Should I Color My Greying Hair?
Should you color your greying hair?
About 6 months ago I colored my hair for the first time in my life.
In the last few years, silver strands have begun appearing in my naturally dark brown hair.
At first I enjoyed the silver as I watched my hair begin to look like I was highlighting it.
However, when my hair got to be about 30% gray, I looked tired and washed out.
That’s because when you have 30% or more gray hair you begin to lose the natural contrast level between your skin and your hair color.
Once your hair color becomes completely white you will have your contrast level back.
I still have misgivings about coloring my hair and each time I have colored my hair I feel nervous.
Once I colored my hair too dark and once it was too light.
I ended up combining two colors to get a natural looking dark ash brown.
I was hoping by the time I had to color my hair, a dye without any Cancer causing chemicals would have been invented.
I have not found a safe hair dye yet. I read that if you use dark hair dye (which is supposed to be the most carcinogenic) you should try not to use it more that 4 times a year. So I am trying to color my hair only once every 12 weeks.
What can you do when you are going gray to maintain some of your contrast level?
It depends.
When you have dark hair and don’t need or want your whole head of hair colored
- If you choose to get your hair colored and it’s long or medium in length, you can get it low lighted, especially around your hairline. Low lighting is like highlighting but a darker color is added to the hair.
- If you have very short hair, it may not be worthwhile to low light, because the frequency of your hair cuts will cut the low lights out too quickly.
If you have light to medium hair tones highlighting or frosting can be used in a flattering color around your face.
Whether you get color on your whole head or just around your hairline, a good colorist can give you back your contrast level provided they choose a shade of color that is flattering to your skin.
How can you maintain some of your youthful contrast level while you are going gray?
Make sure you wear your most flattering colors in clothing and makeup.
Your eyebrow and lip color is especially important.
When your eyebrows disappear you lose your facial expression.
If your eyebrows are fading, you can use eyeshadow or a flattering color of eyebrow pencil on your eyebrows.
If you have lost your eyebrow hairs, a possible solution is eyebrow tattoos. Eyebrow tattoos often fade to their permanent color four days after being done.
I accidentally discovered something that helps me
put off coloring my dark hair for up to 12 weeks.
Jojoba oil!
I was using Jojoba oil as a rinse to moisturize my curly hair and I accidently put in more than a few drops in a glass of water.
I didn’t realize that the jojoba oil made my hair look darker until a co- worker commented that my hair looked darker.
Because I try to color my dark hair as infrequently as possible due to my ongoing concerns about the possible carcinogens in dark hair dye, Jojoba oil has been a blessing.
Whether you choose to go grey or color your hair, wearing clothing and makeup colors that are flattering to your skin will help you avoid looking drab, tired and worn out.
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Nancy Goldblatt, “Wardrobe Wizard of Baltimore,” is a professionally trained personal image consultant. She can analyze you and give you a wallet of 40 to 50 of your best shades of color as well as line drawings of the best styles of clothes for your body shape.
“I was trained in 1991 by Joanna Nicholson of Color 1 Associates, an International Image and Styling Company. I specialize in working with mid-life women whose size or shape has changed and who have lots of clothes and nothing to wear.”
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