Catrandom—I have tried to lighten my hair (professionally), but there’s so much red in it that it just goes a hilarious Bozo Orange. All that’s missing is the big red nose. So it would have to be a double-process. Roots are indeed my terror.
DVous Means—Hmmm. It would be interesting to compare books I wrote as a brunette to books I’d write as a blonde . . . Can I get zillions of government dollars to do a study on it?
Damn, Ike beat me to the joke, as usual… I was going to say “hey baby, I’ll give you a good frosting!”
Or something equally stupid. 
WARNING: TESTOSTERONE-POISONED PERSPECTIVE FOLLOWS.
If you’ve got “VERY pale. ‘Ivory.’” skin, why not go the other way, down the path less travelled, and look really striking. I’m talking about dieing your hair jet black. There’s something about jet black hair against really pale skin that puts me in a neck-nibbling mood. 
Especially if you have brown eyes, I’d go weak at the knees.
That’s very sweet, Joltie, but you’re thinking of a 22-year-old Angelina Jolie or Winona Ryder type. Picture their MOMS. Black hair would put 20 years on me.
OK, Ike and Joe, if I do get frosting, I promise you can lick it off.
Eve, have you noticed a pattern here? The guys mostly want you to stay with your natural color. It’s the women who want you to color it. And women think men prefer artifice…
If gray is perceived as a problem then putting it back to something like your original color would be nice. If gray is a BIG problem, and it doesn’t sound like it is, a shade or three lighter than natural works nicely. That’s what my 76-yr-old mom does and her hair looks great. For someone our age one of those wash-out dyes to tint the white but doesn’t really touch the colored part works nicely. That’s what my wife does.
I know a woman who is in her fifties, pale as a ghost, and dyes her hair black. Looks positively ghastly.
Like lying, hair color should be kept as close to the truth as you can keep it.
I recently read a biography about a famous platinum blonde MGM starlet who died young. The author went to some lengths to point out that the hair color was important (in fact the bio was titled Platinum Girl) but that it was hard on her hair to keep it that way. Maybe you should write to the author and ask her. Her name escapes me at the moment.
My vote, FWIW, would be for bringing out the red highlights. The prettiest girl I’ve ever seen IRL (and this takes me back a loooong way – she was a senior in high school, I was a junior and she was going with my brother’s good friend. Her name was Chya. I knew her brother, Quinn, slightly. She and my brother’s friend actually got married, but I heard later that it didn’t last. He went into accounting and ended up as some sort of grand poobah at REI, but I don’t think he works there anymore. I’ll have to ask my brother. Ummm…where was I? Oh yes – ) the prettiest girl I’ve ever seen had dark auburn hair.
Heh-heh, Pluto.
My opinion on hair color is that it’s just too much trouble. I’m scared of creeping roots, too, Eve; one reason I’d never do it. Natural is safer!
That said, I’ll reveal that I just cut my hair micro-short. :eek: It was about chin-length before, so it was shortish, but WOW you wouldn’t believe how people have gone crazy around here. Is it my ears? The spikey tufts aloft? My doe-brown eyes, now liberated from their haze of bangs? Who knows. All I know is, the sheared-sheep look has worked for me!
Eve, I’ve never seen a picture of you, but I have to believe that if you have a naturally pale complexion, going blond will wash out your face.
On the other hand, in my mind’s eye you have a sort of Connecticut-patrician look, a cross between Grace Kelley and Dina Merril. If that’s the case, I think going blond would stop us all in our tracks if we passed you on the street. But of course, the image that comes to mind is anything but trashy.
Quote from dropzone
On the contrary, dropzone, I KNOW it’s often women who prefer artifice, not men. I do not wear makeup. Guys tell me they love it. Women tell me I’m crazy.
What I advocate here, though, is doing what makes ya feel good. Hair grows back. If you want to experiment with it, what the f***? Have fun.
Now, having said that… Eve, you would have to strip the colour first, absolutely? Hmmm. That changes my opinion - too, too much hassle. I like to keep hassle to a minimum. Can you go a lighter shade of brown without stripping it instead?
By the way, I have a naturally OMG pale complexion. The lighter my hair, the less washed out it looks - never have been able to figure out why that is.
I think Jolt is onto something. I have nothing against young women, they just have no character. Wynona Ryder is pretty but Angelina Jolie…what’s the matter with her? Are those lips the result of surgical complications or an allergic reaction?
As long as you’re seeking the advice of total strangers, put me down for a “no” vote. Only my own opinion, but I prefer brunettes to blondes. (There, Eve, you’ve forced me to shatter Charlize Theron’s dreams of romance. Happy now?)
I agree with Little Nemo myself. I’ve always preferred brunettes to blondes.
And Eve, unless that picture I saw with the interview of you on your book was over 10 years old, I’d have to disagree with your personal assessment that you have “harsh and middle-aged features.”
[shameless flirt]
Personally, I think the best thing you could do for your hair would be to sun-bleach it a bit on a sandy beach near a large body of fresh water. That fresh water component is very important! Now where could you do that?
Oh yeah! Right here in Chicago!
And I’d be more than willing to offer my services as a native guide while you were here…
[/shameless flirt]
As a male here, put me down for a big NO, but only for the reason already cited:
I hate fake. Nothing is a bigger turn-off than artifice. Women with naturally blonde hair look best blond, women with naturally brunette hair look best brunette. Women with naturally curly hair look best curly. Women with naturally straight hair look best straight. And I wouldn;t worry too much about the gray, if that’s a problem. As I stated in the other hair thread here, I have known women with gray hair who looked very sexy. It’s ALL in the style.
Thanks, all. I’m still on the fence about this (ouch—I ran my stockings on a splinter!).
Pluto—Har! I did talk to the author, and she reminded me that bleaching and dying was a LOT harsher in Miss Harlow’s day.
Ellen—So who wants “safe?”
Kunilou—“a sort of Connecticut-patrician look, a cross between Grace Kelly and Dina Merrill.” That is EXACTLY what I am going for. Icy, sophisticated Alfred Hitchcock-heroine blonde.
KimKatt & 2nd Law—Nah—I repeat, lightening my hair (I’ve done that) only results in hilarious Bozo Orange. Less “Rita Hayworth” than “Lucille Carmichael.” NOT a good look.
Padeye—“I have nothing against young women, they just have no character.” Ooooh, thank you, from Older Women everywhere . . .
picturing Eve with a big red nose and wearing size 72 shoes
Yep, still sexy.
Experiment away, Eve. Dye your hair, whatever. Changing the gift wrap doesn’t change the gift, so to speak, but sometimes it can be fun.
*…I wonder how I’d look with a belter cut?
“picturing Eve with a big red nose and wearing size 72 shoes.”
—So, you saw my UNRETOUCHED author’s photo, hmmmm?
Don’t do it Eve. Life has enough problems as it is. I just can’t imagine you with no fingers.
SouthernStyle
LOL!
Hmmm, where is that “laminated list” thread, now I have to post on it.
I don’t think you should dye it. You should cut it!
Same benefit (change) without the dark roots. Plus, as you said you mostly wear it up, it just may free up some time too.
Sue—Nah, this style really suits me, and my hair’s too lank and silky to cut short. It just “sits there like a lox,” as my grandmother would have said.