I have an appointment tomorrow to get highlights to cover/hide my grays. I've never colored my hair in any way and I am TERRIFIED. Is there anything I need to know going into this or questions to ask? For reference, my hair is light brown and I was hoping to keep the highlights as natural and low maintenance as possible. I really just want to hide the grays.
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I do this! I recommend balayage - super natural and grows out less obviously.
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I tried this and I found it did a poor job of covering gray. I found that full on color, maybe with two steps is the only thing that helped, but it is too much maintenance for me, so I am letting my hair go gray for now. I have dark brown hair with a lot of natural highlights, and I never died my hair except in an attempt to cover gray.
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@jape14: thanks! I'll ask about that.
@mdf106: oh, no! That's disappointing. I definitely want to avoid all over color. I'm terrible at getting to the stylist as it is so I don't think I could handle the maintenance of all over color.
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@JennyPenny: I haven't dyed my hair but it is naturally a light brown with tons of very light to dark blonde highlights. Some highlights are chunky and some are thin. In the past few years I've sprouted a ridiculous amount of gray, but it blends right in to the colorful blonde highlights. I'd definitely recommend an assortment of blonde highlights to disguise the gray!
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@JennyPenny: I have dark brown hair and got blonde highlights - I also didn't want the maintenance of all over color - the key for me was to do VERY thin highlights -
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In my experience, highlights do a good job with grays. Because you’re not doing all over color, not all of your gray hairs will be “covered.” Highlights just add dimension, light and movement into your hair that makes the gray less noticeable.
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My sister and I both get what they call babylights. They weave in and out to select a ton of tiny sections to color. It makes it more natural, and doesn't look bad grown out. As to being a first timer, if you go lighter and they lift your hair and tone it be prepared for a learning curve. Toning can fix a ton of problems while lifting. Ex: my hair lifts suuuuper fast, we found out the first time on what was a conservative first go, I lifted sooo fast that I had platinum hair by the halfway point of the processing time. She was able to tone it and make it look less drastic, but we now know that we use low strength and short processing time on my hair.
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You can do this for a while but soon you'll have to have them add back in low lights. I went gray young and I started highlighting to cover/combat the gray. it worked fine until one day someone said I was blonde... when I am not! I have dark brown hair, however I'd highlighted so much without adding dark back in that I was more blonde than brunette. I quickly started having my hair colored differently to the tune of $$$$.
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@Sams Mom: interesting - this is exactly the kind of thing that makes me feel scared as a first timer. There's so much to learn and I bet its not always an easy fix!
@Ajsmommy: That's a good point, I never thought of that. How long until that happened to you? I wonder if by the time I get there I'll be gray enough to need all over color anyway.
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@JennyPenny: I had done highlights for about 5-6 years before the "blonde" comment.
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I've been highlighting my hair pretty regularly since college, so about 20 years or so. My hair is dark blonde, and I usually get lighter blonde highlights, although I do change it up every now and then like @Ajsmommy mentioned. I think the highlights do a pretty good job of masking the gray, and they require less maintenance than doing an all over color. I used to go about every 12 weeks or so, but now with a toddler and a husband who works odd hours, I don't have time to go as often as I would like.
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I have brown hair and when my hair is lightened, it turns orange, not that rich, caramel color or blonde...so I'd ask them to do a test to see how your hair lightens before you commit. I will have to do plain base coloring when the time comes, and in all honesty, I think I have the best results with a semi permanent dye kit that washes out gradually. I look for "cool" tones and I have had great success.
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I like semi-permanent also. You don’t get that harsh line near the roots. It just fades out gradually. I’ve been using a slight variation from my natural color, the same darkness but the warm/golden version instead of the ash I naturally have. It compliments my skin better but doesn’t look like I dye my hair. I will say that it doesn’t cover the more stubborn ones, but I think it’ll do until I have too many grays for this method.
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I color my hair regularly to cover grays. In the past I’ve had full highlights, right now I have kind of a balayage. But highlights do not cover grays, at least in my hair. There’s not consistent enough coverage and and the colors are completely different.
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@JennyPenny: I love balayage, BUT, if you're trying to cover grays - this isn't the best route. You'd need to dye your 'crown' one color first, then paint the highlights on top of that... so, two steps instead of just one - highlights, and its typically way more expensive... I would recommend just a partial highlight.... I'm going blonder as I get grayer myself as it helps hide them
Also, I tend to mix in some lowlights as well so I don't get TOO blonde.
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I use highlights to camouflage greys (I wouldn’t say cover because they are still there) I do very light ashy blonde and it goes right to the root. I am 25% grey so when the highlights grow out there is a balayage like effect.
To maintain the ashy highlights I am basically a slave to purple depositing shampoo to keep the highlights from going brassy. I wouldn’t say this is a low maintenance option for that reason.
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@looch: @Iced Tea: Interesting! I wished I'd known semi-permanent was a thing - though I'm likely to chicken to do my own hair.
In the end we went with partial foils after talking it through with my stylist. I think it looks ok. It definitely hides the grays but I'm just not sure I like how the highlights themselves look. Maybe its just the wrong color. Or maybe I just have to get used to seeing myself with highlights. *shrug*
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@JennyPenny: I tried this. I really liked it at first but I did have some adjustment at first! I let it grow waaaaayyy out for like 6 months and so it was incredibly light, and then I didn’t really like it anymore. I just went back to dark and I feel like me again! My baby girl has a ton of dark hair (also my natural color) and after I colored my hair everyone always says she looks just like me
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Yeah. I don’t know what’s going on in my head. I look at a picture and think “wow, that looks great” but when I look in the mirror I feel out of place.
Also, I tend to mix in some lowlights as well so I don't get TOO blonde.
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