Hair dye out of style? Teens?

[WaitingSoLong]

So I noticed something in my neck of the woods. Almost every adult I know dyes their hair or gets highlights or something. I can only think of a couple exceptions. However, with the exception of punk or unnatural hair colors, there is no hair dyeing trend in the teenagers. All my kids and my kids' friends have virgin color hair. I cannot think of one child I know (teens) that colors their hair or gets highlights or anything. Maybe it is just our locale (we are country folk, not city folk).

Is it the same where you live?

Why is it the "norm" to dye your hair as an adult? Is the trend fading away or will these teens all start dying their hair when they are older? Maybe some teens here will comment :)

[MsBubbles]

I notice at my son's high school (Atlanta metro area suburbs) many of the girls have bleached or dyed hair, and a lot of them have extensions. Still.

I for one would welcome a natural hair color movement!

Although I find it funny that the hair industry still found a way to capitalize on the whole ombre craze by faking sun-bleached ends and dark roots!

[jujube]

Some parents don't allow their children to dye their hair before a certain age.

[Juicematic]

I live in a big southern city and frequent the high end mall in my area. I will say that most of the young girls have virgin hair while their moms and others my age have the super bleached look/ heavily highlighted blonde. I don't see many typical punky colors at all

[PinkyCat]

I see the opposite! I see a lot of bleached hair on BOTH boys and girls. Also, a lot of deep red and black. That's pretty much the extent of the colors though, white, black or red. I actually see a lot of wigs and obvious extensions too.

I'm in upstate NY.

[Grillz]

My sister is in high school and she and most of her friends have some kind of unnatural hair color. I know my sister (who has naturally dark dark brown hair) has made her hair black in the past and has now been getting highlights done professionally. She wants to make her hair fire engine red so she's gradually making her hair blonde so that she can achieve it. She also flat irons it practically every day. It usually looks good, but I can't imagine it feels great. :shrug: It is what it is. I'd be lying if I said I didn't go through similar hair phases... sooo yeah, hair dye is not uncommon in my neck of the woods.

[ssjhotau2]

I work at the grocery store and see alot of the highschoolers during lunch and after school- since we're right down the street.

My take on the trend is that right now the "natural" beauty is in. I see most girls playing up their natural color with highlights or adding a bit of red/caramel to their hair to create depth- but overall either sticking to their natural color or staying with a particular boxed color for awhile.

With extensions and feathers and reliable temp dyes- its much easier to experiment with hair

[Shona]

In Scotland it's a different story! (well, here in Glasgow anyway)
Having dip dyed hair is very fashionable! Natural up-top and then the ends a dark green or bright pink or even yellow! It is very creative looking, and alot of people I know don't mind doing it because they cut off there ends anyway, so it's a way of being different without knowing your stuck with it until you grow a new head of hair I guess?!

[Shona]

Also the girls that do this arn't necessarily punk or goth, this is just general fashion now! normal well dressed girls like to do this. I think it looks cool :-)

[cuddledumplin]

I'm in a medium-sized English city. I agree with jujube, I was raised quite stirctly, and I wasn't allowed to dye my hair until I was 16, but a lot of kids here, my nieces included, dye their hair. Some of them start at eleven or twelve too. The colours range from perfectly natural-looking to punky colours. There are a lot of older people here with unnatural hair colours, but there are a lot of "original punks" here who are in their 50's with mohawks and such.

[moxamoll]

I see the whole range of virgin, highlighted, "natural" and "unnatural" hair colours on men and women of all ages.

It was fun at folk fest this summer to see people in their 20's with crazy hair tooling around with their babies! It made me feel old, but I was happy to see that they didn't feel like becoming parents meant that they had to give up the hair they loved!

[maborosi]

I see a LOT of people with bleached hair. You rarely see people go darker. And henna is unheard of, lol.

I started dyeing my hair when I was about 13 with a strawberry blonde dye. Most people didn't know it wasn't my natural color until my eyebrows gradually changed to an almost-black color.

