and so begins the 2 week rule...opinions?

[Maddy25]

Uhg I am having the worst time with my hair at the moment! Don't worry, this isn't about cutting it, I would never :D

This is about the colour, this awful icky colour! I have seriously lived in a hat the last few weeks because it driving me so crazy. Anyone who s growing out roots I'm sure can identify but no matter how clean my hair is, it always looks gross near the top because of the colour difference, my dirty blonde roots shine through the cassia/henna and make it look all unclean. I tried everything this morning, I did a braid, leaving it down, a tail up, a headband, and I finnaly settled on a ponytail because I was running late, but if I look at it from the back, uhg! I get so depressed.

I am really concidering doing some henna again. Only instead of the copper I was doing before (was a little too orange for me) I'm concidering trying to get a more darker burgandy red.

I want my natural colour, I do, but I dont think I can stand this. I know I could maybe do a temp dye over but I dont want to use any chemicals at all. Plus, I worry because I havent had my natural colour since I was a kid, people say that I was born to be a redhead and that my natural colour blends into my skin too much. I really dont know what to do.

Here are some pics....I need oppinions.

Here it is this morning, in that dang ponytail so you can see whats bugging me so much (its not really that thin, I have a ton of layers that dont fit in the pony yet)
http://i115.photobucket.com/albums/n296/addie2525/Photo1642.jpg

Here are some examples of me with red hair previously (not the exact colour I want, but just for refrence)
http://i115.photobucket.com/albums/n296/addie2525/n511422231_19335_9616.jpg
http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/picture.php?albumid=3575&pictureid=45848

This is more what Im going for..but a little redder.
http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/picture.php?albumid=3575&pictureid=45841

I hope it's okay with Rach that I post this, if not let me know :) But this is the exact colour I would want...her hair is gorgeous
http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/picture.php?albumid=2698&pictureid=36448

What do you think? I thought it might look good concidering I'm very pale and I have very light eyes...I want something that really makes me pop :D I just feel sooooo icky with roots and what if I grow it out for years and years and dont like it anyways...I really dont want roots for my wedding either :(

EDIT!!

Here is my natural colour for comparison
http://i115.photobucket.com/albums/n296/addie2525/natural.jpg

[MrsGuther]

I say go for the red!!!! It would be beautiful!!! :)

[Marjolein]

Aw, I get your frustration! The growing out fase it a nightmare. Perhaps you could use something like Elumen on your length to make it more ash-toned and blend in with your roots?

Ofcourse you could always do henna, and red looks great on you, but if you wanted to go au naturelle this may be a solution?

[Maddy25]

Aw, I get your frustration! The growing out fase it a nightmare. Perhaps you could use something like Elumen on your length to make it more ash-toned and blend in with your roots?

Ofcourse you could always do henna, and red looks great on you, but if you wanted to go au naturelle this may be a solution?

Thank you :) I have actually tried that :( I did an ash chemical dye on my length and it did nothing, the henna is very strong.

[paigeturner]

I love the colour in the second picture of red hair you posted (with the blue eye makeup) - it looks absolutely amazing with your skintone!
I think if you want to, you should henna it again - from what I gather, henna is amazing for hair for most people so why not?

[spiritseeker]

I just went through this very same thing myself (and not for the first time). ;) But anyway, my husband said something to me during one of my discussions about where I was going with my hair. He said the old cliche.."you can't have your cake and eat it too". Meaning in this case, you can either have the henna red, and deal with the upkeep, or live with the pain of two toned hair and let it grow. Now, to him it's a very easy situation. What's the big deal, right? But we're women, and hair color can be quite a tumultuous decision.

So anyway, I decided I wanted my cake, and I wanted to eat it - the key was I just have to bake it myself (sorry for the silly metaphor). I'm willing to continue to put up with the maintenance it takes to keep it red. The red suits me much better than my natural color (dark ashy blonde).

The choice is yours of course. But the real question is really to what length are you willing to go to maintain your color of choice? Because it will grow, there will be roots, and you will have to keep up the henna, or deal with the two tone demon again (or pull out the buzzers).

