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!)

@Keilagh why are you inboxing me?

I think that most people think of their 'natural' colour as being the colour it was when they started dying, or when they were children, or the colour it was undyed, but most women in uk seem to dye their hair as soon as they start to notice greys, so sometimes when people think they're dying their hair their natural colour, it looks too dark because their natural colour has changed over time.

Well that's creepy.

Depends on someone's colouring. My father had natural black hair. It suited him. He has dark eyes and olive skin.

I also have dark eyes and olive skin but my skin tone is a light olive, dad's is a more medium olive. My hair is naturally dark brown and my complexion is very warm, my hair looks reddish gold in some lights. I dyed my hair black once, thought it would work as my eyebrows and eyelashes are black but it looked dreadful! I stick to my natural colour now.

Lots of pale people look great with black hair. A colleague is a classic dark winter, like Courtney Cox. She is very pale, with natural black hair and blue eyes. Lots of people of Celtic origin have similar colouring.

I am very pale, had box dyed black hair for a long time, will admit it looked amazing when I'd done a full face of makeup - looked awful when I had none on though.

Wow 😂

I'm quite pale and blue eyed. I dye my hair black and have done for most of my adult life - it was a variety of (unnatural) colours in my teens and twenties and auburn for a while in early/mid 40s but I aways return to black.

Strong goth roots, I guess...

I'll be keeping it this way until I'm silvery white and then I'll go au naturale.

I certainly don't fake tan either!

Because it makes my hair look sleek and shiny and it looks AMAZING when I tan my skin too.

It really suits me.

I don't know but what I find weird is people attaching other people's hair to their head.

Would you attach a poor person or poor child's fingernail clippings to your body? Probably not, but hair is ok. Shiny keratin better than hard keratin . No accounting for taste.

I find it weird they think body/pubic hair is dirty yet head hair isn't.

I've not noticed lots of women with dyed black hair TBH (goths excepted)
The colour I always think always looks weird and unnatural is people that dye their hair grey.
Mine's white now with almost no badger stripe at the back, love it.

I have naturally dark hair, dark eyes, dark brows and olive skin where my greys started coming out in my 20s and they stuck out like a sore thumb and when I used to box dye my hair in my 20s I used to look at least a decade older. Since being able to afford a very decent salon in my 30s, I look much more radiant and younger despite my hair being still very dark but there's a glow to it. Sometimes box dye is only what people could do/afford but I do believe box dye is much more harsh looking and makes it look like a block compared to a decent salon that can customise the dye for your hair to match the characteristics of your hair type and colour. I see box dye as a paint brush applicator on our phones where it's the thickest blob but salon dye where it's customised is the thinnest brush that defines your hair and creates natural looking glow even if it's a dark tone.

I agree about the box dyes looking blocky, but one of my friends also uses a toner type shampoo for black hair, after her box dye, which she leaves on for a while before washing out. It gives lovely tones and shine.

I love black hair and used to have it dyed black for ages. It suited me, but the issue with black is that it's so dark that even if you use an expensive salon brand, it still looks very "flat". You don't get any different tones in it. With lighter hair like brown or blonde, you tend to get different tones- one strand might be very light, another might be slightly darker, etc Therefore, lighter hair looks more tonal and vibrant as not every strand is the exactly same flat dark colour.

This is not a diss of black hair at all as I love it, but as I got older, I did find lighter shades with more tonal variations is much more flattering when you are over age 30ish. It lifts your face and does tend to look less "harsh" than flat dyed black hair.

I used it when I was in my 20s because I had quite a 'gothic' look. I have very pale skin and would not use it now that I am in my 50s, instead I have gone for blond (my natural colour is light chestnut) and I am sticking to that. I think black can be quite harsh and unflattering on older people.

Does it look rank if it’s our natural hair colour?

This is mad, who gives a fuck? I like black hair and it is only gothy if you accompany it with gothy clothes etc. But even if you do... so what? 🤷‍♀️

Elizabeth Taylor, Vivien Leigh, Hedy Lamar, Ava Gardner, Yvonne de Carlo, Isabelle Adjani...

Black hair can be stunning, think Storm Huntley…

Wow you seem overly concerned and put out with what other women do to their hair and their choice and putting down women with black hair. I have jet black hair and always have and have pale skin and green eyes and it suits me fine and never wanted to be bleached blonde or fake tanned. It is a preference. I buy my hair colour in health shop and hairdresser does it as it does not contain all the chemicals so does not give me dry itchy scalp.
It would be easier to go blonde as covers greys and blends in as many women do go blonde as they get older for that very reason but never wanted to be blonde and it would not suit me.

So what if some women want to be really dark black hair even if not their natural colour, not everyone wants to look the same and really I have more to be worrying about than judging people's hair colour and choices. Each to their own.

Keiligh I disagree with you Ditta Von whatever ( cannot rem her last name either) her beautiful clear pale porcelain skin looks amazing with her dark hair and is striking.

I have naturally jet black hair and an olive skin tone and I find it washes me out lol
I do notice this a lot, I think if they went for a very dark brown they’d get the same effect but way more flattering
i have bright pink hair atm, so who am I to judge though lol

Very few (white) people have black hair.

Well I can’t speak for everyone, but personally, I left my Casting Creme Gloss Semi-perm colour; Dark Chocolate on too long in a bid to get it to actually cover my greys, and it went black, so here we are.

But I agree that it makes my eyes “pop” and I’m fairly happy with it. My natural colour is a very dark brown so I’m not too concerned about any of it.