Color.

[bladespark]

I think I want to dye my hair. Not yet, because at the moment I'm working on length, and dying when you're growing long is never a good idea. You almost always end up looking dorky. Or else frizzing your hair to death trying to get it to not look dorky. And I am not a fan at all of over-use of product, as witnessed by the fact that I never even hairspray or anything.

Anyhow... I will dye when I'm done with length and am ready to do something else for a while. This means when I have either 1. gotten so annoyed at my hair being long and in the way that I'm ready to get rid of it, or 2. gotten it so ridiculously long that there's just no way to get it any longer, (which would probably mean to my feet, which I really doubt I'll make it to, as it's another decade or so to get that long, at the rate I'm currently going) or 3. actually reached the natural stopping point, which people do have, past which my hair won't grow. (Which also may not happen, I really have no idea where that is for me, but it's pretty darn long, I suspect.)

This is probably at least a year off yet, if not more, but when it comes to hair I think in the long term anyhow. I mean I've been something like five years working on my current length.

Anyhow... this is the question. When I'm ready to give it the axe and go short, do I dye the whole ridiculous length of it, and then cut it? Or do I get it cut short and then dye? Also, what color? I'm half inclined towards purple, but I'm also considering FlameSong orange. (See icon.) Any thoughts?

Comments

[wolfmare.livejournal.com]

I'd cut it, then dye it.

And honestly... I've never found out how long my hair maxes out at. I've had hair past my rump before though, and it was still growing...

[bladespark.livejournal.com]

Why do you say cut first?

[wolfmare.livejournal.com]

So you aren't wasting dye when you'll be offing some of the length. Otherwise, you'll use more dye, to no real purpose.

Or cut about 1 inch longer then you really want it, dye it, then trim... Would get the split ends from the start that the dye might leave (if you lighten or anything, etc).

[bladespark.livejournal.com]

Ah. No, see, dying and then immediately getting it cut isn't an option at all. This is deciding between having a few months of thigh-length dyed hair and then cutting it up to around my ears and letting it grow back my natural color again, vs. cutting it all the way up and just having very short dyed hair.

[beetlecat.livejournal.com]

Mine stops growing just past my shoulders... but my face is too round for long hair to look good, so it's always cut shorter than that. I've pretty much settled on my current style (short at the ears and longer in the back).

I dye it a deep purple because 1) I like the colour and 2) I have very dark eyebrows and eyelashes so anything lighter than my actual hair colour (light brown) looks stupid.

It would be cool to have really long dyed hair, but it took 2 boxes of dye when I had shoulder length hair, so your hair would be pretty expensive to colour.

[bladespark.livejournal.com]

Yes, that is the main thing making me lean towards cutting first then dying. But on the other hand... Thigh length brilliant purple hair! ZOMG! That would be so cool! (I'm past my waist now, and still growing.)

woa

[aazhie.livejournal.com]

that would rock. maybe you should dye it purple, wait iutnilt he purple fades, cut it,
THEN dye it orange!! :D

[xianghua.livejournal.com]

I vote for purple. Orange doesn't tend to look as good on people in life as in art. Even if you've got a redhead complexion, you end up looking like Carrot top guy from the 1800collect commercials.

I'd dye the whole long thing but that's just me. And seriously? The expense of having it done professionally is SO worth it- I've dyed my hair on and off for years and not had any problem with damage as long as I'm having it done, but the at-home dyes, I either get half-assed results, or end up drying out my hair.

[ekmahal.livejournal.com]

I'd say cut first. You'll have good non-split ends then, and also: the more hair you have, the more dye you need to use.

Dye is not cheap!

For me, with hair mid-back, I have to use three bottles of dye, and even that's pushing it a bit to get complete coverage. So, yeah, be warned. With thick hair, you need more dye, with long hair, you need more dye... You need lots and lots of dye with thick long hair!

[bladespark.livejournal.com]

I don't have split ends anyhow. So that's not an issue. The price is, obviously. But... there's just a certain appeal to having uber long colored hair. I've never seen it before, ever. I'd be unique.

