Managing greys in dark hair

[Smallfry79]

Hi

I'm 42 and have dark brown hair naturally but Im getting increasingly grey. Have been managing this with brown box dyes at home but now im needing to do thus more often, greys are resistant and more plentiful and my once healthy shiny hair is drying out.
I dont have a regular hairdresser i can chat to. Infact i haven't been in almost a year so def overdue a cut too.

I feel when i call to make apt they will expect me to know what i want and the troublevid i don't.
Would highlights help hide ir blend greys better?
I think I want the imposdible, a colour that will keep me largely brunette but help some of the greys bkend in but yet is not so light as to cause very obvious root regrowth.
I feel I will eventually go naturally grey/platinum but Im not there yet and think with my colouring it would be aging and besides im still mostly dark.

Any suggestions from hairdressers/colour specialists or fellow mumsnetters with a similar problem? Do I need a full colour then highlights? Will just highlights work? Or are they a waste of my time just causing another issue with roots?
I really dont have time or money to get hair done every 6/8 weeks.
Im a pretty low maintenance girl preferring a more natural look but at the same time like to look well and not like I dont care or have let myself go completely.
I attach some pics but lighting isnt great and frontbif my hair is dry and faded so i feel in reality im a bit darker than the pics suggest.

Thanks in advance for any advice. Really need to get an apt made but keep putting it off as dont know what to ask for.

I’m dark brunette naturally but about 50% grey now and not even 40 yet. I do see a hairdresser and we’ve decided I need to embrace the grey as I can’t afford the upkeep anymore. I’ve had lots of blond highlights put through and will have more next time in an effort to blend the grey through and grow it. I’d quite happily be grey if I could wake up grey - it’s the in between part I don’t like.

I had dark brown hair and had blonde highlights put in, and am only telling you that to say don't do it! It looked good for a while but after a few treatments, my hair is in such poor condition that I am gradually having them cut out. OP, you don't look to have many greys. You could just get a permanent dark brown box dye and mix up a little in a plastic dish and put it through your hair with a small comb or mascara type wand. The box would last for months and you would only be treating the grey at the front so your hair would stay in nice condition.

Good suggestions here thank you. No real support for the highlights option so i think ill give it a miss. Good to know to save my time and money.
I might get a really good cut and that will help the overall look of health of hair.

I do like the idea of letting the greys come through and like the picture up above i just feel not ready yet but def a plan for in a year or two as the greys become more wide-spread.

As pp said its the in-between part where im transitioning from light to dark that is the trouble.
I have a few possible options to mull over now anyway thank you.

I have mine coloured every 3 weeks… around week 2 I’m getting the greys through particularly around my hairline. I’ve bought the colours my hairdresser uses plus bleach to do a cover up until I go.

I also had the excellent idea of having a few highlights a few months ago, has caused a lot of damage as I’ve thick curly hair. Won’t go down that route again !

Most hairdressers don’t leave the bleach on long enough on dark hair through fear of breakage (rightly so). Therefore it can take a few sittings to get the hair to go the pale yellow colour that can then be toned silver to match the grey root. However, looking through Instagram I’ve seen that it can be done in one sitting if they are using the best products. K18 and olaplex I’m thinking. I’m stuck in the orangey phase as I can’t find a hairdresser who does what I ask when I show them a picture of silver hair. So I’m stuck in the grow out phase. Can’t see myself ever going back to dark brown, the upkeep is too much and as I said before, the colour was so flat looking.

I have colour @Smallfry79 although I'd not call them highlights. My own colour was a dark blonde verging on auburn. As I've aged, it's gone lighter and lost colour all over, but not evenly. The greys are mainly round my temples and and crown, but not the sides or that back which are still quite dark.

My hairdresser says I am around 50% grey now -eek!

I've started having low/highlights that are my original colour ( a goldy dark blonde) but it's half a head not a whole head.

After about 2 months it is showing on the parting but I've used a Richard Ward powder (looks like eye shadow) to cover the grey in between colouring.

If you want to have colour, I'd suggest covering the grey a few shades lighter than your own but as lowlights. Solid colour all over doesn't work on older women as it does look dyed IMO.

I used to have the colour done once a year.
Last year it was twice and now I need it doing every 4 months.

Looking at your photos, that amount of grey in minimal! It's barely noticeable. You could possibly cover it up with some of the touch-up colour wands you can buy that are meant to be used in between professional colour.

I have brunette hair & starting to go grey also, similar age to you.

What I've done is buy professional colour (it really lasts, no fading) in the closest match possible to my natural colour and just do the roots every 6-8 weeks. I blend the colour in for five minutes at the end. I think I did a full head once about a year ago. My hair is in great condition, it's not dry or dull.

I think longer term I will look at transitioning to a lighter brown as I get more greys but for now it looks good. Really interested in the people using a blonde dye - that's a really great idea I think.

I've used glosses, semi perm, wash in stuff on the past and tbh I find it a lot of faff that needs attention on a daily or weekly basis and I can't be arsed with it!

I'm in the exact same boat, OP so thanks for starting this thread. I alternate a full colour and root touch-up every 5-6 weeks, which seems to be fine for my hair (it's oily naturally so doesn't dry out too much). But I do use L'Oreal root spray in between to cover up at the temples and hairline. It's not perfect but a good quick fix to give me an extra week.

