Does anyone else think natural hair colour is the best?

[Scandiscandic292]

I was sat in a hospital waiting room this morning for hours. Did a lot of people watching. I'm thinking of getting balayage on my light brown hair so was looking at what other women had done.

There was a lot of box dyes, either a redish colour or unnaturally black and lots of women with my colour hair plus highlights/balayage. I dont think any of them looked better. The women who's hair looked best were the ones with natural, shiny hair and a good cut. I didn't see anyone who looked improved with dye. I'm thinking I'll save my money and stick with my natural colour.

Yes, for me it does anyway. Mine is naturally mid brown with some lighter hairs and now some greys, too. I used to dye it mahogany red and then nearly black, occasionally with purple tones. Stopped using dyes about 5 years ago now and actually think my natural colour suits me much better. I would maybe consider highlights but wouldn't go darker again.

I dyed mine blonde in my 20's and I dont think I looked any better for it then either. The balayage is £95, just doesn't seem worth it. I do have some greys but I don't really mind them, they blend in I think.

Suit yourself, I like to mix it up once in a while. I'm mousy brown with loads of grey naturally. I was a dark blonde for a while, now I've got red hair. It's also possible that the ones you think are a flattering natural colour are actually good dye jobs done by a skillful hairdresser.

Yes I do, generally speaking.
Mine is dark blonde with copperish tint. (With some strands of grey now).
I think having a good cut is key. I’m menopausal so my hair is noticeably thinner and less volume but dyeing it wouldn’t help.
(But I do need a cut!).

AmbushedByCake yeh see I can't really afford to maintain the good hair dye job done by a skilled hairdresser but like you said, I am bored of the brown.

I'm blonde, so for me staying my natural colour has meant going gradually lighter as the grey - well, white, I suppose - takes over. It's still quite a good colour, though sometimes I feel a bit faded compared to most women my age with dyed hair. But as long as I keep it well shaped, it looks really good, and is in great condition. Plus I don't have to worry about roots.

Definitely a lot to be said for your natural colour- it will suit you, you need to worry less about condition, and it will have the natural tones that colourists aim to replicate but don't always succeed. On the other hand, it may be that the women whose hair you liked actually had very well dyed hair, so that it looked natural.

One thing to bear in mind is that if you ever ask a hairdresser for advice, they will always give you advice on what colour to have. They will pretty much never advise you to stick with your natural colour because obviously you don't need them for that!

My natural hair colour (red/strawberry blonde) has darkened over time into an unremarkable dark brown. It doesn’t suit me and adds years to my appearance, so I now have it lightened. Colouring if used well can make a massive difference.

I haven't dyed my hair in a few years. It's a dark blonde/mouse and it's quite nice. Always shiny, always soft, didn't have to worry about it during lockdown. And everyone suits their natural colouring in that it never clashes with your face in a way that overly light/dark hair can.

Having said that I'm feeling a bit bored with it now and might get a few balayage streaks for the summer.

This is going to sound very braggy, so apologies in advance for that, but I've been advised by lots of hairdressers (both in NZ and here) never to dye my hair. I am a bit vain about the colour, to be honest.

I've seen some beautiful dye jobs where the added highlights brighten the appearance and look lovely. And some super-obvious not-natural colours that also look superb on the person. I think it depends on the whole look, sometimes.

Depends entirely on the colour, the dye, and the condition of your hair. I'm mid 30s but my hair is mostly grey, it is hugely ageing on me and doesn't look good at all.

I used box dyes for years but now get it regularly coloured at the salon and it's the best it has ever looked. Which is unfortunate, really, as I end up spending a lot of money on hair!

I've tried lots through the years, but yep, on balance, my natural hair colour suits me best.

I say on balance because I once had one really great colour, with lowlights and a stunning cut, but cost an arm and a leg to keep looking that way, and sooooooooooooo much time! Life is way too short.

I always had my hair dyed every 8 weeks at the hairdressers, a sort of reddish brown but stopped during lockdown. I’ve not gone back for colour since, it’s just a really bog standard dark brown now which is it’s natural colour, no greys, just a deep chocolate brown colour. I sometimes think it’s boring but then I remember that I don’t really care!!
It suits my skin tone and face, it can stay dark brown. No damage, no upkeep, less cost!

I think that natural is generally best until you start to get more than about 60% grey/white coverage. Sometimes grey hair really suits a person, but it depends so much on colouring and how you grey.

My hair has gone grey very unevenly, it even went darker, almost black at the back, (Debby Harry gone wrong 😖grin] ) while turning white at the front, with grey and washed out brown in between; an unpleasant, uneven, badger effect that washed me out completely. Now I strive to return to the natural mouse colour I had up to my late forties, as subtlety, and with as little red tint as possible (tip: look for ashes colours not golds)!

Agree about a good cut making a huge difference and for older women, I think getting hair off the face can help as too much fringe, plus glasses and increasingly bristly eyebrows can be too much (speaking for myself here!).

I loved my natural colour, which was just a shade off being black. But the grey began to arrive when I was 19 and I wasn't ready to have grey hair. So I dyed it to something close to the natural colour for years, going a bit lighter as the years went by. At 55, it is all grey as I decided to get off the dye treadmill and I really believe it suits me very well. A tiny part of me wishes I had done it years ago, or at least tried it to see how it looked. But it looks so healthy now and, dare I say, quite striking in its contrast to the almost black hair I had as a young woman.

I’d love to stick to my natural colour except I’m going grey and I don’t have a money tree so box dye it is. I think a regularly done box dye in the natural hair colour would be very difficult to spot…

Forgot to add that I hate the length of time colouring takes at hairdresser, and the expense, and washing chemicals down the drain. I try to go for as natural box dyes as possible and they are improving.

I think a box dye when fairly close to your natural colour and when done properly can look quite good. It's when red heads dye their hair black (and have very fair eyebrows/eyelashes) or blonde wannabes go peroxide white that it looks awful.

No, I dont agree that natural is "always" best. Several of my friends have a very bland mousy brown natural hair colour but look absolutely stunning with lowlights, highlights etc. Equally, I personally dont think flat grey looks good on anyone- it drains colour from the face and is generally aging.

My natural colour now is grey.....I dye it the copper red it once was, not a chance of me "embracing the grey".

I dont know ,Im early 50s and like to "gild the lily" as my DGM used to say.A box dye in a buttery blonde. Takes a few years off,doesnt cost the earth and makes me feel better in myself.

I tend to agree people suit their natural colour - except for that very mousey dark blonde/light brown which I think looks almost grey, and very flat somehow. I think those colours always look in need of a lift, either with high or low lights. I also think people with that mouse colouring tend to suit lots of other colours.

I'm dying my hair my natural hair colour. Basically I am just covering up my greys. So I look like I have always done, except for last summer when I added some lighter highlights. Didn't like it, as my hair felt very coarse after that.

Isn’t the saying ‘you do you’. I don’t think you need to write a post judging people who dye their hair based on a bored musing you had

I have dark brown/black 3b/c curly hair and it looks better with blue/green ends. It makes my curls pop.