Please help me decide what to do with my hair!

[CoffeandPancakes]

Hi,

So my hair is possibly half the thickness it was 5 years ago, thanks to iron deficiency. It's not really thin, because I was lucky enough to have really thick hair before, but it's still quite depressing when I remember how much hair I used to have

Anyway, it's about bra length, but in desperate need of a chop. At least 3 inches I'd say. It's a little fried and frayed after a couple of balayages and also have about 10-20% grey now too. Naturally dark brown, so not a great look.

I had booked myself into a new hairdresser who specialises in blonde and was going to get another balayage or babylights and get my roots done.

I got lost on Pinterest and have found some really gorgeous hair colours that I would love, but then I come back to reality and remember that my hair is already quite damaged and thinning, plus I have had a bad reaction to root touch ups in the past, where a lot of my hair actually fell out!! 😲

Should I just get it cut and leave it alone? Problem is, I feel the dark plus grey, is really aging and I just don't like it.

I'd consider Henna, but don't think that's great for grey coverage...is that right?

Any ideas? Oh and I've stepped away from the straighteners and am investing in a Dyson Airwrap to minimise damage. It better be good at that eye watering price!

TIA

Bump 😬

I don’t have much to offer on the hair cut/colour but can comment on the Dyson. They are very marmite on this forum, but I love mine. I have fine bobbed hair that used to be bleached. It’s now 2-3 inches of root smudged into my bleached ends so heavily processed. The only time I pick up my straighteners now is to try a beach wave. I use the dryer then smoothing brush to dry my hair straight in literally minutes. I use the smoothing brush on day 2 with or without dry shampoo to remove the kinks that form from the humidity of the shower.
I bought it with visions of tumbling curls but my hair is still too short for that. And it’s the curlers that are often criticised.
For the improvement to my hectic morning routine alone I love it.

I got it from Dyson directly on a PayPal 12 interest free offer. I’m pretty sure they have a money back guarantee.

This is good to know @Procrastatron 👍

I think henna can cover grey but there are some tricks. Henna is amazing for her, it is conditioning and thickens the hair. I always use henna but no whites yet. if your hair is badly damaged and thin, I would probably go down th henna route but it is a bit messy and you cannot use chemical dye along it.

Henna will colour greys but they come up quite brassy and the henna outcome you get in your natural colour so look like a bit like
highlights

I used to use henna, the one from lush is good. it does fade and then grows out too

Once my lightest greys went pure white though it couldn’t cope

I think I'd be nervous to use it all over, because of the balayage. I have a feeling it would go quite red.

I'm definitely not going to use a harsh permanent dark dye on my roots again though. After doing some research, it's terrible stuff! Packed with all sorts of nasties. Not surprised my hair fell out! Obviously the low ferritin didn't help, but it's not a coincidence that clumps came out straight after it was washed out!

Just need to find an alternative....

Henna seems to have a lot of pros, but not sure if there are too many cons for me.

Oh, tbh, if this was me, I'd probably give my hair a break from colouring altogether and just have a really good cut. As you say, at least a good few inches. Then see how you go.

The brassiness would bother me with henna over greys too I think.

@PollyThePony, I know that's the most sensible thing to do.

I was just looking at my wedding photos from not even 3 years ago and I'm mourning my old hair! Didn't realise it was still so long and thick then. Thought it had already started looking a bit crap, but no. No hair dye, no bleach.

If it's any consolation, mine is a mess too! I've been bleaching mine and now have to stop and lose some length too. Boo. But maybe it won't be so bad! I'm sure we're natural beauties really

@PollyThePony Let's hope!