Need hair help.

CA.Giraffe

My hair sucks, and I need suggestions on how to direct the stylist at my appointment today.

My natural color is dark brown:

 

But about a year ago, I got blonde highlights:

 

Which I’ve been growing out ever since, so now I have a funky ombre look. As my dark hair has been growing back, I’ve noticed that I’m starting to go grey (actually white) – just random hairs here and there, but they’re really noticeable against the dark. I have too many to make plucking them an option.

This is probably just me being weird, but I freak out a little about losing my natural hair color. Even with the highlights, I only let her touch the top part of my hair – the bottom has always been my natural color. I don’t really plan on going completely grey, though, so I guess I’ll have to bite the bullet at some point. But for right now, I get upset at the idea of having to dye all my hair just to get rid of a few strands of grey (they are pretty evenly dispersed throughout my entire head). I also don’t really dig the cost of salon coloring, since I like my natural color, although I’ll pay it if that guarantees a great result.

Any thoughts? I contemplated getting highlights painted on that were maybe one shade lighter than my natural hair color, to maybe blend the highlights I have and cover up the grey on top of my head, since I always wear my hair down. Would this even be a thing? Obviously I’m pretty hair illiterate.

lacqueredlover

An ombre is really easy upkeep once you lighten the whole bottom because then you can just touch up your roots.  I did this for about 2 years (been going grey since I was 16.)  My profile pic on here is this summer when my hair was at its lightest and I was just darkening my roots.  Now, I went mostly dark but had her pain in the dark so that it looks like I have hightlights.

I would recommend you dying your roots your natural color and if you want some lightening, have them do a balyage (where they paint in the highlights starting lower down so it doesn't get that stripey look they can get sometimes and look better growing out.)  Then you can just do your roots every 6-8 weeks to cover the greys!

Did that make sense?  haha

NowIamMrsKlein

I feel your pain!

I have naturally red hair and have been starting to go white the last couple years. For the most part I can blend them in, but I'm really starting to notice them. And being a redhead (not carrot top, like actual red) is a huge part of my identity and I have no idea what to do about the white! I rue the day that I give in to dye because I know they wont be able to match my colour.

amelisha

The easiest option will be to just get a few more thin highlights to make the grey less obvious. You should be able to get away with that for a while as long as you like the way your hair looks with the highlights.

All-over colour is obviously an option too, but that's going to require consistent maintenance although your stylist may be willing to just do root touchups as well. Keep in mind, though, that the texture of grey hair can be drastically different from the rest of your hair and it can be really hard to get it to take colour well and hold it.

This year I brought my hair back to its natural blonde after ten years of dyeing it red because I have a very obvious grey streak at the front of my head and it was getting exhausting to cover up. I was colouring my hair like every three weeks to hide the stupid thing and I was over it. At least now it just looks like a blonder streak...but I tell you this because it made me realize how much work it is to keep grey hidden. My hair took the red colour extremely well (because it was blonde underneath) but the grey just repelled it every time and it looked like crap almost constantly.

CA.Giraffe

I suppose maybe I should be thankful I made it to 35 before I had to think about covering my greys.

I felt like after I got my highlights, I could have been mistaken for a zebra. I'm not sure I'll ever let another foil touch my head. I would prefer to have my natural haircolor throughout, which actually came with reddish highlights, not blonde. I even thought about chopping my hair to get rid of the blonde, but that's not going to happen just yet.

lacqueredlover

Ok here is what I mean:

Dont' mind the greys on the top, I'm literally getting them touched up tomorrow.  My "highlights" dont' start until around my eyes.  They are all painted in, no stripey look to them, well blended and all I have to do is touch up my greys every 8 weeks or so.  I get to keep my natural brunette on top but my hair has some life to it with the color and it's easier (and cheaper) to just do a root touch up at a salon than to be constantly putting in highlights!

RebeccaFlower

I'm going to be brutally honest... I don't like the blonde highlights. I think your natural color is so rich and pretty. I think the highlights age you. 

At this point, I would bite the bullet and start dying overall. This doesn't mean you have to loose your natural color though, just dye is all to get rid of the white hairs. 

amelisha

I guess the other question is, how much do a few greys really bother you? Is it enough to start all-over colouring, root touch-ups, etc etc? Because once you do start your hair isn't going to be exactly the same again, you know? I mean, you can get a semi or demi permanent instead of permanent colour but even so. It's kind of a commitment on mostly-virgin hair.

lizz0915

If you do decide to go to the salon, ask them to use a demi-permanent color rather than a permanent. It will fade over it's 6 - 8 week life span rather than having a line from your hair growing out in 6 - 8 weeks.

CA.Giraffe

The issue I have with my greys is they are so evenly dispersed, they make my natural hair look washed-out and kinda lifeless. It's no even so much an OMG A GREY STRAND!!! as all my hair just looks...dull. I wasn't in love with the highlights and was super excited to be getting my natural shiny dark hair back, only...it's not growing in dark. Or shiny.

CA.Giraffe

@lacqueredlover‌ - I may use your pic as an inspiration! My hair is darker than yours but I like the level of difference between your base and highlights, if that makes any sense.

lacqueredlover

CA.Giraffe thanks!  My hair got to this color a bit backwards, I was fully ombre (and pretty blonde at the bottom) and then my stylist basically painted in the dark and left the blonde as highlights rather than the other way around.  We then put a bit of a bronze glaze on it so the difference wasn't quite as severe!

climbingsingle

I feel your pain. I have now quite a few grey hairs at 34. I really, really didn't want to start dying my hair because I love my natural color. My hairdresser finally talked me into it. She dyes just the stop to cover and doesn't pull it through. You could also do some highlights just a few shades lighter to help cover. 

doeydo

I would either go with highlights (not blonde but just lighter than your natural hair colour, maybe caramel).  Kind of like this:

Or bite the bullet and dye the whole thing (or can you find a shade as close as can be to your colour and try to just dye the greys?):

teddygirl9

I like the balayage suggestion. You can do a reverse balyage by dying the roots and painting it down the shaft, rather than the usual way of dying the ends and painting upwards. That way, you can still have your highlights on the bottom, with a more natural colour on top and just touch up the roots when needed. Your stylist should be able to match your natural colour pretty closely.

kaos16

@lacqueredlover you are going to need to remove that picture of you. . . . . you are way to pretty to be all up on my computer screen like that!

lacqueredlover

@kaos16 haha thank you!  

dolewhipper

Agreed with PP on balyage and a caramel color. Don't do a demi because that's just a waste of money; won't do a thing to the greys.

Grey hairs are actually a very different kind of hair strand and not only is very coarse but difficult to color already. Natural hair dye probably won't do anything to it (don't go to an Aveda salon) so depending on the color of your greys I would do an ombre (to add to what highlights you have) and bring the color up closer to your root with balyage highlights.