Going Natural With Your Gray Hair
Color Gray Hair
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Tired of Coloring Gray Hair?
This question has come up often enough in my classes to know it’s blog-worthy. Just picture yourself down the road a few more years or decades whatever the case may be. You’ve been coloring gray hair since you can’t remember and now you are tired of the hassle and expense of touching up gray roots every 4 to 6 weeks. How do you go about going “au natural?”
“Color Gray Hair”
Most of you know you shouldn’t just let your hair grow out – way to scary! If you see someone using this strategy, please help them out with what you learn here. (The easiest solution you can give them is to go on a mission to find a hair color specialist.) Some women have been left without answers to this question and therefore think they have no alternative but to look hideous in the growing hair out process, or they just keep coloring gray hair when they really don’t want to.
So, first of all if your hair stylist “hems and haws” think twice and engage a hair colorist. You want a hair colorist who is confident in the strategy they are going to use. If your hair stylist seems shaky, there is a good reason. They are not sure what to do with color gray hair! If a hair stylist takes you on with this attitude, they are surely getting experience at your expense. Follow your instincts carefully on this one. If it just does not feel right, be assertive.
These are my suggestions:
- If your hair has been permanently colored or bleached, a short haircut will be the quickest. Then you can use a semi-permanent hair color or hair color rinse in your natural shade to blend till your hair grows out. You can have a professional blend your new growth by “low-lighting”. Low-lighting is just the opposite of highlighting. Depositing streaks of hair color using a semi-permanent hair color to blend gray hair until the old hair color is cut out. Your gray hair will start to come in naturally but without a line of demarcation.
- The darker your hair color is, the trickier the process becomes. The process of low-lighting hair may take a bit longer. This is why going with a short haircut would be a good idea. It will make the process much smoother and quicker.
Next time you place an order at Amazon take a peak at “Going Gray, Looking Great! by Diana Lewis Jewell,” she’s the guru on the topic.
Got a question, war story or comment about this topic? Click on the "Leave Your Comments" link at the very bottom of this article. Some of my best ideas for future articles come from reading reader comments. I'd love to hear from you!
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I have had blonde highlights put in at the salon for about two years now. THey do not quite cover my gray (my hair is medium brown with a salting of grey). I cannot double process my hair because it is naturally fine and weak so I want to grow out the blonde highlights and then either color the hair or leave it alone. In the meantime, would glazing help to cover the gray and blend the lightened color with the darker roots? I have long hair.
Comment by kathy — February 13, 2006 @ 11:30 pm
believe it or not i am ready to go gray well not exactly gray but i want my hair to be the exact color of say emmylou harris’ it is beautiful and my hair is naturally a medium strawberry blond with silver not gray streaks in the bang area how can i achieve this look see emmylou harris stumbles into grace website address not sure of
Comment by lilli titus — September 10, 2006 @ 5:51 pm
I cannot find any sites that show styles for the “older” woman, especially any styles for grey hair. I cannot colour my hair due to being exteremely allergic to any hair colouring products, but I am tired of the super short styles. I am presently growing out my hair and it is shoulder length and wavy/curly but fine. So, it stays curly from about the ears on down, but the top is flat. Any suggestions?
Comment by Annie — February 1, 2007 @ 7:55 pm
Please help! I had Dark brown hair. I am 53 yrs. young. Now my hair is mostly gray. My hair has always been extremely thick. The strands are individually thick and course. The graying hairs are really stiff. I want to keep my graying hair. However, I need help to soften it and make it brighter. Is there any product out there I can use. Please e-mail me the answer to my problem.
Comment by Betty — September 5, 2008 @ 8:44 pm
I AM GOING TO BE 58 THIS NOV. 17 AND ON MAR. 30 I SHAVED MY HEAD WITH CLIPPERS AT A BARBER SHOP CAUSE I JUST WANTED TO GO NATURAL AND MY HEAD IS ALOT OF WHITE AND SOME BLACK I THINK IT IS PRETTY VERY SOFT. I WOULD LIKE A NICE HAIR STYLE THAT WILL NOT MAKE ME LOOK OLD. ANY SUGGESTIONS WOULD BE NICE. MY HAIR IS PAST MY EARS NOW. HOPE YOU CAN HELP. THANKS ROCKY
Comment by ROCKY SNEED — November 1, 2008 @ 8:50 am
I’ve just turned 50 and decided to stop poisoning myself with hair colour. My scalp has been blistering and sore for the past few months each time I used a colour, even the ‘natural’ ones. My hair was red/brown and medium length. I found a good colourist, she used pure gentle bleach to strip out my old colour (lotsa foils) and cut my hair much shorter, to the delight of my friends. A month later, I had more colour stripped again using many foils and had a toner added to reduce the yellowing. This helped lots. Another month later and a shorter cut again, and stripping the remaining colour out of the whole lot, and my hair has never looked better and the comments have never been better. The regrowth was hardly noticeable, however the hair ends were a bit brittle, hence the shorter hair cuts. I’m almost there with about half my lengh very blonde (stripped) and half regrowth (varying shades of gray). I’m looking forward to what colour I’ll end up - a mix I think, white, silver and grey. I’m loving the process. I hope this encourages others to go natural.
Comment by Judy — February 14, 2009 @ 2:37 am
I’m almost 60 and stopped coloring my hair a couple of years ago because it just looked bad - red at the roots and nearly black on the ends - and I wanted a classier look. Plus, my scalp stayed sore and red all the time. The upkeep was expensive, time-consuming and just not fun any longer. To my delight, I found out during the growing out process that I have mostly shiny white hair, and as a white-haired woman I receive more compliments than I ever did as a brunette. The key to looking good is to have a young hairstyle - definitely no granny cuts allowed! I wear mine in a pageboy; in other words, straight and down to the top of my shoulders and turned under, with bangs. It’s called a bob now. It’s classy and easy and dramatic and even my husband loves it. It’s also very freeing to just be myself. Hope this encourages some of you to give it a try. I’m happy with my hair life again!
Comment by lin — March 20, 2009 @ 10:55 pm
I am forty years old and close to seventy percent gray and white-haired, the rest being remnants of auburn. My hair is shoulder length. My temples are pure white. My husband loves it, and I get compliments all the time from people who think it’s professionally done.
When I consider what I could spend money on, all I have to do is look at the crow’s feet around my eyes and there you go. Hair dye, or Roc Eye Cream?
Sigh. Roc Eye Cream. There’s just too much going South on this girl to worry about hair that looks fine.
Comment by daphne — July 14, 2009 @ 8:02 pm