Hair dye for dark hair with a lot of grey through it that only dyes the grey...

[LousyLandscaper]

Hi,

I am wondering if there is such a thing as a hair dye for dark hair that will dye my grey hairs ( think actual white rather than grey and don't take dye very easily) so that i can maintain my overall natural hair colour but completely get rid of my greys? Does that exist? I dont want to change my natural colour at all but I really need to do something about these white hairs as they are ageing me massively. Semi permanent does not work in my hair to dye the white hairs. Hope this has not already been answered, I did have a search but couldn't find anything quite in right in this topic.

My hair has a variety of colours in it - from blonde to quite dark brown, but the overall effect is mid brown. The smattering of grey that I have now, really doesn't suit me me so I have been blending it in using Superdrug own brand Colour Effects wash in wash out colour. It's a bit like the Shaders and Toners that we used to experiment with as teenagers in the 1980s.

I use the mid brown, or mid brown mixed with honey blonde, every 4th or 5th wash. It's very quick and it turns the grey/ white hairs blonde so that they blend in.

Leftfield. Experiment with a shorter hairstyle, it can look cooler than long hair with loads of greys.

I had the red problem with semi-permanent box dyes and my hairdresser told me that if you look at the top of the box with, e.g. L'Oreal Casting Creme Gloss, they tell you in little squares the proportion of each base colour included in the colour that's called Chocolate Brown, Cherry, Medium Brown or whatever. She said avoid anything with "Mahogany" as that gives the red. She was right!!! (Oddly it's actually spelt Mahagony on the box I looked at, which was L'Oreal Casting Creme in Chocolate). I'll try and find a pic of what I mean...

No recommendations op I'm in the same boat as you.

Have just bought the John Freida Defy Grey products after reading this thread. Reviews on Boots are mixed.

I'm not holding out much hope as I've got quite a bit of grey, but anything is worth a try right now. I'll update after I've used it a couple of times. Good luck finding something that suits.

Thanks everyone, got a few ideas to try now will report back with progress if I make any!

Bookmarking my place to hear your feedback OP, as having exactly the same issue.

If the John Freida doesn’t work for you (it does nothing for me except dry my hair out so leaves it looking worse), Aveda also do colour-deposit conditioner which blends in grey/white hair. I mix the brown and black ones.

I've just ordered the John Frieda shampoo and conditioner so thanks for the recommendation.

I've been using a Josh Wood blending brush to hide my greys. It is OK but thought the shampoo and conditioner might work better.

I just missed my hair appointment due to lockdown so I have several weeks of grey roots.

@LousyLandscaper

Ha thanks everyone, will maybe give the henna a miss. I dont actually mind dying it regularly but I have just never found a colour I like as much as my regular colour and I really hate the redness that you seem to get in permanent hair dyes. Definitely don't want to embrace the grey, I am certain of that! Has anyone found lovely brunette hair dyes that don't have any red/orange tones in them?

I like olia brown 0.5. Definitely no red or purple tones in it. It is dark though.

I’ve used Plantur 39 Colour brown (from Boots). It’s a colour conditioner. It did blend greys in a fair bit but I had to use quite a lot and leave it on for 5 mins. After a couple of uses it turned my greys/ whites light brown.

It is a bit messy to use and dyed my hands as well. (Not permanently but for about a day). I don’t use it much because of the faff and I don’t really mind grey anyway.

A hair dye that truly just hid the greys would be the holy grail and doesn’t exist. The other way is to get a hair dresser to do a range of hi and lo lights with or without a base colour.

Peacemaking for the John Frieda feedback. I thought I'd embrace the grey but I'm changing my mind.
I also worry that it's getting thinner.

Just had a look at the Boots website and there is also a Plantur brown shampoo that seems to get even more positive feedback than the conditioner re grey so that might be worth a go. Think I might try it.

I get dark low lights on the top. She tries to pick out the greys as much as possible. Then paints the odd splodge between foils.
Stops my hair looking one colour.

Placemarking

I confess to using the just for men shampoo, irregularly. it does make a difference to the Grey's but is similar colour to my natural hair so not obvious at all. DH uses it too. One of them smells foul though I think it's the one with blue writing. Green writing one is better.

Look up Daniel Field Watercolour. Permanent, no peroxide or ammonia, PPD free.

So I've just started using the John Frieda defy grey shampoo and conditioner for brunettes. I have about an inch of grey hair here and there at the roots

I used the shampoo and conditioner for 5 minutes. I then used the conditioner on towel dried hair for 25 minutes, just on my roots, hoping there would be more of an effect.

I have ended up with some light brown, almost reddish tones on my some greys but it hasn't yet disguised stubborn greys at the roots.

Hopefully with further use more greys will be disguised.

Anybody else got any updates?

Is the Plantur 39 shampoo and conditioner permanent or wash out?

So my John Frieda arrived. I bought the shampoo, conditioner and blow dry mousse.

I am quite pleased with the coverage initially. I've quite a lot of grey (oh so shiny silver) and it toned it down quite a bit. Still quite a bit lighter than the rest of my hair but supposedly builds up with continued use.

One downside is that it fades as the days go on. I say this as someone who only washes hair twice a week. By day 3 (today) it looks faded and not very nice, so definitely needs a top up.

Time will tell on the coverage. I hope it eventually ends up as good as the coverage on the palms of my hands after first use as they were a vibrant shade of dark brown!

I have high and low lights but between visits/during lockdown I use a brush or spray on colour for my role. Not ideal and leaves hair stuff, but better than being grey imo.

*stiff 🙄

@InsertRudeWord

I have high and low lights but between visits/during lockdown I use a brush or spray on colour for my role. Not ideal and leaves hair stuff, but better than being grey imo.

I think the coverage with the spray stuff is fab. However I touch my hair a lot, and so end up with brown fingernails which isn't attractive and looks like I didn't wash after a day at the allotment

Hello! I appreciate the thread is very old. It sounds like I have very similar hair to what you have/had.

id love to know if you found something that worked for you…