Have You Ever Dyed or Highlighted Your Hair?

I was just telling my friend today that I was probably the only girl around who has never touched her hair. I have never even had color that washes out. I have a feeling when I start going grey that I will cave and get color.

I have colored my hair every 5 weeks since is was 17 years old. So yes to me at least it is worth it.
At this point thanks to gray it is not optional.

I started slowly, just a few face framing highlights. Then when I would go back, they would put the foil on and pull in a few strands at a time to mask the roots. The longer it went, the more hair ended up highlighted, until I was all over blonde! Now I just dye my whole head champagne blond at home and be done with it.

I get my hair colored regularly and LOVE IT! I change it up and do high lights sometimes, sometimes low lites and sometimes even different color high lights! It's fun! My sis is my stylist, so that helps..she's been doing if for almost 13 yrs and I have referred a ton of clients her way! One thing I know from her is the stuf you buy in the stores have a lot more chemicals that are damaging to your hair, and also can turn the wrong colors. I don't know personally, since I have mine done professionally, but I know she gets really frustrated when people do it themselves, and she has to fix it..expensive and not easy to do. But like I said, there may also be at home kits that are great, too! I don't know!

Have fun and enjoy what you do decide to do w/ it!...it's like a whole new you! (I give my sis free rein w/ my hair because I trust her! And I always leave smiling!)

If you get natural foil highlights that aren't too much lighter than your natural color they will look nice and you won't have to get them redone that often. Yes I think they are worth the money when I'm not pregnant anymore I will be getting them done again.

I'm not sure how old you are (?) but I never highlighted my hair until I was about 28. That's when my blonde started to go dark.
I used to do it at home but I hated the way it grew out. So now I go to a salon about twice a year and I get highlights and low lights, and my guy does it in a way that grows out very natural looking.
The color gives a punch of brightness to my poor, tired face so yes, it's worth it to me!

You're a virgin, eh? Not too many of those out there, probably :)

I've been high-lighting my hair for decades. Once I started, I've never not highlighted it. I'm a dark blonde naturally and the lighter highlights give me a lift and make my skin tone look brighter. The bleach plumps up the hair shaft at the root, which also gives my hair "lift," too, and my hair is less greasy after a fresh highlight. I do hate the cost and maintenance, though. And as a former stylist, I know who is good and don't skimp for the less-educated or less experienced stylists. But for me, it is worth the money because it makes me feel good and I dare say feel more attractive.

I go in about every 4 months. It's good to have some re-growth for your stylist to work with. Those that go in every 6-8 weeks for highlights, I wonder why they don't just do an overall bleach job instead of highlights because that's really the effect that they are looking for.

Good luck with the new you!

I do it often. I love my hair, it is straight as a board, almost black naturally and due to good genes, no gray.

I don't want to cut it because I love it long and straight so to change things up a bit, I get a one step color about every 8 weeks or so. I can play with the shades, have fun with my hair and not cut it. I don't do anything wild and crazy, I just alter my natural color a bit.

I ONLY do this at my salon with my professional hairdresser. I would never do it myself. I pay about $120 for a trim and color and $65 for a color only

Yes, I am worth it!!

I used to dye my hair all the time-on my own.
I had it professionally highlighted once. And I really liked it.
But it was not a luxury we could afford.
Poor DH-he made the appt. as a gift and gave me $40 to go in and get it done.
I knew it was going to cost way more than that. He was shocked when I told him how much the bill was. Lol. Memories.
Now my hair is the color God gave me. It is really nice to not have to worry about roots. ;)

Been highlighting and low lights for as long as I can remember. I use great hair products to keep my hair healthy. Never had any problems with damaged hair and I love the results.

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I didn't do it until I was in my 20s, and I have only done it a total of 8 times maybe. I do like how it looks, because I have blah thin brown hair normally. But is it worth the money? Not to me. Too much upkeep. However, I think you should try it and see for yourself. Live a little :)

Yes! Yes! It's effort because you had to keep up with it or put up with it while it's growing out.

When I'm not pregnant, I like to play around with the color of my hair. I've had it dark brown, red, very blonde, combinations of highlights and low lights. I have thin and boring hair and work in a fairly conservative field, so a little "playful" color is about as "crazy" as I can go!

Have fun with it!

