The gray strands in our hair are often associated with aging, but with just a little color, they can symbolize wisdom, maturity, and even a new, stylish elegance. Eric Quince, a renowned colorist, sheds light on showcasing these hues in dazzling ways, making gray the new gold in hair fashion. This guide will empower you to rock your gray locks with an air of confidence and sophistication. Let’s delve into her insights.
Meet The Expert
Erica Quince
Erica is a master colorist & salon co-owner with over 12 years of experience.
You can find Erica at House of Mane in Miami, FL.
Choosing the Perfect Hair Color
First, Erica suggests defining your hair goals. Do you want to cover your grays completely, blend them subtly, or change your hair color entirely? These are the key questions to answer before going ahead with any coloring process.
“There are two scenarios I commonly see,” Quince explains. In the first, women want rich, full color to hide grays completely. In this case, she employs a permanent color that closely matches the natural hair hue. This creates a seamless blend as your hair grows, allowing only the grays to show and not a clear demarcation line.
The other scenario involves an entire color change. Here, expect a mix of colors as your hair grows out. It will incorporate your natural color, grays, and the new shade you’ve chosen.
Matching Skin Tone
Your skin tone can play a significant role in choosing a color that will highlight your natural beauty. Erica provides a quick tip for identifying your skin tone – should you have cool undertones, your veins would appear blue or purple, and would be green if you have warm undertones.
She recommends gold, caramel, or honey butterscotch colors for fair skin with cool undertones. For medium skin with warm undertones, dark chocolate, chestnut, or auburn shades work wonders. For deep skin tones with cool undertones, dark mocha or deep brown seem to be the perfect match.
“Chatting with your colorist and asking for shade recommendations for your complexion can elevate your look significantly,” she adds.
Deciding Technique and Product
Once you’ve nailed down your perfect color, next comes choosing the best treatment and products. Utilizing a demi-permanent color can be an excellent choice for those with few grays. “It tints and camouflages gray hair, providing a softer grow-out than full coverage permanent color,” explains Erica.
Another method is a heavy highlight blend. This method blends out gray using the color already in your hair—ideal for blonde clients or those with a light base.
Maintaining Your Vivid Color
For after-color care, Erica suggests using color-safe shampoo and conditioner. Oribe Beautiful Color is her top pick. She recommends ColorWow Root Touch-Up Powder for quick fixes in between salon visits. Protecting your hair from sun exposure can help in sustaining your color for a longer period.
“The maintenance schedule varies based on the type of color chosen. Full coverage requires touch-ups every 4-6 weeks, demi-permanent tints need attention between 6-8 weeks, and highlights need upkeep every 2-3 months,” she says.
Talking It Out With Your Colorist
Quince stresses the importance of discussing expectations with your colorist before making any decisions. “Covering gray can be a big financial and time commitment. Understanding these factors will hugely influence your salon sessions,” she states.
When choosing the perfect color, consider questions such as: how often do you want to hit the salon, and what will your maintenance routine be? Knowing this will help form a collaboration with your colorist to achieve the best outcome for you.
“After all, a confident woman is a beautiful woman. Your colorist will guide you through the rest,” Erica concludes.
Photos of Gorgeous Ways Older Women are Covering Grey Hair
#1: Gorgeous Silver Hair Transformation
If you hope to embrace your natural gray look, consider a beautiful transformation to silver to better appreciate your natural gray hair. Silver hair is a wise, classy choice that older women may find favorable. The silver hue can be tailored to match your skin tone and style. Collaborate with a capable colorist who can blend shades of gray, silver, and white for a complex effect. Those with cool undertones can greatly benefit from this transformation, as it amplifies the skin’s radiance. Trust your colorist’s knowledge to attain the best silver shade for you.
#2: Medium Grey Hair with Ash Brown Hue
Embrace your natural highlights. Ask your stylist to add tones of silver grey and ashy mid-brown. This will blend your hair tones to add depth and contrast. This method needs less upkeep than coloring all the natural greys. It’s also softer on your complexion. Keep your hair well hydrated to avoid frizz. An oil-based spray is an easy way to add shine.
