Have you ever changed your hairstyle or color drastically? Did you love it? Share!
I did once, and I liked it for a little bit, but overall, not really. It required way, way too much styling, which I never wanted to do, to look good.
Do you have a question idea? Submit yours here.
We're here to help you make better beauty purchases that you'll enjoy and love! We recommend signing up to take advantage of personalized features like tracking products you own, viewing dupes that you already have, and more!
Here are some useful resources for you:
Curious how two shades compare to each other? Type in the shades below to get instant side-by-side swatches!
Comments that do not adhere to our comment policy may be removed. Discussion and debate are highly encouraged but we expect community members to participate respectfully. Please keep discussion on-topic, and if you have general feedback, a product review request, an off-topic question, or need technical support, please contact us!
Please help us streamline the comments' section and be more efficient: double-check the post above for more basic information like pricing, availability, and so on to make sure your question wasn't answered already. Comments alerting us to typos or small errors in the post are appreciated (!) but will typically be removed after errors are fixed (unless a response is needed).
We appreciate enthusiasm for new releases but ask readers to please hold questions regarding if/when a review will be posted as we can't commit to or guarantee product reviews. We don't want to set expectations and then disappoint readers as even products that are swatched don't always end up being reviewed due to time constraints and changes in priorities! Thank you for understanding!
We try to approve comments within 24 hours (and reply to them within 72 hours) but can sometimes get behind and appreciate your patience! 🙂 If you have general feedback, product review requests, off-topic questions, or need technical support, please contact us directly. Thank you for your patience!
Yep. I’m normally a medium brunette. Right now, I’m a bleached blonde with a white-purple overtone. 🙂
I cut a ton of my hair off last year — went from past my shoulders to a Jennifer Lawrence style short haircut. Best decision ever!!!
Oh yes! When I was in college, I dyed my natural blondish-brown hair jet black. I waited for that to grow out for awhile, and when I couldn’t stand the half-tone look any more, I cut it all off into a pixie cut. Then I dyed that platinum blonde! Platinum blonde required major upkeep and destroyed my scalp, so I didn’t keep that very long. After a couple more colors and various haircuts, I grew it all out and didn’t dye my hair for about 10 years, which is also drastic in a way. When I started noticing some gray, I got my hair dyed blonde, but I finally settled on a dark chestnut brown which is the color I always wished my hair was. I can’t promise I won’t ever do anything else! 🙂
Well, after doing so many drastic changes, they’re not really so drastic anymore!
**Not intentionally! I once got a really bad haircut – I asked for a bob and the stylist gave me a mullet, I was too shell-shocked to even cry.
**The biggest change has been length. For years and years, I could never grow my hair past shoulders because the ends would always dry out and split. I finally switched to shampoos & conditioners with coconut oils, started air drying my ends, and using leave-in coconut oil conditioners 24/7 . What a difference! My hair looks healthy and grows quickly, well past the shoulders. Pretty impressive for someone who’s +40! A shout out to Yes to Coconuts and the Shea Moisture Coconut & Hisbiscus lines. Cheap and effective!
Yaas I died my hair super super super pink at one point then after that I chopped all of the pink parts off.
I’ve drastically colored or changed my hair so many times in my life. From chopping off my waist length hair, once in my 20s and once in my 30s, to dying it purple, pink, teal and unnatural red, to the way it is now, buzzed on the sides and back and a little bit longer on top. I’m lucky; I have fantastic hair that’s very forgiving.
i get my hair colored & highlighted in times of great boredom or stress. last time it was a a purple that sometimes looked fuschia from different angle/light. sadly, purples and reds are so hard to maintain
I dyed the tips of my hair blue my final semester of undergrad. It ended up being more of a gradient with purple towards the front and a darker blue in the back. I loved it, and still miss having it, but after a few months I ended up cutting them off when the dye faded and my ends were shot.
