Anyone given up dye... and loving their natural colour?

[Luckysock]

After more than 16 years of dying my hair (red, purple, black, brown, blonde), I've finally gotten off the dye (for now at least) and I'm actually liking the natural colour that is growing out - its an ashy brown - could be called 'mousy' but I'm finding its doing a lot for my skin tone!

Here's a picture (only about the top 6 inches are virgin, but the length has almost blended in)

http://i950.photobucket.com/albums/ad349/luckysock/P1160033.jpg

could be shinier - but that will come with better care I think :)

Anyone else given up dye and pleasantly surprised by the result?

[2peasinapod]

Your hair looks great! So healthy!

I used to dye my hair (for about 5-6 years) because I didn't like the color. By the time I decided to grow my hair long, I didn't remember exactly what my natural color was. I was pleasantly surprised!

Congratulations on giving up dye. I think your color is pretty! :flower:

[Ravenne]

Your hair is gorgeous! So thick! *ogles*

And yeah, I've decided to give up the dye/coloring of any kind and stick to what nature gave me. Now that I've decided to love it, I'm seeing some very interesting colors coming out of my head. :) And I kick myself every time I look at my demarcation line. Ugh. This show's my demarcation line and dye color very well, but it makes my natural color look pretty .... blah. It's shown better in other photos in my albums.

http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/picture.php?albumid=4966&pictureid=65505

[Luckysock]

Ravenne, I think your natural colour is really pretty - I bet its going to be very rich as it grows out :D

[skay]

Congrats on growing the hair color out everyone.

Luckysock and Ravenne, looks like you both will have hair color with natural multi-shades/depth to it. Cool.

You guys have pretty hair, too.

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I can relate to this thread.

I had dyed my hair for years with chemical dyes (off-black), then switched to henna for a few years. Now I haven't dyed in a couple of years or so.

I was pleasantly surprised to see my natural hair color again.

I had forgotten my natural shade of black (but now I also have some added whites but, still, the black was interesting to see again - it looked more black than I remembered).

It was interesting to feel how softer I think my hair was.

Cheers to all.

[bubbles_87]

Im giving up dye for awhile too... I have been tempted to color it several times already but I know that I will go back to black. I was wondering how you can keep your natural color looking shiny? My hair is already shiny but how can you make it look glossy-ER?? :D

[ademtce]

Im giving up dye for awhile too... I have been tempted to color it several times already but I know that I will go back to black. I was wondering how you can keep your natural color looking shiny? My hair is already shiny but how can you make it look glossy-ER?? :D

the less products in your hair, the shiner it will be. conditioner tends to dull hair, i use a spray detangler instead. i constantly get compliments about my hair being shinny.


back to subject, i've given up dye because technically i can't use it anymore (henna) and im actually suprised to realize my hair isn't black and notice gold tones in the sunlight. im closer to a level 2/3

[Mannaz]

I have! I dyed my hair from 11 years old, and now at 28 I have virgin hair down to my earlopes. So far i like it better than any of the blacks, reds, pinks, greens (well, that one was a real treat!), blondes, browns or purples that I've had during my life, and you know why? Because it's different. It's different because it didn't came from abottle but from my own body.

The color itself was somewhat of surprise since I've always thougt I have a very ashy dark blonde color, but actually it's this controversial "cendre" with quite a bit of coppery tint, I've even been called a redhead and I've gotten a lot of compliments of the colour, also a big surprise.

Although I love my own color, I propably will dye again, though not for a loong time... Next step might be to try to bring out the coppery tone more with a mix of henna and cassia.

You all have beautiful natural colours, enjoy them! And, they will look even better the more it grows out, at least for me it does.

Oh, and I agree with Luckysock, natural haircolor seems to compliment my skintone too, just think of the amount of make-up I had to put on with black hair, jeesh...

[Twil]

I'm afraid to attempt dye, my hair is ridiculously delicate sometimes, I can't even put DTs on dry hair, all of it just pulls out.

[MsBubbles]

I'm envious but enjoying reading about all of your pleasant experiences with your natural color. How I feel about my natural color depends on which mirror I look in. Sometimes I gaze at my scalp wondering how I could have disliked my natural color so much. Other times I want to run screaming from the bathroom (usually a public bathroom). I wish I could wave a magic wand and have the whole length be the same color, so I could decide if it's going to be worth it all those years from now.

