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!)

You've not been to Ireland then?

Very pretty! you look like Andrea corr

Why do people spout shit like this? If you ever left Pudding Island or even opened your eyes you'd realise that it's actually perfectly common.

TBH I don’t see very many people using jet black hair dye, but like OP, I do wonder what is the attraction of dyeing your natural hair colour to another shade, unless it is to cover grey or white hair.
I recently watched coverage of 1974’s David Bowie tour of Ziggy Stardust, and it was striking how many of the audience did NOT have dyed hair! Nowadays, even in secondary school, many youngsters have their hair dyed so I guess it’s a confidence thing these days…

I do wonder what is the attraction of dyeing your natural hair colour to another shade

Same reason you'd play with clothes, makeup and hairstyles. Self expression and creating a personal aesthetic that you like. Seems pretty obvious to me.

I don't think many Irish people do have naturally black hair actually. I've think I've met only one ever (a child so not dyed) and I'm Irish and have lived in Ireland all my life. Brown to very dark brown shades are very common, but really jet black, such as you'd see in other countries, no, not in my experience. Pale skin and very dark brown hair is a common combination though.

I had naturally black hair when young. Totally grey now and embracing the freedom from dye.

However when I did dye it I used black hair dye. All other colours seemed to fade to red and red highlights in black hair wasn’t a look I liked. There isn’t a lot of choice in box dyes for people with hair as dark as mine was and hairdressers always seemed to put lowlights in so, for me, flat black seemed the only option

In my late 40s I’m considering this. Not to look youthful though. But my hair is naturally dark brown with a lot of grey now. So I dye it dark brown to cover the grey. But the grey comes through so quickly and is very noticeable on dark hair. By lightening my hair and getting highlights I’m hoping that long term it might be less maintenance?

I don’t think people do caramel / blonde highlights to look youthful rather largely because it’s flattering to older skin tones and is good for blending greys.

I don't think truly black hair actually exists...it's always just very very dark brown that appears black in most lights. I might be wrong, but if it's true, that might explain why black dye sometimes looks hard; it's an unnatural colour but not obviously so.

My mum had very very dark hair and suited it. She often dyed it jet black but this was her natural colour
Very dark brown eyes too

I haven't noticed this trend. Most people seem to die their hair some shade of blonde.

Also, I assume you are talking exclusively about white women because on everyone else darker hair, ie shades of brown and black, do look good and natural whether it's died or not. And unless you are white blonde hair would not look brighter or whatever. I mean, no matter how light skinned a woman of colour is I have never seen e.g. an Asian woman who looks better with blonde hair than with dark hair (which is of course no reason whatsoever to not just do whatever you want with your hair).

So I think it might just be what kind of look you are used to or maybe even what kind of look you are subconsciously expecting. I'm from India and I'm used to seeing black hair so to me it looks natural and harmonious. For you black hair might not be the default so maybe it doesn't look so natural. Finally, black hair on white people might just look very incongruous to you so maybe that makes it more jarring.

I live in Spain and its the law to dye your hair black as soon as you are 40.

Many people say this but if I look at my hair (and a lot of my relatives' hair) it does look jet black to me. It never looks brown no matter what the lighting is. Of course, maybe there is a tiny fraction of light that it's reflecting, which would make it brown, but is too small for the human eye to detect. Funnily enough, I think the same thing about eyes, ie that all dark eyes are a shade of brown and that no one has truly black eyes (irises). Many Indians (like my mum) claim they have black eyes but to me they look brown so maybe it's the same with hair.

Growing up I thought my parents had black hair. Now I can see it's dark brown, but I didn't have much exposure to people with genuinely black hair at the time.

I have seen a few people with jet black hair that looks terrible and assumed it was either box dye left on too long or build up. I've not seen many and I'm sure there are people out there with lovely dyed black hair, but mostly it does not look good. But, whatever, people can look how they want.

The PP with black hair looks great though.

I just hate my natural colour (mousy brown).

When you home dye regularly the ends of your hair can build up colour and go almost black and the roots will be brown or whatever so it's easier to just dye the whole thing black I think. Having said that I don't think this as big a problem as it used to be, maybe box dyes have come on a lot in the last couple of decades because I've used a few of them this year and the roots and ends almost match.

My mum and some of her family definitely had black hair too @SparklesInTheCloud @NonPlayerCharacter. Comes from their Irish descendants - they tend to have pale skin, dark brown eyes and black hair. Unfortunately I have brown hair from my Dad's side.

@Mothership4two it's my Irish relations who have the black hair, but accompanied by pale skin and blue eyes.

I agree that very few people actually have black hair, it’s usually a very dark brown. That’s why hair that’s dyed a true black can look quite fake.

I'm Irish and I agree. People like Colin Farrell and Gabriel Byrne have (lovely) dark brown hair rather than black.

A lot of women with ‘black’ flat looking hair didn’t intend to have black flat looking hair. For a variety of reasons the box colour they’ve applied when fair too dark. They were probably hoping for the level 5 or the level 4 on the box and ended. Up with a level 3/2. This, coupled with doing their roots and bringing the colour through to the ends during the last 15 mins causes colour build up that gets darker and darker and flatter and flatter over time and it’s very difficult to strip that colour out. Also people put a lighter box dye over a darker colour thinking it’ll lighten it when in fact most of the time it darkens it so I’d hazard a guess that many of the woman with ‘black’ hair didn’t want it to be that colour.

I wanted my hair dyed black when I was 30. Its close to my natural colour (The bottom half of my hair is always much lighter, but top half is very dark) But the hairdresser talked me out of it when she said the older you get the lighter you should go, that it would age me and be harder when I started getting grays. I was a very young looking 30 too! I'm late 40s now, have never had a grey hair and am still living with a very dark top half and wishy washy bottom half hair. I wish I'd gone full dark when I wanted to, now I think it would age me. It wouldn't have done at 30.

Quick (and appropriate) name change for this because this will obviously be identifying!
I box dye my hair black, and I personally like it, it gives me such a confidence boost. I think my natural colour ages me more, and i don't think it looks awful - but each to their own I suppose, and maybe I'm in denial! Slightly discouraging to see that so many women are walking around looking at other women's hair and thinking it looks "disgusting".