Option 1: Start Using a Natural Shade. Ash or Beige shades will start looking transparent, whereas a Natural shade has the fuller pigment needed to cover greys. If you still love a Cool hue, try a 50/50 Colour mixture (1/2 Natural Hair Colour, 1/2 Cool Hair Colour) for better coverage with your favourite reflect.
Use a Permanent Color
If your client hopes to cover up truly stubborn, color-resistant grays, a permanent color Opens in a new tab pigment is going to offer the most concentrated result.
According to hair biology experts and styling experts alike, grey hair is more resistant to color than younger hair because of its texture. The relative lack of natural oils in the hair compared to younger hair make it a rougher surface that tends to reject the color being applied, especially around the roots.
If you're not sure how to pick your color, go lighter because it's better for blending and concealing grays. The best blonde hair color to cover gray hair is something light and ashy, like the L'Oréal Paris Excellence Créme Permanent Triple Care Hair Color in Light Ash Blonde.
Strategically add lighter highlights.
See, grays stand out more when contrasted against a single shade—especially a darker color—be it your natural hue or a single-process dye. This way, too, if any new areas of gray come in, they don't seem so obvious.
Gray hair is typically more coarse and more difficult to cover. Using a permanent hair color will give you the best coverage. It also helps if you choose a target color that is neutral or has some gold or red tones in it. Ash colors generally do not cover gray hair on their own.
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.
1. Blonde Highlights. There are three reasons we recommend blonde highlights Opens in a new tab when covering grays. First up, the difference between blonde and silver shades is subtle, so gray roots won't appear as visible - even if it's been six to eight weeks since you last went to the salon.
Root powder works similar to root spray. Between permanent dyes, root powder is a simple way to cover your grays. Apply with a brush over your gray roots until your grays are no longer visible. As with root spray, this is a temporary coverage solution that washes out.
Covering your gray hair at home is simple in theory — you select the correct color of boxed hair dye, apply and voilà. But even if you do everything right, you may be left with some stubborn gray hairs that end up showing through the dye.
Highlights can also be beneficial when covering up greying hair or making the grow-out process of going grey a bit more manageable. Using highlights to cover greys can be a great option if you want to extend the time between salon visits. Highlights help disguise grey hair in a more natural way than all-over color.
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.
The good news is, unlike grey on dark hair, grey on blonde tends to blend a little more seamlessly, so when the post-colour regrowth comes through, clients get a softer, subtler line.
Because of its natural properties, baking soda can help restore volume and shine to those grey tresses whilst protecting them from the elements. Plus, the pH balance of vinegar helps to keep your hair hydrated, healthy and vibrant.
Over time, hair follicles produce less oil, so gray hair tends to be coarser, drier and less supple, making dyeing gray hair often more complicated. But it's worth it!
Does ash brown cover gray? If gray coverage is your priority, ash brown hair is a great choice, particularly if you're more interested in seamlessly blending your grays rather than total annihilation of every single silver hair on your head.
A root smudge or root shadow is one of the most effective ways of covering gray strands on hair with highlights. Not only does it guarantee full, even coverage, but it also gives the whole highlighted look a more natural-looking feel.
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.
Balayage Highlights for Gray Hair
Another excellent option for gray hair is creating gray and white highlights to mix with natural grays for a fun and gorgeous effect. With this approach, it's not about hiding gray hairs, but rather, blending them into the hair to make them even more visible.
Color Wow Root Cover Up
"You will have to color your hair about every four weeks to refresh your gray color," Valles shares. "If you're sporting a natural semi-permanent color until your gray fully grows out, after about two weeks you will begin to get a shadow of a root."
Grays go first...apply color to your grays before the rest of your hair. Give the grays a bit more time. Extend processing to 45 minutes, and don't start timing until your color is fully applied.
We suggest opting for an all-over color service to fully mask every gray hair on your head with a uniform shade. However, highlighting may be better if your goal is seamlessly blending your grays.
Adding highlights to your dark hair is one of the easiest ways to disguise any unsightly grays, as the lightened strands flawlessly camouflage any gray hairs that would otherwise create a harsh contrast against your dark base.