used to annoy me, but I save a fortune in highlights!

[Furiana]

I dislike my natural ashy mousy dull brown color. I love henna. Henna saved my hair, henna makes it shiny!

See, I *like* ashy mousy dull brown colors. They look sooo sooooft! :cloud9: While I see why you love the henna red, I'll save it for my hairtoys. :p

Pixna - Thank you! :D I just didn't want to describe it in words. Everyone has different ideas about what colors look like, you know?

Speaking of colors, I've seen those photos before! I thought you used to bleach your hair! :shocked:

ETA: sneakybea, I LOVE your hair color! Medium-dark brown is my all-time favorite! (Yes, I like it better than red or gold. ;) ) :inlove:

[viking_quest]

I'm definitely a medium brown.

-the exact natural shade of your hair
I can't really describe the colour or if it's warm, cool, whatever, but I do have natural red highlights and the ends of my hair are red (from natural lightening from the sun). I have a colour accurate picture of it though.
http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c297/treequeenwiser/cousinit2.png
-whether you are happy with your natural color
I am most of the time but sometimes I really wish I was red (but I can't for a variety of reasons)
-whether you've ever hennaed and if you liked the results
I did several henna strands. One turned into a dark blonde, which was nice but not what I was going for. One did not take the henna at all (not sure why), and the last one was this ugly colour that looked horrible.
-whether you have experimented with natural ways of altering your hair color (ie honey, tea rinses)
I have not but I think I'm going to do a honey treatment in summer.

[Sarahmoon]

- I usually describe it as "medium golden brown" though not sure how others would describe it. It's darker near the scalp than near the ends because of some sun bleaching in the past. It can look dark brown on pictures (especially when you don't see the ends of my hair) and one of my house mates thinks it's dark blonde with some red... but I think she's colour blind :?

- I'm happy with it though I sometimes wish it was darker. Would be nice if the ends weren't so much lighter than the scalp.

- Never hennaed. I've thought about it (especially after discovering some white/grey hairs :cry:) but my bf is one of those rare people who considers red hair the least attractive colour and he really likes brown so ehm... I know you're also supposed to do it for yourself but hmmm.

- I've done honey for shine but quit it immediately when discovering on this website that it can bleach hair... I've done tea rinses but I think I'm not doing that frequently enough to notice any result.

- Pros: looks nice, warm and natural and looks different in different lighting. Cons: I don't really like the colour difference between scalp and ends.

[Teacherbear]

My hair (on a hair board) was once described as something like "antique banister brown". It sounds romantic, but it is still brown. I have grey (2 streaks in the front) and a touch of red, but not enough to every be called "red." When I was young, my hair was golden brown. I love that color, but I don't think I could ever reproduce it.

I have tried level I hair dye a few times, but nothing looked good (or looked natural). Otherwise, I have never done or used anything to alter my hair color (even as an adolescent).

[Pixna]

PixnaSpeaking of colors, I've seen those photos before! I thought you used to bleach your hair! :shocked:

That's really funny. Nope, never (except for that ridiculous peroxide experiment over thirty years ago to try to turn my hair red). I'm amazed by the contrast myself because it's all natural -- it just looks so different through the magic of light. That is another benefit of being a brownie -- we're a little bit like chameleons, which is kinda cool! :redgrin:

One thing I forgot to mention previously is that my eye color and hair color match identically. Many years ago someone happened to mention that to me and said: "So how did you do that?" I thought that was hilarious -- like I had somehow commissioned Mother Nature. :laugh:

[EvaSimone]

-the exact natural shade of your hair
It's a dark brown probably 2-3 shades lighter than black. It also is more of a golden brown than an ash brown. I always wished it was just a bit darker and ashier than it is.

-whether you are happy with your natural color
I like my natural color. I think it suits my skin color the best. I have made my hair darker with hendigo and chemical dyes. I always look best with my real hair.

-whether you've ever hennaed and if you liked the results
I have hennaed and I didn't care for the reddish hue it gave my hair. Some people like my mother can henna and just get a very slight reddish cast. But I actually go a kind of burgundy that I don't care for. Right now I have about seven inches of virgin roots which I love dearly. :p

-whether you have experimented with natural ways of altering your hair color (ie honey, tea rinses)
No

-what you think the pros/cons of this color range are
I don't think their are any real pros/cons it all depends on the individual. Personally I am very happy that I am a brunette; I don't think I would be happy as a blonde or a redhead.

[smilinjenn71]

- Mine is a light to medium brown.
- Takes on both blonde and reddish highlights in the summer. (which is strange)
- Currently have been Hendi-go-ing since Oct. '08 and LOVE IT!(roots only except the first application and another full about 6 mos later)
****The indigo tones down the Henna enough that it mostly looks brown but gets that Henna-glo/shine in the sun.****
- I didn't start coloring my hair until about 5 yrs ago b/c of greys. Otherwise I had always liked my natural color. I have no desire at this point to let my greys shine.
- I've always liked being a brunette - never had the desire to be a blonde and knew that if I ever colored my hair it would be brown/reddish.

