Leah LOVES hair. So much so, she dedicated an entire website to it! One of the founders of Hair Everyday and Chief Editor, Leah enjoys reviewing all the hair products and showcasing the best. She believes her most underrated articles are her hair care tips!
This article will list out tip on how to enhance natural grey hair and make it look a shiny silver tone without making you look old. It also suggests products such as shampoos for grey hair.
Remember those days when we would see a single grey hair on our heads and freak out? Yup, we’re not doing that anymore. Today, it’s all about accepting your greys and flaunting them with pride.
But that doesn’t mean grey hair doesn’t come with its own set of challenges.
Mostly hair goes gray due to a lack of melanin as you age. And along with melanin your hair could also lose a lot of its natural shine, elasticity and strength due to lack of biotin and keratin in your tresses. So grey hair is more prone to looking dull.
Also, there’s the risk of grey hair getting a slightly yellow shade with the warm undertones showing up as melanin fades.
Worry, not! These issues are more than fixable and in this article I will be talking about a few such tips you can use to enhance your grey hair.
Related: Best Shampoo To Reduce Grey Hair
Related: Best Conditioner For Gray Hair
How To Enhance Natural Grey Hair
Planning to go naturally grey? Here are some tips to make your hair shiny and silvery. I suggest following these hair care hacks on a regular basis to make sure your hair doesn’t make you look old.
Add Highlights and Lowlights To Your Hair
If your hair is not completely grey and you have just a few strands spoken through your roots then it is best to blend them with the rest of your hair. And the really smart way to do this is by adding highlights and lowlights to your hair.
Highlights should typically be at least 2 to 3 shades lighter than your natural hair color while lowlights can go up to 2 to 3 shades darker than your base hair color.
This technique helps blend grey hair seamlessly with the rest of your strengths and is excellent if you are going grey for the first time.
I would also suggest carefully picking the shades of your highlights and lowlights according to your base hair color. For example if you have a dark brown or black base then I would suggest going for light browns, reds, etc.
But if you are a blonde your highlights and lowlights can range from honey to caramel blonde and even pearly white or platinum shades.
In my opinion adding highlights and lowlights to your hair can be a tricky business and is best left to hair coloring experts.
Also keep in mind that adding highlights means that you will have to bleach your hair to a certain extent so if you are not up for that you can try a different way of enhancing your natural grey hair instead.
Get A Balayage To Make Grey Roots Blend In
If you’re up for lightening and coloring your hair then here is another hair coloring technique that you can use to make your natural grey hair blend into the rest of your tresses.
In some ways a balayage as you will look more natural along with your grace as hairstylists use a freehand style to lighten and color hair.
Use A Purple Shampoo To Enhance Brightness
This is one of the most common ways you can enhance natural grey hair. One of the main issues with natural grey hair is when the melanin from your strands fades due to aging of hair follicle pigment, it leaves behind the warm undertones of your hair.
These undertones make your grey hair appear yellow and dull. So to enhance your grey locks, you can use a purple shampoo (or even a purple hair toner for that matter) to remove this yellowness.
The theory behind this is that purple is opposite to yellow in the color wheel and purple pigments in a purple shampoo can help neutralize yellowness.
Some people actually prefer purple shampoos over toners or hair glosses as they are cheaper and easier to use.
There are a variety of purple shampoos for grey hair available in the market today so you need to be careful to pick the right one according to your hair texture and hair type.
I suggest going for a sulfate free purple shampoo like the Bold Unique shampoo or the L’Oreal Paris EverPure purple shampoo.
Also do not forget to check for other ingredients in the purple shampoo. Look for added perfumes, alcohols and whether or not the shampoo contains natural, moisturizing ingredients.
There are also silver shampoos which function just like purple shampoos only that they are more clarify and are better suited for natural grey hair.
These silver shampoos help remove Any impurities from hair resulting from hair styling products, pollution, hard water and swimming pools to leave your grey hair brighter.
Apply A Hair Gloss Every Month
If you already have a favorite shampoo and do not want to switch to a purple one, then you can use a hair gloss on your natural grey hair every other month or so.
Some of these hair classes also have a purple tint to them, which helps them function similar to a purple shampoo and remove yellowness from your hair.
These hair glosses instantly add shine to your hair and also condition aging gray hair. making them look healthy, shiny and bright.
Use Milder, Conditioning Shampoos Instead Of Sulfate-Based Ones
The one thing that most women tend to forget about their grey hair is that it’s not just the color that goes away with age. There isn’t just the lack of melanin in grey hair, due to aging, hairstyling, environmental stressors, and other reasons.
Grey hair can also lack natural proteins and vitamins. Research shows that the natural biotin in hair decreases with age leaving hair dry and prone to breakage.
For this reason just toning your natural grey hair is not enough. You also have to be very careful about the products to use on your hair.
It’s best to avoid sulfate or any harsh surfactant-based shampoos and go for sulfate-free products instead.
Also,make sure that these shampoo have moisturizing ingredients that add hydration and elasticity back to your hair.
FAQs on How To Enhance Natural Grey Hair
A lot of women are now embracing the salt and pepper hair like men having been doing and letting their grey locks flow free.
However, there is still doubt on how to take care of natural grey hair properly. So I’ve tried to answer some of your frequently asked questions about caring for grey hair below. Check it out!
What is the best shampoo for natural grey hair?
Using a purple shampoo or silver shampoo is the best for grey hair. The main problem with natural grey hair is yellowness. And since purple is opposite to yellow on the color wheel it can neutralize yellow undertones when applied to grey hair.
I prefer using purple shampoos without any sulfates as they are more milder on the scalp and hair and do not dry out your tresses.
How to make grey hair shiny silver?
Grey hair doesn’t look silvery due to the underlying warm tones in it. These undertones can be removed using a purple shampoo. If you want grey hair to look glossy you can try a purple-tinted hair gloss too as this adds shine to hair and removes yellow undertones as well.
Can you tone natural grey hair?
A lot of people think hair toners are only used on bleached blonde hair, but this isn’t true at all. Hair tones are basically products that remove either orange or yellow undertones from hair. So if your natural grey hair is looking yellowish, you can tone it using a purple color depositing shampoo/hair toner as well.
You can go to a hairstylist for toning natural grey or do it at home. Just remember to reduce the amount of pigment on hair toner on each application or you might end up dyeing your hair purple or blue.
Is purple shampoo good for natural grey hair?
Yes, absolutely. Purple shampoo is a boon for natural grey hair as it helps remove yellow undertones from hair. But be careful to select the right kind of purple shampoo as you can find both sulfate-based and sulfate-free varieties of these products.
Summary On How To Enhance Natural Gray Hair
To sum it up, grey hair isn’t something to be hidden anymore. It’s almost a style statement and many women are wearing it proudly.
The main issue with caring for grey hair seems to be yellowness and a lack of shine.
Both of which are easily fixed by using a purple shampoo.
Along with this purple hair toning product I’d also suggest going for hair gloss treatments and deep conditioning treatments as grey hair loses its natural biotin and protein along with melanin due to age.
So the key to enhancing natural grey hair is to keep them healthy from the inside out first.
Also Read:
How To Dye Hair Silver At Home
Is Using Baking Soda And Vinegar For Gray Hair Good
To Summarize
