new thread
I think I might have just understood this, but why is it hair can change colour the longer it grows? For example, Sorted started with black/dark hair, but by now, its turned a nice shade of blonde. The same appears with me also: When I started growing, my hair was very dark brown, almost black, but as it grows longer, it's turning more and more blonde. When the sun shines on my hair, it brings out a very obvious blonde colour to it. And normally, in the dark, it's now mousey colour (light brown, with streaks of blonde all over) Does this mean that my hair will turn blonde? Just to add, my mother has got blonde hair, and my father had dark brown hair.
Sunbleached, man. My hair is black at its roots and downright blond at its curly tips. I've never applied anything to it to affect its color, other than California sunshine.
To be honest, I haven't been in the sun much this year and I live on a latitude of 51 degrees, so the sun isnt that hot compared to californain sun. But I am getting back into skimboarding and surfboarding.
My idea why it is getting blonder is this...
When my hair was really short, I stil had blonde strands in my hair due to the inheritance from my mother, but because my hair was so short, they didn't reflect light like a fuller head of hair would. But now that it's getting longer, their becoming more visable and stand out more. But as to my hope oif turning blonde, I can't offer an explanation, apart from the sun what you said, but as I said, I really haven't been out in it much due to revising for exams, until about 2 weeks ago, and I noticed this blonding effect way before then.
I have blond hair. It looks darker shorter and lighter under different lighting conditions.I think if I was kept in a dark room for years it would still be much lighter longer. The blond is more obvious.
Picture Purged
I used to have blonde hair when I was a little kid, but it has turned brown since. Like you, however, extended exposure to the sun bleaches my hair much more than the average person. When I had short hair, it would be a problem cuz the hair on top would start to get light and the sides would stay dark.
I don't think you'll turn totally blonde (I haven't), but if you're like me you will notice blonde and reddish hues coming out more and more. I've found the hair exposed to the sun quickly changes into a auburn but goes no farther. Its actually kinda fun cuz inside my hair seems semi-darkish but quite colorful outside.
Here is a pic of my dark sides and light top, a phenomenon that used to prompt me to dye my hair black quite often. I'm the one on the right.
Yea thanks for the reply, I also used to have long pure blonde and curly hair until about 5, thats when it was cut off by my mother because people were mistaking me for a girl all the time lol!
This time I'm growing it out, I hardly have any curls, and the ones I do I call flips because my hair isnt long enough to weigh them down. I have waves in my hair now, not curls, thank god!:)
As I said replied to bill just a second ago, I have hardly been out in the weak sun this year (Probably the most exposure I've had is walking from one classroom to another accross my school:p) so I doubt the sun could have made it turn so blond. My mother has natural blond hair and I used to have blond hair so I hope nature will take it's course and turn my hair blonde, if not, I think the highlights will look cool.:)
Hi my hair has don the same, it was very blond when it was short but as it has got longer it went dark really annoying so i had highlightes put in it. does anyone know why this has done this??
I think you mean your hair's done the opposite of mine.
Okay, if you arent getting that much exposure then it is likely not the main cause. Exposure to the elements doesn't mean just the sun. Any contact with chlorine, hydrogen peroxide, etc. through products or the water you wash with might be contributing.
When you have very short hair it reflects light differently and can appear darker, as it lies more flat it generally looks lighter, but the sun does indeed bleech your hair. Mines wierd actually it seems to be getting darker by the day and im not using anything to darken it, tho I do avoid the sun if I can. BTW you can darken the sun lighted bits of your hair if you want with one of the aveda black malva shampoo's or colour dep conditioner. Tho sun streaks tend to look nice so you may just wanna leave them.
I just wanted to add that when I said this..."When the sun shines on my hair, it brings out a very obvious blonde colour to it", what I mentis, not the sun's bleaching effect, but if I stare through my bangs when the sun is shining on my head, I can see obvious blond colours. Just wanted to clear it up.
Your hair colour is naturally bleached by the sun. When your hair is kept short, you're seeing fresh, new hair that hasn't been affected by the sun. When it grows longer the ends of your hair are several years older then the start of that same length of hair - therefore it has had more exposure to the sun and has been bleached. My hair is a light brown colour but the last three inches or so are now a very pale blonde because of the cumulative effect of the sun bleaching it.
My hair's only 5 months old, nearly 6, and is just over 5 inches in length, i guess it must be bleaching, but where I get it from, i dont know, as I've hardly been in the sun at all this year,
I guess its not a genetic thing then:(
Thanks
I've experienced the same thing.....
