First off, I want to begin by disclaiming that dyeing your hair is a HUGELY personal matter — I’m not trying to preach on any soap box about why it’s better not to. It’s up to each and every person to decide what hair color and styling work best for them. My only goal with this post is to share my journey of discovery and what has worked best for me and my hair.
That said, I often feel like women — especially here in America — focus more of their attention on hair than any other aspect of their beauty regime. We hemmmm and hawwww over what cut, color and texture we want each season. When Kim Kardashian debuted white-blonde locks last month, it’s all anyone wanted to talk about.
Hair is an endless source of amusement/frustration for us.
And there’s no denying how a new hair style/color/cut can change how people perceive you — often our hair is the very first thing people notice about us!
But there are times when escaping the endless stream of tasks devoted to making us feel like the best version of ourselves can feel more liberating than lazy. Sometimes it’s ok to SIMPLIFY things.
WHY I DECIDED TO STOP DYEING MY HAIR:
From the time I turned 13, I dyed my hair religiously in salons or out of boxes if I couldn’t afford to visit a salon. For the most part I was never happy with my hair color unless I really shelled out the dough and went to an upscale salon. Then one faithful night in college my roots and bootstrap budget required boxed hair-dye and a highlighting kit that resulted in orange and bleached yellow stripes.
I literally looked like a human candy corn (if only I was joking)…
Unable to live with myself, I ended up shelling out over $300 (again from my bootstrap budget) to get the color stripped at the salon and new color and highlights applied.
It was from that moment on that I pledged never to dye my hair again. It sounds dramatic and reactionary but it had been a step I’d been thinking about for years — sadly, each time my dark roots would appear I would find myself dyeing again, just to look halfway presentable. It wasn’t until that utterly expensive dyeing disaster that I finally had the guts to just STOP.
It’s been eight years since I stopped dyeing my hair and I couldn’t be happier with my decision — I haven’t once thought about turning back! Here’s why…
5 Reasons I’m Happier NOT Dyeing My Hair:
1. EXPENSE — a no-brainer. No hair dye, no $80-$200 coloring bill each quarter. It’s simple math. Learning to love my natural color made a huge difference in my bank account these last eight years. I would estimate I’ve saved over $4,000 going au natural.
2. COLOR — When I first decided to take the plunge into an au natural hair hue, I was terrified. As a child my hair had never developed much of an attractive color, being generally described as “mousy blonde” or “dirty blonde”. I had no expectations for what my hair color as an adult would look like beyond a few old photographs. Luckily, as an adult that mousy brown color developed a lot more gold and red giving my natural color a true strawberry blonde hue that I’ve affectionately dubbed my “lion’s mane”.
3. HEALTH — there’s no denying my hair is healthier than it’s ever been in my adult life now that I’ve dumped the dye in favor of some moisturizing shampoo, an excellent hair masque and a protecting creme for heat styling. I get compliments on the health of my hair every single time I go into a salon and since most of the salons I visit have enormous lists of clientele, I at least know they have a huge basis for comparison.
4. LENGTH — I have fine hair but A LOT of it! It’s enormously thick and heavy making breakage common. When I dyed my hair regularly I could never grow it out past an inch or two beyond my shoulders because it would break, become limp and look dead. Now I intend to keep growing it for the foreseeable future for the simple fact that I CAN.
5. TIME — while some women relish going to the salon (and I will admit I love to have my hair washed and styled), for me it’s an obligation I need to squeeze into an already over-packed schedule. Cutting out the dyeing portion from my salon visits has literally cut my visit times by almost two-thirds. Now I have more time with the dogs and Hubby (or more time to shop with the money I would have spent on hair dye).
Do you dye your hair? Do you ever consider going au natural? I’d love to hear about your hair experiences and epiphanies!
