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Why I Color My Hair
I’ve changed my hair color so many times over the years that I’m not even sure what my natural hair color is anymore (I just know it contains some gray). Yes, despite all the many things I fear about our world — underground caverns, the coming zombie apocalypse, submarines, and earthworms come to mind — I’m downright courageous when it comes to the color of my coif.
Senior year in college, I wore it mahogany brown with a single blonde streak in the bangs, which I kept long, swept to the side and always, ALWAYS tucked behind my left ear. After graduation, hoping it would make me look older and more responsible, I trekked up and down San Francisco’s steep hills with long, jet black hair flowing behind me. A few years later, after a gut-wrenching breakup, I entered my red phase, hacking my hair into a short bob and adding angry vermillion streaks. And when I felt I’d finally moved on, so did my hair, which morphed into an optimistic fawn brown with sunny golden streaks.
While I haven’t made any big hair color changes lately, I’ve made some minor ones along the way, like the dainty, honey-colored streaks I wore last spring, the subtle burgundy pieces last fall or the caramel ombre highlights I’m sporting now.
Oh, sure, I also color my hair to cover my gray roots (which, slowly but surely, multiply every year), but that’s never been the main reason. I do it more to explore different parts of my personality, to reinvent myself, and to show the world how I feel.
How do you feel about changing your hair color? Have you ever done it before? If you have, please share some of the changes you’ve made.
Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,
Karen
KAREN! How can you be so gorgeous? And ooooh myyyy goodness why do you look so good in every picture? Darn your photogeny (if there is such word) Love your hair!
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LOL, thanks Irini. Seriously… it’s the hair. My stylist works miracles.
I am the total opposite!! The craziest thing I did was in college when I dyed the bottom 4 inches of my hair bright red!! Of course, that was strategic so I could chop it off easily once I was tired of it. Now, the craziest thing I do is vary my highlight color by a shade or 2.
Kajal Couture recently posted … Anushka Sharmas Makeup in Band Baaja Baraat
I never thought of dying the bottom a different color! Good strategy!
I am a huge fan of bright, different hair colors but I unfortunately work in an office! My boss doesn’t care too much but I can’t do anything super extreme. The most extreme I did was cutting it from my mid back to my shoulders and dying it stoplight red (this is going from natural tones, browns, blacks, etc., nothing inane). It sure shocked everyone! I just recently went 5 months without dyeing it and got it done on Saturday — it was a custom mix and I now have red/violet/plum hair. It’s crazy pretty.
Wendy recently posted … FOTD- Blue Had Me at Hello and new hair!
Congrats on the new ‘do Wendy. It sounds beautiful and fun!
I color my hair at least 3 times a year. It helps me feel more confident and makes me feel like I just reinvented myself for the better. It melts all the bad that has happened with the previous hair color and made it into some more vibrant and happy.
Amen to that, Betty!
Love the new highlights! My hair has been every color over the years. I love to change it up.
Right now I’m blonde.
Thanks, Ann. 🙂 What’s been your favorite hair color so far? Is it true that blondes have more fun?
I liked red the best but the upkeep was too much for me. I couldn’t stand the fading & every 3 week salon visit. I like the blonde a lot. I was blonde as a kid so it looks more natural than any other color I’ve had. The attention it gets is pretty nice too. Blondes def have more fun. 🙂
I had a hard time with red too. I felt like it was an uphill battle trying to keep the color in!
Love your hair!
I colored my hair a caramel-honey shade a few years ago. Then i sported jet black hair with blunt bangs until last year. This year, I am trying to get my hair a very pretty shade of red. I think its a great way to update your look – and express how you feel. I feel like I gravitate towards honey-caramel locks when I am happy and content, black when i feel a little down and uncertain about things. I decided to go red this year, because i realized, to hell what everybody else thinks. I’ll do what I want. LOL!
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How fun! What shade of red are you doing, Nina?
Wow, your hair looks gorgeous!!
I am very open to making changes to my hair and have had many different hair lengths and styles. I would love to change the color, but my hair is naturally jet black and it always seemed like it would be difficult to change the color.
