My hair is naturally a medium/dark brownish color. I am 30 now and have TONS of gray hairs taking over my hair crown area around my face. I usually just get small blonde highlights put in about once a year (I hate the idea of having high maintenance hair and spending lots of money on regular hair coloring. I would rather take that money and put it toward a college fund for my 2 boys).
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Jo, I started going gray in my 20s and have been coloring ever since. I'm 43 now. Originally, I had blonde highlights added to my light brown hair, which blended w/ the gray and looked pretty natural and good. But after a while, the gray was getting too prominent and the expense of maintaining that highlighting was getting pretty steep.
What I would do in your case is first of all, decide whether you are willing to let yourself go gray or not. Either way, to fix your current hair color fiasco you are going to have to use an allover color, perhaps your natural dark brown. If you do it at home, it's pretty cheap. About $4-10 per coloring, depending on the haircolor you use and any sales or coupons you have. And don't be scared, it's really very easy if you follow the instructions; I've used various shades and have never had a fiasco. (Oh yeah, forgot to say that I quit getting highlights in the salon about 8 years ago and just started doing allover color at home, touching up roots every 3-4 weeks; it costs me about $9/month, less if there are coupons for Preference, which there usually are.)
If you are willing to go gray, you are going to need some professional help to make a graceful transition from what you've got now to a more natural state. It will be costly till it all grows in, but then it's free after that!
My two cents--hope it helps!!!
Feeling pretty embarrassed, I just re-read your post and see that you have already tried color at home. SO Sorry. You might want to ask in a beauty supply store about products to strip the color out and then re-color (what they do to make you go from dark hair to a light blonde, I think).
I have the same problem. I am in now in my late 30's and have been following this tip that I received from my hair dresser for about 8 years. I too was highlighting on a regular basis and just couldn't justify spending that much money. I talked to my hair dresser who told me to buy Just for Men Beard & Mustache.
you might also consider a free consultation at your local beauty school. they will do the "work" for the price of the supplies, and you'll be giving them a valuable learning experience and helping a young person develop his/her career. don't be afraid just because they're students, they are closely supervised by a qualified instructor and will correct any "mistakes". who knows, you might discover a talented new hair dresser in the process (and new grads are usually cheaper).
Trying rinsing your hair with coffee.....it seems to tame the gray and it might be able to help "blend" the rest of the coloring in your hair. You can do this at least once a week.
I have the exact same color hair and exact same problem. What works for me was finding a beauty college in my area. About every 6-8 weeks I go in for a color and cut--it costs me about $18.00.
I color my own hair. If I want to do highlights I get a friend to help me pull it through the cap. It's pretty easy, and I am happy with the results. I probably don't look like Sandra Bullock, but what the hey. I would need a lot more than hair coloring to accomplish that!
To keep your hair from being two-toned (darker at the bottom than the top): Before applying the color, wet hair and comb out. Into your ends, rub a small amount of a slick conditioner (one that makes your hair sort of flat if you were to use it after normal shampooing). I like the Fructis product in the apple green bottle for this. Really helps with too-dark ends.
Good luck!
I color my own hair. If I want to do highlights I get a friend to help me pull it through the cap. It's pretty easy, and I am happy with the results. I probably don't look like Sandra Bullock, but what the hey. I would need a lot more than hair coloring to accomplish that!
To keep your hair from being two-toned (darker at the bottom than the top): Before applying the color, wet hair and comb out. Into your ends, rub a small amount of a slick conditioner (one that makes your hair sort of flat if you were to use it after normal shampooing). I like the Fructis product in the apple green bottle for this. Really helps with too-dark ends.
Good luck!
I have discovered that many of the community colleges have a vocational department that includes a beauty shop. The college near my place charges just $10 to dye hair.
Jo
I have multi colorerd hair, browns, reds and GRAY.
I dye it once in winter and once on June 1st. I buy
a couple of boxes of hair dye two colors and work with that. Also the cosmo schools as mentioned would work for you if you don't want to try it on your own. The teacher stands by student so the stress of
worrying is low to zero. Good Luck...
I have even used mascara and once eye shadows in browns to cover gray hair for an evening out and hubby later said my hair looked pretty....
There are now hair coloring products just for the roots - you might try those - or apply peroxide to the darker roots to lighten them gradually - and using a temporary medium color to blend in the difference and then trim the tips.
I had a friend in college who grew out her bleached blonde hair by covering it with wash out Roux color until the blonde grew out. You can also apply temporary color like roux with a cotton ball to blend in color.
So - looks like you need to LIGHTEN your dark/grey roots or cover it over with blending OR go and get it done professionally - I would suggest moderate changes from a professional if you want to maintain it yourself afterwards. That's why I like my home made hydrogen peroxide streaks - becasue they are gradual & I can control them & they grow out gracefully.
One tip I read about hair coloring I read once which stuck with me is have it done professionally the first time & do it yourself MESSILY ever afterwards. No real head of hair is uniformly colored - the mistake with most home coloring. That's the trick of hi-priced salon colorists - they put in many shadings of color to make it look natural....There is an art to it - but we can work on acquiring it ourselves.
Some friendly hairdressers have been known to supply their regulars with little bottlesof the right product mixto touch them up between visits - you might want to ask whoever colors your hair what they are using & how to maintain if "while traveling, etc."
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