On the positive side, you look absolutely gorgeous in all the tones of red you've shown us. :)

I hope you can come to your conclusion quickly and painlessly.

[CindyLea1]

You look like Matina McBride!!! She's a country singer, incase you didn't know.

I love the red, go for it!

[breezefaerie]

I love the red!

[redneckprincess]

the red is really flattering on you!!

[Maddy25]

it seems everyone is leaning towards red :eyebrows:

I want red, the only problem is eyebrows, and trying to get it not so orange, like I said, I want a deep red!

[Nightshade]

You make a smashing readhead, so IF you are willing to live with

1- the upkeep
2- the permanancy

then you may make a good hennahead.

As for eyebrows, henna them! I do :) They are more orange, but you could also try some Manic Panic over the top of them too.

[MonikaHa]

I like the red. but I am biased :)

[chelseamichelle]

I think you look great with red! Really suits you, go for it :)

[CourtneyBee]

Okay, yes I like the red very very much

but...and just to play devils advocate here:

You've already come a long way! Pretty soon you'll be able to bun it and not see any of the line at all! Also, have you tried using corn starch on your roots? When mine seem too dark I use a little Johnson & Johnson baby powder on them and it makes them blend right in!

Exhaust your options before going red little lady! I hope you find peace in whatever choice you make!

[spidermom]

You look fine as a red head, but you're going to be confronting roots each and every month. Do you want to?

[Maddy25]

I'm really going to have to think about it. Usually I dont think through for the whole 2 weeks but I am for sure this time, its a big thing to do.

I dont like roots no, but I hate grow out even more and I cant fix that really, just have to wait it out. It depresses me to think Ill have this line for years :(

But I will take all your oppinions to heart and really think it through.

[Nightshade]

I dont like roots no, but I hate grow out even more

Aha, and herin lies the problem. I'm not saying this to be mean, just honest. The more you keep coloring, the more you're going to have to deal the eventual idea of growing things out.

Honestly, at your length, just do the best you can to blend your ends to your natural color, even if it means a trip or two to the salon and some chemicals.

From that statement I get the idea that you're itching to do SOMETHING, and henna isn't a good thing to do for fix.

It is a longer, tougher, road, but I really think you'll be happier in the long run if you stick to your guns and grow out your natural color, at LEAST until it's all your natural color.

[enfys]

The red looks great on you, but the upkeep is going to be forever! Henna is a massive commitment and if you want your natural colour like you said I think it's better to stick it out.

It is possible to make dark roots look good; like a zig zag parting. They will grow out and blend in; I had pink steaks in my hair a few years ago and quite quickly there was no hard line and now it all just blends into one.

It will take time but the time for colours to blend is nothing compared to the time to grow yuor hair long! In a matter of months the lighter ends will be tucked away in your bun.

Do you have any pics with your natural colour? So we can see how that looks? I don't believe anyone's natural colour can not suit them at all, even if another colour may look better.

[spidermom]

You could do something like Manic Panic from time to time to mix things up and blur the grow-out.

[Maddy25]

Thank you so much for all of the replies! It really helps me to figure things out :D

These are the only photos I have of my natural hair colour, the first one is dark because it was winter and I dont get out much :D

http://i115.photobucket.com/albums/n296/addie2525/natural.jpg

[white line]

I think the red looks nice, but I really like your natural color also. I think you need to decide if you want the upkeep of the color. Growing out is a pain but you can get some cute headbands to help cover the line and as it gets longer, you can bun it. Others have suggested a temp color like Manic Panic to also help blur the line.

[emmebean]

The red is beautiful on you, but I'm partial to redheads also! I also agree with Nightshade, since you're growing the blond out, and will eventually cut it off, (right?) maybe go to a salon and have just the ends blended into the roots. I had this done a few years ago when my ends had lightened up due to time and neglect...I was very happy with the results.
Maybe once you're a solid colour, then you can tackle the red or not :)

[Marjolein]

Too bad that blending in your length didn't work :(.

