New to forum - any advice appreciated

I'm 42 years young. Menopause. When I was growing up, my hair was stick straight and slick. Although my hair was auburn to blonde with every shade in between growing up, as I entered my teens, my hair got darker - first as a "dishwater blonde" to a medium brown shade. During the summer, the hair would lighten.

As I have gotten older, my hair has gotten darker and remains a medium brown. I cannot stand the dark hair. So, for the past 24 years, I have dyed my hair every shade of blonde...highlights...all professionally or at home with a kit. My hair grows very fast.

Although my stick straight hair would always hold a curl, I would get a perm every once awhile - to add some body to the stick straightness. I may have had 5 perms in my life.

Fifteen years ago, I went for a perm. Haven't had one since. Have dyed my hair alot in that 15 years - maybe once every 6 weeks or so.

Would you believe that for the past 15 years, my hair has been wavy?? Seriously...all I do is shampoo, conditioner, sometimes a gel or mousse just to control frizz, finger my hair, let it dry natural or with a hair dryer - and my hair comes out looking like beachy waves or the bed head look = and I LOVE IT...looks good, feels good, and no amount of wind flattens it!!! If I do curl it - with iron or rollers - two or three times a year, my hair turns into a lion mane.

Now the hairdresser assured me my new hair texture of a little rough and wavy, was NOT a permanent result of the perm...but rather a hormone shift - which later was confirmed by doctor....now I'm menopause.

I've been letting my hair grow out and just haven't had time for a coloring. Past my brastrap now. I have about 3 inches of roots = which are medium brown...rest of the hair is light/medium blonde...hey Ombre is IN....and since I've not colored in 2 months, maybe 10 weeks at max...I have noticed some things about the new root growth....that I've not noticed before because I haven't seen my natural hair this much is 24 years!

1 - new growth is definitely medium brown
2 - although all of my hair is soft - nothing feels like "straw"....there is a noticeable difference in the root growth from the rest of the still colored hair....root growth is slick, straight...and feels "thinner" if that makes sense...and feels healthy just in a different way than the rest of my hair.

My question....

if I let my hair go back to it's natural color - will I loose my beachy waves/bed head easy care look?? Is that even possible??

I really don't like the upkeep of coloring my roots every 6 weeks...as you can imagine, after 24 years. I've been playing with the idea of letting the natural color grow out for awhile now...and maybe getting a fresh new pixie style cut to get rid of all the dye - just for a change of pace.

My hair has been long most of my life - past shoulders at least, when I was younger down past my butt.

Anyone else have this experience?