[Stevy]

Pretty! I honestly couldn't tell there was any dye in your hair at all, the tone looks very even to me.

I'm growing out black dye at present. I was kind of hoping my natural hair colour would include a white streak over one ear because my grandmother had one, but so far it's just one or two white hairs.

I think natural hair can look absolutely gorgeous and so can dyed hair. I've never been all that convinced by the 'your natural hair is the best with your skintone' argument - I think it's happiness and self-confidence that make a person beautiful, and sometimes happiness and self-confidence come from making the decision to become a henna-head, or whatever. :)

[Katze]

I agree, no dye to see in that picture and your hair is SO thick and so smooth! :D

I am one of those former blondes who decided she wanted to try to reproduce her pre-puberty color, and bleached for years and years. When I look back at pictures of myself I am shocked at how fake it looked, and how red it made my complexion!

Have now been dye and (mostly) bleach free since 2006. Whether or not I ' love ' my natural color depends a lot...on how my hair is behaving in general (and whether it is feeling thick or thin), how recently I have washed it, what my complexion is doing at the time...etc.

Many times I admit I wish for the beautiful white blonde hair I had as a kid, as well as for it to be straight again - it went wavy and dark at the same time.

But I can say I am extremely happy to have "long" (just above waist) hair for the first time EVER. And the condition is MUCH better, and my scalp much happier...

Now that I am a mom I look with amusement at the moms who bleach their hair to match their kid's hair. Our baby is blonde, and both DH and I have this 'hair colored' hair, and were both blonde as kids. Somehow it feels 'real' to have my natural color now, and makes me feel I am being true to myself and respecting myself more.

[countryhopper]

I haven't dyed my mousy brown hair for years now (maybe about 4 or 5?) According to one color chart, my hair is between walnut and chocolate (I don't remember what it was exactly, but it sounded like a cookie flavor!)

I don't really love my natural color, but I DO love not being a slave to coloring my roots every few weeks. Plus, I feel that my hair is much healthier since I stopped chemically frying it :D , so I don't think I'll be dyeing it anytime soon.

[christi.adell]

I'm going virgin! :D I actually just pixied my hair again to get rid of dye, damage, breakage and everything else (not a huge loss I was only jaw length-ish) and now I'm almost all virgin haired.
I'm so excited about it. Before with the length and all the brassiness I wasn't sure I liked my natural color. Plus I thought I had too many grays. But with the length gone and I can actually see my color it looks great. Plus the grays don't look as noticeable when they're not butted up against faded brassy color. But what a relief not to have to worry with the dye bottle anymore.

Now I just need length and I'll be in love with my hair again.

[cmnt831]

I'm envious but enjoying reading about all of your pleasant experiences with your natural color. How I feel about my natural color depends on which mirror I look in. Sometimes I gaze at my scalp wondering how I could have disliked my natural color so much. Other times I want to run screaming from the bathroom (usually a public bathroom). I wish I could wave a magic wand and have the whole length be the same color, so I could decide if it's going to be worth it all those years from now.

Everything looks bad in a public bathroom - don't judge your hair on that.

I used to highlight my hair, but just got tired of it all and decided my natural hair color is good enough. Now I get nice comments on my silver streaks, too. I think they look nicer against my natural dark hair color than blended with highlights.

[Liss]

I had been dying and highlighting my hair for years. Once or twice I attempted to grow out the natural colour, but the roots were so dark in comparison that I hated it and went back to the dye.

The last highlights I had were in June 08 and I lost my job shortly afterwards so I couldn't afford the upkeep. Once again the roots were driving me crazy, so instead I used a semi-permanent brown dye for several months until it had grown beyond that ugly constrasting dark roots stage.

Now my hair is natural to about my chin and I love the colour, it's no where near as dark as it looked when it was first growing out, and all the semi permanent dye has finally washed out. I think that the old highlights blend really well, so it's not too obvious that my hair is still in the 'growing out colour' phase.

I'm pleased I like my natural colour because it's still so tempting to go back to blond, but I'm trying to resist the chemical damage. I'm also happy to see some natural blond highlights starting to show through.

http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/picture.php?albumid=4572&pictureid=58777

[Bellatrix]

I want to give up dye. For my hair, it's way too damaging. It's hard to quit though!

[paperwhite]

I've been growing out red/auburn dye(s) for over a year. Luckily most of the color has faded and there isn't an obvious demarcation line. I can tell where the new growth ends and the dyed hair begins, but I know where to look. The only major sign that sticks out to me is the difference in the condition of my virgin hair vs. my colored hair. The virgin hair is in considerably better condition, but that's to be expected.

