Going Dark

I started simply with just a demi-permanent color that matched my own quite closely.  I just wanted to brighten my color and cover my gray but I didn't want roots plus I'm a bit of a commitment-phobe and after over a decade with no coloring I wasn't sure I would like the change.  But, as things go, one thing led to another and eight years later, I'm still coloring my hair.

Although there was some time in brunette and one bout as blonde the better part of these past eight years have been spent in some hue of red. My natural color is such a dark cool brown that I've always thought it made me look a little morose and was compared to Wednesday Addams more than once growing up and not just because I could stone-faced deliver droll wit.  Red seemed to make my complexion a little more warm and it also looked great in photos, so red it has been for years and years now and I've loved it.  Until suddenly I didn't.

For the past year I haven't loved it.  I've wanted not just to go back to my natural brown but to stop coloring my hair altogether.  The only trouble is that during this time I've gone incredibly gray and there's no way I can stop color now without some serious root demarcation.  Since my hair grows at a rate of about 1.25cm/0.5" per month so if I did decide to grow it out, it's going to be approximately three years before all the color is gone.

Well, as with most change, it's easier to do it in stages, that way it's also easier to reverse should one have a change of heart.  I began by stopping the tangerine temporary color that I put on top of the permanent stuff.  After six weeks my hair was already darker.  My next step was to choose a color just 1-2 shades darker than the red I'd been using.  I did this for two months and was so comfortable with the results that I decided to move a little faster and use a brown color.

These photos were taken at the first brown coloring.  Once again I was happy with the results so I went even darker.  I think I've hit my limit on going dark and within the next month or two I will likely begin to grow my hair out, although I may just maintain at the darker brown for a while longer.  There's no rules to this and no rush; it's all up to me.

After so many years of artificial color, I'm a little nervous to see just exactly how gray I've gone, but I have a pretty good idea based on the pure while streak running right down my fringe that it's a lot.  I've always wanted to age gracefully and a big part of that means just accepting the way your body changes instead of fighting against it.  I just don't want to accept it too soon.