I am starting to see more gray strands popping up, so once that starts to get out of hand, I’ll probably have a talk with my stylist about adding some color.
Hi Ruchita,
I have pretty dark hair too naturally, and it’s totally possible to change the color — you just gotta find the right stylist.
By the way, I found a gray strand in my bangs the other day… yup, not fun.
Good to know, Karen! I have a pretty awesome stylist so I’ll have to chat with her at my next appointment about different color options.
One good thing with having dark hair is that sometimes I use mascara to cover up some of the wayward gray strands. 🙂
Oh, great! I’ve found that it’s not easy to find a hair stylist who “gets” you, so that’s fantastic you have someone who knows your hair well! 🙂 What color(s) are you thinking about?
And LOL… I have totally done that mascara trick. 😉
Karen!!!!! dear…u look beautiful………. and the new hair color looks awesome on u… and in the 3rd pic….aaahhhh dats killer expression… 🙂 🙂
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Thanks, Amee!
noway! i’ve been blonde for way to long i’m naturally dirty blonde though. its taken me yrs to get it as white as i can get it!
candace grubbs recently posted … Skinny tuna noodle casserole
Your hair is so dramatic, Candace! Love it!
im all up for change, the only caveat being i dont want to fry my hair too much. ive been there, and it aint pretty! 🙂
i make sure that the hair color is ammonia free – to save my hair from drying out and to protect my scalp! ive had a bald spot from harsh hair color before and its scary!
Oh no. What happened? Were you able to save your hair or did you end up cutting it off?
fortunately, the bald spot was towards the bottom of my hair, above the nape area. i was able to keep it long and it covered the bald spot. it eventually grew back.
of course i didnt learn my lesson immediately, and dyed it again! bald spot again …. after that i went ammonia free.
luckily, there are several salons here that do organic/ammonia free hair color, but its kinda spendy! my hair has natural red highlights so i tend to play on that.
on that note – can i just say your hair is gorgeous? 🙂
Aww, thanks. 🙂
Good thing you were able to hide it! I suppose you could’ve also stocked
up on hats, but the fact that it was at the bottom probably made it that much more easier to disguise.
Kind of off topic, but I thought of you the other day when I was at the drugstore looking at the new L’Oreal Infallible Lipsticks. Did you ever end up picking up a tube? I remember you mentioning that the hubs said he liked seeing in you lipstick… and this stuff is pretty darn great!
When I was in high school, I got honey highlights added to my black/brown hair. The highlights ended up fading into a nice auburn color that I let grow out all though college. Now, 6 years post college, I am contemplating doing something to the color again. The only problem is it is just so high maintenance.
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Hi Tiffany,
I hear you. I think that’s one of the reasons why I’ve been enjoying ombre highlights. The root situation is a lot more forgiving.
haha I have never been one to try to make a statement with my haircolor, but I do love color and I have tried everything once. My favorite color on me is Manic Panic’s “pillarbox red” which is a marvelous rich magenta. Sadly, I have to work for a living, so I have made do with generally one of two alternatives that I think look great on me: nearly white ash blonde and henna red. These days I tend to like to avoid the chems from dyes and bleach, and since I can’t get away with the semi-permanents at work it’s all henna all the time.
My natural color is a mousy strawberry blonde, and twice I’ve dyed it normal shades of caramel and chestnut brown – never have these colors garnered approval, even from conservative folks. I think my short, curly hair just fares better with punchier color, too mainstream and curls can look super matronly quick. I guess that’s a statement I’m going for with my haircolor then isn’t it? But in spite of my rebellious tastes most of my fashion decisions are made via the “oooh, shiny!” method.
Ha, me too. It’s either “Oooh, shiny!” or “Oooh, sparkly!”. Hey, if it ain’t broke…
You can’t see it in my pictures, but I a good chunk of my hair is currently pink! In High school I did purple and cherry red. Soon I think I’m going to do lime green, or something along those lines!
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Fun! I love bright pink. I’m probably too old to pull it off now, but I think I might get some fun pink clip-in extensions when I’m in the mood.
Of the colors you’ve worn so far, which one’s your favorite?