~maborosi~

[morrigan*]

I will love to try that dip look, only a few cm on ends with teporary dye but i will probably wait till summer :D

[BerryFlap]

Totally not the same where I live XD

My school has phases of hair colour; before it was blonde, now it's Cheryl Cole red, though lately a lot of people have gone darker. I can think of 3 people off the top of my head that have never dyed their hair... o.O

[pepperminttea]

Small town in a rural county, England:

I see a lot of dyed hair, at all ages, but you're right I definitely do see more teens with what I think is their natural colour than adults. My guess would be that most adult women dye to cover up their silvers. Talking to my boss (who turned fifty this year), she mentioned she was always trying to get back to the colour hair she had naturally as a teenager - a golden/strawberry blonde. I've no idea what colour she has naturally now, but she dyes it a gingery blonde. The teens I see normally have bleached blonde, or their natural. The dip-dye trend hasn't reached here yet, the few people I see with unnatural hair colours all have a more 'alternative' style generally.

Ditto jujube though, I wasn't allowed to dye my hair until fifteen, and a friend who had stunning dark blonde 1a hair down to her hips-TB-ish wasn't allowed to dye it until 16. (She then dyed it black, cut it to shoulder and removed the black a couple of years later, and now rocks an assortment of amazing unnatural colours.)

[Jeno86]

Defiantly not how it is in my area. I live in Arvada, Colorado and work at a Target that is by the high school I went to so we get A LOT of teens in. I have seen more dyed hair than natural on girls, not quite as much with boys. With the girls there is a lot of bleach, highlights, dark brown/black, a few unnatural colors but its mainly bleach. There is also a lot of bad tan jobs so I really don't think any of them are going for the "natural beauty" look.

[joflakes]

Well..I'm in Canterbury, UK, and I can't think of anyone in their teens/early 20s that doesn't have their hair dyed. A lot of crowd I see are alternative and they tend to aim for the black or bright coloured look. Others I see are bleached. Can't think of anyone with natural hair that I know.....*thinking*....not even anyone my age, either. Hmm! Interesting. I should start a revolution :D

[Rosetta]

^ Same here, more or less (capital metropolitan area of Finland) :wink:
Most teens/20-somethings I see (often it's hard to tell someone's age, I find many teens these days look much older, and older people look younger) have some kind of dye, be it highlighted, black for goths/metal fans, or vibrant red; the last especially seems very popular here, and mostly quite unnatural shades of red...

[lillikins]

Well I'm 15 (16 on Monday, woop woop) and almost every girl I know dyes her hair. xD I guess it just depends

[oscarthehamster]

At my school almost all of the girls and some of the boys dye their hair a solid colour or highlights. Alot of them change their colour with the season-winter is darker summer go lighter- :rolleyes:

[misspurdy06]

In my town girls are constantly dying their hair black or dark brown and tanning.

[patienceneeded]

I teach 8th grade, DH is a High School teacher. We live in Portland, Oregon and here there is a WIDE variety of hair styles, lengths and colors on people of all ages and genders. Multiple colors, stripes, the "dipped" look, natural, punk, goth, skater...it's all fair game here. I colored the underlayer of my hair green/blue this summer (it is still a little bit greenish-looking in certain light). I even put a few streaks in DD4's hair (it washed right out of her hair in 2 weeks). A good 1/3 of my students have hair with "unnatural" colors in it, another 1/3 has been bleached or darkened or at least chemically altered somehow, and the remaining 1/3 is natural. It's kind of a free-for-all here, even amongst adults. It's fun!

[isabelx]

I see the opposite! I left high school 6 months ago and am now in college and at either I can't remember seeing many girls that hadn't dyed or highlighted their hair. I think it just depends on where about you are. I live just outside a large city so maybe that makes a difference. Many teens also false tan etc. I rarely see many teenage girls go for the natural look.

[Orangerthanred]

Um, no. Everyone I know at my school dyes their hair crazy colours- red, yellow, green. I know one girl who dyed her hair three times in the same week- dark red, black, then the colour of yellow pudding.

Natural's boring to them, I guess. They also straighten their hair constantly, and even the teachers have funky highlights and overstyled hair.

[hs_atreides]

I think it depends on where you live, and the restrictions parents have for their children. Ultimately, fashion trends will continually cycle and kids will always find some way to set them apart from the adults in their lives. It could very well be a teenage backlash to adult primping.