TWICE! I went really short and the second time I changed my color. I loved both! But both require a lot of upkeep which I’ve been too lazy for lately =/
Yeah. About 4 years ago I went from blonde, without a fringe, to bright, fire-engine red, with a full fringe. I absolutely loved it. The only problem was that I have little patience with a fringe; I’m more a wash-and-go kind of person. I persevered with it for a few years but even the colour was more upkeep than I really wanted so, with a heavy heart, I dyed my hair black. When that washed up a little bit I had the ends lightened and dyed red so that I could still have some colour. That’s how my hair has stayed for a few years now
I do try to take care of my hair and I’ve been growing it now for over a decade so it’a way past my waist. I love having it so long and since I try not to straighten it much I prefer to put it up so I like doing fancy hairstyles. 😀
As a celebration for my job going from temporary to permanent I dyed my hair bright turquoise 3 days ago. Partly because I’d never been blue before, but also partly so whenever someone mentions it, I can say ‘yeah, I blue myself the other day.’
Not going to lie, the pun is what’s sustaining me at this point.
haha get it, girl! congrats on the job 🙂 what brand/color did you use?
It’s just the Fudge Paintbox one in Turquoise. These are the only bright dyes that actually wash out of my hair.
https://instagram.com/p/zTeREln1l0/?modal=true
^^ the colour in action!
I tried going blonde once. Big mistake. After five and a half hours at the hair salon I ended up with orange hair that was completely fried.
I went from blonde to dark reddish-brown when I was 15… without dyeing/filling in my light brows, haha! Went back to blonde after about a year. I actually really liked the colour, but I guess it would be too much work now having to dye the roots every few weeks.
My hair used to be brilliant fire-engine red – so that was a big change. Also I habitually grow my hair for a few years then chop it back to chin length and grow it again. Really all my hair changes are drastic!
I’m naturally blonde and my hair is currently dark purple. I’ve gone brunette and red before too! I love switching up my hair colour :).
yes I cut my hair too short and colored it blonde.my natural hair color is brown.It was good for a change then I got bored of it.now staying back with my natural hair color.
I am a redhead now and forever, but I’ve been dyeing the bottom four-five inches of my hair for a few years and have gone through nearly every color of the rainbow.
Yes! After I had my daughter, I cut my very long hair into a chin length bob. I have been growing it out ever since. My hair is curly, and it takes way too much effort to straighten it every time I wash!
My hair is naturally dark and I lightened it to a very light brown once but the upkeep was ridiculous – I had to do my roots every 2 weeks. I’m a lot more adventurous when it comes to cut, however. My hair is fairly short, about chin-length, and curly and I had one side cut down super short, almost to the scalp and left the other side long. It’s a little hard to describe but it is very cute.
Both! I cut my hair off into a pixie and then dyed it bright (Ariel from The Little Mermaid bright) red shortly thereafter. I get so much positive feedback on it that I’ve kept it that way for probably 8 years now.
I dyed my hair years ago when I first started college lol. It was so pretty but I didn’t really know how to take care of it. Now that my hair has grown back I’m considering doing it again. I could use a new look
yeah! I just recently chopped off about 4 inches and
Dyed it copper 🙂
Well, let’s see … I went from past-the-shoulder-blades hair to 1″ long once. I also dyed my medium-blonde hair dark red — sort of auburn, but more unnaturally red. So, yes. 🙂
drastic is my middle name 😀 most recently, i went from black to blue without telling anyone and everyone freaked out. it was awesome.
it wasn’t the first time dying my hair unnatural colors, but it was the first time in a long time, other than little streaks here and there (layers and layers of boxed black dye is a PAIN to get out. never again).
Pastel pink, but it ended up being a pain since the hairstylists didn’t do it properly (many chunks of yellowed bleached hair peaking through, areas which had no pink whatsoever, etc), so I constantly had to reapply diluted K-PAK Colour Intensity to fix and maintain. Just didn’t end up how it was envisioned!
My change was drastic but gradual. I quit coloring my hair and let it go gray. I really love it and wish I had done this years ago!
