Any advice on how to make salt and pepper hair look like blonde highlights?

[Corr77]

Hi everybody, just wondering if anybody could give me some advice? I am naturally a brunette (level 6, I think!). Basically long story short, for years I had blonde highlights in my hair, then a few years ago after becoming around 50% grey, I was advised by the hairdresser to go for a full head bleach, as the highlights were not really covering the grey, which I have been doing ever since.
Needless to say my hair is now in really poor condition with hair loss. I also don't really like the block colour look and preferred the highlighted look. Going natural and rocking the grey just isn't for me. So I had the idea of trying to find a product that would make my grey look like blonde (creating natural highlights!) but not change the colour of my natural brunette, which would be kinder to my hair and a lot less expensive than bleaching regularly! The products I have seen that may be suitable are Wella color fresh in light blonde or (with a bit more damaging) Wella colour touch (in a blonde colour) with emulsion 1.9% - so should deposit only? I have spent a long time trying to find a product that would be suitable but there seems a real gap in the market, which is a shame as I am sure lots of people would like to utilise their grey to be lighter naturally. If anyone has had the same issue and found a suitable product I would love to know, any advice appreciated! BTW sorry for the long post!

So thinking about it when the hair turns grey/white it means it has lost its pigment and when you bleach hair you are stripping the pigment away from the hair so logically any kind of blonde toner/ toning shampoo should work on grey hair like on bleached hair. But grey hair does seem more resistant when trying to "stain" it or deposit colour (especially lighter). I think it will be a case of trail and error. I did read somewhere that to get the blonde look on grey hair the colour applied would need a warm tone like golden brown in level 5 or 6 as the majority of dye won't stick to the hair therefore leaving a blonde colour. Not sure if this is correct though!

I'm slowly lightening my hair after fighting nature for too long and having my practically white roots tinted dark brown for years.

Niw am having highlights put in which are slowly blending in with my white hair, and I am tinting it a lighter pink.

Thanks meandering! I will try it if I can. I do have a stack of tea bags waiting.

If I do it in the shower perhaps I will end up with a bad self tan as well!

So looking at your roots your natural hair doesn't look too dark, what colour would you describe your natural hair colour? Just wondering if the mix would work on a darker base. The after pic of how light it goes is really impressive!

Hi all, thank you for all the fab recommendations so far, I thought I would list them for ease of reference, in no particular order!

1. Superdrug colour effects shampoo
2. Turmeric, Camomile tea, red bush tea and instant coffee made into a tea/wash.
3. Cassia
4. Wella color fresh
5. Manic Panic dye
6. Adore
7. Plantur39 Brown
8. Milk Shake Silver shine
9. Dark blonde semi-permanent (no brand mentioned)
10. John Frieda Defy grey
11. Clairol Colour Gloss up conditioner - Toasted Almond Blonde

10. Schwarzkopf Root retouch 7 day fix 11. Wella Professionals Caramel Glaze 12. Glaze 13. Khadi natural dyes 14. Shrine drop it toners

Some people have had more successful experiences than others with products, but I have included them all (hopefully not missed any). Please keep the recommendations coming and if anyone has any pics of their hair after using a product it would be greatly appreciated if you could post it.
I feel allot more positive about being able to find something that will help my greys look like blonde highlights and being able to ditch the bleach! and I hope these recommendations will help others too 🙂

The first line of the list went skew-whiff for some reason! 😁

"So looking at your roots your natural hair doesn't look too dark, what colour would you describe your natural hair colour? Just wondering if the mix would work on a darker base. The after pic of how light it goes is really impressive!"

@Corr77 when I was in my 20s my hair was light brown / dark blonde. It has always very easily bleached up in the sun so looked blonder the longer it got. I had cancer a few years go - when I started losing it my hair looked blonde - it was long but with large areas of white/grey streaks in. The tips and underneath were completely white. When I cropped it very short as it had started dropping out with the chemo it looked completely grey. When it grew back it was grey (grey pick posted with short hair). Now I colour it with my concoction there are no big white streaks or areas.

The mix might work with a darker base but you would get pale golden streaks amongst darker hair. Or you could try your own mix using ingredients that give more brown tones - coffee and breakfast tea come to mind. Doing a strand test is the best way to find out how your hair reacts.

And here is a pic showing the lengths of my hair for reference (fairly long)

So, just thought I would give an update. As my hair started breaking off really badly with the bleach, I decided to give the color touch a try to obtain a highlighted look on my greys. I think hairdressers are refering to this as grey blending now. Anyway I used colour touch in 9/01 and 13 vol developer on dry hair for 40 mins and it did quite a good job, but did lift it slightly on the brunette (my hair is level 5/6 naturally), so next time I think I am going to.leave it on for less time and on damp hair. If anybody else is having any success with grey blending, please let me know :). Here is a pic of my roots after the color touch: