Loads of brunettes aim to go lighter as they age and I think it makes sense long term, your skin tone changes not just your hair and most women benefit from a softer hair colour as older.
having said that i am still dying mine dark! Although the shades not as dark as they once were.
It depends how much time you're willing to spend in the salon. You can maintain your current colour if you're willing to keep up with the roots. Lighter shades will mean you don't have to be at the hairdressers quite so often.
Also, what minkie said - much depends on your skin tone. Going a lighter brown might suit better than going blonde.
My hair is naturally very dark brown. I’ve gone light brown to combat the grey root thing particularly as my hair grows very quickly. It definitely helps disguise the grey for longer and I don’t get that drastic zebra look. Strangely the lighter colour suits my skin tone better than my natural colour I think as Minnie says because the tone has changed with age. The dark eyebrows/lighter hair combo doesn’t look odd.
Depends on lots of stuff. You hair could throw off a lot of red (not always apparent until you bleach) which will mean you're always battling looking brassy, you could need to go 12+ to get a good base and you'll need several processes.
Skin tone matters plays into that. If you're a cool toned complexion, that battle of the brass is not going to look great most of the time.
Brows and lashes being dark can look good. Dark eyes as well can make it look a bit odd, depending on how you do it.
Best thing is to see a really good colourist who is an expert at bleaching, and get a strand test done to see how you come up in a single process.
Orwell is right re brassiness. It took a few goes to get the right colour. I use blue shampoo once a week to avoid an orange/ginger look. Don’t get an at home kit, go professional.
One of his “area directors” in Manchester saved me from a fate worse than death at the hands of my first wife in the mid 90s after a particularly bad decision involving a lot of alcohol, some blonde hair dye and black hair... four hours and about five hundred quid later I survived.
but I have VERY dark brown eyes, and brown eyebrows and blonde hair doesn’t look weird on me. At least everyone has been too polite to mention it if it does
Brown eyes and blonde hair is considered to be one of the absolute most attractive combinations. Given where you are Scylla, time in salon is probably the least of your worries. My ex used to basically live in a salon when she was out there.
No-one said brown eyes and blonde hair doesn't work - it's just that it can look odd depending on how you do it. The greater the divergence from natural colouring (blonde hair with dark eyes does occur in some ethnicities but it's relatively rare) the more important it is to get the tone right.
I reckon it could work. Not full on peroxide blonde or Barbie yellow but a natural sun bleached looking sort of blonde. But you'd need a tan and you might have to have something done to your eyebrows/change your eye make up.
having read what you said about your complexion I think I would just go lighter brown for now, and maybe go lighter still later on. You might end up blonde in 10 years time. Like say Jan Leeming ( SO SORRY i cant find a better example!)
Scylla I also have dark eyebrows and dark eye lashes. I went lighter brown and then progressively became dark blonde. In fact more like light brown with some blonde streaks. It looks ok.
being stuck in a salon for hours on a regular basis is my worst nightmare.
In that case, I reckon you should go for a skunk stripe and rock the greying look. Best thing about going back to natural has been getting my time and all that extra dosh back.
BTW Teclis, if you were charged £400 for a colour correction back to dark in the mid 90s, you are an utter mug. You could fix that at home with 2 box dyes.
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Loads of brunettes aim to go lighter as they age and I think it makes sense long term, your skin tone changes not just your hair and most women benefit from a softer hair colour as older.
having said that i am still dying mine dark! Although the shades not as dark as they once were.
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It depends how much time you're willing to spend in the salon. You can maintain your current colour if you're willing to keep up with the roots. Lighter shades will mean you don't have to be at the hairdressers quite so often.
Also, what minkie said - much depends on your skin tone. Going a lighter brown might suit better than going blonde.
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My skin tone is currently that of a vampire that hasn't seen the sun in over century.
As and when I venture out into the sun I go quite dark.
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The other difficulty is that my eyebrows and eyelashes are very dark.
So going too light blonde looks a bit odd.