Yup! I had super long Rapunzel hair as a kid, and I didn’t have anything more than a trim until I was in grad 5 & chopped it into a bob (it wasn’t cute for an 11 year old who didn’t know how to style it, hah!). I grew it out a bit but in grade 8/9 I had that popular super short/ flipped up in the back hairstyle. I got one of those bleach kits with the caps and ‘highlighted’ my hair haha. It was nice actually! But I got tired of the blondish (which doesn’t suit my colouring much anyway) & I got some blue Manic Panic. It was actually pretty natural looking because my hair is naturally very dark. I dyed my hair red on occasion, and black for a few late teen years until graduation (my hair goes a bit red in the sun, so black just seemed to level it out a bit for me). I grew it out to mermaid lengths again & in 2008 after 3 months of backpacking throughout Europe I chopped it all off into a short bob again! This time a bit Sienna Miller-y & it cut out any dye that was left in my hair. I’ve been growing it out ever since, so it’s a bit mermaid-y again, ‘virgin’ hair more than halfway down my back. I’ve been considering balayage or some kind of purple for months! But I can’t seem to commit, since I may want to donate my hair!
I cut my hair pretty short at one point. It looked really great right out of the salon, but then I just wasn’t able to style it to make it look good. I’m really clueless when it comes to hair styling!
I used to change my color every month until I let my hairstylist try to take my dark brown/almost black hair to blonde. Double processing killed my hair; it felt like wet moss, and clumps were breaking off in my hands. So, instead of a drastic color change, I left with a drastic cut – a Jean Seberg pixie that was about an inch long, if that. Needless to say, ever since then I have remained a brunette.
Yes I chopped off almost 2 feet of hair and dyed it black cherry!
All the time! Life’s too short for boring hair 🙂
Not yet, but next month I’m going from chocolate brown to light/white blonde. Wish me good luck. (so scared!) I need a change in my life, so I’m totally going for it!
All the time! A year ago I had pitch black super long hair and once I got it back to my own dark brown colour I started having fun with it, a pink-lilac ombré, then a dark purple ombré, cotton candy pink ombré.. then I cut half of it off, dyed it neon pink a couple months later and then I cut off even more and dyed it blue. Which is what it currently looks like. I like big hair changes 🙂
I just went Rose Gold on Wednesday! It’s a blush pink. Definitely out of my comfort zone but you only live once. 🙂
that would be awesome!
Yes. I have superstraight but thick hair and a friend convinced me to have a soft perm. I never repeated the style.Not for me.
When I was 15, I went from a medium brown hair color to a light auburn red color. It did look good and I kept it for a few years, but it was so hard to get rid of. To change that up I got blond highlights. It got to be to expensive for highlights, so I decided to go back to my natural color. It took nearly 10 years to get rid of all the colors I had in my hair but now I’m back to my natural color. Until I start to go grey, I’ll be leaving my hair color alone. My hair does get lighter in the summer though. So much so that my stylist asked me if I dyed my hair. Nope. It was the sun 😉
I fought with my hairdresser, who said I’d look old and tired, but, after firing her (!), I let my natural blonde hair grow in white. With no coloring effects, it has become curly, with the curl pattern pretty consistent all over my head. I get compliments everywhere I go and I am so glad I found a new hairdresser and went with my gut on this one.
Good on you!
No – my hair colour is unique as it is – a red/blonde/auburn – I inherited this hair colour from my maternal grandmother. I also haven’t changed my hair style because it really suits me and is easy to maintain.
What you see in my photo is my natural colour. I have always loved it.
Hair styles: A couple years ago, I went from hair down to my butt to a razored, layered bob like Karlie Kloss had. I kept it about six months, and have been growing it out again. Now it’s past my shoulders, although I have been getting the split, razored edges trimmed off.
In the 80s and 90s I had phases of highlighted bangs, pixie cuts, and shaved sides and back with longer tops. I tried to go blonde once when I was 14-15, but it turned out strawberry blonde. I’ve had temporary streaks of blue and purple.
Color: I’m naturally a medium brunette who bleaches bright ginger orange-red with even a little sun exposure (grandma was a redhead; dad had light auburn hair). I don’t like the orangish shade on me, though it’s beautiful on so many others. So over the last decade or so, I’ve gone through several shades of auburn: mostly brownish auburn, dark purplish auburn, dark mostly reddish auburn. The last few years I’ve been using L’oreal Excellence HiColor Reds for Dark Hair Only in Red Hot. Everyone says it’s the perfect color on me, and I love it.
