To color, or not to color...Natural Hair BOREDOM.

A while back I had highlights done by a friend who had at the time, just graduated from beauty school and on top of that, she has naturally straight hair so she knew nothing about how to handle my tresses during a chemical process. Overall, bad decision. My hair was dry and brittle and started to break off, even though I was fully natural (but constantly straightening) at the time. So I grew out the color and big chopped again and after nursing my hair back to health, it's back to being beautiful. I really want some color and a haircut because I'm getting bored with jet black hair, and as my hair grows out from my bc, the cut looks really weird. I just need change. So my question is, do you ladies think getting my hair colored in a "natural hair salon" will make a difference in the health of my hair after the process? If not, are there other ways to change up my look so I won't get bored? I'm so frustrated.

Honestly all you have to do is buy some Clairol (for black people) and leave it on for an hour.

My friend has permed hair and colors her hair evry year and her hair is healthy. I also used to color my hair when it was permed by using dark and lovely dye and leave it on for the recommended time then wait 7 days and do it again.

So either method works.


But just know that with natural hair it may not take as well because permed hair is lighter

I just had my natural hair highlighted by my stylist who did my hair when it was relaxed(she also blows my hair out when I want it straight) and it "took" well. With any color you have to make sure your hair is deep conditioned weekly and properly moisturized or else it wont be healthy . I have been natural a year and I knew I wanted color to give my hair that umph!

If you dont properly maintance your hair with color it will eventually break off. That goes for natural or relaxed.

I am right there with you. Everyone wants me to color my hair to make the new TWA "pop". I never experimented with color as a permie, so maybe it's the unknown that makes me nervous. I'm sure I'll go down that road eventually, but right now I'm pleased with letting my hair just be.

Personally I think the small afros sometimes need a little color to make it pop, but when you get some length I think we look great with out natural color.

I agree with NaturalNixon. You have to make sure you keep up with your weekly deep conditioning when you color your hair because it tends to dry your hair out. I've never colored my hair but I've thought about it and did a little bit of research on.

A lot of curlies that have colored before say they will never do it again for one reason or another (they didnt care for it properly which lead to breakage or they notice their hair thinned out where the color was)

@ Cyclingchick - I say do what you are comfortable with. You are the one that will have to take care of it.

I'm in the same boat. I want color, but don't know which avenue to take. I have heard many things about henna. Positive and negative. I'm afraid it will loosen my curls

see i love jet black hair..my friends think i'm so weird because i do a black rinse in my TWA once a month..I like my hair to be super black!!! the more black the better

rayray19 wrote:see i love jet black hair..my friends think i'm so weird because i do a black rinse in my TWA once a month..I like my hair to be super black!!! the more black the better

That's how I am...was always mildly curious about color while relaxed, but always had my stylist use a demi-permanent blue black because it made my hair so shiny. Since BC'ing, my hair is SO dark and I'm digging it. I may get a wild hair and color down the line, but right now I'm satisfied.

I colored for my 3 months anniversary last year cause I was bored with my TWA but I went to Aveda. Cost about 70$ but I think it was worth it. I still Deep conditionned my hair weekly to make sure it didn't fall off... Lol.., I wanna say that I experienced a bit more dryness than when it wasn't colored... But I have 4c hair so... Yeah
Now: would I color again? Not sure...
But if I do, I'll go to Aveda again

When I was relaxed I used alot of rinses, but i did permanent color as well. Now as a natural Im feenin for some color but I want to make sure I learn how to properly deep condition and maintain my hair before I get color. I think deep conditioning and moisturizing is key when you have color on natural hair because our hair already requires so much moisture.

Thanx Guys! Great tips on constant deep conditioning. And yea, fanmnatirel, theres an Aveda salon near my campus an I've heard great things about them as far as coloring.

Be very ,very carful. I just colored my hair last night cause I got tired of looking at all the gray hair in the front of my head. WELLL let me just say that i'm glad that October starts tomarrow cause my hair is ORANGE lol. I decided to go a shade lighter than I normally do so I use what was suppose to be a light brown, welll my hair is red looking with orange highlights. My gray turned orange. I've washed it a couple of times with some suave clarifying shampoo and it seems a little better. Thank God I was off today. But it's really not that bad it's about the color that Faith had her hair one time and one of the Mary,Mary girls. My husband thinks it's kind of sexy so all is good. I'm gonna wash it one more time and deep condition and bounce my self right in to work in the morning like I'm all that. lol

I use henna alot and i have no problem. i actually like the little color it gives without going over board.