Sort of like "mom-pants". To one generation it is defined by high-waist witha tapered leg. THe next generation says, "No, thanks, we'll wear our low/mid-rise bootcut". Next one is all over the skinny cut.

[Carolyn]

I live in a very rural part of the midwest. Hicksville. Pretty much BFE. Almost all teen girls, younger women and older women dye and or high light their hair, myself included. I see lots of very unnatural oranges, butter yellows and reds. I also see quite a few of the very bleached on top and dark underneath look. We aren't exactly known for being trendy here :gabigrin:

[bluesnowflake]

I'm in high school, and I think the majority (about 75%) have virgin hair. Many of the popular cheerleader types dye it blond or red, and a few of the punk/goth kids have dyed black or brightly colored hair, but most people definitely keep the virgin color. BTW, I live just outside the Twin Cities area in MN.

[Orangerthanred]

Many of the popular cheerleader types dye it blond or red

Weird. Where I live, all the 'popular' people dye their hair brown or black. This includes some of the boys. Of course, they have brightly coloured highlights and sometimes they dye their hair odd colours like I mentioned before.

[JellyBene]

I think it must just be your area because where I live I can think of maybe 2 teens I know who do NOT dye/bleach/highlight their hair

[darklyndsea]

I am the most unobservant person ever, so I never have any idea if anybody's dying their hair natural colors (how can you tell, anyway?! I mean, sure, you can tell with the people you're around a lot because you see the change from one day to another, or if it's a giant change, but I don't understand how it's possible to just look at somebody and know that their hair is dyed). However, the schools I went to all banned unnatural hair colors, and seemed to be getting stricter as time went on. So it's not necessarily that the kids don't want to dye their hair, because they might not be able to.

[Arashi]

In my area, I'd say it is about half and half for teens. I started dying my hair around.. oh, probably age 11 or 12 and I definitely wasn't the only one at the time, though most of the others got highlights rather than dying darker like me. I live near a high school and see a mix of different colors on the kids going to school- natural, highlights, dyed, rainbow colors and so on.

Of course I'm sure school and parent rules have something to do with it.. I'll bet many more teenagers want to dye their hair than are allowed to.

[AzuraBlaise]

I am over 16, yet I have not dyed my hair because of my mother (and although I love her dearly, I hate it when she says no. It's like it's all she can do sometimes, that and sigh :(). As for dye, I'd say there are maybe more blondes than can be natural, and a fair few unnatural redheads too. One of my friends in the 'alternative' crowd has recently dyed the top and bottom layers of her hair a light ginger, and the middle layer a dark burgandy brown. I think it might be one of the few cases of exotic hair dying in my school.

[blondie9912]

17 year old chiming in :cheese:

I've dyed my hair many many MANY times (but am now growing out natural)
I can't really decide if lots of girls my age dye their hair, perhaps half and half? I know plenty of highlighted blondes, but very few girls my age who dye their hair darker.

[mrs_coffee]

My 16yo uses Yemeni henna to color her hair, but she has reddish brown hair to begin with so it's not a drastic difference. I don't pay close enough attention, I guess, to know whether or not it's the trend around here.

[pepperpot]

A lot of teens in my area bleach and highlight their hair.

[WaitingSoLong]

About 7 years ago the trend was to have red hair with black tips or a black underlayer or something to that effect. I noticed now the trend it so have an unnatural color in the underlayer.



Ultimately, fashion trends will continually cycle and kids will always find some way to set them apart from the adults in their lives. It could very well be a teenage backlash to adult primping.

Well perhaps this would explain the "natural" look trend around here, since all the parents seem to be as un-natural as possible. This includes make-up, I am always amazed at how many of the young ladies wear no make-up at all.


I am the most unobservant person ever, so I never have any idea if anybody's dying their hair natural colors (how can you tell, anyway?! I mean, sure, you can tell with the people you're around a lot because you see the change from one day to another, or if it's a giant change, but I don't understand how it's possible to just look at somebody and know that their hair is dyed). However, the schools I went to all banned unnatural hair colors, and seemed to be getting stricter as time went on. So it's not necessarily that the kids don't want to dye their hair, because they might not be able to.

