I think I just have to go grey

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I did some internet searches trying to figure out what "brassy" really means, and what's so wrong with it? Many sites explain that it's a natural kind of color for many. Honestly, into their 40s and 50s, for most women, a little brassy, but nicely styled, sleek, clean hair, still looks better than frizzy gray. Wanting to have your hair complement you and be part of an overall nice look is no different than wanting to dress nicely. So why so much hate for not agreeing that gray is better?

To give you more information - with the current trend of “gray blending,” on naturall brown hair you do brown lowlights and lighter highlights. Unless you are obsessive about protecting your color (washing rarely, never swimming, never going into the sun) and go to the salon every 4-5 weeks ($$$$) what happens is that the highlights turn a reddish color, then your natural ashy brown and silver grow in (remember this is grey blending). The color contrast is just ugly and raggedy, even though the grey blending means there’s no root line.

If you go for an all-over darker tone, there’s less color contrast so the brassiness isn’t as huge a deal. But you get an immediate root line, and all-over dark color can look really bad and aging.

If you go the other direction and lighten to a blonde, maybe you side-step the brass and the regrowth line isn’t as bad. But then you truly fry your hair.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I did some internet searches trying to figure out what "brassy" really means, and what's so wrong with it? Many sites explain that it's a natural kind of color for many. Honestly, into their 40s and 50s, for most women, a little brassy, but nicely styled, sleek, clean hair, still looks better than frizzy gray. Wanting to have your hair complement you and be part of an overall nice look is no different than wanting to dress nicely. So why so much hate for not agreeing that gray is better?

To give you more information - with the current trend of “gray blending,” on naturall brown hair you do brown lowlights and lighter highlights. Unless you are obsessive about protecting your color (washing rarely, never swimming, never going into the sun) and go to the salon every 4-5 weeks ($$$$) what happens is that the highlights turn a reddish color, then your natural ashy brown and silver grow in (remember this is grey blending). The color contrast is just ugly and raggedy, even though the grey blending means there’s no root line.

If you go for an all-over darker tone, there’s less color contrast so the brassiness isn’t as huge a deal. But you get an immediate root line, and all-over dark color can look really bad and aging.

If you go the other direction and lighten to a blonde, maybe you side-step the brass and the regrowth line isn’t as bad. But then you truly fry your hair.

It doesn't speak to the point: what is wrong with brassy? I have dark brown hair that has always reddened in the sun. Way before I was coloring it. Dark brown with red highlights is my natural color. Now I color my hair with an all-over dark golden brown. This probably does get what you all complain about as "brassy." But it's what my naturally dark brown hair has always looked like. Dark brown with red/golden highlights. What's wrong with that? I blow it out, so it's nice and smooth and shiny. Still looks much better than frizzy, dull gray hair.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I did some internet searches trying to figure out what "brassy" really means, and what's so wrong with it? Many sites explain that it's a natural kind of color for many. Honestly, into their 40s and 50s, for most women, a little brassy, but nicely styled, sleek, clean hair, still looks better than frizzy gray. Wanting to have your hair complement you and be part of an overall nice look is no different than wanting to dress nicely. So why so much hate for not agreeing that gray is better?

To give you more information - with the current trend of “gray blending,” on naturall brown hair you do brown lowlights and lighter highlights. Unless you are obsessive about protecting your color (washing rarely, never swimming, never going into the sun) and go to the salon every 4-5 weeks ($$$$) what happens is that the highlights turn a reddish color, then your natural ashy brown and silver grow in (remember this is grey blending). The color contrast is just ugly and raggedy, even though the grey blending means there’s no root line.

If you go for an all-over darker tone, there’s less color contrast so the brassiness isn’t as huge a deal. But you get an immediate root line, and all-over dark color can look really bad and aging.

If you go the other direction and lighten to a blonde, maybe you side-step the brass and the regrowth line isn’t as bad. But then you truly fry your hair.

It doesn't speak to the point: what is wrong with brassy? I have dark brown hair that has always reddened in the sun. Way before I was coloring it. Dark brown with red highlights is my natural color. Now I color my hair with an all-over dark golden brown. This probably does get what you all complain about as "brassy." But it's what my naturally dark brown hair has always looked like. Dark brown with red/golden highlights. What's wrong with that? I blow it out, so it's nice and smooth and shiny. Still looks much better than frizzy, dull gray hair.

I wrote a long post about why brassy dyed hair over ashy brown with gray looks bad and why I felt my hair would likely look better gray (and also less frizzy). Feel free to refer back.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I did some internet searches trying to figure out what "brassy" really means, and what's so wrong with it? Many sites explain that it's a natural kind of color for many. Honestly, into their 40s and 50s, for most women, a little brassy, but nicely styled, sleek, clean hair, still looks better than frizzy gray. Wanting to have your hair complement you and be part of an overall nice look is no different than wanting to dress nicely. So why so much hate for not agreeing that gray is better?