When I was 8, I cut my hair from a few inches past my shoulders to a bob. It was cute and I’m glad I did it, but wouldn’t do it now. Long layers definitely suit me best 🙂
I went natural almost two years ago, and chopped off most of my hair (which was a little longer than shoulder-length) to avoid having to deal with transitioning hair. Having short hair was fun and all, but now I’m back to where I started, only with healthy, curly, happy hair. Colorwise, I haven’t done anything crazier than highlights!
Oh yes! When I was about 29 or 30, I had shoulder length light brown highlighted hair. I was at the salon for my regular appt. and my stylist suggested we try something different. I said (very quickly), “let’s do it!” I left the salon with a darling pixie haircut that was dyed the brightest shade of reddish gold ever! (it was like real red hair, not like a red crayon) To my surprise, I got so many double takes and then RAVES from everyone about how good it looked. My hubs came home from work and when he saw me his jaw dropped. He looked at me for the longest time and finally said, “it’s great!” I wore my hair like that for about 5 years and never ever regretted my decision.
I changed my hair colour relatively drastically when I was about 17 or 18 – dyed it from dark blonde to super dark, red-tinted brown. People loved it, and I thought it was much cooler than my natural hair colour, but I have since grown to appreciate that my natural colour goes with almost every color of clothing (at least without making an obvious clash, hah!).
…that and I can’t afford to get my hair dyed at the moment, since I haven’t had it cut in 5 years and can now sit on it… 😛 (does that count as a drastic change? It was gradual, LOL!)
Well, I’ve been dyeing my hair different colors since I was 13. Purple, red, pink, blue, green, orange, blonde…You name it; I was every color of the rainbow! The most drastic one was probably over the summer when I dyed it all back to black. (:
I have dark brown hair naturally and I’ve dyed it red a few times but the color never showed up until the sun turned it a chocolate brown. In January I felt a spontaneous need to dye it. I told my hairdresser I wanted the light brown style that Rihanna had at the 2014 Grammys and instead I ended up having light brown hair with blonde highlights. I was so shocked and couldn’t recognize myself. It took a few weeks to get used to but now I love it.
3 years ago I donated 24″ of my butt-length hair to Wigs for Kids, then shaved off what was left.
I kept it shaved for a year, then I had a mohawk for a year, and now I have an asymmetrical bob.
All the time. I love the ability to change the style and color of my hair as much as I can. It always uplifts my spirit, and I don’t get stuck in a rut. Once, my own father didn’t recognize me at a holiday function, but then again, I had 18 inches of hair cut off into the cutest retro bob ala Louise Brooks. I also had a red Cellophane applied to cover up some grey hair right in front. It is the way I can drastically change my appearance and it isn’t permanent. I can do it often as well.
I have several times. Blonde to redhead, blonde to brunette, cutting off 6+ inches of hair… I’ve hated it, I’ve loved it, I’ve been indifferent…. I think the times I truly loved it was when I was so fed up with what I had that anything, short of shaving my head, would have been better.
Yes. I used to wear my hair really long but it’s fine and tangled, so I was always having to wear it up. I’d grow it long and then cut it off to about shoulder-length and donate it. I did that twice, but the second time I went really short (like about 3″) and liked it so much I can’t bring myself to grow it out again. I’ve had it short for years now and even tho I have to use more product now to get it styled after I wash it, it’s much easier to maintain and no more bad hair days! Well, until I decided to go from dark to platinum blonde. It didn’t work and turned it creamsicle color and made a gummy mess out of it! It’s finally about half grown out from that debacle and with the roots growing in darker it actually looks cooler than when it was all this funky yellowish blonde. My coloring is not good for being blonde, which I should have remembered from high school but I thought white platinum blonde would have been so cool. It was just too big a change from the dark color it was, so it went to carrot orange instead of white. Thank god for toners and a short style that should be grown out in another 6 weeks or so.
