To dye or not to dye....

[iwannaprettyone]

...that is the question.

I am scheduled for highlights and I am nervous. Tell me your experiences with color and whether I should "go there"....

 

[littlelysser]

IWPO - I am normally a HUGE fan of well done highlights. My salon does a great technique called Balliage, where they paint the highlights in...and it looks great. Totally natural looking, no line as it grows out...

BUT that having been said, boy oh boy, are bad highlights BAD!

With your wedding sooo close, I think I might be tempted to hold off...

I think it'd be pretty traumatic if you didn't like them, you know?

But after the wedding, highlight away!

 

[SarahLovesJS]

Your hair is gorgeous, please don''t go there!

Highlights are great and all..I went and got my hair colored for years when I was a teenager (did highlights and lots of colors). Actually, when FI met me he thought I was a redhead..haha..but anyway highlights are especially hard to get rid of in my opinion. I am FINALLY back to my natural color (it took about 2-3 years) and I''m getting grays.

Enjoy your natural color while you can..like FI''s Grandma told me, "I don''t understand why girls insist on coloring their hair these days. There''s nothing more beautiful than natural hair color..it was meant for you!" That may not always be true, but in your case it is!

 

[Tacori E-ring]

Don''t do ANYTHING until after your wedding. If you hate it you will have to try to reverse it and your wedding is so close!

 

[Skippy123]

Date: 9/3/2008 10:02:50 AM
Author: Tacori E-ring
Don''t do ANYTHING until after your wedding. If you hate it you will have to try to reverse it and your wedding is so close!

Ditto, Tacori''s thinking. Your hair looks fab!!!

 

[swimmer]

Ditto! Get a massage instead. Too late for a facial as well.

 

[Ellen]

Date: 9/3/2008 10:02:50 AM
Author: Tacori E-ring
Don''t do ANYTHING until after your wedding. If you hate it you will have to try to reverse it and your wedding is so close!

Ditto. Ditto. Ditto.

 

[princesss]

Ditto everybody who said not to do it before the wedding. Really, my reaction to the subject line was "Not before the wedding!" (In my head it was in the same voice as in the Princess Bride when Prince Humperdink pushes the lever all the way to 50 and Count Reugen freaks out. Yeah. I''m a dork like that. But it''s that serious.)

Really, don''t mess with your hair before the big day. Can you imagine if something went wrong and you had to look back at your wedding pictures and you hated the way your hair looked? No good.

Wait until after the honeymoon.

 

[AdiS]

Oh, no dramatic changes right before the wedding, please! I made that mistake and ditched my usual light blond haircolour for auburn a week before the wedding and I absolutely hated the result. Luckily, my hairstylist managed to fix it without much damage but I still remember the panic when I thought I''m gonna have to appear at my wedding with that hair

!

 

[vespergirl]

You know, I got my first highlights 6 motnhs ago and was really not happy with them. I have medium-brown hair with a reddish tint (my natural color) and I asked for caramel highlights. THe girl have me platinum blonde highlights that I hated, and my husband didn''t like them either - it didn''t look natural. Also, my prebviously healthy heai felt like STRAW, and was really badly damaged. I had to spend tons on good conditioner just to get it looking somewhat healthy again.

I went to Elizabeth Arden Red Door Spa and spent $150, so it''s not like I went to a crappy place, I just think that highlights weren''t for me.

A month ago I got a semi-premanent color, dark espresso brown - Vogue said that dark brunettes are in now, so I thought I would give it a try. My hair is so sleek, smooth and shiny - my husband loves it. He said that not only is the dark brunette color totally sexy, but that my hair looks so much healthier and shinier now, and I think that''s the biggest improvement. I''m going to maintain the dark color by going in every couple of months for a new semi-permanent single process, but I''ll never get highlights again.

 

[October2008bride]

Ditto to what everyone else said but I'll go a step farther. Don't dye your hair. Ever.

Seriously IWPO - your hair is stunning as is. It's like shaving your legs. Once you start, it is next to impossible to stop.

So you get highlights. Even if you like them for a while, one day you think you want to get rid of them. So you let them start growing out. Then you have the big root line. Okay for a bit, and then it finally gets to you and you have to dye it again.

Start over.

I just think that your hair is so unique and beautiful and you shouldn't mess with it!

[ETA: Wasn't posted in a harsh way - but in a "i love your hair as is" way!!]

 

[LuckyTexan]

Date: 9/3/2008 9:40:22 AM
Author:iwannaprettyone
...that is the question.

I am scheduled for highlights and I am nervous. Tell me your experiences with color and whether I should ''go there''....

NO NO NO NO NO

If you do ANYTHING to your hair... have some color put on it... foil, brushed on DYE... do not BLEACH your hair!

You start. You will never get to stop! Trust me. I know! LOL!

 

[elrohwen]

My hair is a very similar color to yours (yay redheads!) and I say don''t do it! Everyone made really good points about not doing anything drastic right before your wedding. My other argument would be that it''s really hard to do things with red hair that look natural. It''s a super hard color to imitate and I think it''s a super hard color to highlight. The highlights might end up too blond, too brown, or too bright red and none of those options would look good. So stick with your hair the way it is. It looks gorgeous!