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My hair is naturally very dark brown. I’ve gone light brown to combat the grey root thing particularly as my hair grows very quickly. It definitely helps disguise the grey for longer and I don’t get that drastic zebra look. Strangely the lighter colour suits my skin tone better than my natural colour I think as Minnie says because the tone has changed with age. The dark eyebrows/lighter hair combo doesn’t look odd.
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minkie!
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Depends on lots of stuff. You hair could throw off a lot of red (not always apparent until you bleach) which will mean you're always battling looking brassy, you could need to go 12+ to get a good base and you'll need several processes.
Skin tone matters plays into that. If you're a cool toned complexion, that battle of the brass is not going to look great most of the time.
Brows and lashes being dark can look good. Dark eyes as well can make it look a bit odd, depending on how you do it.
Best thing is to see a really good colourist who is an expert at bleaching, and get a strand test done to see how you come up in a single process.
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Orwell, are you Vidal Sassoon?
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Sorry if I just outed you btw.
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Vidal Sasson was a shit colourist, so no.
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Orwell is right re brassiness. It took a few goes to get the right colour. I use blue shampoo once a week to avoid an orange/ginger look. Don’t get an at home kit, go professional.
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One of his “area directors” in Manchester saved me from a fate worse than death at the hands of my first wife in the mid 90s after a particularly bad decision involving a lot of alcohol, some blonde hair dye and black hair... four hours and about five hundred quid later I survived.
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No idea about the covering greys part,
but I have VERY dark brown eyes, and brown eyebrows and blonde hair doesn’t look weird on me. At least everyone has been too polite to mention it if it does
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Brown eyes and blonde hair is considered to be one of the absolute most attractive combinations. Given where you are Scylla, time in salon is probably the least of your worries. My ex used to basically live in a salon when she was out there.
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My input is I can’t see you as a blonde, but that doesn’t mean it wouldn’t suit you. I second the suggestion of doing a test strand before deciding.
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No-one said brown eyes and blonde hair doesn't work - it's just that it can look odd depending on how you do it. The greater the divergence from natural colouring (blonde hair with dark eyes does occur in some ethnicities but it's relatively rare) the more important it is to get the tone right.
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I reckon it could work. Not full on peroxide blonde or Barbie yellow but a natural sun bleached looking sort of blonde. But you'd need a tan and you might have to have something done to your eyebrows/change your eye make up.
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Good to see all these blokes (including twotty old me) having an opinion on beauty lol.
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having read what you said about your complexion I think I would just go lighter brown for now, and maybe go lighter still later on. You might end up blonde in 10 years time. Like say Jan Leeming ( SO SORRY i cant find a better example!)
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Given where you are Scylla, time in salon is probably the least of your worries.
See that's where you are wrong Teclis, being stuck in a salon for hours on a regular basis is my worst nightmare.
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Heh perhaps for you. My ex wife and her mum used to live in bloody salons and restaurants. Seriously, fooking Dubai needs to fook the fook off.
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Scylla I also have dark eyebrows and dark eye lashes. I went lighter brown and then progressively became dark blonde. In fact more like light brown with some blonde streaks. It looks ok.
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What, all 2 of them?
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In that case, I reckon you should go for a skunk stripe and rock the greying look. Best thing about going back to natural has been getting my time and all that extra dosh back.
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BTW Teclis, if you were charged £400 for a colour correction back to dark in the mid 90s, you are an utter mug. You could fix that at home with 2 box dyes.
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Orwell, I call my current style the 'Rogue' … after the X Men character.
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How many IQ points do you typically drop by going blonde? I think I read somewhere it’s double figures.
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That assumes I had double digits to begin with Kaul.
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Blonde?
hell yeah
...bonus points for a cropped biker jacket though
*waves*
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I think you could pull it off. Go for it!
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Asti.
Funnily enough I actually cracked out my proper biking gear this weekend for the first time in AGES.
Didn’t go too crazy though because I *think* I might need some new tyres.
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So it seems the consensus from the most knowledgeable ladies of ROF is to go for a lighter brown shade first.
Thanks.
I will report back once done.
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