Does your hair look darker when it's at its healthiest?

[Priska]

Thank you for your answers, this is interesting to hear! And I don't think this is bad in anyway, dark is my haircolour. I mean the one that suits me and makes me look best. I believe natural haircolour suits everyone. I was blond for one year when I was young, and getting it dark brown was like coming back home again.

[lithostoic]

Nope, it just looks darker when it has oil in it. If anything my hair looks lighter when it's healthy because the light reflects off it more.

[Deborah]

Yes, hair looks darker when healthy, except for my niece who has naturally platinum blonde hair, almost white. Hers always looks the same.

[sarana]

Yes, my hair is much darker when it's healthy.

Lightness comes with uv damage and dryness

[catklutzy]

I have heard some stylists state that properly moisturised hair is darker than dry hair.

I've heard the same about properly moisturized hair appearing darker. It seems like keeping our hair hydrated is not only good for its health but also for maintaining a rich color.

[Fiorentina]

No I would not say so.
My hair is a little darker when I applied some oil, and maybe a tiny bit lighter when it is drier.
However, this only happens to the tips, not to the lengths or the roots.

[Kat]

I haven't noticed anything like that. My hair looks darker when it needs to be washed (oily and looks wet), but that's it. (And my hair doesn't need to be any more dark, so I'm fine with that.)

I suppose so. Not at the roots, those are usually a uniform color for me (mousy brown), but I noticed that my length in the old pictures (20 years ago) was much lighter - I never used any conditioner back then and I had a ton of split ends, so from ears down, I had almost a blonde color (not from dye, no dye). Nowadays, with proper haircare, the natural color of my length matches the color of my roots, there is very little to none lightening towards the ends.

That could also just be time, though. My hair is much darker than it was 20 years ago, which was much darker than it was 20 years before that.

[rosenester]

I’ll echo what other fair hairies have said. My hair sun bleaches very easily, so it is healthier on the underside where it is darker, and has less sun exposure due to the thickness of my hair. It doesn’t really change much how my hair behaves, the waves straighten out faster on the crown hairs is mostly all I notice

[tuanyiji]

In Chinese social media, the quickest way to fake healthy hair is to dye it black so as to hide the frizzy, damaged, and bleached bits, and immediately the whole auro changes. And since 90% of the population has default very dark hair roots, it is easier for someone to continue/resume their long hair journey this way without trimming.
I’ve used a lot of henna oil and it virtually looks no difference on my hair unless it’s under direct sunlight, then it shows a tiny bit of orange hue.

[Pilate]

Same about the dyed part! Since I'm not stripping the oils from my scalp, my hair appears to lighten slightly as you go down the hair shaft and someone once asked if I got a balayage.