I hope you realize that it’s not the color that makes the hair frizzy. You can have nicely styled, sleek, clean grey hair and frizzy brassy hair. Or anything in between those two.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I did some internet searches trying to figure out what "brassy" really means, and what's so wrong with it? Many sites explain that it's a natural kind of color for many. Honestly, into their 40s and 50s, for most women, a little brassy, but nicely styled, sleek, clean hair, still looks better than frizzy gray. Wanting to have your hair complement you and be part of an overall nice look is no different than wanting to dress nicely. So why so much hate for not agreeing that gray is better?

I hope you realize that it’s not the color that makes the hair frizzy. You can have nicely styled, sleek, clean grey hair and frizzy brassy hair. Or anything in between those two.

This. I have non frizzy grey hair and do not look like a witch. There are a couple of spots with a tiny bit of frizz around my hair line, and I just use a straightening brush on my blowdryer if I feel like smoothing them. Otherwise I just tousle my hair which has slight curl and they don't stand out at all. You can also get a gloss on grey hair - I've been meaning to get one. I would even add that grey hair does not have to be sleek--I've had mine in a sleek shape, but also contemporary layers. I liked both.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I did some internet searches trying to figure out what "brassy" really means, and what's so wrong with it? Many sites explain that it's a natural kind of color for many. Honestly, into their 40s and 50s, for most women, a little brassy, but nicely styled, sleek, clean hair, still looks better than frizzy gray. Wanting to have your hair complement you and be part of an overall nice look is no different than wanting to dress nicely. So why so much hate for not agreeing that gray is better?

To give you more information - with the current trend of “gray blending,” on naturall brown hair you do brown lowlights and lighter highlights. Unless you are obsessive about protecting your color (washing rarely, never swimming, never going into the sun) and go to the salon every 4-5 weeks ($$$$) what happens is that the highlights turn a reddish color, then your natural ashy brown and silver grow in (remember this is grey blending). The color contrast is just ugly and raggedy, even though the grey blending means there’s no root line.

If you go for an all-over darker tone, there’s less color contrast so the brassiness isn’t as huge a deal. But you get an immediate root line, and all-over dark color can look really bad and aging.

If you go the other direction and lighten to a blonde, maybe you side-step the brass and the regrowth line isn’t as bad. But then you truly fry your hair.

It doesn't speak to the point: what is wrong with brassy? I have dark brown hair that has always reddened in the sun. Way before I was coloring it. Dark brown with red highlights is my natural color. Now I color my hair with an all-over dark golden brown. This probably does get what you all complain about as "brassy." But it's what my naturally dark brown hair has always looked like. Dark brown with red/golden highlights. What's wrong with that? I blow it out, so it's nice and smooth and shiny. Still looks much better than frizzy, dull gray hair.

Brassy implies a red gold hue that is rarely found in natural hair. It’s unlikely that your virgin uncolored hair had the same color and tones as your current box dye hair.

But I do agree with your point. Brown hair with some brassyness is a better look than grey for most people.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I did some internet searches trying to figure out what "brassy" really means, and what's so wrong with it? Many sites explain that it's a natural kind of color for many. Honestly, into their 40s and 50s, for most women, a little brassy, but nicely styled, sleek, clean hair, still looks better than frizzy gray. Wanting to have your hair complement you and be part of an overall nice look is no different than wanting to dress nicely. So why so much hate for not agreeing that gray is better?

I hope you realize that it’s not the color that makes the hair frizzy. You can have nicely styled, sleek, clean grey hair and frizzy brassy hair. Or anything in between those two.

My highlights made my hair have a very damaged texture. Going darker seemed less damaging.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I did some internet searches trying to figure out what "brassy" really means, and what's so wrong with it? Many sites explain that it's a natural kind of color for many. Honestly, into their 40s and 50s, for most women, a little brassy, but nicely styled, sleek, clean hair, still looks better than frizzy gray. Wanting to have your hair complement you and be part of an overall nice look is no different than wanting to dress nicely. So why so much hate for not agreeing that gray is better?

To give you more information - with the current trend of “gray blending,” on naturall brown hair you do brown lowlights and lighter highlights. Unless you are obsessive about protecting your color (washing rarely, never swimming, never going into the sun) and go to the salon every 4-5 weeks ($$$$) what happens is that the highlights turn a reddish color, then your natural ashy brown and silver grow in (remember this is grey blending). The color contrast is just ugly and raggedy, even though the grey blending means there’s no root line.

If you go for an all-over darker tone, there’s less color contrast so the brassiness isn’t as huge a deal. But you get an immediate root line, and all-over dark color can look really bad and aging.

If you go the other direction and lighten to a blonde, maybe you side-step the brass and the regrowth line isn’t as bad. But then you truly fry your hair.

