If you are new here, I am a big advocate for embracing your grays. However, I also love to provide options for clients during their gray hair journey and let them make the best decision for their needs and lifestyle. Depending on how much gray you have, covering them with permanent dye can be timely and costly with routine salon visits. If you are coloring them at home, it become a pain with how frequent you need to color your roots and can lead to dark bands in your hair color. Lucky for you, I have some great options for ways to cover gray hair without dye, specifically permanent, and keep your hair low maintenance while still looking fresh.

1. Opt for highlights and lowlights to blend the grays

   Depending on how light or dark your hair is, what your goals are, and percentage of grays, will determine the ratio of highlights to lowlights you will need to blend the grays. The best part about this method is the grays start to blend into the highlights and the growout is much less noticeable.

2. Have your stylist apply an alkaline demi color gloss

   A demi color that is acidic will not cover gray as well as an alkaline option so you will want to make sure your stylist knows which demi color they use. A demi color will not completely cover your grays and it will fade between 4-6 weeks. Just like the first option, this will give a softer grow out

3. Embrace Temporary fixes for special occasions

   Maybe you are at a place in your gray hair journey where you really dont mind the grays most days, however there is the occasional special event where you would like to feel fresh. Using a root touch up spray or powder can be a great alternative to colors your grays as it simply washes out of your hair in the shower.

Tips For Covering Your Grays

Chances are if you are reading this blog article you already have some (or maybe a lot) of gray hairs. Here are my top tips for those who want do something about their grays but not sure what the best option is for how much gray they currently have. My tips mostly pertain to brunettes as gray hairs are more noticeable on darker hair.

Take a look at this chart to determine how much gray hair you have.

5-20% gray hair

if you fall into this group, I would suggest you start with a demi color or adding just a few highlights to blend the grays.

20%-50%

if you are in this range, you will want to opt for highlights and maybe some lowlights depending on your natural color. For example, if you are more of a brunette and you are closer to 50% gray, you will want to add lowlights.

50%-100% gray

if you are in this group, you will mostly want to do lowlights to help add color back into your hair, if you are a brunette and you’re just not ready to fully embrace the grays yet,