Have you ever wondered how a stylist is transforms the brown color you have been coloring your hair for years to grey? What is a grey transformation like? How long does it take? What will they do to my hair? Will the process damage it? And how much does it cost?
Natural grey hair occurs as the hair loses melanin in the hair shaft. To mimic this: a hairstylist must remove the color pigment that you have been dying your hair. To remove permanent color may require several sessions of color remover to break down darker colors before heavily highlighting the hair. The color removers will usually break your previously brown/dark brown color down to a brassy lighter brown. Then the depending on your pattern of grey: your stylist may highlight your entire previously colored hair (not including the virgin roots), or they may lowlight where there is dark and highlight where there is white hair. This is an extremely tedious and long project and may require being done in sessions depending on the amount of hair you have, and the removability of the color in your ends.
You will want to discuss with your stylist how long you are able to sit for a session. All over sessions can take anywhere from 8-12 hours. They can also be broken down into 4-6 hour sessions. Your stylist will likely want to make sure you have 4-6 months of virgin growth (2 inches or more) for them to match your natural grey pattern, and to be able to work in a time efficient manner with your hair. Why does this take so long? “Grey” hair is actually white hair with no pigment. In order to get the ends to match as close as possible, the hair must be highlighted very tediously. The highlights must process long enough to break down the color to almost white. Ideally your hair will need to lighten to a light yellow that your stylist can tone to a “silver” or “grey” so it will appear white.
Decolorizing the hair from a permanent brown to a pale light yellow will definitely make the hair dry and more fragile. You will need to be prepared to invest in high quality shampoo, conditioner, and leave in conditioner or bond builder to maintain the health of your hair at home. The “grey” tone will only last a few washes and must be maintained at home with a violet or black shampoo to counteract the yellow undertone of highlighting your hair. You will want to try to keep washing your hair to every 3-4 days if possible or wash once a week since hair is weakest when wet, and heat styling is going to damage your ends and cause them to turn yellow. You may want to have your stylist tone, deep condition, and trim the ends as it grows out to your virgin natural color every 4-10 weeks.
A full grey transformation where every hair is bleached and/or colored will likely range $1,000-$10,000 depending on the amount of hair you have, the amount of processes your need, and the experience level of your stylist.
If you are interested in fully going grey, doing a small grey transformation, or blending your greys for a lower maintenance, hit the contact button on the menu and fill out our contact form!
Comments