Keep highlighting hair.. Or not.

[KiwiWorkingMum]

HI everyone, Ok I know this isn't helpful without pictures, it'm just at a cross roads with my hair, naturally it's straight and very dark, but i have a full head of caramel blonde highlights that looks great the first 8 weeks. It's now week 12 and we are struggling with money and i'm starting too look rather shabby. It's quite an expensive color to upkeep, so I was tossing up weather just to go back to my natural color.

Pros and cons to both - i don't treat myself to much (2 young kids in full time childcare), in fact next to nothing - getting my hair done was my "thing", my husband prefers it lighter as that's how it was when we met and feel a bit washed out with my natural color. On the other hand I've been told I look better dark by a few ladies at work and i would be seriously pushing and struggling our budget to keep up the highlights at the moment. So I'm torn what to do! p.s. I am 29 turning 30 next month.

Do u have a local hair college near you? It would be a lot cheaper & all services are supervised so it wouldn't go wrong. You could ask at a salon of they need models usually it's free or at a small cost.

i regretted going dark again - it took ages and ages to get it back to being blonde but the moment i was it felt instantly better.

my hairdresser said not many people can "do" blonde who are dark - but it suits me better than dark - naturally im very dark brown, yet when im blonde my skin tone looks better, it just suits me way more. my DD is naturally blonde, but not me sadly.

ive decided pretty much like you that as it is my one treat, i am going to continue.

Even dd showed me 2 pictures - a sort of before and after if you like - one of me with a short dark bob and one of me with shoulder length blonde hair - the difference is amazing - i look younger and just more vibrant as a blonde.

I threw the head up once and went back to my natural(ish) colour after being blonde for a few years. Went back to the hairdressers a week later to the highlights back in. I just feel more fabulous as a blonde!

Could you consider getting a T-bar between full-heads? That would reduce the cost a bit. I was recommended this shampoo by my hairdresser when I was platinum blonde, it lightens your roots a wee bit to take the bad look off them when you're due a colour. Also reduces brassy tones.

I've recently got my hair dip-dyed, but it's really subtle (you only notice it really when you hold the ends up to the top of my head). The top is like a dark, dark warm honey and the ends are all goldy. I'm getting faaaaar longer out of it compared to regular highlights.

I had blonde highlights for years and years then last christmas wanted a change and was tired of slightly crispy hair and all the upkeep.

So went dark red with henna and I love it so much and would never go back. It has taken years off of me and suits me so much better. Plus my new hair growth is shiny and glossy and smooth.

How about red, you can do it yourself, if you have blonde highlights you can go really bright, bright red

I had the same dilemma, went dark and hated it. Felt washed out and within a few weeks the highlighted hair began to fade so it was a kind of mucky light brown.

However now have the best of both worlds as have found a fantastic hairdresser that comes to the house and does the highlights for half the price of the salon. So cut and highlights for £40!!!!!! She also a really lovely person and it is so good having this done at home so I can watch DD etc.

I'd really recommend trying to find someone who will come to your house.

I had to make this decision last month and went for natural. It was quite a shock initially and I took my dds advice to revamp my makeup. This made a real difference - I don't wear alot but make sure that I now wear mascara and a bit of lippy! Try experimenting with some bold facial colour - what do you think?!

My hairdresser lets me have my hair done as a model. Saves me buckets of cash and the junior gets loads of experience.