Oh my! Well, right now I’m sporting a short cut with the majority of my hair being blue-black and a streak on the left side a blue-based teal shade. I’ve been red, orange, brown, black, burgundy, wine, purple, fuchsia, etc. All sorts of colors. I love being a red head but I equally love my current cut and color.
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You’re so colorful, Phyrra! I love it.
For me, and I’m sure for a lot of others (including you, K!) I get bored REALLY easily. I belong to Bag, Borrow, or Steal, because I can’t just have one purse forever, and I change my hair about twice a year, usually from red or brown in the winter to blonde (highlighted) in the summer… It’s not nearly as bad for our hair as it was when our mom’s used to do it, so I say Carpe Diem!!
Hi Julie,
Carpe Diem indeed! What was the biggest change you’ve ever made with your hair color?
Your hair is gorgeous!!!!!!!
Thanks, Sabah. Do you color your hair?
Karen, LOVE your hair! And that leather jacket looks so cool and confident…
I did quite a few changes over the years, cause my natural colour is something of a mousy, ashy blond – just plain and *meh*. So I went from natural at age 13 to dark red, chemical bright “Run Lola run” red, strawberry blond, black, espresso brown. Then I had a major breakup at 20, I cropped my hair totally short and dyed it purple, as in horrible-chemical-totally-not-natural-purple… XD Seems to be the way we girls cope, by “annihilating” the person we’ve been before…
When I came to my senses I let all my hair grow out and went honey blond. One year ago I’ve returned to red, a dark natural colour not to loud, but definitely with a little bit of spice 😉 And I’ve been happy with it ever since…
Thanks, Constanze. 🙂 And thank you for sharing your hair color history! I’ve always wanted to do crazy purple but never got around to it.
I have never colored my hair. I was gonna try once to dye it blond but I chickened out after 10 minutes and washed it out. Right now I have strawberry blond hair and I would like a change but I am always afraid that I wont be able to get back to my natural hair color. I have thought about highlights though…baby steps 🙂
Hi Laurina,
Highlights are a good way to start. You don’t have to do a ton of them — maybe just a few subtle strands around your face?
When I was in high school, I was a big fan of temporary dye in radioactive shades of red. Then I moved on to professional highlights. I gave them up when I realized there was no point in paying for nice highlights when I couldn’t be bothered to go to the salon more than two or three times a year!
Now I get my hair cut every 8 weeks like a grownup and lately I have been wanting to add some color, but I don’t feel like spending extra money/time in a salon, and I just can’t see being consistent about it at home. Natural is easy and I really like easy. But I’ve got some big changes coming up and a change in color might fit the bill! We’ll see.
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You’re brave to change your hair and it looks great! I can change a lot of things, but hair? Oh man…I colored it light brown with blonde highlights one time, just once, and I couldn’t handle the change. Back to black I went 2 weeks later!
I Love to color my hair. It is a quick and easy way to revamp you whole look. I have tried several different colors; brown, golden blond, brownish-red, and even fire-red. I remember the first time I tried to dye my hair. I was in 9th grade and I took some black cherry kool-aid and mixed it with my shampoo. It actually turned out pretty good but my mom was steaming mad.
I love you hair color btw…it looks really good on you!!
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I wish I had the guts to go red or even burnt brown.. but I don’t lol! I got some dark red streaks last summer and they looked great! But once I went blonde and HATED it, so I asked my stylist to go back to my beautiful brunette color I have and instead she went BLACK! It was so black that it looked blue, I looked awful! Since then I haven’t done much with my hair because I am afraid I won’t be able to go back!
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the first time I was colored my hair (ever!) was over the summer (July 2010), when I was 33. I am a natural light brown. And I went for it-hot pink chunks! I had always wanted to do that at least once in my life and that was the time. I loved, loved, loved it, but the up keep with pink was insane. I went purple for a bit after that (oct-jan), and just went back to natural brown. I am looking for a new job, and couldn’t have the crazy color highlights anymore. When I went back “natural” I did add some golden blonde highlights around my face for the first time. I am starting to get a lot of grey as well….taking the plunge to cover the grey has been coming rapidly for the last couple of years.
