How long after surgery before you can color your hair?

I'm not vain about allot of things except the gray in my hair.........  I am only 39 years old and I am not ready to go natural.


So how long should I wait after surgery before coloring my hair again, it's very noticeable.  Should I color it a couple of days before I go in for surgery?

Thanks for all your responses.
Kim

I can't think of a medical reason you couldn't color your hair anytime after surgery. But I doubt you'll have the energy to go sit in a not-so-comfy chair for two hours for at least a month.

I think getting your hair done right before surgery is a good plan. It gives you some wiggle room in scheduling the appointment after that. Maybe you can get that pre-op pedicure at the same time!

Oh, and your hair WILL start falling out about 3 mos. after surgery. Mine was pretty thick pre-op, and now it barely normal thickness. So far. But ye gods, it does come out by the handful right at the moment. Hope those little follicles don't take too long a break!

Good question, and one I hadn't thought of.  I'm not so diligent with my coloring, and I prefer to do it myself rather than go to the salon.   The last time I did it was April.  

I've noticed as it gets longer (haven't gotten it cut since April, either), I get beautiful natural highlights, and at that point, the silvery whites don't bother me at all.  I've had 'em since I was nine-ish; they could be hereditary.  Think Stacey from What Not to Wear, but not quite as bold; I saw a photo of my grandma; she was my age when she died and had the same issue, so I think it's hereditary.  But that's just me.  

I try to go VERY GENTLE with my store bought coloring; I don't buy permanent color any more, because when it grows out, the roots are ridiculous, and it's hard to go over if you have a really dark color that you use.  Even when you go to the salon, they have a tough time with their industrial strength products when you've used too much permanent home dye.  I settled on Excellence because Preference stunk to high Heaven of ammonia and didn't drip.   

BUT NOW I go demi-permanent with either Clairol Nice 'N Easy or Natural Instincts, or L'Oreal ColorSpa Moisture Actif.  The roots are not as noticeable as they grow out, I have experienced, and they don't stink or even have much ammonia, if at all.  

You might want to try the Paul Mitchell color shampoos or Aveda color conditioners.  I have them, and love 'em.  Best of all, they WORK.  The Aveda has a strong scent that takes some getting used to, but it rinses out.  The Goldwell mousse is also pretty capable of disguising with color.  

Paul Mitchell Color Care/Color Shampoos, Aveda Color Conditioner, Goldwell Colorance Color Styling Mousse

I colored mine with henna at just under 2 weeks - with the help of my husband - and it wore me out. Normal hair color would not have been so bad, but all the rinsing would be tiring. If you can rinse in a sink, great. My incisions were not too thrilled with me because I rinsed and rinsed in the shower. I should have waited a week.

I don't color my hair yet, but I wanted to express another vote to color your hair right before surgery.  I barely had the energy to wash my hair for a month or two after surgery.  The idea of sitting through a color session leaves me woozy.

Laura

I frosted my hair 2 nights before surgery.  It didn't come out very good, so I was in getting it fixed on day 7 after surgery, even drove myself out to the shop.  Only hard part was sitting in the rinsing chair.  But, I have very thin hair and it took her less than an hr to wrap it all up in foil and fix it.  I did wait for 6mo after to have it retouched up. 

I will tell you that I didn't color a couple of months before and waited a couple of months after wards to start coloring. However, I had so much hair fall out that it seemed to be a never ending job to cover my grays. I gave up for a couple of months until my hair stopped falling out.

I color mine at home and I'm not picky about brands.  I did it a week before surgery and went ahead and did it again 2 weeks ago...I was a little afraid it would come out wonky but it looked just fine.  I'm not heavily gray except around my temples.  BTW I found a wig store going out of business and went ahead and bought me one.  Hoping that if I am prepared, maybe I won't need it???

I colored mine maybe two weeks after surgery.

And I keep it colored now (bright cherry red front, black in the back) and do it at home. I have not noticed any MORE hair loss than what is normal due to maintaining the color. After all, it's not falling out because it's damaged, it's doing so at the root for completely different reasons.

do mine once a month, same bottle last all year. takes 5 mins. quicker than shaving. http://images.obesityhelp.com/_shared/images/smiley/msn/biggrin.gif