But even stranger, my hair appears several shades ligter when it is straightened as opposed to naturally curly.
This is true.
My friend had 15+ inch straight dirty blondish hair, and then he cut it. Well, when it was short it was a clear brown, no blonde at all. Now that it's been a few months, his hair is beginning to grow blonder again.
The same with me. My hair was darker brown when short, and now a lighter brownish long.
- Brian
Cool, thanks for the post, I was hoping to hear something like that:)
I don't mind being a dirty blonde, I just want to be blonde, and hope I don't have boring brown or black colour long hair lol. As Citizen Kane said in his email to me, colour goes a long way.
One very interesting thing to do is take the ends of your hair and hold them up top above your forehead, while you look into a mirror. Some guys are dowright shocked at the color difference between their roots and their ends. Hair slowly shifts color as it grows, so the shift is barely noticeable in comparison, when it hangs normally.
OK, i've just had a look in front of the mirror, and even when lifting the ends of my hair up to observe the colour, they are slightly darker, but more or less blond. The colour I can best describe is golden blond. The roots of my hair are slightly darker than the top, but not by much. My hair in front of my ears (are these sideburns, im not talking about beard hair, I never understand) are golden blonde for sure, and the hair underneath (very short hair I suspect where sideburns? grow, are golden blond also. I am hoping to become blonde. As I said earlier, I have hardly at all spent time out in the sun this year so far, and I had blond hair when my hair was long when I was very young. My mother is blonde too, could I have dark brown hair and have the colour of my dads hair when it's short, but it turns blond when I grow it?
One more thing to add, while looking at my hair in the mirror, I've found a few whiteish strands in between a patch of darker colour, could this be a strand of blond but one strand is not enough to reflect the colour blond, only when they are put together they appear blonde?
Sorry very long post.
Thank you.
Picture Purged
I've tried to add 2 pictures. What do you think?
It's hard to tell with photography, because the lighting on the various parts of your head varies. I've looked very gray, or even white or bald, in high overhead light, but all that really is going on is the film was saturated. I can't sort out the effects of light, and shadows, with a small amount of hair that may be in different lighting conditions.
With hair as short as yours, it would be unusual to have a LARGE variation in color. Yet, when I was much younger and had shorter hair, I'd have brown hair in the summer and black in the winter. This was when I lived in Illinois. My hair was so short then that all you saw had grown in the current season. So the sun can have some effect right away on some people.
At the moment, the only way to see my natural color is to lift my mane up and let people look underneath it behind my neck. It is very black then. On top, where I get a LOT of sun, it is a mixture of gray, black, and brown. On the sides it is mostly brown. At the ends it is blond. I can't do a half tail because the brown and blond colors of the outer layers clash with the black under-layer like black shoes and brown socks!
But my mane looks fine so long as I don't move "part A" around to where it is juxtaposed against a normally non-adjacent "part B".
I'd say, just accept your hair whatever color it decides to be! It will look its best if you do.
Bill
Picture Purged
Picture Purged
Everyone in my family has dark hair, my mum, my dad, my brother, even my grandparents, so I think my naturaly hair colour is dark, I just suffer from "sun bleach". The reason my hair seemed dark when it was short was probably because none of the hair was longer than 1.5 inches, consequently none of it was more than 3 months old and had not had time to be bleached by the sun.
My roots are still dark and if you look at this picture of me wearing a half tail, then you'll see that whilst the top layers (gathered in the tail) are blonde. The Lower layers are still dark.
This might explain the phenomenon (sp)
Sorted
Thanks for the reply, I can't believe your hair is sunbleached, it looks such a healthy blond.
Its just a natural change in the pigmentation, its no biggie, my hair gets a lot lighter if I spend a lot of time outdoors.
If like me your hair is prone to been sunbleached then becareful if you swim regulary. Chlorinated pools will most likely turn your hair "green" - No seriously, I'm not kidding!
I don't know why it changes colour, but I have noticed the same thing. I used to have a really dark shade of brown, and now, it's really light with red. Strange?
Thank you everyone for your replies, I enjoyed reading every post.
I think that my hair is in a combination of being bleached from the sun, and just an inheritance of blonde from my mother.
I'm having a new digital camera tomorrow so I will post some new pictures in a few days when it will be officially 6 months sinse my last haircut.
I'm kind of new here and I hope to be posting more often :) I've been following for quite a while.
My hair has always naturally been blond, but when I grow it out it seems to have more and more red tint to it. I've never had red in my hair before, though I do have freckles heh...how do you explain this??
