If you are a natural brunette, you'll want to blend your greys with darker lowlights. For natural blondes, you should add highlights and lowlights ranging from pearl to medium blonde. And if you are a natural redhead, a range of brown and blonde highlights and lowlights will enhance your grey locks best.
Since baking soda is a scrubbing agent, washing your hair with it can gradually strip the dye from your locks. Baking soda can lighten all hair colors, but it might take a few washes to get your hair to the desired color.
Another option is to mix a bit of apple cider vinegar into a dollop of shampoo. This clears build up from environmental toxins and hair products. It also seals the hair cuticle, making your grays silky, shiny and frizz-free.
What if I want to dramatically lighten dark grey hair? Bleach all of your hair and use a silver toner to adjust the color. Apply bleach to get rid of all pigment—you want your hair to be almost white for this. Then, wash your hair with a silver toning shampoo to introduce gorgeous light grey or silver pigments.
Clairol Shimmer Lights Shampoo
It can help enhance natural grays and refresh color in faded highlights. Overuse of this shampoo can dry out your hair due to its purple pigments, so it may not be a good choice for dry or damaged hair. For best results, leave the product in your hair for 5 to 10 minutes before rinsing.
Redken's Graydiant Shampoo is specifically formulated to nourish and brighten gray and silver hair. The anti-yellow properties of this formula will tone gray to be its brightest yet. Even better than a brighter color, this shampoo helps dramatically strengthen your hair due to its amino acid formula.
Purple shampoo has been used for decades by hairdressers, mostly to help tone and neutralize blonde and gray hair, getting rid of brassy or yellow tones for an overall more cool-toned look.
Celebrity hairstylist Peter Butler says violet- and purple-based shampoos, such as Kérastase Blond Absolu Bain Ultra-Violet Shampoo and L'Oréal EverPure Sulfate Free Brass Toning Purple Shampoo, are super helpful in keeping your gray, silver, white, and blonde hair bright and manageable.
To keep it looking a vibrant and shiny gray, use a color depositing shampoo or gloss occasionally. Many of these products have a purple tint and should be used once every week or two. Protect your hair from the sun and avoid any shampoos or hair products that have a gold or yellow tint to them.
A weekly moisture mask will help soften coarse gray strands. You'll also want to switch to a violet-tinged shampoo to help neutralize yellow tones; even white hair can turn brassy from UV rays and minerals in the water.
Purple shampoo is the best toner to use when it comes to gray hair because it neutralizes brassiness caused by heat styling, medications, product buildup, sun, salt, chlorine and environmental pollutants.
Citric acid can whiten fabrics, and it's sometimes included in skin care products to help lighten dark spots. It's this ingredient that gradually whitens hair, making it appear lighter in color. Using lemon juice alone, however, doesn't lighten your hair.
This gentle formula brightens white, grey and blonde hair to neutralise brassy tones.
The aging process causes your hair to gray, but you can stop premature graying with home remedies like coconut oil. Coconut oil acts as a natural sunscreen that protects your mane from oxidative stress. Coconut oil mixed with lemon juice is a popular remedy for treating gray hair.
There's a lot of misinformation about gaining back your natural hair color once it's started turning gray or white. While certain nutrient deficits and health conditions may spawn premature gray hairs, it's impossible to restore your natural hair color if your grays are genetic or due to natural aging.
As we mentioned, gray hair's lack of sebum can make it feel dry. To reduce further dryness, you'll want to wash it as infrequently as possible. "Washing every other day or three to four times a week can help with this," says Mazzei.
Although this may seem like a permanent change, new research reveals that the graying process can be undone—at least temporarily. Hints that gray hairs could spontaneously regain color have existed as isolated case studies within the scientific literature for decades.
If your gray strands lack hydration and need a little TLC, then you won't find a better toning shampoo than the Pureology Hydrate purple shampoo. Whether you've got thick or fine hair, this purple shampoo will transform your natural gray hair, leaving it bright, soft, and shiny.
DON'T use purple shampoo before your colour appointment
As Anneliese said, it's important not to use purple shampoo in the run-up to your colouring appointment. “Stop using purple shampoo a week or so before you have your colour done,” advises Jimmy.
You don't want to use it more than once a week, as it can give your hair a lilac tinge. It can also significantly dry out your hair and cause it to become brittle. Does Purple Shampoo Darken Gray Hair? If you leave purple shampoo on too long, it can make your lighter gray hair take on a gunmetal gray appearance.