Ginger hair getting lighter. What to do?

[holasoydora]

My hair was Katie Morag ginger and has gradually got lighter. Am 40+ now. Would like to do something with the colour.

Tempted by a Christina Ricci red dye (but which one?) but also toying with getting a few highlights instead. I could also then have those weaved which would blend in more and avoid the likelihood (knowing my skin) of developing a sensitivity. I am also worried that dying darker will be higher maintenance and won't suit my skin as I get older.

Any advice? any others with similar hair, what have you done?

I haven't been brave enough to find a permanent solution but once a week I use Superdrug colour effects wash in wash out shampoo in Copper red and it just lifts the colour and makes it more vibrant. It's only £1.99 and often on offer.

My mum had this (sadly I don't). She let it go and it went a beautiful white blonde that people pay a fortune to have.

I went the foils route - also a redhead that’s her progressively going blonder since mid 20s. I get a half head with two alternating shades every 6-8 weeks.

Red hair doesn’t take dye well and upkeep of a solid colour costs a fortune, so I find this works better for me.

Thanks for your replies! Very useful. I did not know you could get colour wash shampoo, very interesting.

I love the idea of just letting it get lighter naturally, and your mum's hair sounds lovely bellini but I struggle also a bit with (hereditary) hair loss and at the moment just feel I need a boost.

I am feeling quite drawn to the alternating shades foils idea. Every two months I could probably justify. My hair is a mix of blonde and red at the moment, so it would probably make sense. Plus I just think I am too scared to take the plunge be myself!

Have you tried henna?

Second the colour effects Superdrug shampoo, it's ace

I'd fully recommend trying Directions Dye in Apricot, it's a little pot of conditioner type dye (No mixing chemicals together, just slap it on for 20 mins). It looks super vibrant but the colour they show is what it would look like on bleached white hair.
It'll top your colour up and condition your hair, lasts a couple of weeks, but one pot could last two applications depending on length. Costs about a fiver from Amazon.

Same colour hair here. Tried every vaguely ginger box dye and henna. Some nice results but always darker and a bit too harsh and fake (hated the mess and faff of henna)
Gave up and went to hairdresser. No regrets! They mixed up good colour match. Have roots done every 7-8 weeks, full head when needed - probably only twice a year. Sometimes have highlights in summer, sometimes go a shade darker in winter. Also get “masque” (not expensive) from hairdresser, which is conditioner mixed with my colour formula. Hth.

A couple of ex redheads I know went down the henna route (no pun intended).
Their hair was more red than ginger eventually. I liked it. It was all natural products. I don't know what the science is but it actually looked healthy and natural.
Good luck

I'm 33 and am now strawberry blonde (was previously very ginger and was just learning to live it when it started to fade ).

I've tried everything and they Superdrug colour effects are fab. Also nice and easy light golden auburn (pic) is a good compromise. It's not as ginger as my hair used to be, but it doesn't fade too quick on my hair. And when it does it fades in quite a natural strawberry blonde looking way... i don't have roots with it. I would need to bung it on every 4-6 weeks to maintain the colour. In the summer though I just let it go and embrace the blonde.... it fades much much quicker in the summer and I can't be bothered!

Henna is a bit of a pain in the arse to do. The colour can come up lovely but it's a bit of a guessing game, esp if you start mixing them to get the right colour! Henna Plus powder was always the easiest henna imo . But it still fades and leaves roots so I always reverted back to nice n easy.

Also it may just be me but henna made my hair dryer than chemical dye!

Oh just wanted to add, I have also done darker Auburn and I do find it made me look older / more tired.

When my red hair started to grey I tried to dye it but everything looked so fake. My hair grows quite quickly and my roots looked awful.
I gave up and bleached it blonde as the grey roots blended in better.
Would love to go to a good salon now and see if I could have it back to it's original colour.

I forgot to say... when I had my first baby a lot of my hair fell out and I found that dying darker Auburn shades (lovely as they are) meant more severe and more blonde looking roots. And comparatively light roots + thiinning hair = the illusion of baldness/very sparse hair at the roots. Another reason why I stay on the more golden hue side now x

I would suggest rinsing your hair in very strong red bush tea. Or a blend of red bush tea and black tea/coffee. It is natural and can stain the hair. I have a lot of grey but I used to be blonde / dark blonde. I rinse my hair in a mix of turmeric, camomile tea, black tea and coffee. This looks very natural and works! My hair no longer looks grey. The other good thing is it is is less likely to cause allergic reactions and is cheap! (I brew a pot up with 6 teabags and 1 quarter tsp each of turmeric and instant coffee).

@leafgrass that's fascinating ! Any chance of a cheeky pic of your hair? I'll try to post a couple of mine !

Here we are - in summer (natural) and in winter (nice n easy).

Here. As you can see, dark blonde/light brown not ginger but it does work:

It is quite subtle but I didn't want to use chemical dye.

Yes i can definitely see it's warm x

Anyone could easily do a hair strand test of their own concoction of tea using natural non irritating ingredients. Red bush tea and beetroot would give red/purple tones, black tea and coffee brown tones, turmeric and camomile golden tones.

Go easy on turmeric though. People can use it to turn their hair bright yellow! It is powerful stuff, hence only using a quarter of a teaspoon for me.

Thanks for all the responses, I am loving them (and all the options to try). Leafgrass I would never have thought about rinsing my hair with herbs/tea, what a great idea.

I don't think I could cope with the mess of Henna (partly as I am super disorganised) although I was talking to someone in Lush the other day, and their Henna'd hair looked lovely.

Shaz your summer hair is an almost identical colour to my summer hair! I love the colour you have got from the 8WR Nice and Easy box so may have to try that shade out. And leaving it to go blonde in the summer is a good idea, hadn't thought of that. I too worry that going too dark a la Christina Ricci/Julilanne Moore would just highlight my hair loss (which also got worse after pregnancy). and make me look old(er)

My friends who hennad would book an afternoon off work to have their hair done.
It's probably a long treatment but it did look lovely and healthy.