Dyed hair

[Summerlovingtheraspberries]

Hi
Just pondering really.
Why do so many British women dye their hair blonde?
As opposed to other nations such as Italians or French women?
I see so many women with dark roots and yellowing hair. It’s so obviously dyed. Yet when I travel to say France, the women there are more likely to stick to a natural look. Dying their hair brown rather than blonde if they do dye it
I don’t think you can say it’s because British women have blonde hair because it so obviously isn’t blonde!
Do people think they look better, with black roots? Just because you might have been blonde as a child doesn’t mean you are now.
To be fair I have dyed my hair blonde in the past. Looking back I don’t think it really suited me, made me look washed out and pale.
It was definitely of a time where blonde hair, blue eyed, white, thin women were considered the beauty standard.

Thinking about why I dyed my hair blonde. Maybe the same reason that I crammed my feet into stilettos. Or wore impractical clothes in my younger days.
Beauty standards seems to be the answer.
Nowadays I go more for comfort. I have dyed my hair a few shades darker or a more reddy tone quite a lot. Now I don’t dye it. I just can’t do with the upkeep. Although I do use a good hairdresser to get a good cut.
I do agree about the dyed dark hair on say French and Italian women not looking great either.
I just find a lot of women with dyed blonde hair can’t be described in any way as naturally blonde, but seem to think calling themselves a natural blonde is accurate.
Saying because you want to is absolutely fine. The issue I was pondering is why? Who has put the idea into your head that you look better blonde? My instinct says the beauty standard is still; thin, blue eyed blonde & white for females.

That’s a very honest answer.
I agree with your points especially as we are now expected to work until aged 67. So much pressure on women.

I think the trend is moving towards embracing natural
and toning tone the blonde: less of a harsh line at the root

I dye my hair blonde because I have grey coming through & was having to dye the roots every 3 weeks or so & I didn't do a very good job. Now I can go 8 weeks between highlights & it looks much better. It doesn't matter if hair doesn't look natural

I am naturally blonde but dyed it light brunette for 20 years because I wanted a change. Then the very light grey hairs started showing through a lot so I went back to blonde in my 40s.

My roots are definitely not black. I have my roots done every 6 weeks. My hair is about 80% grey now but the dark grey is more dominant with some completely white grey and silver mixed in.

Because Covid meant no hairdresser I had to grow out my roots and I do not suit the dark grey, it completely washes me out. My Dad is pure snow white hair coloured and I hope to be like that. I am very the colour of milk pale so dark colours make me look unwell. The very light blonde works with my skin tone.

Equally hideous is box dyed black hair

it looks so awful

there’s a woman at our school who has jet black hair with white roots

I’m 60, and my hair is mostly white, but because it was formerly red, it now looks blonde. It’s a bright blonde too (no ash tones), and I wonder whether people think I chose this colour and dyed it.

In reality, I’m just too lazy to do anything about it. It kinda bugs me that people would judge me on it though.

Who put the idea in my head that I look better blonde?

Me, my own eyes. That’s who.

Why do so many British women dye their hair blonde?

Because so many of us are blonde, but our skin tone changes as you get older and sometimes your natural colour looks a bit too dark and harsh.

I used to dye my hair dark brown sometimes when I was younger and could get away with almost any colour, but I think my best colour now is kind of bronde, which is hard to achieve. My natural colour looks almost brunette but it's really classed as dark blonde. My skin hair is very fair.

My hair is now a faded red, from being a titian red in my prime. I’ve tried dying it back to near the ‘proper’ colour but just can’t get box dyes in the right shade and my hairdresser can’t quite manage achieving the right colour. But even a permanent never last very long.
Being a redhead is still very much part of my identity. Being thought of as blonde cuts deep into my soul.

I think French women wouldn’t allow roots to show! I went to uni there and any French student got a blow dry every week - they took their beauty routines seriously, even at 20.
I colour my hair light brown.

Many more dark haired women than (dyed) blonde at the school gates that I see 🤔. I agree with the PP who said that Italians/spaniards are more likely properly dark in hair colour so it works better to stay that way and there are a lot of mousey haired blue-ish eyed brits who were blonde as children and it suits them.

We always joke at home "Why do you think she's dyed her roots black"?

I agree.

Extended family Italian… I’m counting up … 23 women aged between 31 and 82. Only 4 I can be certain don’t dye and have embraced grey . The rest are a mix of blondes brunettes and various combinations of high and low lights .
Er much like my husbands UK relatives .
Women dye their hair - or they don’t .

So people get their hair dyed darker at the root so it's not so obvious when it grows out?

Hair that is dyed well and has the roots done often enough will usually look pretty good. Badly dyed hair or hair with very obvious roots won't look so great. I am not sure why this is obvious ragebait.

Yes, this is what I think too.

A joke is only funny once.

Not in our house.

I am French and British and I dye my hair blonde. Sorry to disappoint you.

My skin is very pale with freckles and dark hair colours make me look like Count Dracula...

My natural hair is mousey but I started getting white hair in my early teens and my hair was completely white by the time I was in my 30s. Blonde is much easier to maintain when you have grey/white hair.

Ultimately women can choose whatever colour they like for their hair, without it being suggested that they are being brainwashed by some beauty standards/cultural pressure.

LOADS of Italian women dye their hair blonde and can carry it off even less if you're concerned about it looking natural.

The traditional explanation is that youth is beautiful and blond hair is youthful.
I think for British women in particular, there is a certain disdain for the very common mousy brown hair so women with this/my hair colour tend to either go blonde or go darker to avoid such a wishy-washy colour.

Also, as women get older blond hair hides greying better,

I watch a series of makeovers for older women on YouTube and I would say that 80-90pc of them look better with hair dyed blond.

Italian women still go blond quite a lot. It contrasts with their roots and their eyebrows, but still look good.
Their current PM is blonde. Not sure if natural...

Yes and I think dying hair darker is quite popular in Scandinavia where loads of women have blond hair naturally.

No, but to be fair, there aren't many black women who are blondes.

I also go from mousy brown to dark blonde and I've definitely got dark roots after 4 or 5 weeks. I get a new colour every 6 to 7 weeks so they're not that obvious. I can definitely see dark roots on other people too so maybe you're just not very observant.
I don't think it's a big problem though.