One thing about the eyebrows if you do decide to go red again: You can indeed henna them, but there are also very good dyes on the market with which you can dye your eyebrows within ten minutes. I personally use Refectocil (nr 4 - auburn. There's also 4.1, more of a true red), but there are more brands out there.

[spidermom]

I used an eyebrow pencil in auburn when I colored my hair red in the distant past.

[TinaDenali]

I think either looks great, but you look like a natural redhead to me!!

[KittyLost]

My opinion is you look stunning with the red, even the "orange" colour you didn't like.

However, the second picture of your natural colour is also very nice. I say whatever you yourself feel most comfortable with. If you feel more comfortable a redhead then go for it.

[Kiraela]

I definitely think the red suits you, and even the burgundy toned pic looked very natural!

[Sarahmoon]

Red looks very good on you for sure, but I must say it's hard to compare with the natural colour pictures because on the redhead pictures, you look much more happy and confident, and the lighting is much better etc. I'm sure your natural colour will look just as good on you if you take some real nice pictures with good lighting and a smile on your face :flowers:

[Crysania]

i say dye it !

i have naturally dark blonde hair too and it looks so blah against my skin too

everytime i try to go back natural i get bored of this colour and dye it again
now i have spent enough years with stupid roots and now i'll just keep dyeing it

your red is much more special and looks better imo

[RitaPG]

Red sure looks good on you :) I'd use a temporary red dye, then if you get bored/ frustrated with the roots, you can wash the red off and darken your ends to resemble your natural color.
Do give it some time though, the awkward phase is always worse in the begining.

[FrannyG]

Every colour looks good on you in the photos, but I do think that you're right to want to stay clear of a too-orange shade, as it really isn't the best for your skin tone. And the thing is, henna's colour is unpredictable, and it is really, really permanent.

I've never been a believer in "nature knows best" when it comes to colour, but I do know that the grow-out from henna has been a nightmare for most who have done it, especially if the henna is far different from their natural shade. It's also almost impossible to remove while keeping your hair intact.

I feel your pain--I've been there--but I know if you go to a good professional colourist, you can have the length of your hair dyed to match the new growth. It's very hard to do at home, without a lot of expertise, but it's easily done at a salon.

I hope that you can come to a decision that you can happily live with. :blossom:

[Heidi_234]

Maddy, you've been here quite a while, and I've seen you around. You seem to be VERY fickle with your hair, and keeping up a with a hair color commitment is not easy for you. It doesn't help that you have beautiful face, and every color and shape compliments it and suits it. You joined the boards because you want you want to to grow it long, but how long would it get if you just keep changing your mind? Honestly, I can see you, in a few months, just getting rid of all that red when roots will come in. Does it really worth it? Every color that is not yours need monthly upkeep.

If it was me, I'd either leave it alone or play with manic panic type of dyes. I don't think your roots actually look dirty, it just the two tone-ness. You could maybe try to match the length to your roots better, or blend them together more by doing few lighter streaks here and there over your virgin roots.

You should decide for yourself what do you want to do and stick to it. There's nothing wrong with changing your hair color every so often if you feel like that, and there's nothing wrong with having two toned hair. Just make the decision, either accept the fact that you prefer dyeing it and changing and do it without feeling guilty, or accept your roots and the fact that the virgin color would take a long while to grow it and stop agonizing over it and fantasizing about all kind of colors. You should enjoy your hair, not feel bad about it.

I'm not trying to criticize, really. I just feel that I should share my view because I've been there too, and I changed and dyed my hair more than I can remember. I realize that it was either this or long hair, and I made my choice. I choose to accept that dyeing and bleaching is not an option. I haven't touched a chemical dye in years, and my hair color haven't change for ages now. The biggest thing I did is to bleach few streaks on the sides a while ago and take the toll for it. I hope you'll make the choice that would keep you happy. :flower:

[Atira]

Love the red!
I totally understand about the roots!! My top is drak blonde the rest is light blonde.I want to dye my hair almost everyday but I don't want a ruin it... arg.

