Does your natural hair colour suit you?

[IHeartKingThistle]

I was just idly thinking about this - surely Mother Nature should provide us with hair/eye/skin colours that just automatically work?

I was blonde when I was little. I have very fair skin and blue eyes. I highlighted my hair from the age of 15 to the age of 30, when I had DC2 and couldn't cope with the expense/faff/roots any more. Turns out I have brown hair.

So I've had brown hair for 4 years now, my completely natural colour (plus about 8 greys, not bad so far!) It's a perfectly fine hair colour BUT given my extreme paleness, if I forget the blusher people ask me if I'm feeling OK! So my natural hair colour doesn't do much for me at all .

I wonder how many of us have undyed hair. And why don't as many men dye their hair? (To change the colour, I mean, not to cover grey).

I suspect I'm missing being a blonde. Should I hit the bottle again or stick with what I've got?

I have been complimented on my colouring before but to me its awful! Its all down to your own opinion isnt it. I (like all my dads family) have pale skin, blue eyes and dark hair. But thanks to my mums family of gingers there is warmth running through my hair which doesnt match the rest of my colouring and almost makes my hair look a bit fake.
My dads family all have beautiful almost black hair.

Smugness alert:

My natural hair colour is light brown with natural highlights from the sun as I am outside a lot. I have people ask who my colourist is as the highlights are so natural. I used to think brown hair was boring, bit now I like it.

At 41 not grey yet.

So no plans for colouring, yet.

Mine's naturally a dark brown (fair, pinkish skin and deep blue-grey eyes, so it all works) but I have been dying it, for the past few years, since it's about 1/3 grey now. I loved it with a smattering of grey and I'll no doubt love it when it's grey enough to look predominantly grey, but for now, it's at a ratio where it looks dirty and dull, so I've been livening it up with some colour.

Even though I love the colour I've been using, I've actually caught the sun, this summer, and the plummy red does not go with freckles at all!

I think I now suit my natural hair colour more than my dyed colour. Have had greys since I was 21 and have always dyed it a dark chocolate brown, whereas my natural colour is a medium golden brown. I have dark brown eyes and pale olive skin.

I think now I'm older the dark colour is too harsh, so I'm trying to get it closer to my natural colour by going a shade lighter whenever I dye my hair.

My mother coloured my hair when I was little, to "make me prettier". She later admitted it was because she wanted to be blonde, thinks it prettier, but it washed her skin tone out so did it to me instead (she went auburn instead). There's a lot of community pressure to be for women to be blonde where I'm from (Midwest America Bible Belt community), a mix of the history of sex, class and racial issues in the area (Blonde always associated with innocence for women and wealth, and the colouring of my hair blonde plus extra sunscreen helped my family cover up the mixed race family history that they still refuse to discuss). My younger sister, who had blonde hair and more pale as a child, now colours it blonde and constantly discussing her 'tan' has she's grown darker as she's gotten older (it's not a tan, but she'd never admit that, nor would my father, he even went to tanning booths to prove it when really we get darker just looking at the sun, just thankful they haven't gotten into skin bleaching like others I know). My childhood is an odd snapshot of these issues, hence why I write about them so much.

I've always been naturally brown, it's far darker now than in the few snapshots I have before it was coloured. I haven't coloured my hair since I left home ten years ago and I love how my charcoal brown matches my skin tone and features. My mother is appauled by my choice in this. I know some enjoy it and it can be fun, but I'm happy as I am and too many bad associations with it to get the pleasure.

Spork

Thanks so much for sharing that - it's fascinating. Glad you have embraced the real you!