I’m playing a 65 year old man in a play this week. I’ve played older characters before and because I’m blonde it takes about seven pounds of powder or shoe polish or whatever to make my hair visibly whiter/grayer, so I’m thinking of taking it to a slightly darker shade. I’m thinking of brown. Some questions:
Are any brands of hair color better than others?
In going from honey-blonde to brown is there a particular shade I should use (which is to say, is it different than going from black to brown or from blonde to black)?
Is there any difference between women’s hair dye and men’s? (I can’t imagine what it would be.)
Will OTC hair colors also work on beards (which is actually more important since I wear a barrister’s wig in the first part of the play)?
The first time? It really might be worthwhile to pay someone to do it for you. They can use something semi-permanent (washes out after a few shampoos) to see if you like the shade. There are about 87 different colors of “brown” and it’s pretty easy to get overwhelmed.
In the event that you are absolutely looking to do this on the cheap, however: get thee to a beauty supply store and ask them to point you to toner/rinses. These will temporarily make your hair darker and then wash out. They are very watery and may well look purple out of the bottle, but it’s much less risky. That way, it will shampoo out after the play and you’ll be back to your fabulous blond self in no time.
Unless you are bleach blond. Then it might take a little longer and you don’t want to go too dark (bleached hair is porous and the toner “stains” it.)
Beard hair is usually coarser and does not take color as well. Just for Men makes a special formula for beards and mustaches. A salon colorist would be able to use something that my stylist calles a “bristle mix” that she uses for beards and resistant grays.
Are you thinking about going darker so that the gray colorant used on stage shows up better? That sounds strange to me somehow, but I’ve never done any kind of stage makeup so I what do I know?
Are any brands of hair color better than others? Just take any reasonably priced dye. There are differences in quality, as any consumer’s magazine will tell you, but the differences aren’t big. The best thing you can do is follow the advice on the packaging about testing the product on your skin 48 hours prior to use to see if you’re allergic to that brand.
In going from honey-blonde to brown is there a particular shade I should use? I’d strongly advise to use a wash-out-in-8-washes type. Dark roots look, at best, like you have a coup soleil and at worst just like your hair needs washing. “Blonde roots”, however are to be avoided at all costs because they look completely unnatural and make you look like you’re either bald or have a skindisease. I’m very serious about this.
As for the shade, go for a shade that says that it is a “warm” color.
Is there any difference between women’s hair dye and men’s? Marketing. Men’s dyes usually come in fewer colors and they often need to stay in your hair shorter. But those differences only serve men who are afraid they’ll be sissies if they use womans hair-dye.
Garnier, Loreal, Revlon, etc, etc will all work pretty well.
You can get Type 1, 2 or 3 hair color.
3 is permanent - unless you really want to live as a brunette for a few months, avoid this route.
2 is semi-permanent - about 28 washes, or a month or so.
1 is demi-permanent - about 7 washes. Look for “Nice and Easy”
Buy something in a LIGHT brown shade. As a natural blond, if you go too dark (assuming a semi or demi-permanent) you could have trouble washing it out if you go too dark and wind up with a greenish cast to your hair. Unless your next roll is Lizard man, or Alien dude, this is not a good thing. Further, if you’re planning on going permanent, you’ll have the best results with a color no more than a shade or two darker than your natural color.
Finally, $7 - $10 is all you need to spend for a one time sort of deal. Unless you’re planning on staying brown for a long time, getting your hair professionally colored is a waste of money.
I used to dye my hair all the time when I was younger with the wash-out dyes. My hair is naturally medium-to-dark brown, and I usually went red or black.
There is no real difference between women’s and men’s hair dyes.
I liked Clariol’s brand of natural dyes-- I can’t remember the exact name, but at the time, they were sold in paper-bag colored boxes. I’m thinking it was “Natural Essences” or something like that. They were very easy to use, and lasted a couple of weeks.
There are also aeresol hair colors which work something like a can of hairspray-- you spray on the color and it washes out the next time you shampoo. (I used to use it when I went to rock concerts and wanted pink streaks or to color my hair black.) It’s a product that’s usually sold around Halloween, but I bet you could find it year-round in joke shops.
For beards, there’s a line of coloring called Just For Men, designed specifically for that purpose.
I must 2nd the idea that you should get to a beauty supply store (Sally’s is excellent if they’re in your area) I’ve always found their staff to be quite helpful in getting just what I want.