I have color in my hair right now and to tell you the truth it's great. It takes well and I've had no problem with it so far.
I've used the Dark and Lovely permanent dye and mine was burgundy red. Yeah I know it looks copery now, but it's because I abused of the sun, and beach this summer when I was in florida. And everyone knows how red is the fastest fading color in all the shades of dyes.
I would recommend you to deep condition your hair as often as you can when your hair is colored. I have failed to do that and my hair is dryer than usual. But when I get out of my laziness phase and do it, my hair becomes super soft again.
The only thing I would recommend is to not color it too often. If you use a permanent color and you see it fading and want it back to the color it was when it was freshly colored, just wait a couple of months and freshen it up with a rinse.
Happy coloring!!

fanmnatirel wrote:I colored for my 3 months anniversary last year cause I was bored with my TWA but I went to Aveda. Cost about 70$ but I think it was worth it. I still Deep conditionned my hair weekly to make sure it didn't fall off... Lol.., I wanna say that I experienced a bit more dryness than when it wasn't colored... But I have 4c hair so... Yeah
Now: would I color again? Not sure...
But if I do, I'll go to Aveda again

I just realized your screen name is in creole :-P

Well I've colored my hair for over 10 years now, while relaxed and now while natural. I have not had any problems what so ever. I love my color ...

fanmnatirel wrote:I colored for my 3 months anniversary last year cause I was bored with my TWA but I went to Aveda. Cost about 70$ but I think it was worth it. I still Deep conditionned my hair weekly to make sure it didn't fall off... Lol.., I wanna say that I experienced a bit more dryness than when it wasn't colored... But I have 4c hair so... Yeah
Now: would I color again? Not sure...
But if I do, I'll go to Aveda again

I've been toying with the idea of going to Aveda for my hair coloring...I keep hearing that the experience is awesome but I'm sure they will charge boatloads for the amt of hair I have.

i was toying with the idea of color too...good thing i can do it myself lol i use chi & matrix color lines and my clients love it. its always soft and i make sure to tell them to use color safe or sulfate free shampoo at home...i really think i'm gonna go ahead and color, now i just have to figure out what shade i want lol

Hmm. I'm itching to get my color and highlights back as well, but I'm afraid. I previously went to Ulta when I had my hair short and relaxed. Loved the results. However, I'm afraid now of what it might do to my natural hair, but mostly, I figure the stylist will have a fit trying to do it on my now natural and much longer hair.

I'm about to henna...again. I've done it about once a month, but I'm still not getting the overall effect that a real dye would provide.

Free2Be wrote:Hmm. I'm itching to get my color and highlights back as well, but I'm afraid. I previously went to Ulta when I had my hair short and relaxed. Loved the results. However, I'm afraid now of what it might do to my natural hair, but mostly, I figure the stylist will have a fit trying to do it on my now natural and much longer hair.

I'm about to henna...again. I've done it about once a month, but I'm still not getting the overall effect that a real dye would provide.

Have you notices any changes in your hair texture since using henna? BTW, love the fro fellow Alabamian!

It's been six days and 4 washings now since I colored my hair and I think i'm starting to like it. Now that the orange is dying down. Most of my gray is in the front around my hair line and thats where the problem is. But even when I was relaxed my gray hair did its own thing. When i was younger I used to use an auburn color in my hair and thats what my hair is starting to look like now. I think I like it. It makes me look a little younger. I tried to take pictures but my phone takes really bad ones. and I think I'm the only person in the world that doesn't have a digital camera.lol

happy2bcurly wrote:I tried to take pictures but my phone takes really bad ones. and I think I'm the only person in the world that doesn't have a digital camera.lol

No, I'm right there with you. LOL

Did I notice any difference in texture with the henna? I'm not sure. I don't think I'm too observant about changes in my hair due to the products or treatments I use. My hair always feels the same, basically. Healthy. I wish I'd jotted down some things about my hair prior to beginning henna so I could look back and see for a fact that something has changed.

If pressed, I might say that using henna over the past 6 months (+/-) has loosened my curls...maybe. Any braiding or twisting that I've done over the past several weeks have resulted in nearly straight and frizz-free hair upon unbraiding/untwisting. Prior to using the henna regularly (I did one and then no more for a couple of months) I did a blowout and I looked like a clown. Now it would seem that I don't even need a blow dryer. Just wash, braid/twist, air dry, release and I've got no frizz and semi-straight hair.

HTH

I colored my hair is april, and because i knew nothing about nothing my hair was dry. I am now thinking about a rinse. Have anyone used a rinse and what was your results?