I'm a brunette and I've been coloring my hair since I was 25. I started getting lots of gray around 24-25 and I started with the highlights, been them every since. I'm now 46. Yeah, the money, I've put into my hair would be enough to pay a years college tuition.

As a brunette I've always colord my hair. Most brown hair is mousy. A rich brown is much more flattering on most people. I'd bet just about every single beautiful brunette in Hollywood deepens her brown.

PP, I always use a "cool" color - Cool Medium Brown to avoid so much red. It makes my hair very dark though. I've tried the light brown but it didn't cover the grey well.

Around 47 and I use Natural Instincts because it sorts of fades slowly and doesn't leave roots. Not sure what I'll do when that no longer works. I'm probably 25% gray now and close to 50.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm 41 and have never colored but decided I need to do so at the end of the summer (not doing it now b/c of all the time I will be spending in the pool). I got a couple grays in the last couple of years but I could style around them or apply a bit of mascara to the single strands.

In the last 6 months, I can no longer do either. There are too many to hide with styling/tricks. Also, my hairs are very thick so an individual gray hair against my dark hair . . . . it's very noticeable.

I'm bummed b/c I'm sure coloring will never look as natural as I wish it to be. Plus the maintenance is unappealing.

I haven't started dying my hair yet, but I'm bummed, too. I'm vain about my hair! I just know it won' tlook as good when I start to dye it.

Then you have a bad colorist.

Agreed. I have to go every 4 weeks at age 40 because I'm about 80% grey. I used to go to another salon and the color was always too dark then for a week and then really faded and it looked dyed. So I went elsewhere and found a place that uses better color (Schwarzkopf?). They keep the formula in the computer so if another colorist does my hair it makes no difference. My hair doesn't look like it's colored because they do a good job at my salon and the color is much nicer than the mousy brown I had naturally in my 20s. It's not that much $$ either (although I'm no longer in the DC area). Today I had color (touch up roots plus a few highlights), cut, and she cut my DD's hair while my color was processing. It was $120. It's $45 including the blowout when I just get my roots touched up. And then my hair looks awesome!