new thread
Hi,
I've been contemplating growing my hair longer and when I ran across this board and checked out the pics I was inspired to grow mine long
I have one question about hair dyes
I had been using Just for Men to touch up the grey about every third month and noticed when I would start to grow my hair out it appeared dried out almost dead like so unfortunately I ended up really disappointed and had it cut short. but I want to avoid getting it cut and my goal is at least shoulder length.
I was wondering if it could be the fact that this dye was intended only for close cropped Men since the photo on the carton never includes long haired guys and if you guys have some better suggestions on what dyes to use
maybe some intended for us guys who desire longer hair.
a female friend recommended using women's hair dyes, but I haven't done that yet.
I would appreciate any advice that you can give me
Kind Regards,
Larry
Hi Larry, thanks for posting snd welcome to the board. You will find opinions vary accross the members, but for me, Any chemicals, heat etc are a no-no. Natural products such as Henna would be more acceptable, but, again for me, Nature's choices are almost always the best!
Good luck. Ian
Hi Larry and welcome to mlhh,
As Ian already mentioned Henna is a superb option as I just did a Henna treatment about a month ago and loved the results.Of course it made my hair red but that is what I wanted.There are pics below your post of what my hair looks like now which can be compared against my portrait pic which shows my natural color.Now you can tone down the redness of Henna with other natural dyes such as indigo.What sold me on Henna was that it is all natural and did not harm my already long hair:)You can also use Cassia which conditions like Henna but has no color which would leave your hair its natural.Hope this helps you out and great to hear you want long hair:)Cheers.
Mark
Wow Mark, thanks for the info!
do you have any sources that you can recommend where I can purchase these products and how expensive are they?
also, how often does the henna and/or indigo have to be applied before it fades?
what other natural dyes are there besides henna and indigo?
I know about how harmful dyes can be to hair and as a kid I had long healthy hair , but the 'just for men' product seems very detrimental and it looks like a dried out weed when I try to use it on longer hair and usually had to do something which I dread-get it cut all off so I want to avoid any trips to the barber and just let it grow. my goal is mid-back
I think "just for Men" was intended for guys with short hair because it serves no purpose for longer hair from my experience while using it when growing my hair out before and I would highly recommend avoiding it.
any additional advice which you could give me would be greatly appreciated
kind regards,
Larry
Hi Larry,
I'm glad you liked my info as I speak from personal experience when it comes to Henna.I have never used chemical dyes on my hair at all but have read the horror stories here which was enough for me.What I'll do is include a link to the website where I purchased my Henna so you can look for yourself.There is also a phone number you can call to speak with a real person with any questions you may have about their products.That's basically what I did when I researched Henna for my hair.I think if you go that route you won't be disappointed.BTW Henna does not fade on grows out so you just reapply it when needed.Cheers
Mark
I can't say for certain about the "Just for Men" product, but since it's a supposedly permanent coloring and has a very short application period I would say it must be a quite strong formula. Whereas "Just for men" only takes 5 minutes, women's permanent coloring takes 20 minutes and the semi-permanent (28 washings) coloring takes 10 minutes.
My personal preference is to use the semi-permanent coloring as it's not as harsh on the hair. As long as you have less than 50% gray (their recommendation) it works well and doesn't seem to make my hair any drier than normal.
If you have more questions feel free to ask.
--Dale
Very strong. almost strong enough to make your eyes burn. I really hate using that stuff.
Whereas "Just for men" only takes 5 minutes, women's permanent coloring takes 20 minutes and the semi-permanent (28 washings) coloring takes 10 minutes.
any specific brands that you would recommend?
also, any other info you can recommend would be much appreciated.
kind regards,
Larry
The product that I like the best is Clairol Natural Instincts which lasts 28 shampoos. Depending on how much gray you have and how often you shampoo vs just rinse, the color can last much longer than 28 days. One thing they don't tell you on the package is that you can mix less than the full amount of color and just touch up the roots as needed. To do this you need to use *plastic* utensils (mixing bowl and spoon) and mix equal parts colorant and developer. Make sure to squeeze as much air as possible out of the remaining colorant and cap tightly, as it tends to change color and degrade with exposure to air. You apply using a small brush or use disposable gloves and work into the roots. If you're bearded, you can also use regular hair coloring by mixing a small amount in the same manner and applying as needed.
For those of you wishing to know what the difference is between the semi-permanent (28 day) and permanent coloring, my understanding is that that the permanent coloring works by breaking down the original color in the hair shaft and then depositing new color, whereas the semi-permanent only softens the hair shaft enough that it will absorb the new color. That's why you can only use the same shade or darker color when using the semi-permanent color, whereas you can go lighter with the permanent color. The difference in method used also explains why permanent coloring can be so harsh on your hair whereas the semi-permanent typically is not.
--Dale
At the age of 57 i've got lots of gray hair, I will keep every
single one of those long gray hairs, since at 57 i've earned
each gray hair.
So I use no dye to treat those gray hairs. So that could well
mean that when my hair grows longer it will be waist length and all gray.
