Scarleteen

Hey guys,

Basically, I've been blonde my whole life (I dyed it ever since grade 4!) and in between I've been platinum blonde, grey or put some highlights of brown, pink, purple etc. This one time I dyed it all red and I hated it. But I've actually never seen myself in my original color which is pretty much a brownish black color. Every time my roots grow in, I just stare at them wondering and wondering what it will look like if I was my original. What if I'll look better? What if it will change my whole personality? lololol

So I wanted to ask you guys...what hair colors have you dyed your hair/have you been? What is your favourite color on yourself? What colors did you not like on yourself? And if you never dyed it before, is it because you like your original hair color? I don't know lol let me know why. Oh and what kind of haircuts have you had? Just share your hair journey with me

We can always use a cute and benign gabby topic.

I've pretty much had mine every color you can have it, and rarely -- except when I haven't messed with it at all -- "natural" colors. Without anything, I'm kind of a dirty strawberry blonde (that sounds somewhat obscene, not my intent!), and it's been all the rainbow colors over the decades, with a pretty strong lean to reds, oranges, purples and whites. Most often, I usually just pumped up my own reds and added other colors to it.

I remember the first time I was allowed to pick my own haircut, bringing a copy of this record's sleeve -- https://www.pinterest.com/pin/53621051783420094/ -- with me, because Gina Shock's cut (drummer, the middle pic on the sleeve) -- was EVERYTHING to me (as were the Go-Go's, full stop: SO EVERYTHING), though I liked a shavier side. Had it like that through most of junior high and into the beginning of high school, kind of migrating it more towards a mohawk gradually. Leanred years later that because you can rick a mohawk doesn't mean you can rock a shaved head. Alas, I look a bit like a Cabbage Patch Kid that got run over by a car with a shaved head. Pity, because it feels nice as anything.

With only a few diversions in between, though, and mostly to grow things like shaving my head out, I've mostly kept my hair long, sometimes very long. And the last few of years, I basically stopped getting it but altogether, just trimming it myself, and I've also stopped messing with color, instead letting all the grey coming in just do it's thing. I miss the red as it's going away, but I'm getting some really rad white streaks (a friend of mine calls them "power streaks"), which is kind of amusing since for years, I put them in with bleach, and now they're just taking care of things on their own. I'm finding that I'm actually liking it best now that all that's happening and I'm just letting it be how it wants all by itself.

My hair is the only thing I am vain about. I really like my natural hair color on me, even though it's nothing uncommon, so I've never died my hair and I've never really had a haircut either since I was a little kid. When I was very young, my parents wouldn't let me grow my hair out because it's so fine and gets tangly really fast and they had a hard enough time with it as it was. So when I was finally old enough not to need their help with it any more, I decided to never have my hair short again, and I haven't. In fact, I haven't been to a hairdresser in years. I know people who can and will trim off the frizzled tips once in a blue moon for free, and that's it.

I feel like if I let anyone mess with my mane, it would only get ruined. I can't really do much with it myself either, though. It's too sleek for most of the fancy hairstyles for long hair (hair pins slip right out) and too fine to look good for long if I just wear it naturally. So most days I just do a simple braid or a bun. It's a rather old-fashioned look... But I'm a rather old-fashioned person in many ways, I suppose, so that's okay.

I'm jumping in on this too even though I have never died it either. But for added novelty I have some grays as of this year and have temporary bald patches on two separate occasions, which were scary at the time, but also kind of fun, (I drew voldermort on it once). I'm also really hesitant to get my haircut as I just can't commit to any choices about my appearance.... so it grows and grows and eventually every couple of years I shave part or all of it off. And this is how my hair goes.

This is a fun topic!

My most recent hair change has been the biggest and somewhat of a journey! About a year ago, I stopped getting relaxers (chemically straightens course/curly hair) so that I could wear my natural hair. Natural basically being that you do not permanently change the texture of your hair to be straight. When I think about it, it kinda blows my mind that there is this process of going back to your "natural" hair, that it is actually a thing to just let your hair grow out of your head as is...but there is a lot attached to hair in Black culture.

Anyways, I've been wearing my hair short for about 7 years, so once I cut off all the straight hair I was left with a tiny curly fro. I continued to get it straightened using heat because I wasn't comfortable with the way I looked (sigh, beauty standards-1, Ashleah-0). Unfortunately, or fortunately, a couple months ago the heat damaged my hair and left my curls straight at the ends. It surprised me that I was sad about losing my texture because I wasn't aware of how important being natural was to me. So I took a pair of scissors to my head and committed to rocking my fro. Which I'm loving right now.

Been having fun with it. I got it tapered so it is shorter on the sides. Right now the front is a light brown and the back is dark. Every time I do color it is some shade of brown but I am thinking about doing something super different like purple!

I bet you look gorgeous, Asleah. I love curly hair. And there's certainly something to be said about letting your hair grow out of your head just as it is. Not that I mean to judge people who don't! I just personally really prefer a natural look, whether that's natural curls (sigh of envy from me) or naturally straight hair (sigh of resignation).

It is so bonkers that it's radical in the west for Black women to leave their natural texture alone and dig it, but it still is pretty radical. Rock on, Ashleah.

lol sorry for the weird topic I don't have many people to ask about their experiences about their hair since I've been thinking about mine a lot recently. Just wanted to know how everyone else has felt about their hair. lol all of your responses are pretty rad, all unique and awesome to hear different stories too. LOL at Voldemort, epiccc.

Chiming in a little late to say that my hair is one of my favorite accessories to play with. I mostly use henna on it to make it redder, but this summer I got it dyed properly red. I looked like a comic book illustration/roller derby girl, which was awesome. Also, brightly colored hair is fascinating to young children, which is a fun little side benefit.