[Heidi_234]

See, I *like* ashy mousy dull brown colors. They look sooo sooooft! :cloud9: While I see why you love the henna red, I'll save it for my hairtoys. :p

It just makes me look washed out. And I like crazy colors, so henna is fairly mild to me. :p

[lapushka]

-the exact natural shade of your hair


Dark ash blond/brown, I don't know. It depends on the light, esp. natural light and on how you interpret it. If I compare it to natural dyes like Herbatint, then it's dark ash blond and possibly even lighter. If I look at commercial dyes, it's a cold brownish color... of some kind. In winter and in artificial light it looks pretty dark, and only in bright sunlight can you see that it's actually a blond tone. I might just call it blah, it's bland. I used to think it was brown until a hairdresser corrected me. When I look back at childhood pics, I went from a very pale beige blond to a cold light blond, to a light blond ash tone and then a darker ash tone. There are white hairs popping up in between my hair now, and I don't know what to think about that.



-whether you are happy with your natural color


Sometimes. I have learnt to accept it, but used to dye it frequently when I was younger. I first lightened it when I was 16 because it was neither brown nor blond, then I tried out semi permanent colors to darken it and later permanent colors, even henna. I probably tried every color imaginable.



-whether you've ever hennaed and if you liked the results


Yep. Never again. Too much fuss and hassle and it grows out just like any permanent dye. It's even worse, because it's much harder to correct.



-whether you have experimented with natural ways of altering your hair color (ie honey, tea rinses)


No. Too much fuss and hassle.



-what you think the pros/cons of this color range are


That it has always responded well to dye in the sense that I can go lighter or darker and there'll be no problems with having to tone it or strip it much first. That only goes for the first time you color, though. Once colored, it's colored and the pro is pretty much over.

I rather like cool colors.

That it's not really in any commercial range of boxed hair color. In the States you can easily get a box color in an "ash" tone, any ash tone. Where I live, it just doesn't exist. Garnier and L'Oréal, they now each have 1 ash tone in their range and the Garnier one looks like a cool beige blond while the L'Oréal has a mid-tone blonde ash color (more lifelike). I don't even have the possibility or chance of being able to dye it the same color or a slightly lighter ash tone when I go grey. Hate that! Some professional hair colors are so *off* on the ash tones, too.

Sometimes I hate that it looks darker than it is. I think many with an ash tone do.

[Amoretti]

You can share information like:
-the exact natural shade of your hair
Mahogany brown with some golden highlights and rust ones too.

-whether you are happy with your natural color
I am now but I spent years dying it. I was such a fool. LOL.

-whether you've ever hennaed and if you liked the results
No; I prefer the natural red in my hair.

-whether you have experimented with natural ways of altering your hair color (ie honey, tea rinses)
I've only ever used chemical dyes.

-what you think the pros/cons of this color range are
It's ALL pros. It's pretty, soft looking, and can look lighter or darker depending on the sun. I love how people are surprised it can look so dark indoors and so light in the sun. My natural highlights are rust red and that's impossible to get with dye or even henna.

[Rae~]

- the exact natural shade of your hair
Dull, average, mousy brown? I really don't know exactly what shade to call it - ashy? ETA: In photos, though, it always looks "redder" than I feel it actually is.... weird.

- whether you are happy with your natural colour
Meh, not really. It's certainly nothing special. But I guess I don't hate it enough to go through the hassle of colouring it (and dealing with regrowth). Or maybe I'm just really, really lazy. :lol:

- whether you've ever hennaed and if you liked the results
I got some henna tint when I tried henna glosses a few years back, and since I specifically did *not* want the henna colour, I stopped and switched to cassia. I loved the non-colour effects/results of henna, though.

- whether you have experimented with natural ways of altering your hair colour (ie honey, tea rinses)
No. I doubt it would make much difference, for a lot of mess and hassle.

- what you think the pros/cons of this colour range are
Pros - ...... Can't think of any. I'll have to get back to you.
Cons - So common, average, dull, etc etc. Yeah, I'm hatin' on my hair at the moment. Can you tell?? :p

[Tyu]

My whole head of hair hasn't been its natural color for about five years now but let's see.

-the exact natural shade of your hair
My roots grow in light/medium brown that, compared to the rest of my henna'd hair, look a really desaturated brown, almost greyish. From what I remember when my hair was virgin, the rest of it looked goldish with red tones in the sunlight. I'm irish, what can I say :D

-whether you are happy with your natural color
Hate it. That's why I use henna. I'd love being a natural redhead.

-whether you've ever hennaed and if you liked the results
Every month. Prefer the results to my natural shade.

-whether you have experimented with natural ways of altering your hair color (ie honey, tea rinses)
Isn't henna natural? =P Other than that, no.

-what you think the pros/cons of this color range are

I found no pros for my exact color. I loathed it. Very boring.

