To think ‘mousey’ hair is the worst hair colour to have?

[Marnie56]

I am one of these people with naturally ‘mousey’ hair - until I was about 10 I had light golden blonde hair and as with a lot of people it gradually got darker. Since I was about 14 I’ve had highlights religiously every few months. So my hair is still ‘blonde’ but only because I spend so much money on it!

I absolutely hate the fact that without highlights I would be this ‘nothing’ colour - it’s not a nice brown/brunette colour and it’s not blonde. I don’t even know what I would look like if I let my highlights grow out and I never got them again but I can’t imagine it would look nice!

I know a lot of people get some sort of colour in their hair, balayage etc but most people would still look fine if they had their natural hair colour - I think all hair colours look nice apart from this weird mouse/dishwater.

Anyone else feel like me? Am I just destined to have to get highlights every few months forever so I look remotely nice!?

If you have let your hair go ‘natural’ and it is mousey and looks good I would be very interested to see it! I don’t think I can think of any celebs with that sort of hair!

I spent a lot of my youth wishing that I DID have mousey hair!

The reason is it's a good neutral base to go whichever way you like - blonde, red, brown or black.

My hair was very dark brown and I had olive skin so I was really sort of stuck with that. Low lights didn't really show unless you stood in strong light! lol!

Going blonde would have looked weird really and would have damaged my hair - products and techniques much improved since then.

My cousin had mousey hair and has been every colour I can think of. I really envied her.

I feel you OP. Have tried to attach a rather dodgily edited photo of my hair. I feel like I can’t ever do anything but a few blonde highlights! It’s like your complexion is made for mousey/blonde and anything brighter just washes you out! V annoying.

My jet black haired friend has been all sorts of vibrant colours & looked great!

The only pros I would say is that grey shows less easily & it’s easy to get away with not colouring it for a while. But i do feel like it’s a ‘nothing’ colour. Not brown, not blonde - mousey

Both DH and I have mousey hair. Well DH is almost bald now but you get my drift. We both prefer partners with brownish hair. We have a thing for natural colours. I don't feel that it's boring because most women dye their hair anyway. I also love seeing it go lighter in summer and darker in winter. That feels more alive to me than a box colour. I dread the day that I'll go grey.

Just to add a positive opinion on mousey hair 😁.

It’s all about the make up and hair style really. Millie mackintosh is mousey and has lovely hair.

I’m mousey and I’m waiting til I go grey to colour. I don’t mind it when I’m tanned

It’s funny as I always think mousey hair is the best Colour to have as you can dye it any colour! It lightens well & darkens easily. My hair is dark brown and is so hard to get any colour change without it looking orange!
It’s lighter at the moment but doesn’t stay looking nice for long.

I have mousey hair and the good thing about it is I haven’t gone grey just a bit duller mousey, I’m early 60s, DM also had mousey hair and didn’t go grey.

Can I just point out that some of the people complaining about their 'mousey' hair clearly have caramel/brown hair!
Alas there's nothing gold or caramel in mousey hair colour. It's very much a cool brown tone. I've looked up the 'mushroom' hair trend and while the images look great (with the balayage) it's all beautiful wavy hair - I don't know what it is about mousey hair but often the natural colour goes hand in hand with a fine, flat texture that is impervious to curls or waves!

Also this thread reminded me that my gran used to refer to it as the colour of dishwater, such things may not have helped my feelings about my hair colour!

but I am a warm mouse with lots of red in my hair

That means I must be a ‘cold mouse’

😂😂😂

Dd is rapidly sliding from blonde to mouse, like me and my mother before me. I will take her for highlights when she hits 13 - it’s like some kind of depressing family tradition.

Mouse hair can definitely look glamorous and whilst a few discreet highlights might help lift it, they aren't needed everywhere - like a pp I get balayage once or twice a year but mostly my hair is natural and there are plenty of celebs with similar colours too

Mine is dirty ick been dirty blonde and mouse and awful naturally. It’s also really limp and lifeless naturally. I get it bleached and toned or dyed semi perm every month and it is so much more manageable and looks good. Currently light blonde and hot pink streaks in.

