firecat

A friend who is a musician was told that in order to make a better impression at auditions, she needed to dye her hair.

I used to dye my hair for fun. I currently don't dye my hair because I am enjoying watching it turn gray. But occasionally someone thinks my OH is my son, and then I feel tempted to start dying it again.

So I am wondering about the reasons people dye or don't dye their hair, and your thoughts about hair dying in general.

Poll #3554 Hair dye choices

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 68

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Do you dye your hair (using permanent or semi-permanent dye)?

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Yes
16 (23.5%)

No
20 (29.4%)

Sometimes
22 (32.4%)

I tried it once or twice
12 (17.6%)

I'm thinking about it
9 (13.2%)

Ticky box!
7 (10.3%)

Why or why not? (Feel free to elaborate in comments)

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What is your gender identity?

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Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

maize

I had a lock of my hair bleached once, which I did like. (I had very long hair at the time, so "a lock" was rather a lot of hair.) I think I'd be curious about dying my hair if I worked in a company where people, especially men, commonly did that for show / pleasure. I think that hair dye for that reason can be fun.

I tend to dislike the idea of dying one's hair for concealment, especially to conceal signs of aging. That sounds like it should have some fancy political basis, and to some degree it's informed by a general approach that I'd rather be people be comfortable in their natural state, but in the end I must also admit that part of it is that I often find silver/white/grey hair hot on other people.

Right now, the bulk of the grey I've gotten in has been in my goatee and has been the occasional hair here and there rather than a mass change, so the question is moot for me. I don't *think* I'll dye when it becomes a more practical question, though.

From:

firecat

I often find silver/white/grey hair hot on other people.

I have a memory of going into a local drugstore that's near a senior home and seeing dozens of "dye your hair silver/white/grey" products on the shelf. But it must have been a dream because I have gone into multiple stores selling hair products since then and haven't seen any.

From:

maize

I've seen such products for men. I think the most interesting product from a sociological standpoint is, "Touch of grey," which IIRC is intended for men. The idea is to not entirely eliminate the grey, but reduce it so that there's just a little -- to give the distinguished element without the "old man" element, I guess.

From:

amadi

There are such products, they're just really hard to find. There is a product somewhat more easily found meant for brightening/whitening already grey hair, but it's not exactly a bleach, so it won't whiten darker tones. My aunt used it in the winter when lack of sun exposure made her hair dull with an unpleasant yellowish cast.

I'm now also reminded of how it used to be a thing to use bluing in grey hair to make it more silverish, but really made old ladies the first people to have "hair colors not existing in nature" and resulted in the epithet "bluehairs."