Silver/grey hair dye

[bellissimiaow]

Apologies if this is long but I've been having hair issues for years now and I thought I'd ask for help.

I had been having my hair bleached (blonde highlights mainly) for getting on for 25 years and over the last 5 or so of those had been trying in vain to get a more ashy blonde. It always seemed too yellow and despite using various toners my hairdresser could never seem to get that pale ashy blonde I was looking for.

Then 2 years ago or so the trend for silver/grey hair became a thing which I really liked. As I was 40 by then and my roots always seemed to be coming in grey anyway I decided to take the plunge and grow all my coloured hair out and go natural. In my mind I thought I would have naturally grey hair that would look gorgeous with no effort

Fast forward 2 years, it's all grown out and the front and sides are a lovely silver but all the rest is just a boring mouse colour. I've kept it like this for a while but when I see pictures of myself I just don't like it at all, it's just too dark.

So I asked my hairdresser to lift the back and ends and colour them grey, so it would be a grey ombre effect, i could carry on growing out my own natural silver but the ends would be lighter and therefore silver/grey all over. I gave her the picture attached as an example.
What actually happened was that the ends and back have lightened but only to a yellow blonde again. She did it twice with 2 different bleaches but the grey toner just didn't hold.
I'm really disappointed and have resorted to colouring it all a pale blonde now to at least make it all the same but I still want to get it that lovely grey. It's so frustrating, especially as I spent so long growing out all the yellow and now it's just straight back again!
Can anyone recommend any products to get this colour? I probably just need to change hairdresser, but to give her credit she did use the exact same products she'd previously used on someone else who did get a good grey colour. Have I got the wrong type of hair?

Mine is a very similar style to your picture, although a little less wavy. I grew out the dye a couple of years ago & discussed dyeing my hair grey in the interim but my hairdresser advised me just to keep growing it out & having it trimmed regularly - he said it just wouldn't work well as my hair had form for not keeping dyed colour particularly well. he was also concerned about spoiling the condition with needing to bleach it first.

My hair's natural colour is darker than yours though - very dark brown.

It's ended up nearly completely grey/silver at the front, sides & underneath at the back, with a sprinkling of grey throughout the back. I am happy with it & won't be dyeing it again.

This is a notorious problem, getting the yellow out. Some people never get past the yellow stage. I mean you can bleach it and bleach it, use higher-volume developer etc but eventually it compromises the structure of the hair and it can get straw-like and break.

Depending on how yellow it is, you may just need to go back and have it redone and eventually you'll get there. In the meantime have you ever used Directions? It's a conditioning colour and comes in various pastel colours incl silver. You can apply it every day if you like and it won't hurt your hair or skin. Or you could try purple shampoo for bleached hair. But if you are very yellow it may not give you the results you want.

I'm doing the same thing for similar reasons (my grey hair is washed-out looking but dyeing it is too dark) and have a similar problem. My plan is to go pastel pink but goodness knows if I'll ever get past this brassy stage.

There is a hair colourant that has a lovely colour called pearl, i cant remember the name of it, but i used it once thinking it was going to be very light pearly blonde,it was silver, but a shock to me,although a lovely colour
I think its called colour mask, in a tubelike box,you mix it all in a dish it comes with

Trainedopossum I've actually ordered a silver and a grey shade of the Directions colours to try. I think I still need to bleach it again but it's had 3 bleaches in the space of a week now so I've got to leave it a while. As you can see it's still very yellow!