 

[ladypirate]

I agree with everyone else--if you want to do it WAIT until after your wedding. I also have similar coloring to you and the one time I tried highlights, they came out really blonde and I hated them. If you''re going to do color after the wedding, maybe go for some auburn lowlights...they can sometimes be a bit more natural looking (especially for fall/winter).

I don''t color my hair at all anymore, though--I have too many people tell me they like my natural one!

 

[geckodani]

Don''t do it! I went in for subtle highlights and was Crazy, CRAZY blonde for my wedding as a result. It looked good- but it''s not what I wanted.

As someone else said, once you start, you can never stop. And to grow out highlights takes FOREVER. You have that hair color that those of us can never quite duplicate with a bottle - leave it be and LOVE it!

 

[geckodani]

Date: 9/3/2008 11:39:35 AM
Author: October2008bride
Ditto to what everyone else said but I''ll go a step farther. Don''t dye your hair. Ever.

Seriously IWPO - your hair is stunning as is. It''s like shaving your legs. Once you start, it is next to impossible to stop.

So you get highlights. Even if you like them for a while, one day you think you want to get rid of them. So you let them start growing out. Then you have the big root line. Okay for a bit, and then it finally gets to you and you have to dye it again.

Start over.

I just think that your hair is so unique and beautiful and you shouldn''t mess with it!

[ETA: Wasn''t posted in a harsh way - but in a ''i love your hair as is'' way!!]

Precisely!!!

 

[Sabine]

I''m going to have to be one of those, do what I SAY, not what I DO people. I LOVE your hair and wouldn''t change it at all, even though I highlighted my hair 2 weeks before my wedding. In my defense, I was using a store-bought dye I''ve used before, and it is so subtle that even now that it''s growing out, I don''t really have roots. Also, I don''t have gorgeous hair like you!

 

[Elmorton]

I've been highlighting (and lowlighting) since I was 13. In college, I always highlighted in late spring through the fall and then did all over color to match my natural shade in the winter. I really don't think highlighting is that big of a deal, especially if you ask for a natural look instead of chunky streaks (I've done both). Out of all types, I prefer foils, but strangely enough, I think you get the most natural look from the cap. I had the biallage thing done when I studied in Italy, but I really didn't see much of a difference between that and foils. I also disagree that you have to keep highlighting once you start. You can wean off gracefully. I haven't highlighted since last fall - I did some low-lights at some point last year, and then just let everything grow. Some of the blonde has peeked back through in the ends, but it's certainly not noticeable, and definitely not skunk-like or something.

Because I have brown, wavy hair, I did want highlights for my wedding so that the curls would have a little depth, and I did it very subtly. DH was very adamant that he wanted me to look like me on our wedding day, and I think it was a great idea - in 30 years, I don't want to look at my photos and only see faded beauty trends.

What does your stylist think? If you have a great relationship with her or him AND it will be a very minimal, subtle change, then maybe I'd go for it...otherwise, I'd save a major change until after the wedding

 

[AprilBaby]

I Love my highlights but I am dark blonde and it just perks my face up a bit to have some lighter strands.

 

[musey]

Since it doesn''t sound like you do this regularly, I wouldn''t.

On your wedding day, most brides want to look ''timeless'' and like ''themselves.'' Highlights, if you don''t already use them regularly, are neither.

Try it after the honeymoon...

 

[radiantquest]

i like the idea of change and to get somthing new, but i am not sure if highlights are the route to take. i have been getting highlights all summer and at the last appt we discused going darker for the winter months. i have always had the opinion that you get blonde highlights in the summer and warm it up with caramels and golds or reds for the colder months so that your hair looks more natural. no ones hair gets blonde in january, at least here where i live. i suppose that if you live in california or florida then you can pull off the summer look all year round. just my opinion

 

[iwannaprettyone]

Date: 9/3/2008 5:30:23 PM
Author: AprilBaby
I Love my highlights but I am dark blonde and it just perks my face up a bit to have some lighter strands.

I was wanting a little dimension especially because I am pulling it off my face. You are all probably right, it is safer to wait to make any changes til after the wedding.

Has anyone ever had a gloss treatment? Comments?

 

[Irishgrrrl]

Date: 9/4/2008 9:12:21 AM
Author: iwannaprettyone

Date: 9/3/2008 5:30:23 PM
Author: AprilBaby
I Love my highlights but I am dark blonde and it just perks my face up a bit to have some lighter strands.

I was wanting a little dimension especially because I am pulling it off my face. You are all probably right, it is safer to wait to make any changes til after the wedding.

Has anyone ever had a gloss treatment? Comments?

Iwanna, I agree to stay away from the highlights this close to the wedding. I think a gloss treatment would be a GREAT option for you, though! And you don''t even have to go to the salon to do it!

My hair is dark brunette. (Yay! We''re "in" now! LOL!) I use the John Frieda Brilliant Brunette line. I use the shampoo and conditioner, and they also have a glossing/color boosting treatment that I use as well. I think it really gives me more dimension and boosts my color. Also, it makes my hair SHINY!!! John Frieda also has a line called "Radiant Red" that includes shampoos, conditioners, and the glossing/color boosting treatment. Maybe you could give that a try?