Grey / Gray Transition

Grey Hair Transition

Excerpt From
The ABCs How to Always Be Curly and Love It!
Tellwell Talent
This material may be protected by copyright.

“You’ve been dying to stop dyeing your hair for years and have decided it’s time to get off the color wagon. It’s a decision you could be making for many reasons. You may not want to commit to coloring your hair any longer because of the time, effort or money spent on color services. Maybe you want a healthier lifestyle and want to be free of the bondage of permanent color touch-ups and chemicals on your scalp! You may not even be coloring your hair to cover grays and have decided you want to grow in your own natural hair color. You’ll most likely now have to deal with the downside of the color transition, especially if stopping covering grays or grey or there’s a big difference between the color of your dyed hair and natural shade: the skunk line, which is the strong band, or demarcation line, where the natural hair color and dyed color meet. There are, however, some options to help as you grow out the dyed hair.

Quit Color Cold Turkey

“Persevere and live with the skunk line as your natural hair grows in. Get frequent trims to close the gap between your colored hair and the natural hair coming in at the root. Hair grows at a rate of about six inches a year (1/2 inch every two months), so it could take a little time to grow out, depending on your hair length.”

“Dark Hair Transition

If you are growing out hair that is dyed a darker color than your natural shade, consider semi-permanent or demi-permanent hair color formulas applied to the regrowth until the permanent hair color has been trimmed off.Semi-permanent colors don’t use developers or peroxide to process the color, so you can’t lift hair color to a lighter shade, and they last 6 to12 washes. Demi-permanent formulas use a low level of peroxide and last from 12 to 24 washes.Semi-permanent colors may not provide total coverage on your natural hair and may result in a tonal change that is translucent, because it doesn’t contain the amount of peroxide that permanent colors do.How long semi-permanent or demi-permanent colors last will depend on how well your hair holds color and how often you wash your hair.Trim hair every three months or so to remove the permanently colored ends; closing the gap between your natural hair and dyed ends takes time, depending on the length of your hair.Once you have trimmed off all the permanent-colored ends, you’ll be able to stop with the temporary color process, so the last color you do will fade and you can sport your natural color.

“Note: If you have really resistant hair that doesn’t color easily, even when you use permanent color, using temporary color may not be an option for you, because of the lower peroxide levels in these formulas. A color patch test done by your hairstylist will show how well the color will hold on your hair.”

“Light Hair / Blond Transition

If you have been dyeing your hair blond or a high lift shade, you may opt for highlights on your regrowth to gradually grow in your natural hair color. Highlights are permanent and can help break the stark contrast of the demarcation line as you grow out your blond ends.If you are transitioning to grey from hair that was dyed blond, you could choose to do lowlights in a demi-permanent lighter brown color (lowlights in too dark a tone will make you look stripy). The lowlights will add a little dimension to your roots and down the previously colored ends to help with the stark look of your natural gray hair growing in. You can apply both highlights and lowlights from roots to ends until you grow in your natural color. Both will help break up the demarcation line to make the color transition easier for you to live with.Get a trim every three months or so to close the gap between the colored blond ends and the natural hair growth.

“My Natural Grey/Gray Color Is Boring and Blah!”

You can add highlights (which are permanent), or semi-permanent or demi-permanent lowlights if you don’t want to commit to a permanent color that will fade out.Both these color techniques are applied away from the scalp, so chemicals are not processing on your skin, making them healthier color options.Highlights will nicely brighten up the grey monotone, while the lightness provided by the highlights will give the illusion of more volume to the hair.Applying lowlights will add dimension and depth to your grey tone. Lowlights will give the illusion of less volume to your hair.Both highlights and lowlights can be done as frequently as every few months or, for a very low-commitment color service, just once or twice a year and can give you the lift you need to your base color.

“Growing Out Permanent Color to Grow In Your Natural Color

When growing out permanent color to return to your natural color (if you are not transitioning to grey or gray), you can apply an all-over permanent hair color that matches your natural color at the roots.Pick a color as close to your natural one as possible. Over time, if the processed hair growing out turns a little brassy or does not match as well with your natural color growing in, you can have toners applied to neutralize those unwanted tones as you grow out the permanent color. Toners are gentle, non-permanent colors that gradually fade out and use very low developers to process, even lower than those in demi-permanent colors.

For more tips on transitioning order a copy of “The ABCs~Hiw to Always Be Curly and Love It!”

Excerpt From
The ABCs How to Always Be Curly and Love It!
Tellwell Talent
This material may be protected by copyright.