If you have been colouring your hair for a while, you may be getting a bit sick of the frequent salon visits, worry about roots, and the cost of colouring your hair. You are prepared to go from lowlights to gray but do not want to do it all at once?

Lowlight transitioning is a fantastic approach to gradually dyeing your hair a lovely, natural gray. You may be asking yourself, “How can I even do lowlights?” Is it equivalent to highlights? How long will it take as well?

Not to worry as we have got you covered. We will walk you through each step in this article so you may fully transition your hair to its ideal natural gray shade.

grey hair

How to Embrace Your Gray Hair using Lowlights

It takes a lot of confidence to embrace your gray hair with the hair dye. It requires self-assurance and a certain level of acceptance of your gray hair. However, you do not have to achieve it all at once.

You may go from having coloured hair to having entirely gray hair using these techniques without making a big shift or doing it all at once. You just need to have faith in your hair colourist.

A colourist will be able to assist you in transforming numerous lowlights sessions as well as the natural gray showing through with elegance and just the correct length of time.

You will be prepared to bid goodbye to the hair salon and welcome gray hair in a few months. The only information you will need is the kind of hair and gray colour you have, as well as the name of a reliable salon in your area.

Otherwise, all you need to do is take care of your hair at home, follow your stylist’s instructions, and be ready for plenty of positive feedback on your new, natural hair colour.

5 Simple Steps to Transitioning to Gray Hair

Simply adhere to these instructions if you are ready to ditch the colour and accept your natural gray. You will be on your way to naturally gray and gorgeous hair after you discover a hairdresser that works with you based on your busy schedule to achieve beautiful natural gray hair.

  1. Choose a Reliable Hairstylist

Is there no way to perform this process without a professional colourist, since the first step can appear to be a get-out clause?

Although it is technically and theoretically possible to colour your hair at home, lowlights are a very difficult skill to master, and only experts have the necessary tools and equipment. If you attempt to give yourself lowlights, you do not want the results to be unevenly and patchy bleached hair.

The second problem is that you will need a customized shade of the gray colouring, and over the counter box dyes will not have a lot of alternatives. Locate a colourist to achieve a tone that is natural with uniform shades.

A hairdresser may also suggest certain hair products for you and let you know when it is time for follow-up sessions.

You can learn a lot online, but you will never be able to get personalized hair guidance from the internet. Finding a hairdresser is a lifetime commitment; some even develop into close friends.

  1. Choose the Appropriate Gray Tone

There are several shades of gray. Perhaps this will not surprise you. Consider that the whole grayscale ranges from black to white.

You may be surprised to learn that the incorrect gray might clash with your hair and skin tone. We are here to assist you to prevent any undesirable appearance. Although it is important, the ratio of dark to light is not the only factor.

You would generally prefer a lighter gray to match if you were originally blonde before becoming gray. Perhaps former brunettes would like a darker gray. Depending on your naturally gray hair, there are various shades of gray as well. How to determine:

Use silver, platinum or pearl gray colours on naturally white hair.

Natural gray hairs may match smoke, lead, or other types of gray colours

Those with naturally yellow hair will need blue-gray, green-gray or violet gray.

These hues will maintain your hair’s uniform tone and aid to balance out its natural hues.

Lowlights are particularly beneficial for yellower hair since the blue or violet-gray may make it appear silvery. You could notice that the hues change during the transition. You may always change the colour of the lowlights.

  1. Knowing Your Hair

Of course, your hair’s gray colour is not the only thing you need to know. You may not be completely aware of how much gray hair you naturally have if you have been colouring your hair for a long time.

This will significantly affect how long it takes for the lowlights to transit into full head of natural gray. You can typically figure out how much natural gray you have rather easily. You will not know how much gray hair you have until your roots start to show a bit.

If your colourist has been doing your hair for a while, they will be able to assist you with this. The texture and thickness of your hair are also crucial factors for lowlights.

If you have taken good care of your hair, a competent colourist can apply lowlights to your hair and provide beautiful finishing results. However, it could be challenging and may need a lot of professional hair care if your hair is very thin, wispy, or brittle.

  1. Create a Gray Hair Maintenance Plan

With all of this knowledge and information, you and your colourist may determine when it would be ideal to return for a re-toning or to enhance your lowlights. How fast you wish for the transition also depends on how naturally gray your hair is.

However, after some time, your lowlights will eventually fade out naturally and reveal your shiny gray hair. The process can take longer if you are not entirely gray yet.

For a while, you will need to keep refreshing the lowlights and in the absence of doing so, your non-gray, darker roots will show through and become visible. You will often need to schedule maintenance every two months or so.

