Gray Hair Care: What You Need to Know
Gray hair, don’t care—or do you?
It’s more or less inevitable. Women of all ages will brush through their locks one day and find a white strand sticking out against the regular hue of their hair color. Reactions range from denial, to terror, to shoulder-shrugging indifference.
At a certain point, your strands lose the melanin that give it its color, and once you go gray, you can’t go back. Your only options are to cover it with color or embrace the natural change. Along with the color shift, gray hair can change your hair’s texture, making the strands coarse and wiry.
There are some theories as to why some go gray earlier than others. Stress may or may not have a part, but genetics play the bigger role. You may only see a few random gray hairs for years or they may stack up fast and furious. Since everyone is different, the timing of gray hair depends on your head and DNA.
No matter if you see one gray hair or it arrives with a pack of friends, there is no need to panic. Simply readjust your daily hair care routine and maybe even your perspective. There are still plenty of beautiful hair days ahead of you, so read on for ways to adjust your routine and your attitude when you start going gray.
Gray dos and don’ts
Plucking a random gray hair will not make them go away. If you keep tweezing out short hairs, you can damage your hair follicles and cause the errant strands to not grow back at all. As tempting as it may be to take an out-of-sight-out-of-mind approach with new gray hairs, let them come in and leave them alone. Even if you commit to covering your natural gray hair, make sure that you use hydrating hair products like our FS Color Protect Shampoo. This will maintain the health of your new hair texture and protect your professional color treatment.
Some stylists may suggest a violet shampoo for gray hair to help take out the brassy tones and brighten it up, as they would recommend for blonde colors. Talk to your stylist about how to best care for your hair during this transition.
How to cover
If you’ve decided that covering (coloring) is the way to go, first gauge how much of your hair is going gray. If it’s a small amount (under 20%) you could probably get away with some low maintenance highlights. Many women go blonder as they go gray to lessen the frequency of salon visits and to bridge the gap between their original color and more gray as it comes in.
If holding on to your natural hair color is important to you, you can still give it a single process color. Permanent hair color will cover most of your gray, but the growth at the roots is a much more noticeable line. If you go with a semi-permanent color, your hair may not be covered as well, but the root growth won’t be as prominent. A temporary root covering could hold you over until you make it to the salon. But, permanent hair color is definitely a bigger commitment. Which hair color choice you make depends on how much maintenance you’re willing to fit into your lifestyle.
Change can be beautiful
Instead of dreading this change to your hair, embrace it. You don’t have to surrender to gray if you don’t want to, but you may be surprised how beautiful healthy gray hair can be. Your stylist can help you look your best no matter what path you may choose.
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