How can I get back to my natural hair colour?

[kingprawntikka]

Can I pick your brains please. I am in my early forties and have some grey hairs. My natural colour is dark brown. The grey stood out and so I began getting it coloured when I got it cut. I have had lowlights, a more sparkly highlight and a base colour for the last two years or so, and get it redone every 12-16 weeks.

I am sick of the upkeep and expense and would like to return to my natural colour, but is the regrowth going to look really awful? I seem to be trapped in a cycle now and don't know what's best to do. I haven't had it dyed for three months now and have roots that are 1-2 inches long and much darker than the rest. My hair is shoulder length.But I think that all the dyeing is damaging my hair.

I am getting it cut tomorrow, and so will loose some of the worse ends, but don't think a pixie cut would suit me!

Any tips on how best to manage this.

TBH it would be the grey that would worry me and not the regrowth....my friend friend let her natural colour grow back and although her hair is healthy and shiny, she looks alot older because of the grey and she's not sure what to do either.

Can you die it your natural colour, then as that grows out you can see how bad the grey is.
I die my hair every 6-8 weeks at home, as close to my natural colour as I can find. It covers the grey!

I just wonder if all the dyeing is making it a bit dry though....

Thanks for the answers so far... still undecided what to do for the best.. Has anyone else here just embraced the grey?!

I have - at 28 no less! I suspect as I round past 30 I might feel more self-conscious of the grays, but it started going when I was about 25 (mum says my great-grandmother's turned white at 19!) and the only time I dyed it recently was when I was pregnant (it grew in white for the first trimester - not gray-hair-texture, just white, like all the colour had been sucked out).

My hair is naturally VERY cool-coloured and rather light, so all the dyes, even the expensive high/low/sparkly ones are too warm and my regrowth ends up looking more gray than it actually is! So I have avoided dyeing for the last 3-4 years.

I too hated the expense, and hated the upkeep trying to get back to something low maintainence after the dye. It's not easy, and I didn't really get back to my colour until it grew enough that I could hack off the dyed bits.

Now my hair is back to being shiney, healthy, thick (for me dyeing makes my hair grow in thinner), and gray at the front. Oh well. Perhaps I will just pretend it is highlights

dyeing it darker will not damage it like lightening it does.

Thanks for the new answers, I didn't know that darker dye didn't damage your hair... so that's an option.

Shiny, healthy, thick hair is exactly what I aspire to Marenmj.

I have dark brown hair & a few greys.
When I can be bothered I use a mousse type thing.

They don´t colour the grey so well but make them less obvious.

I used a plum shade & my greys are now a lovely pink

There´s also something by schwarzkopf that is supposed to repigment the greys.

In my experience darker hair dyes do you cause damage but they do cause colour blocking which is where so many colours have been layered on top of each other that the hairs natural shine cannot get through and you end up with a very dull and brittle hair.

To be honest, what you started with sounds the best to me!

Just back from the hairdressers, decided to have it cut much shorter into a graduated bob. This has got rid of much of the dry processed hair quickly, rather than keeping it shoulder length and getting rid a bit at a time. I do prefer my hair longer but it will grow...and it looks healthier now.

Now I just need to see how much grey there actually is... less than 10% I think, and
whether to live with it or try something else!

Thanks everyone for your advice. Diddl.. What is the mousse product you use please?

It´s by LÓreal-"naturelle"-should just be with the hair dyes.

It´s not permanent-only lasts about 8 washes I think.
I tend to pick them up when I see them reduced.

I´m not too bothered about the grey just yet-there´s not much & I´m mid 40´s, but recently visited UK to see friends & family so did it for that

I think there are some permanent dyes now that have more natural colours than you used to be able to get-that Nutrisse (Garnier?) that´s advertised-think that´s also for grey.

Some of the semi permanent say specifically not for grey-they just don´t colour it!

How bad is the grey ? it is in patches, or literally one hair, here/there/and everywhere ? becasue maybe you need a very lovely friend who will pick out the indiviudal bits and dye only them, with a home colour that as recommended by others, is as close to your natural as poss.
i did this for my friend. we used to share a bottle of wine whilst we did it. lovely.

