To wonder why black hair dye is so popular

[Fudgeycake]

Lots of women of all ages seem to dye their hair jet black, even though black box dye can look super flat and draining on some complexions (particularly people with pale skin) and it's quite aging? I'm just wondering why really jet dark black is so popular? Do you dye your hair black and why? I get it can be part of a certain aesthetic (goth or 30s/40s pin-up look etc.)

In comparison, I get why women go blonde or brown/caramel when it isn't their natural colour - the right shade can be very brightening and look youthful. (For context my greys have really taken off recently and I've been thinking about hair dye a lot!)

I dye mine dark brown (my original hair colour) but it looks black because of build-up. I’d go for a lighter brown but it doesn’t cover my grey roots properly and they’re showing again after three washes. Dark brown covers them properly.

I got into lightening my hair myself during lockdown and carried on @blackheartsgirl - it's cheaper and convenient. I use Naturetint. My hairdresser always compliments me on my hair colour.

I am sure you are quite lovely looking!

I wonder if part of it is that you don’t need to worry about trying to remember what colours / brand you’ve used before, you just buy any old black any whack it on?

I'm going to assume you're referring to white northern European women here, because women of any other ethnicity are far more likely to have naturally black hair than hair of any other colour. If someone is Black, South Asian, Middle Eastern or East Asian, then black hair is probably the most common natural shade. And loads of southern Europeans frequently have naturally black hair too.

Anyhoo. If we're talking about white northern European women, I see thousands with the same tasteful caramel/honey blonde/blonde/mid-brown balayaged/highlighted/lowlighted hair, and actually very few with hair dyed jet black, so I'm not really sure why you think it's 'so popular' when it's not at all the norm.

I think that, ultimately, not everyone actually wants to conform to your idea of 'nice', and why on earth should they? What you like is not what they like. They're not there for you to look at. If I'm being totally honest, while the caramel shades you mention are 'nice', I also find them quite boring. Absolutely they do suit some women and they're mega popular so obviously people love that look, but also... meh. I can't get excited about them.

Also, those shades would look absolutely awful on me. I don't dye my hair - but my natural shade is a very, very dark brown with zero warmth in it. I'm extremely pale and have green eyes. I don't want to be 'warmed up' because then I just look bland and sallow and my features just disappear. At the moment I'm sticking to my natural colour with a pillar-box red panel underneath. If I go grey though, I would absolutely consider colouring it black because I'd look fucking great.

About 3 quarters of the population have hair which is a shade of black, so its hardly surprising its a popular dye.

Lots of people simply don't like lighter hair, don't suit lighter hair or find lighter hair difficult (and expensive) to maintain.

I dye my hair black, naturally brown. To describe my image, I wear vans, doc martens. Converse, mostly black clothes.

@ManateeFair seethes with jealousy.

The real tragedy is when you suit neither caramel slices, jet black tresses, dramatic red or sultry brown.

I can pull off ashy blonde or ashy light brown. And that second one, not really, unless I wear make up which is effort. Humph.

I didn't want to think about things making eyes pop today. Curse my overly-literal mental cinema.

Unless someone has naturally tanned skin it just looks disgusting. In their minds they look like Megan Fox, but they definitely don’t 🫢

Same, also lighter hair doesn't look good on me

I'm pale with blue eyes and was recently umming and aaahing over going black. My reasons were I've recently been blonde, light brown, dark brown & red but fancied a change, and I get bored with my hair every 6 months or so!

I was hoping to pull off a Catriona Balfe / Jennifer Connelly look but ultimately decided against it as it's so hard to get out if it doesn't look right, and I doubt I'll look as glamorous as them and will probably just look washed out!

Dyeing your hair is a fun way to reinvent yourself and go for different looks / vibes. Black can like you say be gothy, pinup, glamorous, mysterious etc. Even if it doesn't suit you as much as others, people might like how they feel with it.

My very unscientific theory is the attaction of scarcity.

I grew up in a country where most people have dark or dark hair by default (blond and red too, but very much in the minority). You see very, very few people there using black dye - blond and other brunette shades, yes, but black extremely rarely. Precisely because it looks artificial if you are pale or very pale, as a PP said.

However, in this country it's seen as more 'exotic', so it's more desirable.

Personally, I do think not any hair colour goes well with any complexion, but each to their own I guess.

I don't think anyone thinks they look like Megan Fox. Also it's just nonsense that it looks "disgusting" on paler skinned women. It really depends on your overall complexion and it looks striking on many women, Dita Von Teese is an example.

I think you have a point @Fudgeycake It is all down to natural complexion and is something to bear in mind as you get older. I have friend now in her seventies who always dyed her hair black and it really didn't suit her, but obviously I wouldn't have said so. About a year ago she stopped dyeing it and she looks like a different person, really fantastic.

I'm not against dyeing hair as I do my own and can't imagine stopping yet, but I do go for a lighter shade of brown than it naturally was.

Nonsense? It’s called my opinion. It looks rank on any white person tbh including Dita Von Whoever

I haven't seen anyone with hair dyed black for ages. It isn't a popular colour where I live. If anything women are going for blonde or colourful colours.

Yes, and my opinion is that you're talking nonsense.

You sound ridiculous. If I think something looks disgusting that’s up to me not you. Are you always such a snowflake?

You're using the word "snowflake" I don't think it's me that sounds ridiculous.

Keep crying.

I think because it’s quite easy to do at home whereas nicer colours I generally go to the hair dresser to do. I’ve never dyed my hair black but if I use a home dye kit I only go darker than my natural colour. Lighter colours i go to hairdressers but costs more obviously.

I think the fact it always comes up darker than the box is a factor. At least for me.

I know a couple of people you have dyed their dark brown hair blonde, not bleach blonde, they have clearly been to a salon to have the various shades done.
However, IMO it doeosuit their skin tone and in once case it makes their face look red, when they never did before with their natural colour.
Anyway, doesn’t matter what I think. They probably don’t like my hair!

This is why at the moment im not dying my hair - the root horror and the flat look. No guarantee it will look like that I know but the thought of it is worse than salt and pepper hair. And @Keilagh wow you've seen EVERY white person with dyed black hair? Impressive

How very spiteful.