[ekmahal.livejournal.com]

In any case, I'd say trim the ends lightly, just to make sure it's all good.

And long long coloured hair is nifty! Just, as noted, get lots and lots of dye :)

[rabbitsystem.livejournal.com]

You may not have seen it, but, um, we kind of beat you to that...ours was dark green at the start of the summer and is, as our brother so elegantly put it, butt-length. So not shockingly long, but very long. (We used blue dye. How blue dye on reddish-brown hair gives green, I have no idea.)

[tarathene.livejournal.com]

I love colours! Especially purple, so I may be biased, but I would definitely say not orange unless it was reddish and reddish-orange with real orange mixed in for highlights. Long coloured hair is great, just a lot of work dying. If nothing else, I would say to stay away from bleach (icky stuff) and try to get dye that doesn't damage the hair anymore than you can help. I kept mine on for two days, by the way, back when I did purple, and it stayed purple for ages and ages. Don't know if you could get away with that and working, I had to have a towel on my head the whole time (and then throw the towel away afterward).

[emirasan.livejournal.com]

Hair only soaks up a finite amount of bleach or dye so leaving it on longer than the recomended time isn't going to make it last longer than it would normally. Darker colors last longer usually anyway, especially if you have dark hair to begin with. I kept mine red for a long time and only needed to redye it when my roots started showing a lot.

Btw, my mother is a licensed beautician who specializes in color.

[tarathene.livejournal.com]

I really have no clue then, that's what the person who did my hair told me to do. Yes, she was licensed, I was actually there when she got that too, so I have no idea why she would have me do that if it wasn't the right thing to do. Something to do with brand differences, is the only thing I can think of, but that doesn't really explain why it was that long. :/

[emirasan.livejournal.com]

Sounds a little odd, someone with a license to do hair telling you to leave color on for 2 days. I have used different brands of hair color and there really isn't that much difference in them that it would take 2 days for the color to soak in fully. The major differences for hair color are the level and brand of developer used. There can be a slight time difference but average is between 30-40minutes. It's true that color doesn't damage hair as much as bleach as it is not stripping the hair like bleach does so it is likely that your hair didn't really suffer from the color being left on for that amount of time. I stick with ISO brand now simply because it is an easy to mix and work with cream color and lasts a long time.

[beetlecat.livejournal.com]

2 days! That doesn't sound healthy.. I usually keep mine on for like an hour (though I don't really time it exactly)

Natural colours stay in longer than unnatural ones. Has to do with the way that hair accepts colour. My purple usually fades to a dark maroon (red-brown) by the time I recolour it.

[tarathene.livejournal.com]

I think the dye that was used was just colour, and nothing else besides that. Probably some natural stuff that doesn't do anything other than slowly soak in. I have no clue though, I had never done my hair before and it was her job and she was doing it to herself for years and years before that too. *shrugs* I'll ask next time I see her, try to get some more information about the why for that. Then either I'll know or she can be told what she's doing wrong. ^^

[moltare.livejournal.com]

NO CUT

grow it and sit on it and wrap it around you three times.

[scribe-of-stars.livejournal.com]

Concurrence. Perhaps even agreement.

[malakim2099.livejournal.com]

Just don't go for orange... as previously noted, it is REALLY hard to make it look good.

Plus, as a natural redhead, I'd have to snicker occasionally at you. It's part of the rules. *grins*

[dotty-alice.livejournal.com]

DON'T DYE!

Now matter how sick and tired I am of having long dark brown hair, I'm never going to ever get my hair dyed. The closest I came was running white gunk through my hair to get it gray so I could be a grandma in a play. Other than that, wigs are a-okay.

As for length, I'll keep it long until A) I get sick of it B) after I get married (which isn't happening anytime soon) or C) it becomes unmanageable.

BTW, I adore your hair exactly how it is.

[bladespark.livejournal.com]

But my hair isn't going to stay exactly how it is. One way or another I'm going to change it completely. I have done so periodically throughout my entire life, and I see no reason to stop now.