Naturally Beautiful or Overdone Artificial; what type of hair do you want?

Blondes, brunettes, red-heads--some lighter and some darker. The natural hair colors we all have yet we always seem to try and change them. Although change can be beneficial for some things I believe hair color has more negatives than positives when changed.

When I was in middle school I wanted to dye my hair more than anything! (Then again I also wanted piercings more than anything. And a boyfriend. And to grow up in order to make my own decisions!) Of course my mom objected to all of these. However I did get to watch her dye her hair and still see her struggle with it all the time. Personally I'm glad my mother didn't allow me to dye my hair when I wanted it the most. She saved me from a lot of trouble and you should save yourself too! Here's why...

That's right. Your hair can be kept beautiful and healthy with basic care and just by keeping it natural. Every time I see hair that is dyed--dyed? More like died! The process says it all: dyeing your hair does exactly that. It kills it.--I think back to when I wanted to dye my own hair and I simply don't understand why I wanted to do such thing. People have always complimented my hair on how healthy it looks and I strongly believe it's all thanks to keeping it "virgin." All of my close friends have dyed their hair at some point and I have heard each and every one of them say they wish they had kept it natural. In her writing about the health risks of hair dyes LucyVet says, "If hair has been dyed many times, it becomes 'over-processed', which leads to brittle, dry hair that lacks shine...Unfortunately, there is really no solution to hair damage from dyeing, other than to stop dyeing" (1). Basically LucyVet is warning that if you dye your hair you will only be damaging it. Truth is dyeing your hair not only burns and damages it but your hair changes from shiny-silky-soft to frizzy-dry-ugh!

Who doesn't like saving money?! Well once you dye your hair you can say goodbye to a good amount of 10-50 dollars a month if you want to keep it looking decent. I have gone to multiple beauty salons with my mother and seen her pay a great amount of money to change her hair color. Even when she does it at home herself she saves only about half of what she would spend at the salon. What's worst of all, the spending doesn't stop here. If you want to attempt to have somewhat healthy dyed hair you will have to buy new products, conditioner and shampoo, specialized for color-treated hair.

If you have natural hair the only thing you really have to worry about is making it look nice and styling it. When you dye your hair you constantly worry about whether your roots are starting to show or whether your color is fading and looking scrubby. Of course it's normal to check for these things since you wouldn't want to have blonde hair with black roots showing; it's just not a good look. Since hair tends to grow so quickly, you will find yourself back at the salon or at the store trying to recall which color you used last time. Once again you can see how your money is gone so quickly with this process.

Save yourself from all the trouble, stress, and running around caused by dyeing your hair. Keeping it natural will have your hair looking healthy and save you a great amount of money in the long run. Stop damaging your hair and let your natural beauty shine!

LucyVet. "Health Risks of Chemical Hair Dyes." n.d. Web. 1 February 2012.