In this way, you may naturally upkeep a certain amount of lowlights, monitor the colour of your graying hair, and observe the slow transition of becoming a complete gray. For further information, ask your colourist, who will be the one who knows your hair the best!

  1. Maintain Your Hair at Home

You must take excellent care of your hair in between salon sessions. You should use shampoo, conditioner, and other treatments that are suited for your age since the texture of gray hairs are coarser than the younger hairs.

To maintain your hair healthy and smooth throughout the weeks, your colourist might recommend certain products. The blue or purple shampoo is definitely among the most popular items. Depending on the tone of your hair, you may use the purple or blue shampoo to neutralize the undesirable opposing hues – the orange or yellow tones in your hair.

You may prevent your hair from developing that brassy appearance you might not want by using a purple shampoo once a week. Moreover, your hair will also remain moisturized and shiny throughout.

You should constantly moisturize your hair as much as you can, of course. Get a deep conditioner that will preserve your colour so that it does not fade, particularly with all the extra products you are using to keep your hair shiny, lustrous and gray.

 

Frequently Asked Questions

Check out some of these commonly asked questions if you have any further doubts about the transition to lowlights for your gray hair. These common questions and answers may be useful to you as you embark on the journey of embracing your gray hair!

What is the Timeline for Transition to Gray hair?

The time it takes for coloured hair to transition to gray depends on many variables and might range from 6 to 12 months. This is dependent upon your hair’s length, natural base colour, thickness, and lowlighting preferences.

You may concentrate on taking excellent care of your hair at home to help this grey hair transition happen more quickly without it to be considered as a big transformation. If you take good care of your hair, it will grow more quickly, and your colourist can help you in making the transition more effectively and safely.

Can I Apply Lowlights on Myself at Home?

While a skilled hair colourist will be capable of colouring their own hair but highlights and lowlights application is much more challenging. Layers of foil are applied to the top of the hair for hair highlights to provide a distinct hue.

Besides, in the market, there are highlighting caps with several holes allowing hair strands to get through which help for performing lowlights at home. However, nowadays, it is quite difficult to find such a kit as well as certain professional dye for you to perform the lowlights at home.

highlighting cap

Moreover, it is easy to make mistakes when doing the lowlights at home and worst of all, it will be even more challenging and costly to correct the mistakes that have been made. Thus, it is advisable to just visit a salon and let your colourist take care of your lowlights if you value your hair colour, time and money.

What Sets Lowlights and Highlights Apart?

Highlights are the process of creating lighter hues on your hair. For traditional highlights, a colourist will wrap sections of your hair with foils, a lightning agent, and the appropriate hair dye to create the highlights.

Thus, the finished results of highlights will bring out the lighter colours in your hair to enhance the dimensions of the hair. On the other hand, lowlights will introduce the darker hues into your hair. The highlights and in-between hues would not appear as stunning and dimensional if there is no contrast between light and dark.

As lowlights tend to provide a more subtle and softer way to create the transformation, it is considerably more often used as gray hair transitions than highlights.

Is Gray Hair Trendy?

Both younger and older people are sporting gray hair. Young individuals are employing highlights to transform or add colours to enable their hair to look platinum, white, and silver-dyed.

But people have been doing this and admiring the beauty in silver hair for decades, so it is more than simply a fashion fad. The trend of letting hair naturally gray rather than colouring it is also making a comeback.

Many famous celebrities have accepted their natural gray hair, and normal people are also doing the same. You may follow society in embracing gray hair and eschewing anti-aging measures by letting your true natural gray hair show through.

ash grey hair colour

Should You Colour Your Hair Grey?

There is no need to purchase a gray hair dye and completely colour your hair gray if you are going to embrace gray hair naturally. The likelihood is that the grays will not match and your roots will still be visible.

Consider making a gradual progressive transition using lowlights and/or highlights rather than making a dramatic hair colour transformation. Such a gradual transition will help you embrace the gray hair life without salons. There are several solutions available to you if you are not naturally gray and want to try out a gray hair look.

You may choose your preferred gray hue without having to worry if the colour is going to blend well. You have the option of dying your hair all-over at once or gradually using lowlights. Have no fear and enjoy your hair colour as hair will always grow back!

 

What is the Lowlight Transition for Gray Hair about?

You will want an experienced and trusted colourist to make your whole transition to gray hair with lowlights with confidence. But you must choose the correct gray hue, know your hair, and take good care of it at home by doing it gradually and skilfully. Before you know it, you will be absolutely embracing and having fun with the gray hair!