Mousey browner here. Probably about 30% grey. Actually, the hairs are white and this is fantastic. No need to fork out for highlights anymore - I am now getting a great result from L'Oreal Excellence - golden blonde with evenly spaced 'platinum highlights'.

Mine is sort of a dull ashy browny grey but it doesn’t look grey just dull mousey, it is also thick and curly

I had mousey hair all my adult life, until the menopause, It's now turning auburn, funnily enough it's nearly l w at a looked reddish in photos😄

I'm currently in the process of growing out my blonde highlighted hair (been doing so for about 15 years now).
I used to have very light blonde hair as a baby through primary school. Got darker by secondary.

I don't like the term mousey so I just call it dark blonde/light brown.

Just decided to embrace my natural hair and stop killing it by stripping it's natural colour with bleach

Until I had my son, I was a lovely light blonde. Within weeks of giving birth, it had a greenish/ashy tinge, quickly darkening to not a blonde nor brunette.

When my niece was training as a hair dresser, she didn’t describe my hair as mouse.

She said it was “dead mouse”.

I’ve been every colour over the years; red, pink, peach, blonde, platinum, purple, blue, auburn, chocolate and a shocking orange, anything to cover dead mouse.

I’ve grown it out for around 6 years, back to even greyer, deader mouse (decomposing mouse?), but tomorrow I shall be embracing the slowly appearing silver & colouring it a dusty steel colour.

Bye bye deceased rodent!

When you google mousy brown hair they’re all lovely! You lot are at it.

I'm currently in the process of growing out my blonde highlighted hair (been doing so for about 15 years now. I'm 31).
I used to have very light blonde hair as a baby through primary school. Got darker by secondary.

I don't like the term mousey so I just call it dark blonde/light brown.

Just decided to embrace my natural hair and stop killing it by stripping it's natural colour with bleach.

Sorry didn't mean to double post!

My hair is a level 7 and I can't stand it.

I am told that it technically counts as dark blonde but to my eyes looks like a dull light brown.

Horrid.

I normally have it fake blonde level 8-10 or a deep red like level 3 though that's a tough colour to hold on to.

Doesn't help I'm so horribly pale as well.

Always look so washed out.

I have mousey hair. In my head it is still blonde. In my mirror, it’s going grey. I don’t love the colour but it looks way better with a good cut.

I agree, it's crap. I've naturally got mousey coloured hair, my hairdresser says it's dark blonde but I think they were just being professional.

I've had blonde highlights since being a teenager. I went brunette for a while but I noticed in a photo that even 1cm of regrowth looks like my hair is being elevated off my head! I don't care if I'm blonde or brunette I just want to have a definite hair colour. I've gone back to blonde now, the regrowth looks better and I don't have to darken my brows so much.

I'm pale skinned too, I think that's common with mousey hair. I look/feel so much better with (fake) tanned skin and blonde highlights.

I think blonde hair looks really lovely on older women. My aunty is in her 70s and very stylish anyway but I think the blonde hair helps.

I love virgin hair! That sounds wrong. But I much prefer my brown hair when it’s not coloured. Sadly getting white hairs now so I got it coloured and I hate it even though it’s just brown. It doesn’t have the sheen of natural brown.

Is there a dye that just dyes white hair?

I could have written your OP. Golden hair as a child, which turned mousey just as I hit puberty and started caring about my appearance. Highlights from 14, went dark brown from ages 17-25ish, then now in my mid-30s I’ve swung between brown and blonde since. But blonde is hard to keep up with, and brown always looks initially amazing (I’ve got dark green eyes and dark brows), then goes coppery/brassy on me, making me look washed out.

I'm mousey.

So fed up with it that I'm kinda looking forward to going grey!