ONE OF THE BIGGEST TRENDS THAT CAME OUT OF LOCKDOWN IS EMBRACING YOUR NATURAL GREY HAIR.
Jenny Bell
The limitations of being able to see your stylist meant that the usual maintenance visits were few and far between. Instead of trying to manage re-growth, why not let nature take its course and grow the grey out naturally? We spoke with master colourist Jenny Bell to get some tips for growing out natural grey hair.
GROW IT OUT
“I recommend at least a three month growth period so that you can fully assess the grey pattern in the hair. Everyone is different with some people having heavier consistencies of white usually through the front and more of the dark tone in the back of their head. Depending on the artificial colour that is present on the ends, you may have to strip out some of that colour overall first before going back in with foils and colouring in between to tone out the underlying warmth.
Many people have already gone a little bit lighter on their base tone in order to compensate for the fact that they have a lot of white in their hair. You may be dealing with a medium brown base tone to balance and blend into their natural grey.”
COLOR PLACEMENT
“After assessing the natural grey patterns, place foils with lightener where they have white and either colour in between the foils or foil the darker tone as well if you prefer. The colour used to balance the
peppery tone in their hair can vary based on their natural level but I quite often use a level five or six ash to blend out the warmth. You may think this is a bit dark but it will fade slightly especially if you have stripped the hair first.
The hair that you are lightening in the foils needs to lift to a level nine or 10. The colour of the inside of a banana peel is the best visual to shoot for. I then go in with a violet and/or silver toner to blend into the white.”
MAINTENANCE
Your client will need to come in after a couple months to re-tone the lightest parts and possibly continue every couple of months until the artificial colour has grown out completely. Sometimes if a client has very fine hair and the darker colour fades, you may also need to add the low lights back in. I also try to
convince my clients to be more aggressive with the haircuts in order to cut it out as quick as possible. As far as at home care, they definitely need to take home a violet shampoo and conditioner to maintain on
a weekly basis and your client will need hydrating treatments since the process can be hard on the hair.
Model: Tera O”Hara
Photo, Hair, Makeup, Creative Direction: Paul Innis