Coloring Grays

[rowantree]

Does anyone else have this problem & if so, what do you use? My natural hair color is medium/dark brown. The grays are taking over on the top of my head and I've found that hair color isn't covering all of the grays. I am always still left with a small patch at the front! I always cover this area first when coloring my hair. I hate using permanent hair color because of the roots, but it seems to cover better than Natural Instincts, so that's what I've been using. Now when I color my hair, the top of my head is always waaaay lighter than the rest because of the gray. So my hair color looks...odd. I tried using a lighter shade (light golden brown instead of medium brown) and was rewarded with reddish hair on top (because of the gray) and dark brown everywhere else.

Do I go to a salon & have my entire head lightened & keep a lighter color or is there any way I can keep the brown and still cover the gray?

Thanks in advance for any & all advice!

Kelly

 

[Then]

Originally Posted by rowantree Does anyone else have this problem & if so, what do you use? My natural hair color is medium/dark brown. The grays are taking over on the top of my head and I've found that hair color isn't covering all of the grays. I am always still left with a small patch at the front! I always cover this area first when coloring my hair. I hate using permanent hair color because of the roots, but it seems to cover better than Natural Instincts, so that's what I've been using. Now when I color my hair, the top of my head is always waaaay lighter than the rest because of the gray. So my hair color looks...odd. I tried using a lighter shade (light golden brown instead of medium brown) and was rewarded with reddish hair on top (because of the gray) and dark brown everywhere else.

Do I go to a salon & have my entire head lightened & keep a lighter color or is there any way I can keep the brown and still cover the gray?

Thanks in advance for any & all advice!

Kelly

I have the same color of hair and same problem as you do. I went to a salon and the stylist recommended that I have my roots touched up and have some hi and low lights put in. I love it. It is a lot of upkeep though. I have the hi and low lights done every 4 months and the roots are tuched up monthly. The color match is better as well and it covers better because she activates the color with heat.

 

[HarleyMom]

Hi Rowantree, good to see you

. I have the same problem with my gray hair, it's almost like it repels color, I'm kinda letting my hair go gray for now, believe it or not my hubby likes it and my daughters think it looks cool. The hair that frames my face has always been a few shades lighter then the rest of my hair, so right now I have gray and almost blond in the front and gray and med. brown in the back, weird huh? My youngest daughter and one of my nieces have the same thing, guess it's just the pigmentation.

 

[rowantree]

Hi Then! I love the idea of hi & low lights, as well as having my roots touched up at a salon monthly instead of buying whatever is on sale & doing it myself. Will have to look into that, I'm sure it won't be inexpensive but oh how nice it would be!

Hey, HarleyMom, LOL was thinking of just going gray myself, only problem is, it's only at the top, kinda makes me look bald compared to the dark brown everywhere else!

I just feel pretty weird, I think I'm the oldest mom in my daughter's 3rd grade class...and I still have yet to get my little Buddha in kindergarten. So while I'd love to "go natural", at the same time I want to look younger so I fit in at the class parties. ROFLMAO!!! So incredibly sad but true!

 

[HarleyMom]

I understand how ya feel, I think I am just at that IDGAF age

 

[NYAngel98]

You guys are too funny! LOL

I dont have the gray problem yet myself... hopefully it stays FAR away for a LONG time! lol

My mom has black hair - and she either uses a soft black (drugstore - Garnier Nutrisse, or Garnier 100% color) or a dark brown Italian professional dye (LK by Lisap) as european made colors are usually darker than USA made ones for some reason - so their dark brown looks black - and she just does the roots. Seems to come out black every time -

Are you leaving it on long enough? Those grays are coarse & very resilient to color, and usually take a lot longer to process than pigmented hair. If you are doing it yourself, I would get a shade darker than your hair is now... do the roots first, then comb thru to the ends... it might be darker than you're used to - but it will oxidize and lighten up a bit... yet the roots usually will still blend in with the dark color. My mom has even used the "Just 5" for men color... she loves that stuff!

But that she'll just do a root touch-up... they don't give you enough to do a whole head, usually it's a small kit. But you'll get a few applications out of it. It seems to be pretty strong, being men only dye their hair usually to just cover grey hair.

 

[Pauline]

Hi rowantree,

Mmmm this is a tricky one. I would ask if one of your friends could do your roots for you,but guaranteeing a colour match would be difficult. Perhaps you could try a tone on tone colourant semi colorant.Ime not great with hair dyes myself but i use Movida which is semi permanent.

 

[NYAngel98]

Originally Posted by Pauline Hi rowantree,Mmmm this is a tricky one. I would ask if one of your friends could do your roots for you,but guaranteeing a colour match would be difficult. Perhaps you could try a tone on tone colourant semi colorant.Ime not great with hair dyes myself but i use Movida which is semi permanent.

Well, your hair is absolutly beautiful Missy!!! So you're doing something right!

 

[rowantree]

Well I guess I'll have to look into getting highlights maybe. Why don't they have a haircolor that is gray, so you can match your gray instead of covering it?

 

[Then]

Originally Posted by rowantree Well I guess I'll have to look into getting highlights maybe. Why don't they have a haircolor that is gray, so you can match your gray instead of covering it?

I have often wondered the same thing.