Yep! When I was 14, I dyed my hair black for the first time and have been dyeing it black on and off since then (about to be 25 on Friday). I also had anywhere from shoulder length to mid-back length hair for years until I went straight into a pixie cut a few years ago. I’ve had very short hair since then.
I’ve also completely buzzed all of my hair off to peach fuzz length, bleached and toned platinum blonde (which lasted a week because I wasn’t up for the maintenance), and have had a mohawk that I’d wear down without spiking.
My hair has been long most of my life, from just above shoulder length to butt length. It is far ne, thick, and absolutely straight. It will accept no other way. During brief insane periods in my life, I have allowed a hairdresser try something new, meaning short layers and or perm. ,I cried for days as it only looked good in the salon. The perms blistered my scalp no matter what brand or hair dresser. These we high end salons, not Joe Blows $5 cuts.
I cried for weeks and have not done it again for over 30 years. I do have highlights done with no problems or allergic reaction. Hair is now just a bit longer than shoulder length. Love it.
I did that once and cut my hair really short but that didn’t worked for me .. so i grew them out again 😀
my most drastic was This past August following 4 surgeries requiring incisions through my scalp/skull which the surgeons shaved only around the areas to try to save my hair.In hindsight, they knew they should have shaved it all because I wound up with a massive, life threatening infection which actually required them to remove the device that was implanted that was helping my condition. Anyway, I was left with some wonky looking hair. So, my hairdresser and I decided the best thing to do was to chop and start a new. I wanted to donate if possible. We cut about 10″ off my mid-back length hair and donated to a charity for wigs for children who had been victims of cancer. I loved it leaving the salon! So light feeling and bouncy…totally changed my look. Flash to the next morning when it needed to be styled..and I hated it, lol! So, it;s been growing since! The thing with short hair is you HAVE to fix it. Long hair it can be pulled pack,piled in a bun, an updo, braided..your good to go and lazy. That’s me. I will sit and do makeup for ever. But, I want to throw my hair and outfit together in a few minutes and be done. So, I’m just going to grow it forever now..hippie style..to my butt if it makes it! Colors..oh,lord..I have seen just about all. But, at this point in life, I try to stick closer to my natural hue to decrease the upkeep and obvious upkeep. I really loved the red/auburns. The fade is so quick tho.. iwa sn the salon every 3-4 weeks and using the most expensive stuff and wearing greasy hair most days. So. i am pretty much deep brown with various tones of low and highlights to mix it up.
I always had very long (but healthy) stick-straight hair–even professional stylists weren’t able to coax my hair into curls for more than an hour. So, jealous of my many naturally-curly friends, finally permed it. The tight curls fell out in about a week, but then I had Julia-Stiles-in-“10-Things-I-Hate-About-You” waves for another month and loved it. 🙂 And then it went straight again. Lame.
I also chopped off about twenty inches of hair when I went in for a trim once.
Once I did a boy cut and I hated it…made my face look so round. Took me so long to grow it all back out
I have several times! My hair is naturally almost black and I’ve dyed it blonde, red, pink and purple at various times (not all at the same time). I’ve also drastically changed my hair in terms of length. I usually like my hair a bit past my shoulders but decided to get a pixie cut on a whim many years ago.
My hair is naturally black. Decided in my late teens I would try to go blonde. Buckets of bleach and a horribly dry scalp later.. I was an orange haired nightmare. Cut it off to my shoulders once too, even though I knew I look awful with shorter hair. Since then.. I haven’t cut it at all. Over 4 years later.
Yes! I’m a natural blonde and I’ve dyed my hair everything from strawberry blonde, to orange, to true red. It’s a pretty coppery red shade right now, which wasn’t exactly planned… I had gone to a different salon days before getting the red for blonde highlights and they messed it up so badly, the new salon said the only way to fix it would be to cover it with a darker color. *Sigh*, and the one time I was digging my blonde hair, too! Getting used to having a bold color change in my life again…
All the time! I think of hair as an accessory, I love trying to new styles, from braids to twist outs to short pixie cuts and through it all I remember to tell myself that “it’s just hair!”
Oh yes. I feel out of my element with my natural hair color. I currently have blue, silver, and grey hair!