Thanks Diddl mousse sounds easier to use I think. I think the covering of grey is a problem even with salon dye, my greys seem to re-appear about two weeks later, I think the dye just doesn't take on them.
Oblomov- I don't have much grey, mainly a few hairs dotted around, but at the front there is a clump where a lot seem to gather together! That's probably more noticeable because it's in my fringe. So just dyeing that bit would be a good idea, as my fringe gets cut often whereas I really want to improve the condition of the rest of my hair . In fact the more I think about it the more that seems like a perfect answer... Diddl's mousse just on my fringe. thank you both!

agree. try mousse. see is it lasts decent amount of time.
if not, hair dyes these days are so much better at covering grey than they used to be. maybe buy one. and mix up only 1/3 of it, keeping it in original packaging ( my mum used to do this, only re-touching her roots, and used to get 4 applications out of an old bottle ov l'oreal, as it were)
this is very cost effective. time saving. and will severly help the condition of the rest of your hair. seems like the answer to me !!

Yes with this mousse you can use a bit & then use again later.

Well, I do!

I also am getting a "clump" at the front so am only bothered about that atm.

Also my hair felt really soft after-and there´s no horrid smell.

There are gloves to use but if you happen to get a load streaked on your forehead it does wash off.
I stick an old towel on-turban style-& it washes out of that OK as well.

Yes, try the mousse! Also, make sure the other products that you leave in your hair are clear, rather than opaque, because that will dull your shine as well.

I don't like the "box" colours as they are all really warm, even the 'ash' ones. I know that's what most people want, but warm colours make me look sallow, so I avoid them

IME, darker dye still damages your hair, just not quite as much as bleaching does. (the chemicals still have to open your hair shaft to deposit the colour). My hair is curly, so I notice even small damages. My mum dyes her hair because that tiny bit of damage gives it more body. YMMV.

I'm similar, as I've just got a graduated bob about a month ago after having my hair at mid-back for many years. I finally just cut off all the remaining dyed parts (from during pregnancy, and then all the things I did afterwards to try to get back to my colour). I was also quite frustrated as I would go in to salons and say "I want my color, or as close as possible [easily determined as I usually had an inch of regrowth], and something that won't fade to ginger". I ALWAYS ended up with something horribly dark that faded to ginger in a month, and paid a hundred pounds for the privilege!

I like having my hair long, but it's so much easier this way, AND I don't look like I'm letting myself go quite so much. Now to fix the grotty tee with applesauce fingerprints and lego scattered all over the house!

Marenmj- your comments sum up my whole experience... I also say I don't want a colour that will be really light and obviously different in a couple of weeks, and for two weeks I think I've finally got it..but then it goes too blonde again (sigh)
My hair is naturally curly too and I think maybe you are right that even the darker colours seem to dry it out. It was very quick to wash and dry this morning anyway!

agree. have had huge bands of blond colour put in in the last few years. keep asking them to dye it back to my natural colour, mid-browny grunge. useless. looks crap and vaguely greenish within weeks. have given up. and will let it grow out, having it trimmed regularly is the only answer. am going to have a break from dyeing for a while.

kingprawntikka the colours never seemed to stay, no matter what I did.

When you have curly hair it seems that everything dries it out -even harsh words!- and it ends up a frizzy halo. I used to be SO jealous of my mother's and sister's perfectly straight hair... and they were jealous of my bouncy curls. Oh well.

If your hair is dry and damaged for colouring, then I really really recommend splashing out on
Redken Shampoo in Extreme and Conditioner in All Soft. Expensive but totally worth it. It has rejuvenated my over processed shitty hair.

That's funny Marenmj... my teenage daughter has poker straight hair and wishes hers was curly like mine... Its odd I had straight hair until about 7 years ago then it started to grow in curly.. I like it curly though.

I will have a look for that shampoo and conditioner Thatsnotmymonkey.

Thanks everyone for all your advice and tips.. much appreciated.