I saw someone sporting a youthful black hair color on mature skin which
brought up the question: should you darken or lighten with hair color as you age? One wants to still look youthful even while aging but unless your skin color matches, it is a bit difficult to carry off!
Aging comes with change, with looks and most noticeably, with hair. It may get thinner or in most cases,
go gray. To keep a youthful appearance, many people start coloring. You can succeed in masking the fact that you are coloring but the skin also goes through subtle changes in this aging process. These changes like liver spots, sun damage or loss of elasticity, make it more difficult to wear that hair color of our youth.
If you are conflicted: should you darken or lighten with hair color as
you age, consider this:
- Gray hair makes a stark contrast to most color jobs. It can appear within a week depending on how fast your hair grows and the type of gray you get:
- Those who get a white/white that is along the hairline around the front, the color grows out fast.
- If you have the gray that is spread out in patches all over the head, then chances are you can hide it better under the normal hair.
- If you have strands of gray all over, we hate you because you probably got the best case scenario.
- If you got gray stripes, you have lots of work as it is similar to those with the white/white at the front hairline.
- White all over or dark gray all over, you clearly have a future date when you will get “fed up” of constantly coloring.
When clients ask “should you darken or lighten with hair color as you age”, I look for certain things:
- For most people, black is never a good choice as we get older but, for some reason, people with the skin color of e.g. Cher can pull it off. They are usually very slim in body with oblong face shapes and lots of hair.
- If your hair was dark and now your gray has a copper cast, it is usually best to go up a shade so when the regrowth starts it is less obvious.
- If you were blond, then you might have to either go lighter or choose a hue that does not make you look like a ghost.
A lot of older people have said to me: “don’t get old” but it is a part of life that you manage as with most things because as a hairstylist, I cringe when I see people who are obviously in their sunset years who have not asked themselves “ should you darken or lighten with hair color as you age”.
By Paula Barker, Silkie Locks Hair Design
Books” “Talking Hair”, “Filling My Head” & “Dreadlocks – A Hairstylist’s Manifest”.
Call (613) 789-2179 For An Appointment If You Are In The Ottawa, Ontario Area.
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