I used to hate my natural color, but the more I look at it, the more things I find to like (it's darker than I remember it being) :) And I agree with everyone above that it's great to not be a slave to the dye bottle. I've saved a lot of time and money by not dying my hair.

[BranwenWolf]

I went red for a bit and really wished I had red hair, until I figured out it didn't match with a lot of my wardrobe.
Lots of people kept telling me they'd kill for blonde hair and blondes were "more beautiful" (stupid and cruel stereotyping) but it was my decision to quit. Plus it faded so quickly, I had to re-do it every 3 weeks. I tried some temporary henna (Surya) but wasn't ready to commit to regular henna, because I was busy growing and didn't want two-tone.

I'm fine with my regular color now. It's darkened a bit in winter but Mr Sunshine in the summer takes care of that.

Liss: your hair looks fine, my ends get bleached a bit from being outside and look quite similar to that!

[JamieLeigh]

Yes! I haven't a hair on my head that has been dyed. The last time I did it was right after high school, about 12 years ago this summer, and I must say I'm HAPPY to be over having to kill it with black and red and purple all the time. I certainly didn't know about any of the safer ways to achieve color at that time, but now that I do - I'll still take my natural dark brown with reddish natural highlights. :D

[angelthadiva]

I will be celebrating my 14 month of dye free living; I'm transitioning naturally, so technically I'm a tri-tone ;)

ETA: I'm loving my natural color and the silver sparklers that have been hidden ;)

[Addy]

I too have quit dying my hair. I'm finally 100% back to my virgin color of mouse brown and silvers... I love it and should have never colored in the first place.

It will be 2 years this August and I went cold turkey. :D

[Lemur_Catta]

I used to lighten and henna my hair, but I quit in September. I had used henna for a long time, then a hairdresser tried to highlight and lighten my hair and made a mass, so I started using henna again but my hair went two-toned, so I started (lightly) bleaching my roots with 10vol peroxide before hennaing. I have quit all that in September, and I am trying to grow my dark brown hair :)
When I have time, I do indigo glosses to make the demarcation line less noticeable, but it doesn't last long. I actually don't care if my hair still looks reddish :)

[Mutinous]

I gave up on the hair dye last June, and cut out all the remaining dye about 5 weeks ago.

http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/picture.php?albumid=3993&pictureid=66389

Just a little comparison, definately one of the best things I ever did IMO!

Though I do worry I'm a bit too pale for my hair colour.

[Ravenne]

I gave up on the hair dye last June, and cut out all the remaining dye about 5 weeks ago.

http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/picture.php?albumid=3993&pictureid=66389

Just a little comparison, definately one of the best things I ever did IMO!

Though I do worry I'm a bit too pale for my hair colour.

You don't look too pale at all in these photos. I wouldn't worry about it. :) But then again, I think super dark hair looks gorgeous on anybody. LOL

[ravenreed]

I stopped dyeing for three years. It was just long enough for all the old dye to grow out, pretty much. Then I decided I hated it and went back to dye. Now I am using henna. It makes me happier.

[Tap Dancer]

The last time I colored was in April 2009 - almost a year ago. There's really no difference in color because I have dark brown hair and I colored it dark brown. I was trying to cover the white hairs, but they didn't want to be brown. ;) Now I just let my hair do what it wants to do.

[MerryKat]

I have been dye (cassia / henna) free since mid-December 2009. I had grown out about 11cm of virgin when I decided I needed to blend the demarcation line between my natural colour and henna, so I started cassia with a touch of henna for a few months. It helped to blend it nicely, but it is not worth the effort, and the last time I did it was December 2009 and I am looking forward to virgin hair.

I am not prepared to cut to achieve my goal of virgin classic, so it will take time for it to grow out. Some days it looks better than others, but with the encouragement of the Renegray thread, I will do it.

[Dimitri'sMom]

Your hair is gorgeous! Unfortunately when I gave up dyeing my hair
sprouted a bunch of wiry gray hairs at my hairline...so I am continuing until I can deal with the grays and they are longer so they lie smoother.

[Dimitri'sMom]

Mods sorry about the broken up post, my son hit the keyboard just as I hit "submit".

[urara12]

wow! your hair is so beautiful and lot volume:p