#3: Blonde Grey Hair with Soft Waves
If you want a gentle blend for your natural white hair, try this style of blonde, grey hair and soft waves. Dealing with natural gray hair can be resistant. It may be challenging to subtly alter its tone. Thus, I suggest incorporating soft highlights. These highlights offer a chance to subtly shift the overall hair tone. Don’t consider grey hair boring. You can enliven it. Pair soft waves with the right color contrast to uplift the natural gray hair.
#4: Dove Grey Blunt Bob with Bangs
This blunt bob with bangs has a soft ashy tone that complements the dove grey. It’s a simple yet sophisticated haircut. Giving your natural grey hair a soft hue can make your overall hair color softer and more blended. This blunt bob in a gorgeous dove grey is perfect for older women with natural hair looking for a fresh look.
#5: Metallic Dark Grey Layered Pixie
A modern but classy haircut is the metallic dark grey layered pixie. It excels in blending gray hair’s boldness and the diversity of a pixie cut. This haircut can suit any hair type or texture, making it a top pick for anyone wanting a chic change. The haircut blends grey tones and soft layers well, and it’s ideal for those wanting a classic style.
#6: Dimensional Short Bob with Grey Highlights
Try this dimensional short bob with grey highlights for a chic and trendy hairstyle. The soft tones and shading of gray hair colors create contrast and depth. This look has elements of a classic short bob cut with a slight curve at the back of the neck. The mix of grey highlights and a soft bob shape is popular among those seeking a modern, timeless hairstyle.
#7: Classic Bob with Blonde Ash Gray Tone
The classic bob haircut with a blonde ash-gray tone is timeless and elegant. This combination of color and haircut represents a contemporary ash-gray-blonde hue paired with a blunt one-length bob. Remember that you’ll need to bleach your hair and tone it to achieve this color. Perfecting gray hair color can be challenging, so it’s best to seek help from professionals specializing in blonde hair coloring for the best results. Combining a classic and modern bob cut with an ashy color creates a sophisticated, versatile look, ideal for those wanting to lighten their blonde hair.
#8: Straight Brunette Hair with Grey Babylights
If you’re looking to blend out your natural grey hair, try adding grey babylights to your straight brunette hair. It can be tough to stop coloring your hair. But baby-lighting techniques make it easier to embrace your natural grey hair. Covering gray hair can tire you out. It’s also tough to embrace natural grays. To solve this, soft baby lighting is a great choice. Small ashy-toned highlights can blend the line of demarcation, making hair growth easier. It’s important to note you’ll need to re-tone your highlights every 4 weeks to maintain the ashy hue of the highlights.
#9: Natural Light Grey with Shadow Roots
Are you a highlighted blonde seeking a change in hair shade? Try changing your hair color to a natural light grey with shadow roots. Enhancing gray locks with a toner is a fun and easy adjustment. There are countless options to explore when you’re blonde. Using a toner is effective in amplifying or removing unwanted hues in your hair. Whether you’re keen for a total makeover or a slight tweak, a light grey hair shade with subtle shadow roots can bring a dynamic twist to your blonde hair.
#10: Creamy White Blonde Short Hair
Converting gray hair to the trendy, creamy white blonde can make one appear younger. This color is soft, flattering to a mature complexion, and is not too harsh or over-the-top. If the haircut is raw textured, maintenance can be low. It also gives more volume and a fuller look. Texture powders or sprays work well to finish the style because they won’t weigh the hair down. Stay away from oil-based products as they can be too heavy.
#11: Short Crop with Light Gray Color
Short hair styled in a gray-silver color looks great. The cut lends an edge to create a modern look. Gray hair needs to look fresh and well-tended. Meanwhile, the gray color boosts brightness and supports raw texture. You can keep retouching your gray hair to a minimum with the correct method. Sometimes, all you need are partial root touch-ups or toners. Talk to your colorist about a plan to keep your hair looking flawless.
#12: Soft Brown Layered Hair with Grey Blending
When you begin to see more grey, a gentle method to color your hair is blending. This doesn’t mean hiding the grey. Instead, it’s about integrating the natural highlights into your hair. This implies that the upkeep of recoloring grey hair is less demanding than masking it with a darker color every few weeks at the roots. This approach can also be kinder to your hair and add a glowing look to your face.