I would suggest going with a semi-permanent hair color. It will do less damage to your hair and will wash out gradually with less "roots." I agree that you should start with something a little more subtle and work your way up to something bolder. Tell them to start with smaller clumps of strands which will look more natural. The "chunkier" the color - the bolder, less natural the look. Ask them if they will weave the color into your hair (they take a comb and weave in and out of your hair then color just 1 of the sections - this leaves you with very natural looking color as opposed to a big section being "painted"). Also, I would suggest going with top layer highlights only. Again, less damage and you really don't need the underneath done (sounds nuts but I've done this for YEARS). Good luck! Virgin hair..wow, I don't think I remember those days!

I dyed my hair, at a salon, for years, just because it was fun to be a red-head. I went through several shades. Then eventually I went to highlights in blond, until I almost was a blond. I was soooo glad when I let these grow out and got a short cut and have NEVER dyed my hair since (about 9 years).

It was expensive and a pain to have to go to the salon so often. I haved vowed never to dye my hair again. But, so far I'm lucky and the only gray I have is about a half-dozen silver hairs sprinkled about. If I went actual gray, I might have to reconsider the dye thing...

I have never dyed or colored my hair in any way. It was straight and sort of a medium brown with a little gray. Last fall when it came back in after chemo, it is just a shade darker with a little more gray and a little wave. I figure I have earned every gray hair I have and will leave it that way.

Early 80's in high school we used peroxide to "highlight" our hair. It was more like orange but thats what you did back then! I started going gray early 20's and have been coloring it ever since!

I dye my hair regularly, but at home. I went to the shop one time to have it done just to see if it was any different than doing it at home - the only difference was the price! I really like the new foam dyes.

I had virgin hair until I was around 38. Then I highlighted and colored it for a few years. I wasn't crazy about spending $90-100 every 6-8 weeks on my hair, so I stopped doing it. Growing out the roots was not fun. Now that I'm a secondary virgin (it's been a few years) I'm tempted to start up again, but probably won't. My husband says I don't need to. He might just be trying to save $$. :)

I started going grey in my mid twenties. Premature grey on both sides of my family. I didn't like grey hair on me, so I have been dying my hair for yrs. now. I have dark dark brown hair, that's wavy and always been thick. Just started to get a little thinner lately. I have had my hair colored at a salon and have been coloring it myself for the last 4 yrs. I only use color that is plant based and not tested on animals. I buy my color at the health food store. They have great shades and it covers very well. There is no ammonia or peroxide. I haven't ever had highlights.

Almost everyone I know has highlighted or dyed their hair, they just don't tell others about it because they want you to believe it is natural, and if you can't tell, the stylist is doing a good job. If it weren't for hair color I would be almost all gray right now at 36. My hair color is dishwater blonde, so highlights are necessary to give it some umph. You can go slow, just get some face framers first. I think it is worth the money if you get someone good to do it.

I go every 6-8 weeks to have my highlights retouched. I've been doing this for about 25 years. I can't imagine it without them. It just adds a bit of life to my hair, which otherwise would be sort of a dingy blonde. No thanks. My hair used to be very light blonde naturally. Along with aging, with each child my hair gets darker. So, I go. And I love it. My husband doesn't care how much it costs. He likes my hair this way. :)

My wife has never dyed or colored her hair. Niether has one of my daughters and two of my DILs. That makes 4 of 9 women in my family that have never dyed their hair.

Good luck to you and yours.

I colored my hair for the first time 2 years ago and I'm 55. Until then, I had almost no grey so why bother? I liked my hair color, it was in good condition and I didn't want to ruin it. Now that my hair has a streak of white in front, my stylist puts in highlights and colors my white stripe to match. It's nice to have the change and I like it.

I have before. I haven't in probably 8 years though. My hair is SO much more healthy, not highlighting it. I hated having to go in all the time and touch it up..not to mention the cost. In my opinion it's not worth the money and effort. Then again I really like my natural hair color, and I have a lot of natural highlights. I guess if I hated my hair, I probably would highlight it.

Every color of the rainbow! I love the feeling of new, funky, fresh hair. I think me "real me" (hair wise- not personality) is pretty boring... mousey brown... straight as a pin... super thin hair. With a bottle of hair dye and some scissors I can be whoever I want to be!!!