I actually stopped coloring my hair a few years ago. I was very young for my job and thought the gray would help me. At 33, it did the trick. Now, I’m not sure I have enough gray to make me look 38 and may need to rethink. It is funny, I’ll wear purple shadow and not worry about it looking “natural” but I can’t do highlights as I think they just look too fake on me.
I’ve had blonde highlights put in my mousy dishwater brown hair since 8th grade, when my natural blonde began to fade. After college, I would have to “lowlight” every few months to keep from straying into total bleach blonde territory. When I was pg with my twins, I back to my natural color with some henna highlights and got more red by the time they were born. Now I try to do a combination of 3 colors, light blonde, medium and some caramel.
Love yours! And I’d love to see pics of that red bob you sported back in the day! Ha!
Those highlights look gorgeous on you!
Like you, I no longer remember my natural color – some sort of brown. I dyed my hair burgundy when I was 15 (a la My So Called Life), and I’ve been every shade of red since – strawberry blonde to dark chocolate cherry. I’ve been so brown it’s almost black and caramel blonde with pale blonde streaks. I even played with pink in college!
About all I haven’t done is platinum blonde, but I don’t think I have the coloring for it anyhow.
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Your hair is great! I had it all – blond, red, balck – long, short, shaved even. When I feel really bad or my life is getting strange, I change my do. Now I stopped going to extrems and wear it rather short, so I can change it every time I got to the hairdresser. Now I found one who does miracles (he is world champion in men’s short haircuts) so I am really happy every time I go out there. I will ask him for some colour tommorrow, too – he said blond does nout suit me, so I will go draker or redder. We shall see!
I am going to wear heavy brown smokey eyes and an natural glossy lipstick – he will do the rest, because he cuts and dyes to fit your style. He is great.
I did a quick review of the comments and it looks like (as usual) I am the only makeup/beauty enthusiast who has never colored her hair. I never actively decided not to do it, I’ve just never done it. For reference, I’m 27 and have very dark, coffee brown wavy hair. I do shamelessly pamper my hair by purchasing high end hair products.
I love your highlights, Karen! I used to dye my hair ALL the time. And never professionally, always by myself. Back in high school it was black, brown with purple streaks, brown with blonde streaks, brown with pink streaks.. I played with it a lot. Then I got to college and left it alone freshman year and it was this half black half light brown mess. The year after that I decided I wanted burgundy which didn’t taken too well to my hair. Finally now (my senior year) it is back to its natural super dark brown color. I decided to stop coloring it when, like you, I realized that I no longer knew what its natural color is! Now and again I get some gray hairs even though I’m only 21, but it’s no big deal. My hair is healthy and happy 🙂
I haven’t dyed my hair since I was at school (when I turned my horrible orange sun-in streaks to dark purple!) but I have been seriously considering going from my non-descript mousy-brown shade to a darker richer shade. I wish I was as brave as you are when it comes to changing my hair! I am in a serious rut! I love your hair in the pics above – stunning!
I was about 17 when I dyed my hair for the first time. I used henna then. My hair has been red ever since (more than half of my life), except once when my hair was shorter, I let my natural colour grow out. It was so depressive! Lately I have used a ‘darker light copper gold’ permanent colour.
DEAR KAREN!
wow! you are so gorgeous! and the new hair color looks awesome on you! 😉 🙂
I love to color my hair!
winter-Snow White-dark espresso hair,light skin.
summer-latino diva 😉 -dark skin,dark hair and honey highlights! 🙂
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It’s been ages since I colored my hair. It’s too expensive right now to get it done professionally, and I’m not very adept at doing it myself. But, I want to do it soon, I’m getting tired of seeing another area of grey everytime I look in the mirror!
Ideally I’d love for my whole head to be that caramel color that you’re rocking in your highlights right now, Karen. That’s a gorgeous color and I think it would go well with my pale skin and green eyes.
When I was at OU, I went white blond and totally fried my hair. Now I stick within the colors that work for my skin tone, I can get away with pretty much any shade of red due to my coloring and heritage (Scots-Irish baby!). Sadly the red fades fast so I have to touch it up, and I baby my hair immensely. My hair probably would be fried if I didn’t follow the CG method and stay far, far away from shampoo.