#13: Glossy Grey Pixie Hair
Pixie short cuts are typically shorter at the nape and around the ears. However, they can be either long or short on top and around the face. The pixie short cut is great at enhancing the face and jawline. If your natural hair is greying, why not embrace it? Sometimes, a toner is all needed to add a hue of silver or pastel. This move redefines grey hair color as a choice or a statement, not an obligation. If your hair texture is coarser, try products to smooth the hair. You can finish with a shiner product.
#14: Dark Gray Graduated Bob
Going short with a classic haircut can modify your gray hair shade. This gives a chic feel and shows that you are embracing your hair. If you want less gray, consider a blending color. This process works lighter gray tones into your hair. It adds more dimension and contrast.
#15: Silver Grey on Tapered Pixie
If you are an older lady and have a short layered hairstyle, a silver-gray shade could be a good option. Improving the look of gray hair is simple when using thin highlights and correct hair color neutralizers. A good hair stylist knows how to mix in the highlights with the existing gray and adjust the color to the best effect.
#16: Brunette Balayage on Natural Greys
Dyeing silver hair need not be a daunting task. Maintain your natural hair and keep it fresh by applying a brunette balayage over your grey strands! This hair coloring style combines your current appearance with the color you don’t have, offering a natural and easy-to-maintain look.
#17: Silver-Gray Highlights on Dark Hair
Older women could enhance their dark hair by adding silver highlights to the existing gray. Addressing gray hair with different shades of silver can add an exciting twist. Your stylist can apply silver hues with lavender or light blue undertones. Limit shampoo use to extend the lifespan of the new color.
#18: Silver Layered Hair with Muted Purple Undertone
Silver and purple undertones look great on older women with layered hair. Changing gray hair color does not have to be boring. You can get help from a stylist to choose a color that matches your skin tone. You would need to visit the salon every 6 weeks for touchups.
#19: Light Grayish Brown Bob
Dyeing gray hair has various purposes. You can either aim to hide your gray hair or enhance it. This light grayish-brown bob shows how gray blending techniques can make your hair look youthful.
#20: Chunky Lowlights for Grey Lob
Changing gray hair is easy when you have trendy colors to use! These thick, darker streaks for a gray bob haircut show this well. Adding light and bright streaks to your gray hair brings more attention to your look. It also creates a stylish and modern touch that enhances your overall style.
#21: Ashy Gray Hair with Feathered Layers
Gray hair can become beautiful with an ashy color and feathered layers! The youthful hairstyle brings out the lovely depth often found in gray hair.
#22: Gray Lavender Hair Color
Tinting your gray hair partially, not completely, is an appealing method to enhance its look. It’s simple to maintain this lavender-gray hair color at home once you apply it to your white or gray hair.
#23: Salt-and-Pepper Medium to Long Hair
Consider enhancing your medium to long hair with salt-and-pepper color. If your hair has gray strands, a nice blend of silvery highlights greatly compliments your natural color. Keep the style easy to maintain by having a purple shampoo handy at home. It will help you touch up the hair tone.
#24: Grayish Mushroom Brown Hair with Flipped Ends
Grayish mushroom brown hair with flipped ends is a trending style for older women. Updating your gray hair color can be thrilling, and I recommend trying a new style. Request your stylist to add highlights and a silvery gray tone to compliment your mushroom brown hair. This will result in a rich ashy blend of color.
#25: Low-Maintenance Ash Blonde Bob
An older woman can easily maintain her hair by coloring her gray locks to ash blonde. Ash blonde hair color does a good job of hiding gray hairs because it’s close in lightness. As the woman’s hair grows, the boundary between the colored and gray hair becomes less noticeable.
#26: Neck-Length Cut with Warm Grey Hue
A neck-length cut with a warm grey hue is a contemporary style. This technique suits those who are not ready to fully cover but are looking to camouflage their gray hair. If you want this hairdo, ask your stylist to provide all-over babylight highlights and lowlights with a mix of cool and warm tones. This gives a natural look and prevents you from appearing washed out by incorporating warm tones. Cool tones are helpful in blending the gray regrowth, whereas warm tones assist in striking a balance.
Enter your email and get this picture and description straight to your inbox.
🔒 We don't spam or sell emails. See our Privacy Policy.