For the women.....Hair questions!

[Suzi Q]

Biosilk? Tell me more!!! Like where do you get it, cost.....

I color(bleach) mine at home about every 6-8 weeks. I USE to go to the hairdresser to do it but it got too expensive. I was originally dark brown but started going gray at 19 and by the time I was thirty it was getting obnoxious so I went blonde. Now the gray that the blonde doesn't cover just looks like highlighting. I ONLY use L'Oreal. Great stuff and the conditioner they provide is incredible.

[Amanzi]

which loreal Suzi? Is it a level 3 permanant, or is it hilghts?

Biosilk is amazing for colored hair. I use it EVERYDAY, I paid $10.00 for it from my stylist, but I bet you could get it cheaper from like e-bay. It is the leave in treatment I use, but there whole range is outstanding, sometimes it is better to pay the extra $$ if you color your hair, this is a must to prevent the hair from frying out!

[Suzi Q]

Level three, permanent. The blonde line. Truly great, so non frying on the hair.

[GalvestonDuck]

I saw some hair gel at Kroger the other day and it was $17.00!!!! I was like, "What the...????" Used to be the "expensive" stuff at the grocery store or drug store was in the $4 - $6 range, like the Aussie products. I thought the really pricey stuff was only at salons.

Who the heck pays $17.00 for "Bed Head" stuff? I have to fight to get my hair to cooperate and act right. I can't imagine paying for it to be in disarray.

[Miss Mary]

Well I was paying to have my gray hair covered, to a shade close to my own - brown. With a cut and color, price tag was $70, w/o tip. When I started coloring it was $45, then $57, then suddenly $70. Price went up over 2 years. I said that's crazy! I changed hairdressers and she talked me into colorant shampoo. Well, that worked okay and I was cutting out the gray (mostly bang area then). Suddenly my gray hair seemed to triple overnight. I was faced with having to color again, but this time my old colored part had grown out. So I bought many, many shades, brands - I had no doubt 5 boxes sitting under my bathroom sink. I did so many test strands on wax paper, I was about to go bald. Not really but I did this test strand thing for weeks! Level 1 was a total joke! Demi-permanent (level 2) didn't cover the gray either! Very frustrating. So I was faced with Level 3. My mom said Nice n Easy had been around for years. I knew of friends who would use a product for a few years and then it would be discontinued. I wanted to avoid that. Long story short, I've used Nice n Easy, #117 Medium Golden Brown for almost 3 years now. I color the roots every 4 weeks, pulling color thru the ends for 5 minutes at the very end of my color time. Sometimes 3 weeks if I have a big social outing coming up. For a while I was using a shower cap while I waited for it to process. But my ends were getting extra color. And my hair began to look much darker. So now I let it stick up all over, just like a professional salon does. That way the ends really only get color near the end.

Clairol gave me a useful tip once that I use each month. I found that one bottle wasn't enough. I would run out. They said to designate one bottle your half box. I write 'half box' on the front, and eyeball a line halfway down on both bottles of solution with a permanent marker. I then put that box aside, using another completely. After my roots are processed for 35 minutes, I pour half of the amounts of both solution bottles, into my first hair color bottle, from when I did my roots. Then I recap the 'half box' bottles, since they were never shaken or used to color. You put all those 'half box' bottles back into the 'half box', for next month. You just need to always keep a few boxes under the counter. And before I even start I make sure I have 2 full boxes to start with or a good half box. Hope that makes sense. I know you can just buy two boxes, then buy a bigger hair dye bottle, and then pour them altogether. But that's too much color and I've become used to doing this now each month.

Mary

[TLC]

Hi Ladies! Caught this topic scanning thru and just had to join in! Being prematurely gray runs in my family. Got my first few at 15 (and my son continues in the family tradition at 16) The rest is naturally dark brown almost black.... decided a long time ago that this is the colour God made it and this is the colour it will stay *smiles* If I was to change it now after being this way for so long, no one would know me! lol

My sisters got lucky, they only have a few and theirs started after 40. The eldest sis colors hers with the shampoos you wash in... the other hates it as well and will most likely colour soon... So I am taking notes here for her , already have some good ideas -thanks! lol

I get comments all the time, asking who frosts my hair, I just smile and say God and genetics lol * grins * hee hee


Take care ladies! Keep the colour coming! lol
Tracy

[Suzi Q]

Tracy, great pic. I think that's what my hair would look like if I didn't bleach the fire out of it. Love the hairstyle too! Very becoming. Haven't even looked in the mirror this morning to see what dishoveled puppy hair I have today.....