[enfys]

Heidi is wise and experienced; I was nodding while I read it.

I think your natural colour suits you and accepting it is probably going to be your biggest step towards having the long hair you want :flower:

Also, you are unfairly pretty!

[spidermom]

I wanted to second Heidi 234's observation that you change your mind about your hair a lot. Therefore I don't think that permanent dyes are for you. You can change it up with temporary, deposit-only colors, though. I think that would suit your personality better than taking on henna.

[Nightshade]

Maddy, you've been here quite a while, and I've seen you around. You seem to be VERY fickle with your hair, and keeping up a with a hair color commitment is not easy for you. It doesn't help that you have beautiful face, and every color and shape compliments it and suits it. You joined the boards because you want you want to to grow it long, but how long would it get if you just keep changing your mind? Honestly, I can see you, in a few months, just getting rid of all that red when roots will come in. Does it really worth it? Every color that is not yours need monthly upkeep.

If it was me, I'd either leave it alone or play with manic panic type of dyes. I don't think your roots actually look dirty, it just the two tone-ness. You could maybe try to match the length to your roots better, or blend them together more by doing few lighter streaks here and there over your virgin roots.

You should decide for yourself what do you want to do and stick to it. There's nothing wrong with changing your hair color every so often if you feel like that, and there's nothing wrong with having two toned hair. Just make the decision, either accept the fact that you prefer dyeing it and changing and do it without feeling guilty, or accept your roots and the fact that the virgin color would take a long while to grow it and stop agonizing over it and fantasizing about all kind of colors. You should enjoy your hair, not feel bad about it.

I'm not trying to criticize, really. I just feel that I should share my view because I've been there too, and I changed and dyed my hair more than I can remember. I realize that it was either this or long hair, and I made my choice. I choose to accept that dyeing and bleaching is not an option. I haven't touched a chemical dye in years, and my hair color haven't change for ages now. The biggest thing I did is to bleach few streaks on the sides a while ago and take the toll for it. I hope you'll make the choice that would keep you happy. :flower:

E X A C T L Y what she said!


Another thing to consider, the roots are bothering you now, but if you henna and decide again to grow it out you'll have all your length PLUS your current roots to grow out.

You're making good progress :)

I had to, in the end, make a similar choice to the one Heidi made. When I chemical dyed my hair it was new-penny copper, like this (http://yousonice.files.wordpress.com/2008/12/redhair.jpg).

I loved that color, light and flashing, it was copper in ALL light, not just bright sunlight, and, well, I'll stop waxing poetic, I LOVED it. And some tiny part of me still misses it :o

But, I had a choice to make. I could either stick out the natural route with henna and cassia and get close (and good gods, even THAT took a lot of doing just to get close), or I could keep dying it.

My henna/cassia is beautiful in sunlight, not bad in indirect light, and really not that thrilling in office lighting. But it's healthy, which is no small thing after so many years of trashing the ever living crap out of it.

In your case it isn't a choice of dye vs henna, but dye vs natural. I've been there and know how hard it is to feel unpretty :( And you're feeling unpretty, and salvation looks like it's going to be either in a bottle or in a bowl of green mud.


I'll tell you this- I think if you go red right now, you'll regret it. If only because you're going to kick yourself for the progress you've lost and all the time you've already toughed it out.

If you do anything, get your ends dyed to match the roots by a salon, and THEN give yourself a month to get used to the look before you consider another color change :)

[angelakeats]

I Vote

Go Red!! I love it!

I would also love to have my virgin hair but can't handle the transition, so I am red too ;)
It looks fab on you!

[angelakeats]

Oh and keep in mind - from my experience and with my hair ....
no colour is temporary, with my bleached ends and highlights the colour stayed until cut out.
Just my opinion.

