Am I too old for rainbow hair?

[LookAtTheFlowersKerry]

I bleached and dyed my long hair yesterday. It was previously an acceptable shade of burgundy. It's now a rainbow of aqua and pink with some gold bits. I love it.

My mum has made a catsbumface at me and told me I'm too old to muck about with my hair like this. She thinks it's too long anyway and that women of a certain age should have much shorter hair (she's been saying that to me for the last ten years).

I'm 37. Is she right? Does it look desperate and sad on a mother of teenagers, as she thinks?

(FYI I don't actually care, but I'm interested to see whether people agree with her...)

Your age is irrelevant but rainbow hair often looks a bit crap in my opinion. It looks good on day one but then it fades really quickly and looks really dull and muted.

the green/blue will be sludge brown in 3 days especially if you're going to deep condition every other day.

i'm 44 with pink hair. nowt wrong with weird hair but blues and greens never wear well.

Really? Fucksticks. If I redo it though will it go back to a nice colour?

Thing is, providing the hair is in good condition even muted colours can look good. However, if hair is dirty or in poor condition it will look like mud.

If you buy those Loreal Coloristas from Boots , you can comb them through and leave for a while like a conditioner- and they do condition your hair beautifully as well as keeping the colour up.

I'm about to turn 35 and have mine really short due to migraines I'd love to go rainbow just to cheer myself up!

OP, did you intend the green? Some purple or blue would sit beautifully over it if you didn't.

But it's lovely. I've had many many colours in mine. Mum makes catbumface each time but if you love it then forget that and keep it!!!!

you can add a bit of semi perm dye to your wash day to stop it fading.

but if it turns brown, you can use a vitamin c treatment to get the color out. It won't go back to perfectly bleached but it'll do a lot. then re dye it.

What dye are you using OP, crazy color is very decent and cheap and if you want a pastel colour you add a drop to conditioner and it can last forever. It's meant to be wash out but if you've bleached it holds the dye very well.

And it's harmless, you can leave it in as long as you like to get a stronger colour. I've left it in overnight before. Makes your hair lovely and soft.

Looks fab! Never too old for rainbow hair. I did, OTOH, have to tell myself at 39 to stop wearing my Daisy Dukes with black leggings and Doc Martens.....

That should have also said "to stop wearing my Daisy Dukes AT ALL....my loss was the charity shop's gain....

Your Mum's wrong but I think you probably know that.

I love rainbow hair (when it's done well) on women of any age. My neighbour must be in her mid 50s and she has short rainbow hair, that looks great.

I do agree with your Mum in the sense that your hair could do with cutting, OP.

I don't think there is an upper age limit on wacky hair colours, no.

Also, everything that AprilSkies44 said.

I'm 46 and I have the coolest rainbow hair - I work with kids and they tell me that all the time (and trust me, if it looked crap they would tell me that too...)

I love the trend for wacky hair colours, it's fun. There is a lot of misery in the world so anything that cheers it up that isn't at the expense of others is great.

I found the most beautiful pic (attached) this morning of how I want my hair next month...and I'm the same age as you. My mum will probably make the same face as yours, but hey.

Phyllis who was in Corrie back in da day was rocking purple hair long before it became a thing for the hipsters. By rights your mother should be asking if in fact you're too young.

I agree that there is no age limit on hair colours or styles but they should be carried out by professionals.

I think it looks fab and if it makes you happy that's brilliant! I would love to be Brave enough to have the tips of my blonde hair dyed pale pink. It's only hair and you only live once!

I'm a hairdresser and you would be surprised how many ladies " of a certain age " opt for more bolder colours than younger ladies. They have that attitude of I don't give a fuck what people think. Where as the younger bunch are very aware of other people's opinions, so tone down their original ideas!

I'm starting to get grey or rather white hairs and I'm in my forties. I plan on having rainbow hair when I've got a blank canvas to work with, as I'm very happy with my hair colour at the moment. When it's gone though I plan to go nuts with all colours.

My Mum is nearly 80 and has soft grey hair

...that my DDs and I regularly attack with rainbow wash-in wash out colours (London Bleach). We do soft rows of colours and Keane quite a lot of grey to soften it further. It looks amazing and because her hair is such light grey the colours stay for ages.

I saw a lady the other day with a longish grey bob with just the underneath a blue so you caught glimpses of it as she moved - i thought it was lovely.

I agree that some colours look too harsh. I've had mine bright pink among other colours and while I think it's fun it isn't flattering. My favourite is natural brown with a few coloured streaks which I can top up with London Bleach. I get shined hair with some colour.

I think the condition of your hair is really important.