If you’ve been committed to your root touch-up appointments for as long as you can remember, giving them up and embracing your grays can feel like a daunting life change. And having to look at a harsh line of demarcation between your natural new hair growth and your dyed strands day in and day out can be enough to send anyone running to the salon chair. But you don’t have to grow out your grays all at once—transitioning to gray hair with highlights is a simple way to embrace the change without having to commit to a few months’ worth of bad hair days. We tapped Matrix global brand ambassador George Papanikolas to get the inside scoop on how you can use highlights for gray hair and lowlights for gray hair to gracefully transition to full-on silver strands. Keep scrolling for expert-backed strategies on how to blend grays with style and ease.
Why Use Highlights to Transition to Gray?
Growing out gray hair all in one fell swoop can be a time-consuming (and frankly, frustrating) process. Easing into your new hue with the help of highlights, however, can be a great way to slowly transition to your natural hue. Keep reading to learn why.
Blends new growth with existing color
Highlighting gray hair can be a great option if you wish to blend your silvery strands and roots seamlessly. This helps soften the contrast between your dyed strands and natural grays, making for a smoother transition while you wait for your silvers to grow in completely.
Adds dimension and brightness
There’s nothing worse than hair that looks dull, flat, and lifeless. Unfortunately, gray hair can take on those traits, since the hair follicles stop producing the melanin that gives hair its color. Transitioning to gray hair with highlights can help prevent that dull, monotone look, since it mimics natural sun-kissed tones while simultaneously softening harsh lines.
Minimizes maintenance
If you don’t want to spend half your life in the salon chair getting root touch-ups, highlights for gray hair are going to be your new best friend. Just think: longer periods between salon visits, and fewer full-color treatments. Highlights can give your hair the appearance of a just-done look for a lot longer than those targeted root touch-ups actually can. Getting time back in your calendar? Genius.
Types of Highlights Ideal for Going Gray
Babylights
Papanikolas often relies on the babylight technique when he’s blending gray hair. As the name suggests, babylights are a type of highlight inspired by the sunkissed strands seen in children’s hair after a day in the sunshine. They’re subtle, fine, and natural-looking, and can help fuse your existing dyed color with your current areas or scatterings of gray. “Babylights that frame the face and crown help illuminate the hair and make the gray less noticeable,” he says. They work especially well around the temples, an area that tends to gray more prominently, and are best for a seamless blend and soft grow-out.
Lowlights
If you’re a dark brunette who isn’t fully gray yet, you may want to try lowlights to cover grays, since adding highlights can actually over-accentuate their appearance. If your grays are a bit more prominent, lowlights can also add depth, contrast, and richness to your natural color, which is sometimes needed to avoid washing out your skin. When blending gray hair, you can also ask your stylist for golden and beige colors for a bit of added warmth and dimension.
Balayage
Balayage is a freehand highlighting technique that creates a natural-looking transition of color from your roots to ends. Basically, bleach or lightener is hand-painted onto individual strands of hair in a sweeping motion, targeting areas that would be naturally hit by the sun. This creates natural-looking highlights. In the case of transitioning to gray hair with highlights, balayage is a great choice, since it can help blur the lines between gray and pigmented strands. Plus, balayage highlights tend to start further down from the roots than traditional highlights, so it’s a great option for those looking to keep things low-maintenance.
Silver or ash-toned highlights
Gray hair has natural cool tones. When you’re transitioning to gray hair with highlights, one way is to actually embrace those gray and silvery tones. Opt for cool, ashy tones to emphasize grays, or silvery ones to complement them. Either way, you can add shine and polish to your gray tresses. Still, it’s worth noting that highlights can’t necessarily disguise gray hair. Instead, they help “melt” them into your base color to help reduce the contrast between your dyed hair and your silver strands.
“Highlights can be used as a tool to help camouflage gray, especially if your hair is dark blonde or lighter, Papanikolas explains. “But [they] will never give 100 percent coverage.”
Top Expert Tips for Transitioning to Gray Hair Gracefully
1. Work with a colorist experienced in blending gray hair
When you start going gray, it’s best to get expert advice. Going for a personalized approach with your stylist is absolutely key, since no two grays are alike. A trained colorist will customize your highlights for gray hair based on your current shade and skin tone, help you avoid stripey or harsh lines that come from inexperienced application, and work with you to determine your best transition method. This result will depend on the look you’re trying to achieve, what percentage of gray you already have, and how much coverage you desire. We recommend having a thorough consultation before your color appointment to nail down your look.
