To start with, up until the pandemic, I did have my hair colored. I’ve been doing it on and off for over 20 years. I get the grey in my hair colored out to my natural color, a dark brown. Although the salons are now open, the place I used to go to is closed. I have been using the same hairdresser for so many years. They do have another place further away from me, but I haven’t had the chance to find out if she is still there.
My own hair is long, reaching down to the bra strap. Although I haven’t cut it in almost 2 years, it hasn’t really grown in length. I suspect the longer hairs break off, because I can see a lot more grey, so I know it is growing.
I have gone out with my own hair on occasion, just adding clip-on bangs to cover my forehead which screams MALE if exposed. I still do on occasion (you can’t go swimming with a wig on). But my hair, despite it’s length, is very fine. There is little body to it, and if I gather all the hair into a pony tail, it is similar to a woman gathering the hair in front of her ear. I flat iron the hair to keep it straight, but a little humidity and the ends start to curl up. Also, I found that grey hairs are wiry. By coloring my hair, it provides a coat around the hair so that it stays flat longer after flat ironing the hair than if I don’t color it.
But I do use wigs. Most are about the same length and color (dark brown to black). I like them for several reasons. The hair tends to frame my face, and have the bangs, which changes my face enough so I’m less likely to be recognized. With the hair a similar color, I don’t have to worry about wig caps, as my own hair just blends in under the wig hair. And I like the thickness of the wig hair better than the thinness of my own hair.
I also have a black wig with red highlights, and a red wig that I have worn only a couple of times. My friend was having a “red wig” party one year. I thought I’d look terrible with red hair and was planning on getting a “Raggedy Ann” wig. But looking for one, I found another wig online. I did a quick and dirty digital cut and paste job to compare the wig to my skin tone and it didn’t look bad, so I bought it. I think I only wore it 4 times though, one of which was in male mode as a Leprechaun.
I find most blond wigs don’t look good on my skin tone. When my friend was moving and selling items from her transformation business, I did find a dirty blond wig with brown highlights. The color looked OK, but because it didn’t have bangs, it wasn’t right for me.
Because I go out often in the same neighborhood and see the same people, it would look weird if I keep changing my hair color or style. It becomes obvious that I’m wearing a wig, which would raise the scrutiny of the people I see. So I tend to wear the same wig all the time. I’ll use a newer and slightly longer one if I’m going out with friends, although I’m having a little trouble with this one because it’s a bit small and I have to keep tugging it back on my head (yes it’s opened as big as possible inside; I may need to add a small extension).
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