I love the idea of the John Frieda product, off to Google that now.

I have the same issue, I have mid to dark brown hair with not a lot of grey in it but the greys really show up against the dark hair and as they are all sprinkled though it just looks odd. I don't want to just leave it as it is and so I've used box dyes and a professional dye but they just don't seem to work well on my hair. My hair hates bleach and always bleaches out to a reddish colour (even with a 3% bleach) as the dye fades and to add insult to injury the dye doesn't even cover my greys that well. I also had lots of breakage etc.

I've actually ordered a sample of the It's Pure Henna in dark brown to see it that would work better on my hair as I used to use Henna on my dry, curly hair and it worked well and didn't destroy it so I could do more top ups. I didn't find using chemical dyes any less messy than using henna my main concern is that it doesn't work for the grey and that once I do it its a commitment, so I'll do a sample first. I think I have to accept that if I don't want to be grey I'll need to commit to colouring it every 4 - 6 weeks which is a pain but if the henna works I'll just try to view it as doing a hair mask or something.

Is there only me who has wondered what would happen if women used Just For Men, or equivanlent (there's another one that I can't recall) that's just to blend greys? If my base colour was more interesting, I would have a go. Surely these things can't differentiate between hair with willies attached, and those who haven't? Or would I grow a willy if I tried it?

@Smallfry79 I had the same issue and started using Plantur 37 instead of box dye and I'm really happy with the results...maybe give that a go before a hairdresser trip as it's much cheaper :-)

I have my hair coloured every 3-4 weeks but the greys start showing after 2 so I use the defy grey shampoo and conditioner and also root powder.

I think just for men uses metallic salts which means that you can't go back to normal hair dyes if you change your mind later, its also messy and stains easy. However nothing to stop you trying it out and letting us know how you get on, I'd be interested to know!

I'm a similar age and also have dark brown hair. I've found a really excellent hairdresser who's great at colouring. She's made me realise that it's not about coverage but about trying to blend and go a little bit lighter. I have subtle caramel balayage once a year and in between I have root touch up and glosses every 8 weeks to freshen the overall colour.
I've also bought wella caramel hair gloss to freshen the colour myself in between appointments, and I use a blue shampoo to tone down any brassiness.

I used to box dye it myself for ages but the build up was leaving my hair dull and looking an unnatural colour. I don't have any other beauty treatments and feel my visits to her are money well spent. I can put up with wrinkles etc but not going grey, not yet anyway.

Oh and she also raves about josh Wood root touch up and the wow one but I haven't got around to getting either.

Love the pp suggestion of a dark blonde semi to tone the greys - genius!

I've just started to grow my colour out in the last few months as faffing about with home colour every 3 weeks got on my nerves, so hoping my grey looks ok (right now it looks dreadful, like I've just missed a dye appointment and horrible demarcation) but according to the internet the first 8 months are the worst and then it actually starts to look as if it's purposeful.

It took me a couple of years though to build up the courage. If you search for 'silversisters' or 'grombre' on insta there are loads of inspirational accounts, which definitely help.

I'm in the same boat. Get some professional dye (Majirel) in a colour close to your own and developer, a little bowl and a brush. Just mix up small quantities and only apply to the grey/roots.

That sounds like a similar effect to what I get from Plantur. Very pleased with it.

Place marking

@LoisPlane I am so glad that I saw your post. I have been plucking up courage to do this tomorrow- dark hair lots of whites, dark blonde dye. Thank you!

I have similar hair to you. I decided to ‘go natural’ during lockdown and it didn’t work for me. I then did a home dye chocolate brown which I liked for a while but the upkeep was too much. I have now gone for highlights (expensive) but the plan is now silver shampoo / periodic toner at the hairdressers. Fingers crossed!

I've recently tried this new glazing product from Wella and think it's pretty good. https://www.wella.com/professional/en-UK/hair-color/shinefinity/shinefinitycolorglaze#/?_k=k81r1n

Before this I used L'Oreal Dialight a few times. Both are in theory "professional" products but no more difficult to use, or much more expensive, but with better results imo, than box dye from Boots. Dialight doesn't really cover the greys much at all but it does blend them. And cover up the horrible orange tones in my brown hair from earlier misguided attempts at dyeing. The Wella glaze actually covers the grey pretty well and seems to last 6-8 weeks. I've only used it once. I'm not sure if it's even available in the UK normally but I was able to buy it on eBay.

My hair is quite similar in colour/ location of greys to yours. I wish I'd never dyed it in the first place but now I have there are two separate problems, the 10% or so or grey, and the horrible colour of the remaining brown hair. The orange tone bothers me more now than the grey does. So my plan is to do this glazing thing until the orange has grown out and then slowly stop until I am 'naturally' grey.

The semi-permanent box dye for me was the worst of both worlds. It wore off the grey in about a month, but completely fucked the rest of my hair in tone and condition.

Btw the colour I used in the Shinefinity range was Natural Deep Walnut 06/07. It might have been equally good or better to use a lighter shade, or one that was slightly more ashy. But this is close to my natural colour.