For my entire 16th year and a good deal of my 17th….My hair was pink. Bright fushia pink. I LOVED it, lol. Before that I’d done blue streaks. I’ve had oh so many hair colors, but it always goes back to blond.
I haven’t colored my hair in a really long time, not since I worked at the Beauty Store San Francisco. My hair has natural red highlights in it already. But, I may have to now because of the incoming grays. They are all in the back, so I was blissfully unaware of them until recently. Then, I was shocked! Now….enough about the hair. I want to know where you got that awesome leather jacket!
You look beautiful Karen! I love the highlights.
My hair has been blonde, brownish-black, reddish brown, and even had pink streaks in the past, but I like to keep it natural now. It’s naturally a light brown shade and I love the low maintenance of not coloring. I’m 26, and I think I’ll wait until I get grays to color again.
My original hair colour is black- very very black. When I was 15 to about 17 I wanted blue hair, but the home dyeing kits that offer blue-black hair colour never showed up on my hair because it was just too black! Then at 19, I began to have blonde highlights in my black hair, done professionally in a salon- and to get the blonde colour the stylist had to use the lightest shade of blonde they had.
From then on until I was 22, my hair was often dyed brown with blonde highlights. Then when I was 23, I started going red, and have not looked back since. Red is a tough colour to maintain as it oxidises and turns brown fast, but I am in love with it. I’ve also gone progressively lighter and lighter in my red colour 😛
http://yukaeshi.drachedja.net/images/hairdo2011.jpg <– My hair colour at the moment!
Dear Karen, your hair look soo healthy! =)
On the subject of colouring hair. Never done it before. I am quite young so don’t feel the need to, plus, I don’t want to damage my hair since it’s getting really longer and longer. Though I am researching more info on the subject of organic hair dyes, and we’ll see, maybe, maybe? I always get crazy blond highlights in the Summer from the sun though. Really blond. 😉
Love your caramel highlights Karen! So pretty!
I have been a devout hair colour-er since I was ten or eleven, and my mother let me put bright neon red streaks in my hair. My friends were all so jealous. xD But of course simple streaks soon weren’t enough, and the summer before seventh grade I dyed it bright red all over (which I could get away with with out bleaching back then because my hair was still very blonde). Then came blue, purple, pink, orange and yellow with long periods of platinum blonde and auburn in between. It’s been every colour but green! Now I am growing out my natural colour for the first time since that red hair. It is coming out a very ashey dull brown, which I don’t like, but somehow having uncoloured hair feels so…fresh. I look pretty crazy at the moment though, one inch of my hair is still a faded orange puke colour and the roots are 1 1/2 inches long. I really want to just chop off these nasty ends, but my hair is already so short it’ll be practically a buzz cut if I do that. Oh well, will just have to wait it out!
I’m a natural brownette, I’ve dyed it blonde (fun but a lot of upkeep) and red, (also fun, but a lot of fading), and I did hot pink streaks (it’s a little too common now). I like my natural color, and I’m terribly lucky because I have no gray hair yet, I’m 35! I do like to use those glossers though, I like shiny hair. Right now I’ve been going through a phase where I change my hair by cutting it, it was long and now it’s a graduated bob. It’s still a little too long for me though, I’m thinking about going shorter, like Michelle Williams!
I love the caramel highlights on you! I am such a hair coloring wuzz, not because of the colors but because my hair is already brittle & difficult au naturel and but I swear it actually resists all my attempts to color it… Honestly, hair colrs just don’t take on me. And I have so much hair that when I went to the hairdresser to get the highlights, he actually got a bit pissed off because he had to make extra highlighter 3 times (I would have paid extra, but I refuse to do that if the guy makes me feel bad like I consciously try to rip him off, so I paid and never returned). So that made me so uncomfortable that I decided to just be nature girl. Last month I made another attempt to kill some greys: the color covered about a third of the greys and my skin went bonkers… I guess I have to respect the will of my manes, I am not the owner of them apparently 😉
I love your hair right now!
I color my hair all the time. I’m kind of known for it. Right now it’s red, which is actually a first for me.
