People use “gray,” “white” and “silver” interchangeably to describe hair that is turning or has turned. Its appearance — whether it looks, gray, white or silver — depends on how much natural color, or pigment, remains, experts say. Hair that has lost all its color typically appears white.
Grey hair has very little melanin, while white hair has no melanin at all. As you go through the aging process, your hair might turn grey before going completely white. For some, this process is so drastic that the hair simply turns silver and then white.
There is one key difference, however, and that is the metallic nature of silver. Grey is a flat color and silver often has a reflective property to it. To simplify it, grey is a mixture of black and white, and silver is a mixture of black and white with a pearly or metallic tint to it.
Whether you're a Gen Z-er who wants to mix up your look by going prematurely silver or you're someone who simply wants to make a seamless transition to gray hair for the first time, there are plenty of options for going silver at home.
The pigment in our hair is caused by melanin— the same pigment that is also responsible for our skin color. Gray hair is caused by a loss in melanin, whereas white hair does not have any melanin at all. As you age, your hair produces less and less melanin that leads your hair to appear gray, and then eventually white.
Typically, white people start going gray in their mid-30s, Asians in their late 30s, and Blacks in their mid-40s. Half of all people have a significant amount of gray hair by the time they turn 50.
Your hair turns gray or white from a loss of melanin, a pigment-producing component that produces melanocyte cells. These make up your natural hair and skin color. The less melanin you have, the lighter your hair color. Gray hair has minimal melanin, while white has none.
Choosing the Right Color For Your Greys
We recommend shades like Chocolate Brown, Mahogany, Praline and Light Brown to cover grey hair. However, if you are regular with your touch ups, going for darker shades of brown is still a good choice.
One of the many benefits of decorating with silver and grey is their versatility. From modern metallics to traditional charcoal greys, there is a shade to suit and can help make any house feel like a stylish and cosy home.
Gray blending is a subtle hair color application that oscillates between highlights and balayage. Like a game of chiaroscuro, the colorist will first lighten large sections of hair with a light balayage, then accentuate the effect on a few finer strands to blend in the gray hair naturally present.
Silver Gray is a cool gray color that actually reads as more of a mid-tone blue in many situations. It's a serene, calm color that translates beautifully to a variety of areas in your home. Is silver and gray the same color? They are quite similar in both undertones and the black and white make-up of both.
Warm skin tones, for example, look beautiful when silver hair has a very slight peachy hue to it. Cooler skin tones, however, really pop against silver hair with a bluish shimmer to it. Neutral skin tone? You're lucky and can pull off a whole range of silver shades!
Your hair doesn't turn gray — it grows that way.
A single hair grows for one to three years, then you shed it — and grow a new one. As you age, your new hairs are more likely to be white. "Every time the hair regenerates, you have to re-form these pigment-forming cells, and they wear out," says Oro.
Don't assume that grey hair makes you look older
Hair naturally loses pigment as we age, but stylist Paul Falltrick points out that the notion that grey hair makes you look older is increasingly becoming a misnomer: "Grey shades can be stereotyped as ageing, but a clean-looking grey is stunning" he says.
#3 Keep Your Hair Healthy
To keep your gray hair healthy, try to avoid over-using heat tools and styling products, as these can lead to unwanted yellow tones in your gray hair. If you do use heat tools, put them on the lowest setting and use a good thermal protectant.
Silver grey hair will look best on olive and fair skin with yellow undertones. If you have a pink tone, your skin may appear red and irritated with a cool grey hue.
For grey hair coverage, we generally recommend that you aim to color slightly lighter than the natural hair color level of your client. In this case we would suggest you go for a color starting in level 6 (Dark Blonde) or 7 (Blonde).
Purple shampoo has been used for decades by hairdressers, mostly to help tone and neutralize blonde and gray hair, getting rid of brassy or yellow tones for an overall more cool-toned look.
This violet and silver pigment shampoo and conditioner is ideal for brightening gray and silver locks, especially those prone to dullness and yellow brassy tones. After use, your gray hair is left looking and feeling brighter and healthier. Say goodbye to brassiness with the right toning shampoo for your hair hue.
Since baking soda is a scrubbing agent, washing your hair with it can gradually strip the dye from your locks. Baking soda can lighten all hair colors, but it might take a few washes to get your hair to the desired color.
As we get older, the pigment cells in our hair follicles gradually die. When there are fewer pigment cells in a hair follicle, that strand of hair will no longer contain as much melanin and will become a more transparent color — like gray, silver, or white — as it grows.
Despite the claims made online and by product marketers, it's not possible to reverse white hair if the cause is genetic. Once your hair follicles lose melanin, they can't produce it on their own. As melanin production slows, your hair turns gray, and then white when melanin production has completely stopped.
Gray or white hair is often associated with ageing. On average, Caucasians turn gray in their mid-30s, Asians in their late 30s and Africans in their early 40s. To know how gray and white hair occur, we first need to understand how we get our natural hair colors.