[Elphie]

There are some gorgeous brunette heads in this thread! *thud!*

the exact natural shade of your hair
I think my natural shade is a medium ash brown but that would only stay that way if I never ventured into daylight. I take on red and gold tones easily.

-whether you are happy with your natural color

More or less. Over the years I've played with it, sometimes wanting it lighter, sometimes wanting it darker.

-whether you've ever hennaed and if you liked the results
No.

-whether you have experimented with natural ways of altering your hair color (ie honey, tea rinses)

Sure. I did plenty of chamomile rinses years ago. It picks up a bit more red when I do.

-what you think the pros/cons of this color range are

I think all of the subtle variations that brunette hair has in different lighting is stunning!

http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b300/cutter_106/hairbunwaves.jpg?t=1242486721

[Tangles]

I love seeing how different brown hair can look from person to person and in different lights. That's what makes our color range so special.

Amoretti, I have to say you have one of the most unique hair colors I've seen. A lot of brunettes have pretty red highlights, but yours just have this different tone to them, yeah, like rust red.

[Elenna]

the exact natural shade of your hair - ash brown mixed with silver

whether you are happy with your natural color - not really, I always wanted blond hair color like my mother

whether you've ever hennaed and if you liked the results - never hennaed because of too many silvers

whether you have experimented with natural ways of altering your hair color (ie honey, tea rinses) - yes, but nothing covered the silvers

what you think the pros/cons of this color range are-
Pro - brown is in the medium color range, so it can look good with many different color themes
Con - brown is not red, black or blond :-D

[Pixna]

[B]Con - brown is not red, black or blond :-D

True, true. I forgot to mention that I LOVE black hair -- naturally black hair (not dyed). If I could change my color (via magic wand), I would be torn between rich red or deep, pure black.

[Feline]

This is a great thread!

I usually describe my hair as "light ash brown". This is more of an average. I do have some greys at the temples, but they may or may not show depending on how I have it combed.I get gold highlights from the sun. I have never done anything to the color. Once, I did seriously consider bleaching it back to blonde (I was a blonde baby, but it darkened past that by the time I was school age), but after looking at the results from similar treatments (both salon and self-inflicted), I decided that it was better to be brown silk than blonde straw. I sometimes get annoyed at not being able to give a really good description of the color, since it will vary depending on the lighting and such, but then, my eyes vary between blue and grey, too, so I guess I'm stuck with being changable! :confused:

Pink, hmmm- must try this....:hmm:

[Furiana]

Please do! :deal:

But don't forget pics. ;)

[Furiana]

Purple is another color that I like, unexpectedly!

[GlennaGirl]

-the exact natural shade of your hair

On the lighter side of medium brown.

-whether you are happy with your natural color

Not really...I'm always trying to darken or lighten it.

-whether you've ever hennaed and if you liked the results

The color you see in my siggie is lightened (with honey) henndigo near the ends (before honey, it was nearly black), and just-hennna on the rest. I don't really like either. I LOVED the actual color of the very dark henndigo, but next to my face...it just aged me.

-whether you have experimented with natural ways of altering your hair color (ie honey, tea rinses)

Yes. Honey worked to lighten my henndigo. I don't know how it might work on just "natural" hair (which I'm growing in now). Coffee to darken it didn't work.

-what you think the pros/cons of this color range are

Pros: It can fairly easily be lightened or darkened with chemicals, anyway. Also, it's not dark enough to be a stark contrast to most skin tones, and not light enough to look "washed out". Cons: It looks...blah. Everybody in the world has it. About 70% of the time, if you see someone wandering around WalMart with a couple/few inches of roots, those roots are...my natural color.

[Rohele]

I guess my natural colour would fall into this category too. What you see on my avatar is much redder that it is normally, and I'm growing out "golden blond" dye, so my siggy is lighter than my natural haircolour.

-the exact natural shade of your hair

I would call it just plain brown. It used to have a fair amount of red in it, which seems to be fading as I age. Now it's got silvers coming in too.

-whether you are happy with your natural color


I used to be OK with it, but since I was about 15 I've always done something to it to lighten it (starting fom natural methods, to highlights, to full on dye). Now I find it kind of plain looking.

-whether you've ever hennaed and if you liked the results


I've never used henna.

-whether you have experimented with natural ways of altering your hair color (ie honey, tea rinses)

When I was younger I'd mix lemon juice with water and spritz my hair and lie in the sun. I got very nice blond highlights this way.

-what you think the pros/cons of this color range are

I've always liked that when it lightens in the sun, the blonder streaks look pretty against the brown. I like that it can look reddish, to blonder, to very dark, depending on the lighting.

Cons are that without the highlights it can look rather drab (at least on me). I feel like I don't stand out in any way.

[Arctic]

My hair colour is hard to photograph, I'm growing out henna and just posted in my blog (http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/blog.php?b=44808) my latest roots pictures, and both hennaed and natural colours look different in almost every picture. Worse are the ones where henna looks orange and natural hair gray (it's ashy brown really) but those also show the growing out process the best.