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Hahaha, well, my hair is bright purple and hot pink, so I’d say I’m definitely okay with coloring my hair. I actually haven’t seen more than a couple inches of my natural hair color in… oh, about 10 years. It’s naturally kind of a blah mousy brown, but I’m very redhead-complexioned so I dyed it a deep red for years. Then I went nuts and dyed it all sorts of colors when I was about 16 – I had it bright cherry red, hot pink, purple, black with purple, black with pink, etc. Then it went back to natural red, and then a while ago I decided to stop being respectable and dyed it back to crazy colors 🙂
Looove the color! i have been using henna for the last year. While I am happy with the condition of my hair, the color difference is more subtle and the grays are not covered as well. It looks like I will go back to coloring as the grays multiply 🙂
i’ve always had dark hair, but starting in high school i was determined to have blue/black, as in so black it looks blue, hair…well, it never worked! i guess because it was so dark to begin with, anyhoo, i still dye it black because unfortunately it’s been trying to go gray (althought i won’t let it…yet) i keep thinking i’ll be one of those cool ladies with the beautiful long flowing gray…but just not net 🙂
ps. your highlights are awesome! i’m afraid to bleach mine to get any kind of highligh…
pps. where did you get your jacket?
I love changing my hair color! I am a dark dishwater blond naturally, so my go-to hair color is a light golden blond. But I get bored every once and awhile and go brunette, I wanna do red but the up-keep scares me!! To me, changing my hair color is the best form of a make over! You can change your attitude/personality in a snap! its fun!
You look great!!! I love changing my color, went from dark bronw to blonde several times.
xx Olga
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Starting from when I was thirteen, I dyed my hair about once per month (some times 2 or 3). I’d bleach my hair to a platinum blonde and every month, the colour would get darker and darker. I’d go through every shade of the hair colour rainbow all the way until jet black (or blue black) until I repeated the process all over again. Every cycle would be different though so one month I might go from platinum blonde to ash blonde whereas in another six months I’d go the route of strawberry blonde instead. By the time I hit 16 and was into my punk phase, I added another level between blonde and dirty blonde, which consisted of drowning my very light hair with a slew of candy-coloured temporary dyes, which would then eventually be covered by a medium brown hue once the colour faded.
So there isn’t a single colour my hair hasn’t been. My favourite was always fire engine red. The problem with vibrant colours is that they’re really hard to maintain. And then when I was in university, I had a mohawk that I dyed pink, blue, purple, and teal. It was crazy. I think throughout my life, I’ve had every colour at least half a dozen times.
It’s always surprising for some people because I’m Chinese and never cared about having a conventional Asian appearance, especially when I went through all those blonde phases. (I got ridiculed a LOT) but the good thing is that I got to unleash all my rebel hair monsters out at such a young age. I keep my black hair natural now and I haven’t dyed it in over four years. My ostentatious days are long gone.
Edit: Not 2 or 3 times per month but every 2 or 3 months. Sometimes I waited longer. Can you imagine dying your hair that often? Me bleaching it every 6 months was damage enough.
And by every colour, I don’t just mean your standard natural colours. I had cotton-candy pink, electric blue, lime green, orange, neon yellow, purple, white, sometimes I even combined colours.
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I’ve colored pretty much nonstop since I was 16. My mom’s original career was in hair (she was an instructor at a beauty school!) so we used to do it in the kitchen or the basement. I had chunky blonde streaks in high school, a full head of bright bright highlights (pulled through a rubber cap with what looks like a tiny crochet hook) in college, went back to a warm light brown in grad school, got a full head of foils and kept them for almost 3 years after graduating, and just in the last year decided to go back to brunette. I don’t remember what color I started out as either 🙂
I’ve had every color hair. I was naturally a brunette. My hair has all turned white now and I am finally happy with the color! I get compliments all the time.
Your hair looks great, Karen. What do you use to keep it so healthy?
Love your highlights! I’ve had a lot of colors over the years… blue, pink, black, platinum blonde, brown, many reds… I am fairly against coloring now (besides with henna) I want my hair to grooooooow
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I gave up on coloring my hair after I had blonde highlights turn out gray (did this myself) and violet (done in the salon). BUT I think this summer it’s time for me to try again, at a fancier salon, lol. I have long hair though, and hate how long it takes to highlight.