[Amanzi]

LOL... Bedhead is a permenant fixture for me too!! I would not pay for it either!

But seriously I found that coloring my hair all the time does fry the ends because I have very very dry hair, and I will pay the extra $$ to keep it healthy. I found that infusium 23 leave in treatment is cheap ($0.99) from walgreens for a small bottle lasts and it does a really good job. Add to that the biosilk and it keeps my hair fairly healthy.

Suzi, I am going to try the Loreal next time I have to get rid of the skunk line. I tend to go very brassy with most colors so I have to be careful, most of the level 3's have not helped in making my hair lighter, just redder\orangie! The last one I tried was Revlon, and it did get rid of the root issue, but made it more strawberry blond than blond! Oh well... guess I will just have to live with it untill I redo my roots again and I will try the Loreal. Which Loreal do you use? Feria, excellence or preferance? Its just that Ive heard that Feria is very drying? But what do I know. LOL

Thanks for the tips on doing the roots Mary, I have the opposite problem though. It seems the top of my head is lighter than the bottom When the lady colored my hair at the salon (after not coloring it for 3 years, it was pretty much all my natural lightish auburn\brown) I think she put more color on the top than on the bottom. I was furious really, I paid her $86.00 She said it cost so much because my hair was so long, and I had so much of it that she used more color than usual (she quoted me $50.00 on the phone!) I was really looking forward to a hair change, after 3 years I deserved a trip to the salon... anyway, I was not happy at all with the color ( I had really uneven results and a brassy orange tone) Now I am trying to fix it slowly without frying it out.

Oh the joys of being a woman!

[TLC]

Thanks Suzi * blushes *


Tracy

[HurricaneGirl]

I love Infusium hair products. I use the kind for fine thin hair and it works great and the Leave In once in a while. It is relatively inexpensive and it works just as good as anything in a salon. Then I use Biolage Shampoo and Conditioning Balm about every 2 days. I get that at my salon. I get my hair colored every 5 weeks and they use Redken Shades which is a semi-permant color. You have to sit under the dryer for 20 minutes. The mixture is with a dark brown and some red mixed in for highlights.

[Miss Mary]

A few more hair questions and since we had an old hair topic going already, thought I'd use this one.

1. Does anyone use the John Frieda shampoo and conditioner products for Blondes, Brunettes and Redheads? If so, do you find that they extend the life of your haircolor or do they change it a bit? I noticed there are two shades for brown hair (where I fall). I color approx. every 6 weeks, using Nice N Easy, #116A, Light Golden Brown, Level 3 (just the roots, pulling color thru the rest for only 5 minutes at the end).

2. Has anyone found a good shampoo/conditioner combo for colored hair? The ones I've used, weigh my hair down, to the point where it doesn't even feel like my own hair. It feels sticky, thick, lifeless, etc. But if I don't use a conditioner, it's hard to get a brush through it.

I am seeing a hairdresser now and she recommended a volumizing conditioner, just a quarter sized amount each shampoo. Purchased at her salon ($18 a bottle!). It works okay. Not great. I prefer to use Neutragenia shampoo but can no longer find their pink colored conditioner. The one in the tube is too heavy for my hair also.

It sure is tricky once you color your hair! It's like working with an entirely different head of hair than before. I'm just not ready to go gray....yet!

Thanks to anyone who can answer my questions.

Mary

[CajunMama]

I use the Aveda Color Conserve line. It's pricey but it works. My color doesn't get brassy with it. After every shampoo I use the Aveda Flax Seed Aloe Strong Hold Sculpturing Gel and an Aveda leave in conditioner.

I also use tresomme (sp) detoxifier i find at walmart to get the mousse & hairspray buildup out of my hair then i deep condition with another product that i can't remember the name of right now.