2. Start slow and build over time
You don’t have to do too much at once. Ask your colorist to begin with face-framing or partial highlights, and then gradually increase to a full head of highlights for a more natural progression.
3. Choose the right highlight tone for your gray
Those with lighter hair will have an easier time transitioning into gray hair using highlights, since variations of blonde are in a similar color family. Neutral shades like soft blonde, mushroom brown, light copper, and caramel blonde balayage are just a few shades that play well with blondes and grays. Cool grays pair well with ash or silver, and warmer grays can go for beige or soft caramel tones.
4. Use toners to control brassiness
“If you are using highlights to help minimize the gray, then violet-based shampoos will help neutralize unwanted yellow tones and give the blonde [and gray] a more balanced tone,” says Papanikolas. This all goes back to the color wheel theory, which states that colors that lie opposite one another on the color wheel effectively cancel each other out. Using a purple system will help eliminate brassy tones from your gorgeous grays, allowing your hair to retain its brightness as much as possible. Try the Matrix So Silver Purple Shampoo for Blonde and Silver Hair and Matrix So Silver Purple Conditioner, which contain vibrant violent pigments and help neutralize brass to keep blonde, gray, and white hair looking cool and bright.
5. Cut strategically for the transition
Gray hair can benefit from not just more frequent cuts, but ones that are more strategic. Try a layered haircut or a shorter hairstyle, which can help blend gray hair more evenly. Even when you’re growing out gray hair, you should also try to get frequent trims, which will help keep your hair healthy throughout the chemical process of highlights and lowlights.
6. Nourish hair with moisture and protein
The look of your hair isn’t the only thing that changes when you spot your first gray: expect texture changes, too. Once your strands lose their color, they may become coarser, drier, brittle, or even wiry. Deep conditioners, hair masks, and bond-repairing treatments are essential for restoring moisture to your hair and making it more manageable. Look for a hair mask like Kérastase Résistance Masque Thérapiste Hair Mask, which is formulated with glucopeptide, wheat protein derivative, and native plant cells to repair damage and nourish dry tresses.
7. Embrace the process mentally and emotionally
Ultimately, going gray is a big change. And while it can seem scary or overwhelming, it doesn’t have to be. Embracing this new hair color with confidence is part of the overall transformation, and it can be extremely empowering. At the same time, transitioning to gray hair with highlights is not a one-time fix. It’s a journey that will take time and patience, and maybe some trial and error to get it exactly right. But the end result will be totally worth it.
Gray Hair Maintenance Tips
Use color-safe, sulfate-free products
If you’ve decided to transition to gray hair with highlights or lowlights, you’ll need to update your haircare routine. “Color-safe shampoo is mandatory when doing gray coverage, as permanent color can quickly fade and oxidize,” says Papanikolas. To help preserve your color, switch to a gentle haircare system for color-treated hair. We like the Biolage Professional Color Last Shampoo and Conditioner, which are infused with micro-dosed soybean oil and stearic acid to help prevent color fade for up to four weeks while simultaneously adding shine.
Incorporate toning products
Like blonde hair, gray and silver hair can turn brassy (read: unpleasantly yellow or orange) over time. Using toning hair products can help neutralize these unwanted warm tones to keep your hair color cool and bright. The Pureology Color Fanatic Top Coat + Tone Purple is a high-gloss purple top coat that neutralizes brassy tones in as little as five minutes. It also helps smooth, soften, and boost shine, with results lasting up to eight washes.
Protect hair from heat and UV rays
If you love flat ironing your hair and then heading out into the sunshine, beware—both heat styling and sunshine can fade highlights and grays. Using a heat protectant before picking up your blow dryer or curling wand can help preserve that silver, gray, or platinum look your stylist worked so hard to create. You can also use a UV spray to protect your tresses from fading or becoming brassy.
Next Up: Ash Gray Hair Color: 17 Stunning Iterations to Try Now
If you’re ready to embrace your grays with the help of highlights, use our salon locator to find an experienced colorist near you.
Header image credit: @matrix