It’s the first time I comment 😀 but i’ve been reading your blog everyday since november .. so here’s my story
I dyed my hair bluish black when I was 13 (yikes!) , then kept it jet black until I was 16, when I stopped dying it, then started back at age 18 with the black.. when I got tired of It i realized just how HARD it is to get rid of black !! So i started dying it black brown.. then stopped in the sake of comfort 😛 lazy person soo now i’m 23 and I went for a reddish light brown, but then i thought.. what the hell i’m already doing this so I tried a light auburn and I LOVE IT! the only thing that bothers me is that my hair grows so fast! i had to retouch my roots after three weeks.. but it’s OK, i love this color 🙂
I love this latest hair coloring. I only highlighted my hair once in high school and it was with those do it yourself kits with the highlighting brush. My mom probably loaded the brush with too much product because when it was done I had a bright orange sunburst ringing the top of my head and it lasted for months before it finally grew out and faded. I don’t color or highlight my hair anymore just because I’m way too lazy and I don’t want to damage my hair with the dyes.
I love your highlights Karen! I’ve actually been thinking of coloring my hair again for the past 2 months, but I’m hesitant because I’m afraid it would cause hair thinning. I’ve colored my hair several times before and this is the longest time that I’ve gone without any color! HOw true is it that hair can get thin from coloring? I think mine’s thinner that before so maybe it’s caused by all the hair color treatments I’ve been through? Thanks!
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I usually get blonde highlights through my hair every now and then – I find my natural hair colour is very “blocky” and the blonde helps to break it up a little. I always get it done at the hairdressers and I wont dye my own hair, I think it looks more natural if you let a professional do it.
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I have been every color from platinum to blue black with the exception of red. However the older I get, I have noticed alot more natural red in my roots. So I guess my next hair experience will be a light golden brown with red high and low lights. My favorite color I have been so far would have to be blonde.
what eyeshadow is that?!
Hi Natalie,
It’s NARS Nouveau Monde. Here’s a closer look at it:
A New Look at NARS Spring 2011 with Tzigane, Hollywoodland, Bateau Ivre and Nouveau Monde
I’ve coloured my hair regularly since I was about 19 (I’m turning 25 in March), and I have always had very short hair so it needs re-colouring at least every 3-4 months, as the dyed hair is trimmed off. For the last year of so, it’s looked pretty similar to yours: warm mahogany brown with tan/golden highlights. I’ve experimented with both red and blonde streaks in the past, but since leaving university, I’ve decided to settle for something more subtly enhancing.
Hi Diana,
Red and blonde streaks are fun… but yeah, I totally get having to go subtle once you’re in the working world. 🙂
Your hair looks AWESOME! Such preeetty highlights. Making me jealous, I love to color my hair but the cost is so darn expensive in LA. Been a blonde (natural color), bleach blonde, copper redhead, intensely red, brunette, raven-locked, and for the past couple years been dying my hair a consistent shade of dark auburn. Right now I’m thinking since there’s no money in the budget for proper salon visits that I’ll just grow out my hair to its natural blonde color and go full-on red again.
Agh, didn’t mean to ramble so much, but hair gets me excited.
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Thanks, Liz! Hair gets me excited too. 🙂 It sounds like you’ve done a wide range of color in the last few years! Which color has been your favorite?
Oh, I like the new highlights! They’re warm and happy. 🙂 I get mine colored every 4 weeks (old and gray!) but I tend to keep it pretty much the same these days. Maybe a little highlight in the spring or summer. I hate regrowth so it’s pretty close to my natural light brown color.
Thanks, Kim. 🙂 I hate regrowth too, ugh! That’s one of the reasons why I haven’t gotten too crazy with super light/contrasty highlights or color as of late… having to maintain roots is such a pain.
How long have you been going to your colorist? Or do you do your color on your own?
I am loving how you have it now! I went bright blonde aboue 2 years ago and I’m pretty sure I’ll never go back!
Hi Jamie!
