I love that one of the silver linings that came out of the pandemic is that more women have started embracing their grey hair more than before. While it may seem counter intuitive for a colorist like myself to encourage that, I absolutely love evolving clients to grey blending/low maintenance services. I don’t want any of my clients to feel like they’re a slave to 3-4 week coloring, because lets face it, if you have a lot of grey, you see that grow out in even less time than your color appointment. Now, that’s not to say I don’t support you if you’re perfectly fine with that maintenance schedule, but for those who want to know their options, I’m here to offer solutions. Plus, if you’re someone who is allergic to color, grey blending is a great option as well because I can avoid putting color on your scalp.
The picture below is of my lovely client, Amy. She’s someone who is about 75% grey with the heaviest concentration in the front. Amy is a good example of someone who was coming in about every 5 weeks for single process color but she had developed allergies over the years. She would usually have reactions the following days after every color appointment, despite the low toxicity of the color we use. I suggested, when she was ready to start embracing some of the greys, that we start foiling color into her hair and stop putting color on her scalp. This is about a year since she stopped base color, and its so stunning. Now she comes in about 8-10 weeks and no longer has allergic reactions to the color.
A couple of things to note when transitioning with the foiling method, is you will have to get use to having lighter hair. Grey/Silver is essentially light or “white”. Amy was about two shades darker when she use to do all over color. But now when she has regrowth (roots), it’s hardly noticeable and blends very well with the overall lighter shade.
Grey blending foiling is the easiest way to transition out of doing single process/all over color. It’s a more gradual process and the adjustment period is minimal.
Now, one could decide they want to go fully grey and have the colored portion of their hair transitioned to match their roots, but this is an extremely lengthy and corrective process. While it’s doable, keep in mind that the hair will go through a process of bleaching, lowlighting, multiple toners, and some inches cut off the hair due to color buildup. Plus it’s not a one time deal. The hair will still technically be colored, so there is still maintenance necessary (albeit way lower maintenance) until it eventually gets cut from the hair. This article is a great example of the lengthy process https://www.allure.com/story/colorist-jack-martin-gray-hair-transformation (image below by stylist Jack Martin)
No worries if you aren’t ready to embrace your grey yet. I offer color kits for those who need frequent touch ups to cover grey but would like to space out their color appointments due to time and budget.
Come in for a consultation and let’s figure out the best, low maintenance color path for you. Thanks for reading!