Demi-Permanent or Semi-Permanent Color You can also try semi-permanent Color Fresh for up to 30% coverage. While a demi-permanent or semi-permanent hair color can be applied to any level of gray, it's often used to camouflage early grays, giving 30-70% coverage.
“Opaque demi-permanent hair color can cover gray hair, but hair type and quality plays a factor. The coarser the hair, the more likely a permanent color option is needed,” says Usher. “If a client is just turning gray, and the texture is medium to fine, demi-permanent is a great option.
Opt for highlights.
If you want to disguise grays while adding dimension to your mane, ask your stylist for highlights. Highlights are a excellent option for grey hair coverage for all hair types because they're lower maintenance compared to coloring your entire head.
If you add the right hair colour, your 'grey' hair will act as highlights, giving you a completely new look that will get you noticed for all the right reasons. Professional colourists usually recommend a darker shade for your roots and a lighter shade that matches your natural hair for the rest.
Neutral shades like soft blonde, mushroom brown, light copper, and caramel blonde balayage are the easiest to blend gray into (and maintain over time without wanting to shave your hair off).
A lot of colors, actually. The natural salt 'n' pepper look will work, as described above. The most popular easy ways to disguise the grays among women are blonde highlights, silver balayage, soft lowlights, icy and ashy hair dyes, red and brown colors.
“Highlights can be used as a tool to help camouflage gray, especially if your hair is dark blonde or lighter but will never give 100 percent coverage,” explains Papanikolas. (Editor's Tip: If you prefer to mask your grays completely, we recommend checking out our guide on permanent vs.
Always Use a 20 Volume Developer
Since there is no pigment, there is no need to lift.
“A short haircut lets you hide or blend the gray more compared to longer haircuts.
In addition to a stubborn cuticle, gray hair can also sometimes grow in a different texture, making it hard for the hair to lay flat and become fully submerged in the root color application. Applying perm paper over these hairs pushes it down to the root where there is color and heat so it can really process.
Timing. Timing is 30 minutes for standard color application; 45 minutes for maximum gray coverage and for high-lift shades. Typically, with permanent color, the first 15 minutes provide time for the peroxide and ammonia to open the cuticle and penetrate into the cortex to lighten natural pigment.
But in lowlighting gray hair, you can dye even the stray silver strands as well. As for the overall process, highlights take longer to do and need more maintenance compared to lowlights. Ultimately, we prefer lowlights for gray hair.
The Final Takeaway
"If you have gray and it bothers you, I say go for a single process," says Brown. "If you have slight gray or you are blonde with gray, highlights might be a better choice to disguise the gray instead of covering." If gray hair isn't an issue, Brown says to consider highlights.
Use an All-Over Hair Color
If blending your gray with highlights isn't for you, you can choose to cover your gray hair completely with an all-over hair color. For a lower-maintenance plan for brunettes, go with a shade that's not too much darker than the gray that's appearing in your hair.
Can balayage cover grey hair? This question is asked a lot, as many people are interested in whether they can get a balayage to cover grey hair or grey roots as they age. And the good news is, yes, you can! Balayage is a great solution to dealing with grey strands and making your hair look youthful again.
Here's what we found: Average age redheads start going gray:30. Average age brunette women start going gray:32. Average age blonde women start going gray:35.
Chocolate, deep caramel and toffee, rich auburn reds and deep blonde tones all work, but try to avoid going too light or insipid feeling with colours. Grey is usually naturally warm, and it's usually best to embrace and even enhance this rather than trying to cool things down with blue tones.
It depends on the shade of grey. With a white-ish grey you might get away with putting blonde on it; if you're a steely grey it won't cover it. Highlights might be better; you could blend the grey in for a silver-blonde look.
Why? Grey Hair has lost all its Natural pigment, leaving little for your Hair Colour pigment to grab onto or build off.
Therefore the silver hair tends to fade to blonde, regardless of whether you apply permanent or semi-permanent silver hair colour. If you don't want all your hair entirely influenced by the silver colour popularity, you can always opt for the ever beautiful silver ash grey by our master stylist, Jen.