Most Pinterest pictures will show you hair color shades of every single possibility. From white hair to the colorful and beyond, every single color looks like a must-have. However, what these pins fail to acknowledge is the backstage work that goes into keeping up these striking colors. I’ve had platinum hair, brown, black and even bright red! Some colors are better than others at keeping up with, but every single has quite a bit of downsides.
Blonde
It can get very expensive very quickly. Your hair grows a lot faster than what you’d expect, so that means roots! If you choose to get highlights or go platinum, roots begin to creep up every three to four weeks. When I went blonde, I did my highlights every three to four weeks and it cost me upwards of $80 for every salon visit. That adds up very quickly! Choosing to go the balayage route will yield in new growth that won’t be obvious because the lighter hair has been processed to look natural and sun-kissed.
Another con to maintaining blonde is the damage it does. The blonder you go, the more damaged your hair becomes because it’s being bleached! It will make your hair harder to brush when you’re fresh out of the shower, and lot more frizz will occur, depending on your hair texture. Bleaching also has a tendency to make weak hair strands break, leaving short face-framing pieces and frazzled ends.
Red
Messy shower walls are definitely a huge con to dying your hair red. From the dye itself (if you so choose to dye at home) to the red shampoo and conditioner that you buy to keep the color vivid, a permanent murder scene is an inevitable and frequent occurrence that will happen at your house.
Messy shower walls lead me right to the sad fate of your light-colored towels. So long to the bright and white towels that you regularly use. Red hair dye will come out of your hair every single time you wash it in the shower, and it will most definitely end up on your towel. The only upside to this is that you achieve a groovy tie-dye effect…one that you may like, but not your mom.
Frequently fading color is another unfortunate con to going red. As beautiful as it may turn out in the beginning, give it a shampoo or two and watch your hair become auburn. Because of this, it is often recommended to purchase a shampoo and conditioner that preserves hair color, or is specifically designed with red dye in it to prolong color. This quick-fading color leads us right into constant upkeep, which will not only burn a hole in your pocket, but force you to dye your hair every two weeks.
Black
Black hair is the easiest to keep up with. Whether you go to a salon or decide to dye it yourself, it’s almost guaranteed that it’ll be a forgiving color that won’t break the bank. However, as easy as it is to upkeep, your roots will be bound to take center stage. Because of this, touching up your roots will be a habitual procedure every four to six weeks. Even deciding to do roots yourself will force you to have to dish out money every month or so, which isn’t always the preferable route to go.
Another con to dying hair black, just like red, is that the dye gets absolutely everywhere if you’re not pristine with applying it. If you do not go to a salon, black dye will probably show up on chairs, floors, walls, counters, towels, clothing, and your skin. Hey, it even happens at salons, too! Because the color is so pigmented and dark, it will be fairly obvious if it stains anything light colored. Black isn’t always the easiest hair color to mess with, but it’s always been a tried-and-true way of covering up DIY hair adventures, which I am always fond of.
