Clairol Research says that 64% of women are determined and committed to dye their gray hair – no wonder 50 is the new 40! Be that as it may, more and more women are choosing to embrace those silver strands as they take their permanent place on the crown. Men are too. GQ magazine called “gray the new black.” Whichever you choose, here are two approaches to teach you how to gray gracefully or dye trying.   

Gray hair can appear at any age. It’s not always a sign of growing old, it’s caused by a reduction of pigment (gray hair) or total loss of pigment (white hair), and the real reason it happens remains somewhat of a mystery. What to do with your gray hair, however, is no mystery at all.

If you choose to embrace gray as your color of choice – bravo! You face two challenges: the first is how to blend your gray, especially if it comes in patches or if it’s coarse or fine – both of which do not hold color well. Your colorist is the key to going gray with style. You will find that adding medium and ash tones of your natural hair color will help blend incoming gray until you reach a point where you can be color-free. Adding a gloss to your color will also help maintain a healthy shine as gray hair is often dull.

Because gray hair has less natural oil, your second challenge is yellowing. To help, your colorist can add violet tones to your lowlights to neutralize the yellow tinge. You should also use a shampoo with bluish-purple tint formulated specifically for gray or graying hair.

If you are a fight-it-all-the-way guy or girl, your challenges will be how often you have to color to maintain your look and whether or not your gray hair grows in course or fine. If you have either too course or too fine gray, you will most likely have to make friends with your colorist. He or she can treat your hair with all over color or streaks of caramel or blonde that disguises the gray. If you’re one of the lucky ones who can treat your graying at home, look for products designed to cover gray hair. Your commitment to color can vary depending on the number of gray hairs you have. A few strands here and there can be colored with a clean mascara wand and the off-the-shelf color of your choice. For moderate graying, a demi-permanent color will cover-up and blend the gray. If you need all-over coverage, look for a color closest to your natural color and go for permanent hair color. For root touch ups, look for products that are designed for use on the roots and won’t leave a line between old color and new. Add gloss or glaze created to keep color treated hair shiny and vibrant.

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	Caring for Your Gray Hair As we age, our hair matures and begins to gray. Graying hair is only the beginning however. As we age our gray hair also becomes resistant to chemicals such as perms and hair color. Gray hair can even become difficult to curl with a curling iron. When this happens, it’s often harder to care for gray   ...Read more		How to Cover Gray Hair for Guys One of the biggest reasons today’s men color their hair is to hide the gray. What most don’t know is that gray hair is resistant to hair color. In order for hair color to penetrate gray hair a special additive is added to the hair color formula. Generally if your gray is shiny your hair is probably   ...Read more