Is it true that blondes have more fun? 🙂
I color my hair all the time. I’m naturally a dark, ashy, dishwater blonde, the color most all toe-headed German children turn into as adults. I hate it.
Currently, I’m a dark, warm, brown. But I really want to be red. I was red for 2 days and it all washed out and I cannot stop thinking about being as caliente as Christina Hendricks, or as sophisticated as Julianne Moore. It’s an obsession.
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I like it!!
I was 8yo when I dyed my hair the first time.. my mom is a hairdresser and when I wanted to dye my hair back then she just dyed my hair. (I don’t know why I wanted to color my hair when I was 8 and why my mom agreed with me to dye my hair) Since then I never stopped dying my hair.. wich I do now nonstop for about 14 years. And I have had all colors!! Black, Chocolate Brown, Blonde, Copper Blonde, Red, Orange, Aubergine Purple, Blue, Pink, Platinum Blonde. The funky colors only as a highlight, accept the purple one.
Hey Karen,
Your hair looks good!!!! And so does your makeup! 🙂
What color lipgloss are you wearing?
I must be completely in the minority but I have NEVER dyed my hair. I’m a natural redhead and fell like it’s the coolest thing that nature gave me so I’m sticking with it. I will dye it red when it start’s going white/grey though
Hi Karen,
Loving your hair. I just wanted to share my thoughts/views on coloring your hair.
I have had black hair all my life. I have experimented – there was the many L’Oreal Feria colors ranging from black cherry, burgundy, chocolate brown, etc. There was also the time I had two red cherry streaks running down the middle of my hair – I always had it parted in the middle for even more emphasis. Then I in 2004 I bit the bullet and commited to highlights.
J-LO highlights – yes, LOVE DOES COST A THING…sorry, bad joke but I have to emphasize how much time and money goes into highlights – partial at that!
I then took a break went back to shiny black – especially when my hair was long and I had bangs. I had Nicole Sherzinger hair (when she temporarily wore the bangs). This was my signature look for a while.
Then I had my daughter. I grew out my bangs and cut my hair – it was not a MOMMY ‘do just a fancier version of one. Highlights were still out of the question. My daughter is now almost three and I have my getting ready routine down to under an hour. So last year I took the plunge. In preparation for my birthday weekend in NYC last year I decided to get MAJOR highlights. I wanted everyone to know this is NOT my natural hair color. I went back to J-Lo highlights but a step further. I added some blonde pieces to it. Now I’ve been a “blonde Asian” hater in the past but I take it all back. I love the how the lightest color in my hair contrasts with my tan skin. When I first had my highlights put in my boss complimented me so much during the day it was borderline harrassment!
It’s just hair – have fun with it. It grow back. Also, it’s much easier to go back to dark from light. Just do it gradually and with the help of a professional. I am enjoying my honey, caramel partial highlights. Well I ought to, I paid good money for it!
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I did, and I kind of regret it x| The first time I died my hair, it was all a mystery to me, and I told my friend I had been wanting to dye it red or something – then she told me there was a box of red hair dye sitting in the bathroom that no one wanted! so she began work that morning, and my hair turned into a really pretty dark natural redhead color.
after a while I decided to redo my roots myself, and bought a different brand but the same color, and it was a complete success.
The third time, I went for a true dark apple red shade, and it was GORGEOUS. Except that after a month had passed, it was just orangey brown. I HATED it. I figured I wouldn’t want to keep up with the red all the time so I decided to dye it back to medium natural brown. I tried to do that…and nothing happened 🙁 apparently it’s impossible to dye red dyed hair back to brown? it kind of sucks, so I think I’m just gonna keep dying it red. It was really pretty, I just didn’t want to keep up on it lol.
I was Google searching pictures of highlights just now and this came up – I completely fell in love with the caramel color and ombre style! I’ve only gotten highlights once before and was clueless going in. When they asked how many foils I wanted, I just said 12 because that was the max offered without being considered a “whole head”. It came out looking terrible because it was wayyyy more than I wanted. I LOVE the way yours look though, so I was wondering how many foils I’d need to ask for in order to achieve that look (I have the same base color as you). Please, please let me know!