Go blonder to cover grays?

[newspapers]

Has anyone here with dark hair gone progressively blonder to make the gray not stand out as much? If so, what was your process/the upkeep like? My hair grows very quickly and the gray shows up within a week or so of coloring. My color is pretty dark, so it stands out. I have googled, but there's a lot of info out there, and I wanted to do a quick crowdsource here. 

[lifesaverz]

My mom did this for a long time. It seemed to work pretty well, because the lightness of the blonde & grey/white was so similar. Hers grew fast as well, & she used to apply a special color powder product on the roots of her hair as it grew out, that matched the blonde. She did have to dye it frequently though. Eventually after many years of doing that she grew it out.

[cnf]

I'm no help because I usually go dark when I dye my hair. I've been putting off dealing with my grays because I don't want to go lighter, but there's way too many to pluck at this point. Ugh.

[jaygee]

Me!

It has been a game changer for me. My hair grows so fast and I have always dyed it and the darker colors were showing grays on my roots after 1-2 weeks in the salon. I’m already there every 5-6 weeks and just can’t commit to going more than that.

I am on the following schedule of alternating appointments every 5-6 weeks.

Appointment one:
Highlights and full color
Cut

Appointment two:
Root touch up
Cut if needed (but often skip given my current hair length)

[jaygee]

It helps with the grays at my part line, which is what was my problem with going darker.

The grays at my temples and front start to bother me after about 4-5 weeks so I just style my hair differently until my appointment. That week is this week for me. So less pulling it back and no tucking behind my ears this week. lol.

[potatocakes]

I don't dye, but do this naturally (my hair is auburn-brown, and easily gets highlighted blonde) so by the end of summer my grays are mostly blended, and then about this time of year they start getting really rough. I'd probably do what jaygee suggests if I was going to color.

[trueblue]

My natural color is a medium to dark brown. I do a full (lived in) bayalage with blond or copper twice a year (blond spring/summer; copper fall/winter) and then a root tap/smudge 3 months later. It doesn’t get them all but it’s enough that it’s hard to pick out the grays for the blinds.


Eta: once the gray starts approaching > 50% of my hair color I am going to switch to an ashy brown to blend what youthful color I have left into the gray so eventually I will just be all gray without the super noticeable gray streaks, if that makes sense.

[toebeans]

This is basically how I transitioned to gray. I kept going lighter (medium brown is my natural color) once I went light enough to get a good blend I just let it grow out. This will work even if your goal is just to blend vs let the gray come in. I can post pics if you want.

[AmyG]

That's what my mom did with at home color and mil did at the salon.
I sorta do it at home dye too except at the ears I have white and also a darker grey color to make salt and pepperthst grows fastest. When it starts to grow out I try to cover eith a different styling and then put dye my hair again on my to do list.

My bils s/o has been dying her hair Dark to cover grey. She's in her 70s now but still working. She wants to grow out but not go thru that do she's buying a wig lol

[newspapers]

Apr 26, 2024 10:33:49 GMT -6 toebeans said:

This is basically how I transitioned to gray. I kept going lighter (medium brown is my natural color) once I went light enough to get a good blend I just let it grow out. This will work even if your goal is just to blend vs let the gray come in. I can post pics if you want.

Yes, pics would be helpful! Thanks

[toebeans]

Apr 26, 2024 13:57:12 GMT -6 newspapers said:

Apr 26, 2024 10:33:49 GMT -6 toebeans said:

This is basically how I transitioned to gray. I kept going lighter (medium brown is my natural color) once I went light enough to get a good blend I just let it grow out. This will work even if your goal is just to blend vs let the gray come in. I can post pics if you want.

Yes, pics would be helpful! Thanks

Top one is last July, 2nd last August, 3rd early March and the last one is two weeks ago. In the bottom one all the blonde is nearly gone. Just the very ends are still highlights.

[leahcar]

I did bayalage to transition my greys. My natural color is very dark brown. My hair is probably only 25% grey, but the grey is super concentrated in the front (I'm like 90% grey on the front of my head and then just sparkles in the rest). I had been doing all over color for YEARS. When I could see my roots within a week of dying it, I decided it was time for something else.

I grew mine out while we were all locked down. Then I got blond bayalage done after I had grown out my other color for a year or so. I toned it every 8 weeks or so to keep it from being too brassy. Then I started chopping the color off once my roots grew enough. It was around a 2 year process total to get all the color grown out. The bayalage helped me avoid the harsh transition. Now my hair is totally natural.

It's definitely much healthier now! I still have moments of not being ready for the grey. Overall- I'm glad I did it though. It's very freeing to spend significantly less time on my hair.

[lucilleaustero]

My natural was a light brown, but I started transitioning to cover gray a few years back. I mean, I have gone back and forth between brown and blonde forever. But, when my grays came in strong, I started with a warmer and darker blonde (first pic) and worked my way to a lighter blonde that was super forgiving with grays (second pic). Then I destroyed all my progress by going full red, lol.

[bearfootzcontinued]

Last year I was coloring my hair at home to save money and stuck close to my natural color, which these days appears to be a mousy/dark brown. But between hair loss and more grays I've been going lighter so that neither are as noticeable.

[boxerific]

I'm in your boat and started about a year ago with embracing my gray. Once I decided I wanted to do it, my stylist stopped covering my roots and started with highlights to help blend the grays. She told me that it would significantly lighten my hair, but I was okay with it, because I was over the harsh line at my roots. My following appointment, she did a few lowlights and then toned it. Last time, I only did toner. I'm able to space my appointments out much farther, and I've been very happy with how it's grown and it doesn't look terrible. I have an appointment in 2 weeks and will see what she suggests, but I'm leaning towards only a toner again just to take some of the warmth out.