A Question on Behalf of my Mommy

[plaidprincess]

My mom went grey when she was 18 and has been dying back to her natural colour (very dark brown) ever since. She's now 47 and her roots are a beautiful silver white - I'm trying to convince her to stop dying and let her whites be free.

The problem is, she has about an inch of roots and the rest of her hair (shoulder length) has been dyed once every two weeks for as long as she's had it. Do you think something like colour oops would work on this amount of dye? Will she have to cut the hair pixie style to get rid of all the colour? Also, she has quite dark skin, very dark brown eyes and dark eyebrows - she's worried she's going to look like Alistair Darling http://http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alistair_Darling (http://http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alistair_Darling)

Anyone else had this problem and can you advise? She seems to love her longer hair and I don't want her to have to cut it if she can help it.

[manderly]

Umm, you can ColorOops it, but it will probably be more like bozo-orange than her silvers/whites. :flower:

It's hard to grow out haircolor. Some deal with the two-tone, others cut really short and others try to find a new haircolor that blends better.

It's possible to consider coloroopsing it and then dying it a light ashy blonde or silver and go from there. I'm no expert though :shrug:

[hennaphile]

She might want to use semipermanent dye until it grows out... that way she doesn't lose her new color, but doesn't have to be a two tone.

IF it works that is :shrug:

[bttrfly857]

Or get some highlights to break up the dark brown? It'd still probably be noticeable, but it'd be an option to help with being two-tone

[Liluri]

I'm hoping I can do what Siamese (http://archive.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=52585&page=3) did, the transition is something different and looks good in my opinion. (link to archives, you might need to log in?)

[rach]

I'm hoping I can do what Siamese (http://archive.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=52585&page=3) did, the transition is something different and looks good in my opinion. (link to archives, you might need to log in?)

wow Siamese hair looks really pretty there!!!

[angelthadiva]

You may want to encourage her to check out the Renegrey Gang here...The link is in my siggy!

[pradabacon]

She might want to use semipermanent dye until it grows out... that way she doesn't lose her new color, but doesn't have to be a two tone.

IF it works that is :shrug:

This is what I did. I'm not all gray, but I have plenty (been getting them since I was a teen) and I used to use permanent dye on my hair.

I just switched to semi-permanent until I had the silvers pretty long and then quit altogether and let the dye fade out. I'm actually a little tinted at the moment because I went crazy a couple of months ago and semi-perm dyed again, but it's washing out little by little.

plainprincess, do ask your mom if she wants to sign up and come visit us in the Renegrays thread. There is lots of advice and support for ladies who are growing out their sparklers over there. We'd be happy to have her! :flower:

Besides, LHC rocks! :rockerdud

[pradabacon]

P.S. She won't look like Alistair Darling! :D

[Rohele]

Maybe some highlights and lowlights to break up the colour a bit, so there's not such a dramatic demarcation line? She could gradually taper off the amount she gets done as she grows out (I'm assuming she's not against colouring it, since she already has been?). Of course this makes the process take longer than cold turkey.

Two tone hair is a pain, but the line between the coloured hair and the natural hair does soften as it grows out - the first few inches look the worst.

[Elenna]

Been there, done that.

If I were going to do the "grow out the dye and let the silvers come in" over again.

- To trim the hair to shoulder length not pixie to keep the hair at one length.
- To have one weave to blend the silvers and dye to soften the demarcation line; this is to do minimal dying.

Mainly, you want the natural hair to be in good condition.

And reading up on the color opps, on brown dye over white/silver hair; it turns hair a lovely orange. Natural dyes have pluses and minuses too.

It's gotta be the toughest thing on earth to grow out dye and let the silvers grow in.

[plaidprincess]

Thanks everyone for your help - have linked my mom to this thread so she can get a better idea of what she should do and told her to come on over and be a renegray!