It doesn't speak to the point: what is wrong with brassy? I have dark brown hair that has always reddened in the sun. Way before I was coloring it. Dark brown with red highlights is my natural color. Now I color my hair with an all-over dark golden brown. This probably does get what you all complain about as "brassy." But it's what my naturally dark brown hair has always looked like. Dark brown with red/golden highlights. What's wrong with that? I blow it out, so it's nice and smooth and shiny. Still looks much better than frizzy, dull gray hair.

Brassy implies a red gold hue that is rarely found in natural hair. It’s unlikely that your virgin uncolored hair had the same color and tones as your current box dye hair.

But I do agree with your point. Brown hair with some brassyness is a better look than grey for most people.

OP here. It’s not, for me, except maybe for the first week out of the salon. Even then, all-over brown looks extremely artificial and washes me out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m 48 with a lot of grey and I think I’ve had it with trying to cover it. I got a terrible all-over color with horrible brassy highlights a year ago that was much too dark. My hair grows fast so the roots were evident immediately. After a few times seeing that stylist with my hair just getting darker and highlights worse, I found a really good colorist who was able to fix it somewhat with balyage, lowlights and highlights. But it costs SO much, and moreover, the highlights just ruin the texture of my already frizzy hair so I look like a crazy witch in the heat.

I think I’m just gonna go grey. I don’t see any other solution!

What's your natural color?

I also used to do the highlights thing, but as a little gray became a lot of gray (I am fully gray at my crown at 52) I ditched highlights and now do a single process color. I touch up in between salon visits with Loreal root cover.

Is it a pain? Yes. But I'm not ready to go fully gray and no matter what people say, it ages you. Like by a decade at least.

don't you have to touch it up every couple of weeks minimum?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:NP. When I see elderly women with very thin hair with the brassy color and white skunk strike at the top, I always wonder why they don’t go silver; they can even add some silver highlights to sparkle it up. The skunk stripe looks worse than all gray, and it takes a trip to the salon every 2 weeks to (decently) cover it.

the sparkle lasts about 2 shampoos

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I did some internet searches trying to figure out what "brassy" really means, and what's so wrong with it? Many sites explain that it's a natural kind of color for many. Honestly, into their 40s and 50s, for most women, a little brassy, but nicely styled, sleek, clean hair, still looks better than frizzy gray. Wanting to have your hair complement you and be part of an overall nice look is no different than wanting to dress nicely. So why so much hate for not agreeing that gray is better?

To give you more information - with the current trend of “gray blending,” on naturall brown hair you do brown lowlights and lighter highlights. Unless you are obsessive about protecting your color (washing rarely, never swimming, never going into the sun) and go to the salon every 4-5 weeks ($$$$) what happens is that the highlights turn a reddish color, then your natural ashy brown and silver grow in (remember this is grey blending). The color contrast is just ugly and raggedy, even though the grey blending means there’s no root line.

If you go for an all-over darker tone, there’s less color contrast so the brassiness isn’t as huge a deal. But you get an immediate root line, and all-over dark color can look really bad and aging.

If you go the other direction and lighten to a blonde, maybe you side-step the brass and the regrowth line isn’t as bad. But then you truly fry your hair.

It doesn't speak to the point: what is wrong with brassy? I have dark brown hair that has always reddened in the sun. Way before I was coloring it. Dark brown with red highlights is my natural color. Now I color my hair with an all-over dark golden brown. This probably does get what you all complain about as "brassy." But it's what my naturally dark brown hair has always looked like. Dark brown with red/golden highlights. What's wrong with that? I blow it out, so it's nice and smooth and shiny. Still looks much better than frizzy, dull gray hair.

Brassy implies a red gold hue that is rarely found in natural hair. It’s unlikely that your virgin uncolored hair had the same color and tones as your current box dye hair.

But I do agree with your point. Brown hair with some brassyness is a better look than grey for most people.

OP here. It’s not, for me, except maybe for the first week out of the salon. Even then, all-over brown looks extremely artificial and washes me out.

I was talking to the PP who like most women in America is a natural brunette.

If you were a natural blonde, then brown may be too dark. It sounds like you may need to go to a lighter shade of blonde. Brassy happens often when the hair isn’t lifted enough.

I know a natural blonde who recently had some weird blend of brown and dark brassy highlights and she indeed looked terrible. She went to a light blonde and looked fantastic.

Good luck.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I did some internet searches trying to figure out what "brassy" really means, and what's so wrong with it? Many sites explain that it's a natural kind of color for many. Honestly, into their 40s and 50s, for most women, a little brassy, but nicely styled, sleek, clean hair, still looks better than frizzy gray. Wanting to have your hair complement you and be part of an overall nice look is no different than wanting to dress nicely. So why so much hate for not agreeing that gray is better?