[Juanita]

It's taken me four years to grow out the dye to where it is now. The last six inches still have colour but it blends in with the natural now. I used to have a beautiful mango colour in my hair but the up keep became down to needing to be done every three weeks because of the grey/silver growing in. Another year and it will be all out as I didn't want to lose length. Also another reason for stopping the dying was that my hair was losing length due to breakage.
I've had fun over the years with colours natural and unnatural, but now I want to be an old lady with very long hair.
So it depends what you want the most and don't feel guilty about it. Embace your choice.

[Henrietta]

Go for red! It suits you perfectly and it's stunning itself:)

[spidermom]

Oh and keep in mind - from my experience and with my hair ....
no colour is temporary, with my bleached ends and highlights the colour stayed until cut out.
Just my opinion.

For sure, some traces may remain. But you don't get the stark line like with permanent color (and henna is permanent).

[melikai]

Fifthing (??) what Heidi, enfys, Nightshade, and spidermom have said. You seem to change your mind about your hair very often. It's a long and difficult road to grow out dye, as well as to grow long hair - I know from personal experience. I would dye the ends with a temporary dye once in a while, when they start looking too different from your roots. Keep in mind that blondes almost always have darker looking roots!

Once your natural colour has grown in longer, maybe to chin or shoulder, then you'll be better able to judge whether or not you like it. At that point, whatever you decide you can be sure that you've given the alternative a fair try.

[Maddy25]

Wow thank you so much for the thoughtful responses. I've read them all and they all are really helping me.

Many of you are right, I do change my mind a lot, I tend to get upset and without thinking, change something about myself (hair dye, tattoo, piercing) and then later regret it. It's just hard to love the two toneness, especially on this weird haircut, I wake up everyday and look in the mirror and hate what I see :( especially now that I've given up makeup it is even harder for me to feel pretty. When I think about living with the roots for years I feel like just giving up and getting a quick fix to make me happy.

BUT....then I really start to think about it, I would love to see my blonde hair shimmer naturally in the summer and see and feel my real hair texture for once. I would love to say I have my natural colour when people ask and not have to worry about colouring my eyebrows or covering up my blonde eyelashes. It is especially hard when I come on here and see sooooo many beautiful henna heads with their shimmery firey locks and how beautiful braids and buns look in shades of copper.

Thank you again for everything you all said, I am really tempted by henna still, but I will try my best to wait it through to see how I feel when I see more of my natural colour. I told DH that I will most likely wear my snood hat every single day, just because fiddling with my hair in the morning it what is causing me to hate this awkward length and colour so much, because it looks awful no matter what I do. So I will be hiding it all tucked in a hat for a few month until it gets a bit longer and more managable :eyebrows: I'm gonna look on etsy for some more cute small snoods and continue with my hairtoy collecting, I did some pink manic panic streaks last month which were a fun change, I have some atomic aqua and vampire red here too so lets see if I can occupy myself with that for a while...

[RitaPG]

Do you know how to french braid? I've found it a lot easier to deal with roots when I don't see the difference in the length, keeping hair braided like that made it so easy :D

[growingmyhair]

Maddy, the third picture is fabulous, if you ask me that colour is great on you. your natural colour, on the contrary, doesn't look too good but the pictures are quite bad themselves! and you don't have the right makeup there. your natural colour looks very healthy and it matches your skin and eyes but it's difficult to notice that because of how bad the pictures are and you look much better sans bangs or at least with long side bangs, not the ones in those pics.

[enfys]

I think you're making the right choice :)

While your roots are fairly short you could wear wide headbands and get yourself a calorimetry too so you don't have to keep your hair totally covered all the time by a hat.

Even I get tempted by henna, but for every beautiful henna head there's a natural beauty to inspire you too!

[Heidi_234]

Maddy that's great to read. I was afraid you would take my post the wrong way, but I decided to risk it and post anyway. I didn't get from your OP that you want to use actual henna, but if I did I would second the others - the roots and the upkeep would probably drive you nuts. :agree: And you can't even bleach it out without frying your hair.