I used to use a similar product and then went to a women's product thinking the same thing. I did find it better (I used it for gray, too). I used it monthly until an injury put me in a sling for several weeks and I could not do it myself. I then started having my stylist do it and their products are remarkably better than the off-the-shelf stuff I had been getting at a Sally store. Plus, she "paints" it on just the gray roots, not all the hair, so it really reduces the amount of processing, which can only be good! So, bottom line, I stayed with her doing it since and have not regretted it.
Hi Larry, welcome!
I highly advise against using any dyes, the reason being that most consumer grade (but also salon) dyes are extremely hard on hair. That dry hair you experienced my be able to fly at a shorter length, but if you are looking to grow a head of long, healthy hair, it's going to create problems. I suggest not doing it.
One thing you may want to look into is henna. I am under the impression that some hennas and henna mixtures don't work well on grey hair, so you may want to research that. But long grey hair works really well on guys, so check out some of the pics on some of those guys here on the forum!
Take care!
Don't dye it. Just grew grey gracefully and avoid chemical damage to your hair.
I would ,but at 40 I don't think I'm quite ready to go grey and besides the love in my life, my gfriend Karen prefers it when I touch it up and she's been very supportive of my desire to grow my hair longer.
maybe in about 20 years I'll let it go completely grey, but I am just not quite ready at this time ;-)
Kind regards,
Larry
I'm not ready to go gray either, and I am 60! It is true that it is less damaging now that my hair is in a bob length but I started touching it up when it was waist length and it did Ok.
Welcome Larry! I wish you good luck in growing your hair out; this board has helped a lot of men with info and moral support in their hair growing journey.
Two things:
1) The questions surrounding hair coloring are very repetitive on this board. I suggest scrolling through the last 6 months' worth of postings to this board; when you see a subject heading that mentions henna or dye, read it. You can also go to 'archive' (at the top of the main page) and try typing "dye" or "henna" in as a key word and see what comes up.
There is a user named Dee who has posted numerous photos and information about henna, buxus, and indigo. Just find one post from him, then look at the top of the page next to his name and it will say "other posts." Click on that and you will see a list of postings from him, and you can choose which ones you want to read. Also Mark (Hairball) and a user named Abstrakt both posted info and photos of their experiences with henna.
2) Yes, the type of coloring you use on your hair can have an effect on the condition of your hair. But whether you color or not, you will need to learn how to keep your hair in good condition if you want to be successful in growing it long. Fortunately, there is a plethora of information on that subject on this board as well. I suggest scrolling through previous posts as a starting point. Sometimes there are subjects that are off topic (not related to hair); you can choose to skip those posts and read only the ones relating to hair care. And there are numerous photos of members at different stages of growing their hair; these photos might be very inspirational to you. :)
Best of luck, Larry! :)
I don't think all the comments telling you to just let it go grey are very helpful! My wife is 8-9 years younger than me, and she is not fond of grey hair, so I know exactly where you're coming from.
Synthetic dyes damage hair, especially if they are permanent ones. Some of them have conditioners in to alleviate the damage, but no doubt if they are aimed specifically at men then they don't, as they just assume you will cut the damage off. This is probably also true of many dyes marketed at women, as you can get away with cutting the damaged hair off upto about shoulder length. Beyond that the problem is that the hair becomes quite old and tends to get repeatedly re-dyed. That too can be got around if you have a good hair stylist who will carefully dye only your roots, but there are also many horror stories of hair dyeing that goes wrong in the salon and makes a haircut necessary.
Henna has none of these problems, but it dyes hair clown orange, at least if you have no natural hair pigment. So, if you are dying your hair because it is grey, then (unless you are into having orange hair) you need to use henna plus a darker herb, such as indigo or amla. Some apply them together, and some say it is better to apply henna first and then the darker herb over the top.
There again, some of us just use 'henna' mixes, which contain henna plus ... something else. Often it isn't very clear what's in them. So what's the problem with that? Well, it turns out that some henna mixes use henna plus metal salts, which is the 'old technology' that preceded synthetic dyes. The problem is that metal salts react with synthetic dyes in an exothermic reaction, one that gives out heat, so your hair gets cooked! Sometimes it turns green as well! That's no problem for me, as there has never been any synthetic dye on my hair. You on the other hand ...
I have had reasonable success using 'brown henna' mixes that said they contained only herbs (i.e. no metal salts), but which were strangely reticent about exactly what herbs were in them! I have obtained these from places such as health food stores and pagan gatherings (my wife is the pagan, I an an atheist FWIW).
I would prefer to avoid metal salts in case I ever get around to using synthetic dye on my beard, in case any dyes get transferred between my hair and my beard. I keep my beard fairly short, unlike my hair, so putting synthetic dye on my beard should not be a problem in itself, although obviously there are other guys out there who want to grow their beards as long as their hair.
Many thanks for such an informative and exhaustive reply! I haven't gone grey yet (apart from the odd single white hair which I just pull out) but I figure I will one day and always wondered how I would cope when I do.
Damon
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I used to use the semi-perms and perms and they dried out my hair terible I now simple use Vatika and sit in the sun for a few hours, sleep in it overnight, then wash it normal. Dabur Vaitka contains coconut oil, henna,lemon oil, alma and a bunch of other herbs. It gives my hair a natural blonde--brown with NO gray.
It is cheap at Indian Grocery stores.