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Dying Your Hair to its Natural Color: Should You Do It?

I’m always looking for simple ways to save money without turning my back on style. That normally means I gravitate towards sample sales, free products, coupons, and consignment shops, along with cheap style updates by way of lip color, nail polish, and inexpensive hair accessories at Marshall’s.

But one area I’ve been hyper-focused on lately is the expense of salon visits — particularly those involving hair color. Because one of the simplest ways to save money and cultivate a natural beauty look is to get back to my roots, that is, my natural hair color.

And so that begs these questions: Do I want my natural hair color back? And if so, what’s better — letting it grow out or dying hair to its natural color?

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Close up of woman with natural and dyed hair colors.

Here’s the background. When COVID happened and all the salons closed, my initial response was total panic. I mean, I had all-over color for the grays plus highlights because, you know, that’s what a stylish lady does. How the heck was I supposed to survive without my colorist in my life, even if it was only temporary?

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I’ll spare the details of how I came to this realization, but as it turns out, I’m the same person no matter what color my hair is. The same person with an extra $200 in my pocket every month.

By the time the salons reopened, I had put a lot of thought into my hair strategy. (Ultimately, I decided to let it grow. Fifteen months post-COVID and I’m a third of the way there.)

I’m sharing my thought process here, as it might help you choose a hair color strategy that you can feel good about.

Pros of returning to your natural color

Woman with her natural gray hair color.

1. Time saved

How many times have you sat in the stylist’s chair, checking your watch and hoping you can make it to your meeting on time? The two to three hours you spend getting your hair done every six weeks adds up to about 24 hours every year — plus whatever time it takes to schedule your appointment, commute, and find a parking spot. That could be a whole vacation day, time with your family, or several much needed naps.

2. Money

Color and highlights might cost you $100 or more, not including your cut and style. And, depending on your hairstyle, you may not need a cut every six weeks if you’re not already going in for color. My hair salon budget shrank from over $2,000 a year to less than $200.

3. Ease of use

With your natural color, you can pull your hair back in a ponytail or part it in the middle, without stressing over your roots showing.

Dying hair to its natural color vs. letting it grow out

Dying your hair is obviously the faster route. You can usually get the job done in one or two salon visits and then the regrowth should be pretty seamless from there. Personally, I would’ve chosen this route but for one problem — my gray hair.

Because I have random grays growing in, dying my hair brown would have only delayed my journey back to my natural color. By the time the salons reopened, I was already an inch into the regrowth process. At that point, I decided to stick it out and see how long I could last. Almost a year later, I’m still committed.

The other issue I have is the way hair color affects the texture of my hair. My lighter, colored tresses are obviously courser and frizzier than the hair at my roots, even including those grays. The more times I dye my hair, the more I put off letting my natural, healthy hair see the light of day.

Letting your natural color grow out is slow and painful. I can attest to this. After a year, my natural roots are about six inches long. In another few months, I could transition to a bob that’s all natural. If I want to keep my length, I’m probably 18 to 24 months away from cutting off the last of the colored ends. That’s a loooong time.

But you know what? Once I let go of the urge to explain to random strangers why my hair is two different colors, I don’t feel so impatient. Honestly, it’s pretty liberating.

Cons of returning to your natural hair color

View from the back of a woman's hair with highlights and lowlights.

1. Loss of identity

It might sound silly, but you might feel as though you identify with a particular hair color. For example, if you are a dyed blonde and have been highlighting your hair since high school, you might not feel like you if you change it to brown. Or think Christina Hendricks, an adopted redhead. Can ya imagine her as a, say, blonde?

2. No more varied color

When you change your color a lot, whether it’s with different rinses, low lights, or highlights, your hair develops varied tones. It might seem like you lose that when you color it all at once because your highlights and low lights will be more subtle.

3. Adjustment time

Any big change comes with an adjustment. If your natural hair color is quite different from what you’ve looked like for years, you’re going to get a lot of questions. You might not even recognize yourself in the mirror. It’s going to take some getting used to.

Chances are, your skin tones and eye color work better with your natural color than the one you’ve been dying it all those years. Plus, you get to re-experiment with makeup colors and see what pairs with your new (er old) do!

prophetcharless@gmail.com

Sunday 18th of August 2013

Hello, I am currently natural. I’ve been natural for about 3 years now, with the exception of a “mild” relaxer once or twice just to get it manageable. Before, I always wore my hair relaxed and my hair at the time was very thin and grew no longer than shoulder-length. At one point, I got very ill due to a medical condition and I was given one treatment of chemotherapy. Unfortunately, all my hair came out. My head was then shaved when my hair started to grow back because it started growing back in patches. When it started growing back, I just let it grow as is (natural). I was very satisfied with my hair being natural because my hair began growing at a faster rate and it became much thicker. I am very frustrated though, because it is extremely hard for me to maintain. I believe I am doing more damage to my hair than if it wasn’t natural. i have use different type of cream to regain my hair back. i was online and i was searching on how to make my hair look good and i came across a man called DR. CHARLESS (prophetcharless@gmail.com) how he help people to regain back there lose hair i email him immediately and explain everything to him. DR told me not to worry that every lost hair is going to come back once he is done with the hair spell, after three weeks when DR cast the hair spell i start using him spell cream my natural hair came back, and i was so surprise and i promise to stop sharing this wonderful testimony, if you still need his helping hand email him at: (prophetcharless@gmail.com)

Joanna

Wednesday 22nd of February 2012

I just went through this whole struggle recently. My hair has been blond since middle school, and I'm 33 now. I have no idea what my natural hair color even is! I read somewhere that the best, most flattering hair color for a person is the color they had when they were a toddler. Anyway, I added dark back into my hair, a warmer brown and a neutral brown, then highlights, with the overall effect of darker hair after I had decided to color my own hair with a "Supreme Blond" color kit. (Orange?) I love it. My stylist said if I went all brown, one color, it wouldn't even reflect my natural hair color because I have natural highlights and around my face is much lighter than underneath. Anyway, although it's tempting to go "natural" natural hair would have natural dimension and one shade of box color would not (no matter what it says on here).

Vick

Tuesday 21st of February 2012

Uhgh no for me. The reason I started coloring my hair in the first place is because I hate my natural hair color, which resembles mouse fur.

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