The one thing I really like about two-toned hair is that the longer the roots get, the prettier it becomes. I absolutely adore the look of brightly bleached ends, and even considered bleaching mine. Imagine how soon enough your hair will be your natural color all the way to your shoulders and then turn bright and eye catching. If it was my hair, I'd probably exploit it and one in a while play with manic panic, doing rainbow stuff and such. :)

You are exceptionally stunning, and camera loves you a lot, you have beautiful facial features - makeup or no make up. Don't let a little bit of roots make you feel less pretty than you are and get you running for a quick fix. You are making great progress here. :flower:

[Nightshade]

Herm... what about something from Puppycatmeow?
http://www.etsy.com/shop/Puppycatmeow

I have long mossy green extensions from her that I LOVE. She does great work and she's a total sweetie.

She also does custom colors, so what if you got one of her braided items to match your natural color? If you got a headband one like this:

http://www.etsy.com/listing/56303936/7-strand-renaissance-braided-headband

or

http://www.etsy.com/listing/54221619/wacky-wavy-braided-headband-wig-custom

Then you wouldn't see much, if any, of the light blonde when you looked in a mirror.


You could then do one of these in the back:
http://www.etsy.com/listing/54019716/large-bridal-wedding-up-do-filler-wig

And the ends of your pony stubs would be tucked under.


I see several advantages to this

1) You get to hide the color lines that are bothering you (mostly, anyway)
2) you get to have fancy updos a bit early ;)
3) you can take some nice shots with something very close to your natural color, which I think will be reassuring!

[Maddy25]

Maddy that's great to read. I was afraid you would take my post the wrong way, but I decided to risk it and post anyway. I didn't get from your OP that you want to use actual henna, but if I did I would second the others - the roots and the upkeep would probably drive you nuts. :agree: And you can't even bleach it out without frying your hair.

The one thing I really like about two-toned hair is that the longer the roots get, the prettier it becomes. I absolutely adore the look of brightly bleached ends, and even considered bleaching mine. Imagine how soon enough your hair will be your natural color all the way to your shoulders and then turn bright and eye catching. If it was my hair, I'd probably exploit it and one in a while play with manic panic, doing rainbow stuff and such. :)

You are exceptionally stunning, and camera loves you a lot, you have beautiful facial features - makeup or no make up. Don't let a little bit of roots make you feel less pretty than you are and get you running for a quick fix. You are making great progress here. :flower:

Thank you so much, that really makes me feel wonderful. Everything being said in this thread is really making me feel happier with this grow out.


Herm... what about something from Puppycatmeow?
http://www.etsy.com/shop/Puppycatmeow

I have long mossy green extensions from her that I LOVE. She does great work and she's a total sweetie.

She also does custom colors, so what if you got one of her braided items to match your natural color? If you got a headband one like this:

http://www.etsy.com/listing/56303936/7-strand-renaissance-braided-headband

or

http://www.etsy.com/listing/54221619/wacky-wavy-braided-headband-wig-custom

Then you wouldn't see much, if any, of the light blonde when you looked in a mirror.


You could then do one of these in the back:
http://www.etsy.com/listing/54019716/large-bridal-wedding-up-do-filler-wig

And the ends of your pony stubs would be tucked under.


I see several advantages to this

1) You get to hide the color lines that are bothering you (mostly, anyway)
2) you get to have fancy updos a bit early ;)
3) you can take some nice shots with something very close to your natural color, which I think will be reassuring!

Great idea! I convo'd her on etsy and I am thinking about getting a braided headband in my natural colour to cover the line :D and also a clip on rossette bun to cover my pony stub hehe.

[Joliebaby]

I think you are making the right choice too!!
I am growing out my color as well after years and years of coloring, so I hear ya ;)
I also wanted to say that I agree with Heidi- the ombré look of long dark roots and bleach blonde ends is really cool! Tough it out a little while longer and you'll get there!

[Nightshade]

Thank you so much, that really makes me feel wonderful. Everything being said in this thread is really making me feel happier with this grow out.

:cheer: :cheese: :cheer:

I'm sure you'll be REALLY glad you didn't dye it again in a few months :)