My first hair dye was "frosted" highlights, and then I got a spiral perm... it was cute. I was 11. After that I dyed my hair bright red... then I shaved it and bleached it completely white and wore a blue rinse that made it almost silvery... grew it out a little then I got a perm again (bad idea) so i cut it again, then i grew it out and wore a dark blue bob, then black, the blond with black ends, then purple roots and black... then red, natural (for my wedding), black, brown pixie, brown bob, red bob with "betty page" bangs, blond, pink, brown and blond, bright blood red, and back to boring, natural brown (now)- long with bangs.

LOL- I love change. For Halloween I am thinking of dying my hair black, maybe with streaks, and possible an asymmetric "do". I have had my hair dyed at home AND in the salon. the only time I would recommend using a salon is if you are going from dark hair to super light hair, or are doing lots of highlights and low lights. If not, just have a girlfriend come over and help you!

-M.

I never colored my hair and kept it super short all my adult life. Only started coloring to cover gray in my mid 40's. I home color back to my original dark ash blond color before I had grey (really white). Of course the end result is a little different, and over time (after about 6 weeks) it even seems the color dulls a little (when i re-color it). I use Loreal Excellence, but I think all dyed hair fades so switching to another brand won't help. I also use the special shampoos made for colored hair to keep it from fading by Joico.

I've been dying my hair since I was 16. I just started getting highlights about 2 years ago. I don't have any regrets :0)

With all these responses this may be a duplicate. I started highlighting in college since my blonde hair changed to dishwater hair. I highlighted for so many years that my whole hair was highlighted. Easy to do over time. I took the time to go back to all natural all over and realized I did want to continue highlights, but in a cheaper way. Do a frontal highlight. I have been doing those and they are good for... 1) highlights your face esp'ly if you want a lighter look 2) cheaper than a full highlight. my lady would give me 10 foils. 3) no need to keep highlighting so regularly. Also, only highlight 2-3 shades lighter/darker than what you have since the more extreme you go the faster you're going to have to go back since you'll see growth signs.
when it comes to 'is it worth it to highlight?' that's a personal call. you have to feel good in your skin and if highlighting makes you feel good then it might be worth it. to me, i'd rather highlight then spend money on manicures, etc.

I just started coloring my hair last year (age 43). I personally am not a fan of highlights as the color lightens too much for my taste. My stylist does about one shade lighter and one darker than my natural hair using foil. It lasts longer and the color does not change. I love it and my hair holds the color really well. The last time I went about 5 months between color.

I'm 42 and I've been dying or bleaching my hair since high school. For the past 18 years it's been dyed black and I also bleach strip chunks and do bright red but last week I added purple instead. Only once have I ever paid for a dye and I'll never do it again. I can dye it with my eyes closed probably.

my hair is dishwater blonde so i've been coloring since i was a teen. the only time i stopped was when i was pregnant - and i realized i still look washed out with my natural color. i get my hair highlighted every 12 weeks and it looks so much better and the texture is nicer too. i don't think i've ever met someone who hasn't dyed their hair at least once. if you get highlights, you can stretch out how often you need a touch up compared to getting all over color.

Every month of my life since the age of 12........but i do it myself, Ive literally only had it done 3 times. By now im a pro.

I was in my late 30's (37 I think) the first time I did (from a box, at home) to try to cover some grey hairs. I did that on and off (more off) for the next 3-4 years. Now the last year I am color free. I have fairly short hair, that I wish I could find just a super short style that suits me. I dislike all the fuss and bother of the hair, but don't want to look like a boy. But would love super easy.

Its just too much maintainance for me. Haircuts every 6-8 weeks is enough.

Don't do it! roots look so awful, keeping up the dye is so expensive, and it sounds like you have lovely hair.

I have colored my hair more times than I can remember. I love to color my hair, I do it a few times a year. I know it is hard on the hair but so far I still have very healthy thick hair. But I like it because it is fun to change it up.

My mom gave me as an early Christmas present when I was 19 a "professional" hair cut/color treatment. I was HOOKED! Now fast forward several more years than I'd like to admit, and I color it in some fashion every 3 months. I've got brave with it over the years, I've gone an extreme platinum blonde to dark brown. I've done all natural with highlights I've done all natural with lowlights, it's a lot of fun reinventing my look:)