Growing Out Gray Hair

Dyed

Growing out gray hair doesn't mean you have to give up coloring your hair. Whether you're just turning gray or have been dying the gray for ages, it's all about blending hues. Minor dye work can be done at home. If you need more intricate hues, such as lowlights and highlights, it's best to go to a professional hairstylist. 

• If you have just light amounts of grey, think about using the silver hair and matching dye to create highlights.

• If you have dyed hair with an obvious grow line, or go gray suddenly, use lowlights on your roots to help blend the dark hues. Use highlights on all your hair if you want to blend the light hues.

• If you have uneven patches of gray, think about having some platinum streaks put in to help even the patches out to a salt and pepper style.

Natural
Not feeling an urge to go for color? You can let gray hair grow in naturally and just use proper care to make it look its best. The biggest problem with gray hair is that it tends to get brittle and take on a yellow sheen.

• Hydrate your hair to prevent thin and brittle strands. This means using a deep conditioner that adds moisture, not oil, to your hair. You should also consider using a deep conditioning treatment once a week to help keep your hair healthy and thick.

• Use blue or purple shampoo once a week, or as directed by product, to help prevent your gray from going yellow. These shampoos are made especially with a blue tint to help neutralize the yellow hue all gray hair can get. However, if you use the blue tinted shampoo too often, you can end up with blue tinted hair.

• Keep your hair trimmed to prevent thinning and scraggly looking strands. As hair loses pigment and goes gray, it also often becomes thinner and more prone to damage. By regularly trimming your hair you help prevent already thin strands from splitting and looking messy.

• Use shine enhancing products if your gray seems dull and lifeless. A little shine serum will cover your strands in a glossy, light silicone. This will help bring your color alive from bland gray to sparkling silver.

Sooner or later, gray hair happens to all of us. People may fight it, color it, cut it or cover it, but those silver strands are still going to exist. Making gray hair gorgeous requires the same steps as making any hair shine: just accept its existence, find out its needs and care for it properly.

Regardless of whether you're touching up your gray hair with dye or growing it out naturally, remember to look for special gray hair products. Gray hair can have different needs than darker hair, and gray hair products will cater to these special needs.