To give you more information - with the current trend of “gray blending,” on naturall brown hair you do brown lowlights and lighter highlights. Unless you are obsessive about protecting your color (washing rarely, never swimming, never going into the sun) and go to the salon every 4-5 weeks ($$$$) what happens is that the highlights turn a reddish color, then your natural ashy brown and silver grow in (remember this is grey blending). The color contrast is just ugly and raggedy, even though the grey blending means there’s no root line.

If you go for an all-over darker tone, there’s less color contrast so the brassiness isn’t as huge a deal. But you get an immediate root line, and all-over dark color can look really bad and aging.

If you go the other direction and lighten to a blonde, maybe you side-step the brass and the regrowth line isn’t as bad. But then you truly fry your hair.

I can attest to all of the above.
That said, the more gray i get, hte easier it is to go blonde because it blends more eaisly when growing in

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I did some internet searches trying to figure out what "brassy" really means, and what's so wrong with it? Many sites explain that it's a natural kind of color for many. Honestly, into their 40s and 50s, for most women, a little brassy, but nicely styled, sleek, clean hair, still looks better than frizzy gray. Wanting to have your hair complement you and be part of an overall nice look is no different than wanting to dress nicely. So why so much hate for not agreeing that gray is better?

To give you more information - with the current trend of “gray blending,” on naturall brown hair you do brown lowlights and lighter highlights. Unless you are obsessive about protecting your color (washing rarely, never swimming, never going into the sun) and go to the salon every 4-5 weeks ($$$$) what happens is that the highlights turn a reddish color, then your natural ashy brown and silver grow in (remember this is grey blending). The color contrast is just ugly and raggedy, even though the grey blending means there’s no root line.

If you go for an all-over darker tone, there’s less color contrast so the brassiness isn’t as huge a deal. But you get an immediate root line, and all-over dark color can look really bad and aging.

If you go the other direction and lighten to a blonde, maybe you side-step the brass and the regrowth line isn’t as bad. But then you truly fry your hair.

I can attest to all of the above.
That said, the more gray i get, hte easier it is to go blonde because it blends more eaisly when growing in

Quoting myself - the problem I find now is that because my hair is more gray at the crown, when I wear it back (which is usually) it looks very gray despite the highlights. It looks great when I wear it down color wise.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I did some internet searches trying to figure out what "brassy" really means, and what's so wrong with it? Many sites explain that it's a natural kind of color for many. Honestly, into their 40s and 50s, for most women, a little brassy, but nicely styled, sleek, clean hair, still looks better than frizzy gray. Wanting to have your hair complement you and be part of an overall nice look is no different than wanting to dress nicely. So why so much hate for not agreeing that gray is better?

To give you more information - with the current trend of “gray blending,” on naturall brown hair you do brown lowlights and lighter highlights. Unless you are obsessive about protecting your color (washing rarely, never swimming, never going into the sun) and go to the salon every 4-5 weeks ($$$$) what happens is that the highlights turn a reddish color, then your natural ashy brown and silver grow in (remember this is grey blending). The color contrast is just ugly and raggedy, even though the grey blending means there’s no root line.

If you go for an all-over darker tone, there’s less color contrast so the brassiness isn’t as huge a deal. But you get an immediate root line, and all-over dark color can look really bad and aging.

If you go the other direction and lighten to a blonde, maybe you side-step the brass and the regrowth line isn’t as bad. But then you truly fry your hair.

It doesn't speak to the point: what is wrong with brassy? I have dark brown hair that has always reddened in the sun. Way before I was coloring it. Dark brown with red highlights is my natural color. Now I color my hair with an all-over dark golden brown. This probably does get what you all complain about as "brassy." But it's what my naturally dark brown hair has always looked like. Dark brown with red/golden highlights. What's wrong with that? I blow it out, so it's nice and smooth and shiny. Still looks much better than frizzy, dull gray hair.

Brassy implies a red gold hue that is rarely found in natural hair. It’s unlikely that your virgin uncolored hair had the same color and tones as your current box dye hair.

But I do agree with your point. Brown hair with some brassyness is a better look than grey for most people.

OP here. It’s not, for me, except maybe for the first week out of the salon. Even then, all-over brown looks extremely artificial and washes me out.

I was talking to the PP who like most women in America is a natural brunette.

If you were a natural blonde, then brown may be too dark. It sounds like you may need to go to a lighter shade of blonde. Brassy happens often when the hair isn’t lifted enough.

I know a natural blonde who recently had some weird blend of brown and dark brassy highlights and she indeed looked terrible. She went to a light blonde and looked fantastic.

Good luck.

lifting my hair damages it … then it gets brassy. then I ask myself how tf my HAIR became the second highest line-item in my budget after my mortgage? When it doesn’t even look good????

[Anonymous]

Going grey ages you like 10yrs, I haven’t seen anyone look good with it.