[GlamourGirl827]

I'm watching Rachael Ray and they are doing a segment on new hair styles and one women is in her early 40s and they were talking about how she has virgin hair because she doesn't color it.
Now I understand color hair if you what to cover gray hair, but I'm talking changing your color just because and highlighting.

It seems like EVERY women colors their hair or has colored it. Or highlighted it. I have yet to meet another women that doesn't/ or hasn't colored/ highlighted their hair as an adult.

I colored my hair black once when I was 15. It was the early 90s, I was a rebel!! and that look was in, lol. But that's it. That one time color grew out and my hair has been my natural color ever since. I am in my 30s and have never colored my hair since. Never done highlights.

Anyone else?

[wanderer]

I used to color my hair every two weeks. All different colors. In January 2010, when I found out I had cancer I stopped. Watching my hair fall out, and then having to regrow it, changed my thoughts on it. It grew back in soo many different colors and stages, since I didnt lose all of it. I now have a lot of grey hair in the front but I find it to be a beautiful silver color.

[ICUwishing]

I quit hiding my grays this summer after coloring for at least 20 years. That being said, I had a full head of premature gray at 30, and it was a really blah gunmetal kind of gray. Now, at 45, I'm finding that I have all sorts of shades of silver, gray, and white, and it looks more like I get it professionally colored than it did, when I did!

[Buddha Gal]

I dyed my hair twice when I was in middle school and early high school - red (shooting for natural red head but it came out more of a "wine" red. Not happy) and then dark, almost black, brunette. The brunette was suppose to wash out in 6 months but ended up lasting for about two years. Not cool. Had to pretty much wait for it to grow out to be rid of it. After that I decided to never do it again.

The woman at the salon loves my hair as I am one of the few who's cuttings can be donated to Locks Of Love because I don't dye or fry. That's a big enough reason for me to keep it natural

In the summer the blond comes out, giving me a highlighted look. People have asked if I dye my hair and I love being able to say, "Nope, this is all me!" hahaha. I've come to love my natural, personal color - a mix of ash blond, gold, medium brown, and a dash of red in the right light. And when the gray comes I'm just going to roll with that too

[elvislover324]

I too colored my hair black, twice in my life. And I am talking JET black lol. Going from golden blonde to black surely did change things and it was awful growing out. Oh to be young again!

I wish I could color my hair today! When I started taking medication for my cancer over the summer, I was told one of the side effects was thinning hair and not to color it. Then I started a low-cal medically supervised diet and was told not to color my hair as it would start to thin from the diet.

So now I have half and half color mixed with a bunch of grays and it's much thinner. I pull all the grays out (I swear they do mulitply!) and try to be so thankful I am getting wonderful treatment and try not to worry about my hair.

But....I would so color my hair today if I could!

[tubolard]

Nope, I colored it fire engine red as a young adult and it didn't wash out, it had to grow out. I was embarrassed by it. Now I have all kinds of colors, silver, brown, black, red, it all evens out to a medium brown. I think about coloring to cover up the grays but the thought of having to touch up the roots all the time or look like some sort of a skunk discourages me. Plus I am not the most coordinated person much less with having carpal tunnel in both hands, I can imagine the mess I could make of myself trying to do touch ups, LOL.

[annieway]

I colored my hair for a few years when it started going gray but haven't for at least 10 years. My natural color in my younger days was sort of "honey blonde" and that's pretty much the color I used. After an incident where I colored it myself and it came out sort of lavender I stopped coloring it and now years later it's sort of a light grayish blonde. Gray doesn't show as much on a natural blonde. I'm 62.

I'm considering resuming coloring because the weight loss has made my face look more wrinkled and older and my hair is naturally quite thin and fine. The grayish blonde color is so transparent and nondescript that it just makes my hair look thinner and finer and combined with my older looking face, I think I look too old for my age. I'm thinking about going back to that old honey blonde color which is now considerably darker than my current natural color, but maybe I'll let a salon do the coloring.

[ERHR]

When I was 14 I dyed my hair twice, and it was a 3-week temporary dye. Since then I've never dyed or highlighted my hair, and I often get compliments on my hair color (light brown with natural highlights in the summer). Actually I know very few women who dye their hair habitually so it's probably social-circle/career-type specific.

[kaplods]

I definitely think it's cultural and regional too. When I lived in central Illinois (of course I was also in a very professional field) I knew a lot of women who dyed their hair (but a lot who didn't also).

Now, in northcentral Wisconsin, I know a lot more women who don't dye their hair (I think it's also an age thing. I'm not firmly entrenched in middle age).

Myself, I dyed my hair a lot when I was younger. Mostly shades of blonde (my natural color is a mousey not-quite blonde, not-quite brown). I had an embarassing experience with a shade of red that turned out looking sort of purple on my head. Was teased at work for quite a while (even though I only had the color for about a week at work before getting it corrected).

Now on a much tighter budget, I don't color my hair nearly as often. Two or three years ago I did have my hair dyed for my sister-in-law's wedding - a really pretty light auburn with blonde highlights. I was so shocked at the cost (at a budget salon no less), that I went back to coloring it myself. I chose a darker red that is close in tone to my own hair color's shade (different color, but the same intensity - neither lighter or darker than my own hair color).

What's strange is that even though my natural color has little to no red in it, using a red dye that matches my natural color intensity, makes it much harder to see the color change when the hair is growing out. I can make it six months to a year without recoloring without it looking stupid. Even though that means 3 to 8 inches of uncolored hair.

Now that I'm seeing grays, I don't know what to do. The color doesn't cover the gray, and I really don't want to go back to coloring frequently. To disguise the gray I'd have to either go much lighter or much darker, and I'm so pale that darker would look ridiculous, and lighter requires far too much maintenance (I really hate the dark-root look).

[XLMuffnTop]

Maybe it's a Texas thing but it seems like everyone dyes their hair here.

I did in high school and early college but it wasn't anything "natural". Once I quit my job in December to go back to school FT (hopefully!) I may opt for something odd. I'll fit in the school of art better, at least that's my story.

I don't color as an adult because the grey doesn't bother me. I only yank pesky greys when they're disobedient and stand straight up and are totally different that my curls. I have light skin and dark hair and I think it works well as is.

[nelie]

I use henna once in a while but that is pretty much it.

[greeneggsandtam]

I have a hard time finding ANY women who don't dye their hair either. I don't. I like to get harsh chemicals into my body the old fashioned way: Smoking.

[astrophe]

Never done highlights.

Once in my late teens I dyed it burgandy and my hair is black, so it was subtle. Only in the light could you tell.

For costumes I sometimes do spray on color that washes right out, but rare.

I'm just not hair fussy. I like my black hair, I like the silver ones that are coming out, and I keep a short non-fussy hairstyle.

A.

[Desiderata]

Never dyed my hair or done any coloring to it, not even once.

Once a year or so I get crazy makeover ideas in my head and think about picking up some henna, but haven't pulled the trigger yet. I'll chalk it up to laziness. And acceptance of me as I am!

[vabs]

Been dying my hair since I was 12 (I'm 28 now). Right now my hair is just bleached light blonde, before that I had dyed it silver/gray. I'm probably going to go back to the silver/gray, it just takes a lot of upkeep! Wella's making a small fortune off me in white lady/silver lady/cooling violet hair toner.

And before THAT I dyed it very dark brown for a loooong time. Did all the colors of the rainbow in my teens.
I've only had highlights once, when I had had (natural looking) red hair.