I need hair advice.

[Beauchamp]

I had long, all one length hair for years, and then I got bangs. And then I got highlights, and fell into a cycle of having to touch up the stripe down the middle of my head from having dark roots. And spending tons of money on haircuts (that I have never really been happy with) and highlights every few weeks.

My hair is straight, very fine, medium brown, and much to my utter dismay, starting to sprout a few gray hairs. I am almost 32. I chopped my long hair when I got pregnant, and now as I try to grow my hair out, I need a trim because it gets to that ugly Baseball Hat Stage, in which wearing a hat is the only way my hair looks acceptable to me. And when I get the trim, I say to just trim it so the ends are healthy, and I leave with short hair again because so much gets cut off for the ends to be healthy.

I am in a middle-length-mullet-dark-ugly-brown-with-glaringly-old-highlights phase.

Does anyone really love their hair, because I hate mine! Any help? (And no, I won't post a picture!)

[roxemama]

If it's really bothering you, dye it back to your normal color and get a trim, then let it grow. Keep it trimmed and healthy, it will grow. If you're still taken your pre-natal it will grow faster. Hats, scarves, headbands, ponytails, whatever you like to wear is nice too. I have long hair, it took 2.5 long years to grow out my highlights. I use a good flat iron for work and wear ponytails on non wash days in the summer.

[Ola_]

I have similar hair (very fine, straight, except more of a light brown I'd say) and I find I like it much better short. Having it long weighs it down too much. The thing I've found that is key for me is to find a stylist that I LOVE and who does a good job - my current one only works Tue and Wed and I make sure I'm not at the office on one of those days when I need a cut cause I don't want anyone else! LOL

I agree to dye it your normal colour so you don't have to deal with the re-highlighting. I think it will definitely be healthier without the colour treatments once you grow your natural colour out. A good stylist should be able to help you find ways to grow it out - celebrities do that all the time, don't they? I usually bring an inspiration picture with me, right now I'm going with something like Mariska Hargitay who has had many short/long and inbetween cuts.

[Beauchamp]

Well, it's much easier short, and tends to look nicer with less effort, but my DH always says how much he LOVES my hair in old pictures when it was long, and it makes me feel bad about how I look now.

So should I get a professional to dye the whole thing, or use a box?

[Ola_]

Oh, well I'm no help then. My DH likes my hair long too, but I told him that he can grow his own if he wants to.

[ps4624]

Definitely go to a professional. You'll need someone who can match up your natural color with the dye, and that's hard to do by looking at a box.

My hubby is always talking about my hair when it was longer, too. It makes me feel like he doesn't think I'm attractive anymore