[Miss Mary]

Thanks Cathy. Had to laugh at your shampoo's name! Tell me, did you have to get it from the bathroom before you typed it? LOL

I always seem to go back to simple Neutragenia (sp?) shampoo. The clear one. It makes your hair so soft and gets rid of old shampoo residue. But now I really need a good conditioner that makes my hair soft too but doesn't weigh it down.

If I ever ran out of conditioner, I don't think I'd get a comb thru it. Not like it did before I colored it and I only touch up roots every 6 weeks. I stretch colorings out so as to not dry it out more.

But I might look into that Tresomme detoxifier.

The men are all rolling their eyes probably, IF they stuck their nose in here. LOL

[CajunMama]

I went to the aveda website. Gotta love that copy & paste!

[JenBayles]

I gave up on "styling" my hair years ago and have never regretted the decision. Just keep it long (about to my rear end now) and maintain the bangs myself. I'm all about low maintenance, and this way I don't have to worry about blow drying and damaging my hair. I don't even remember the last time I used a product other than shampoo and conditioner on it.

It cracks me up that at my old age of 43, I'm still accused of bleaching my hair - yeah, it really is naturally light blonde - and luckily all my new silver gray is blending in quite nicely.

Mary - you're a braver soul than I cutting the back on your own hair. EEK! I'm sure I'd end up looking like my ends had been chewed by rats if I tried it myself!

[angelwing]

I took the plunge and got highlights for the first time ever! They wanted to sell me some conncotion for $18!!! Told them to stick it and got Pantene Shampoo for Blonde Highlights, it works great and at the time it only cost me $4. Noe the only question is whether or not I keep doing it, it cost $35!!! It may not seem like a lot but to me that's a week's food shopping!

[Lindaloo]

I use the Aveda Color Conserve line. It's pricey but it works. My color doesn't get brassy with it. After every shampoo I use the Aveda Flax Seed Aloe Strong Hold Sculpturing Gel and an Aveda leave in conditioner.

I also use tresomme (sp) detoxifier i find at walmart to get the mousse & hairspray buildup out of my hair then i deep condition with another product that i can't remember the name of right now.

Did you know that haircolor can also build up on the ends of your hair? I go to my hairdresser to get the "clarifier" put on mine every two weeks. It foams up everytime and when I squeeze it off the end of my hair, the suds are a dingy yellow and sticky.

It is always best to just do your roots when you color. Putting color on top of color on all the length of the hair can cause the color to "grab" at the ends and you get two or three different colors in the sunlight or one dark color.

[Miss Mary]

Linda - I've always just colored my roots for the full amount of time - 40 minutes. The last 5 of that 40 minute time, I squirt a little more on my ends, pulling it thru but it's a very little amount. For a short span, I was wearing shower caps so I could do chores while I color. Big mistake! The ends of my hair were touching color the entire time and my hair became extremely dark. My hairdresser said to go back to just letting it stick up all over, while waiting for it to process. Now I sit at the computer and kill time - color and S2K - they go together nicely!

I also don't switch shades although I know women that do. Their hair is very short so that's how they justify it, it grows out quickly and they can go switch to another shade. Not me!

My entire goal has been to make my hair look like I don't color. I don't want the gray to show! But I will tell anyone who asks, that I do color. I won't lie....he he I just don't want, say.....purple hair! LOL Just a natural looking shade.

What we women go thru.....

Mary

[weathermom]

Mary,

My girls like the shampoo for brunettes. It does a good job cleaning and doesn't leave heavy residue. I don't like many conditioners because they all seem too heavy for my straight, fine hair.

As for coloring, I don't know how much the shampoo actually does, but the glaze stuff definitely does. I don't color my hair yet, but my sister in law told me she uses it to stretch out the time between colorings. If you don't rinse it off of your hands soon enough it will stain them, so I am pretty sure it will color your hair too.

[Stephanie]

I use a temporary color from L'Oreal - Colorspa I think it's called. It lasts for 28 shampoos. I stretch it out to about 6 weeks or so - when I get sick of seeing the grays showing around my ears, temples, etc.

I use mousse for my hair, so that tends to darken my hair and hide the gray more. I'll start using a permanent color eventually, but I figure that I don't want to do it until I absolutely have to. My hair has been thinning a bit over the last two years or so due to I think perimenopause so I don't need to add anymore stress to it!