There comes a time in virtually everyone's life when they're ready to lean into the beautiful gray hair that comes with getting older. If you've been coloring your hair, it takes a little bit of time and effort to go from dyed hair to natural gray hair, but it's totally worth it. So if you're ready to embrace your silver, our tips to grow out gray hair can help.
Temporary Color Eases the Transition
Growing out colored gray hair will take patience, but there are some things you can do to make the transition easier. Lightening your hair or adding highlights — if your hair can handle the process — will make the transition less noticeable. Temporary color or a rinse will be easier on your hair and help mask the growing-out process a little.
Go Shorter
Part of keeping your hair healthy requires getting it trimmed regularly, but when it comes to growing out your hair, getting a haircut also serves the purpose of cutting off the old color. You might want to consider a shorter hairstyle — at least temporarily — while growing your hair out. Short hair will let you accomplish the task of growing your hair out sooner rather than later.
Shortening your hair will mean less of the colored hair remains. Though the process takes time, you will likely be pleased with the eventual results after letting the gray grow out.
Related: Your Best Clothing Colors to Wear With Gray Hair to Look Amazing
Change to a Lighter Shade First
Before growing out grey, change to a blond or light brown shade so the new light gray, silver, or white growth won't be as noticeable. When choosing your new shade, pick a color that complements your skin tone.
Camouflage New Growth With a Rinse
Even with the lighter color and shorter hair, as your hair grows, the gray will still show. It won't be as noticeable as gray against a darker shade, but it will still be there. Natural sunlight or bright lighting will highlight the gray even more. If you would rather camouflage the new growth a little more, you can temporarily hide it using a non-permanent hair color rinse. This will wash out over five or six shampoos, so you'll have to keep reapplying until the old color is cut off and the gray is completely grown out, but it does help ease into your new look with your dignity intact.
Add Highlights
Another way to ease into letting your gray hair grow out is to have your hair highlighted. You can start with heavy highlights and gradually decrease the highlights as your gray hair comes in. Talk to your hair care professional and ask for their advice about the best approach.
No matter which approach you take, growing out the gray requires patience. It's not going to look perfect overnight, and there are definitely times when you may consider scrapping it. It may help to write down why you wanted to embrace your gray in the first place so that if and when your resolve wavers, you'll remember your reasons.
Why People Decide to Grow Out Gray Hair
People who color their hair to cover the gray often reach a point where the gray hairs at the temples, front of the head, or along the part show up faster and in greater numbers than they used to. The darker the hair color, the more noticeable the gray.
Many people decide that the extra expense — not to mention the amount of time and effort it takes to hide the gray — is no longer worth it. Others are excited to embrace this new stage and find the gray hair accompanying it empowering. They may also see others who look great wearing their natural gray, which can be super inspiring to try it themselves.
Love Your Look
Many people are very happy with their new look when they return to their natural color — even though the natural color is now gray. Salt and pepper, white, or silver hair may be a dramatic change, but your natural color is the right one for your skin tone and often makes you look younger than if you dye your hair.