I can tell dyed hair from natural hair most the time. Natural hair has texture and "natural" tone variations that just cannot be duplicated from a bottle. Plus, you can usually tell when someone is a bottle blonde.

Our junior high (7th and 8th) and elementary schools forbid unnatural hair colors but not the high school (9-12th). Makes no sense to me. ?? I guess I did not consider the parents not allowing the kids, seeing as I have teenagers and don't care one bit what they do to their hair as long as it is CLEAN and groomed. My oldest son had long hair all of high school. He has since cut it short again. My younger son has the shag look and my daughter has long hair like me, natural. None of them have ever asked to dye their hair.

[thelittlestdoc]

In the past few years I've lived in: the Northwest, New England, Florida, and Arizona, and I see tons of bleached blonde hair and highlights on teens. Plus hair is a lot shorter than when I was in high school (which really isn't that long ago, I graduated in 07).

[mallorykay13]

Definitely not the same for my high school (iowa, usa). Almost everyone keeps up with hair dye over here.

[Lostsoule77]

Honestly I haven't really noticed. I do see alot of colored or feather extensions though.

[Quixii]

I don't know anyone my age or younger who dyes their hair. Everyone I know that does dye their hair is older.
(Excepting my friend who varies her hair between black, blonde, blue, red, and whatever else strikes her mood, and the occasional Manic Panic streaks on others, including myself.)

[WaitingSoLong]

That was another thing, long hair is definitely IN right now and a lot of the girls are inpressed with my hair LOL.

[jojo]

I live in the countryside and I see a few over 16's with highlights and the Rhianna red look! but not many under 16's, however if I travel into the nearest city near enough all of teenagers have the Rhianna red and a lot of older women too, plus the coal black with white roots..ahem!

[Diamond.Eyes]

Where I live, a lot of the girls either bleach their hair or dye it black. Just about every girl that I know dyes their hair in my town.

[Siiri]

I'd say here about half of the teen age girls dye their hair with colours that are pretty different from their natural colour (like very light blond, black or bright red), but not dyeing or dyeing with colours close to their own colour is getting more popular, among adults too. You see a lot of ashy medium blond to light brown hair in commercials and fashion magazines too, which you didn't see 5-10 years ago, so I guess it's in fashion. But dyed is still the norm.

[Anywhere]

I used to dye my hair. Right now it's hennaed. I can only think of 3 girls (not including myself) in my class of 25 that dye their hair. At least, only 3 I know about. I don't know if the natural blondes have highlights or not. Even then it would only be about 5 or 6 total.

It could be because teens have less money to spend on hair dye these days? I know my mom always used to pay for mine but I believe a lot of parents make their kids pay for their own stuff starting much younger.

[RedBlue]

When I was a senior in high school (last year) I dyed my hair red all year. The first time I dyed it was right before school started. The first week of school, other girls started to dye their hair red. I didn't dye my hair red because of Rihanna, I dyed it because i didn't want to go blonde, I was getting tired of brown, my mother wouldn't let me go black, and I didn't want highlights.

Alot of the girls had dirty blonde hair and it was always straight.

About girls not allowed to dye their hair til a certain age, I agree, BUT my mother is a professional hair dresser and she could care less about what color I dye my hair! As long as she does it with professional dye and it's not black, she's good. She had purple hair in high school. She was in high school in the eighties.

[racrane]

RedBlue! Welcome to LHC!

In Milwaukee, WI many girls in high school and college dye their hair blond or use highlights. Longest hair is BSL, waist is shocking. Adult women have short, dyed hair. It's so refreshing to see natural, long hair!

[Foxy_Booker]

I graduated from a highschool in a small town in Canada like 2 years ago and almost everyone coloured their hair and changes the colours often. It was more apparent in the more popular groups of people, the less appearance conscience students had more virgin hair.

[QueenOfTheSkye]

A fair number of the girls at my school have bleached blonde hair, and we've got maybe half a dozen who have consistently crazy hair colors (ie, they dye it white and then layer temporary dye over it), but since I can't always tell who's dying her hair, I'm not sure.

[McFearless]

Meh who cares, look at your siggy!! Your hair looks gorgeous! Are you happy with the results?

[cocoahair]

Out of style!Definitly not!many people ask if my hair color is natural and almost everyone at school has blonde highlights.