The time has come

[silverthorne]

I officially have enough grey hairs that I go 'ew, yuck!' when I look in the mirror. Mind you, it's coming in in a nice salt and pepper way, but I wear my hair too long for it to be flattering, and I'm not ready to chop it all off just to take advantage of the 'patterning'.

So I'm actually considering dying it.

So, opinions?

What color do you think I should go for?

Should I spend money on a pro coloring (ouch), or will a do-it-yourself suffice? (I have dyed my hair on my own in the past, so it's nothing new for me, and I'm actually pretty good at getting it on thoroughly and evenly).

If at home, what brands would you recommend? What shampoos for upkeep?

And for reference, here's a two-year old pic under the cut. Not very flattering, but it's in natural sunlight, so is a more or less accurate presentation of my actual coloring.

Comments

[goes-kaboom.livejournal.com]

Deep, rich brickish-auburn red. Maybe with some nice brown undertones to take advantage of your natual coloring (eyes, skin, etc) :D

I'd splurge and get it professionally done. Store bought dyes tend to reallllly hurt your hair. After that you'll only have to pay for a touch up, too.

[paksenarrion2.livejournal.com]

I second iyi's recommendation on the colour.

I color my hair and use Preference by L'Oreal usually. I have used other L'Oreal and Clariol products as well and don't have an issue with damaged hair.

[pariker.livejournal.com]

Get your hair dyed professionally, so you only need root/highlight touch ups every few months.

Stay away from cool red colors, they tend to fade out hellza fast. Also, don't wash your hair the day after you get it dyed, the dye still needs to set in to your hair, so to speak. After that, don't wash it every day. Wash every other day or so. Shampoo will strip dyes right out of your hair.

As for hair care products, splurge on the good stuff. There is a reason it's spendy: because it rocks. I'm really partial to Aveda (http://www.aveda.com) but Nioxin makes a good color and scalp shampoo/conditioner combo, and Matrix's Biolage is pretty good.