Sometimes, it’s better to embrace the change instead of resisting it. That’s why more and more hair devotees choose to grow out gray hair these days, refusing to cover the silver strands with a hair dye or a temporary spray. Blending gray hair with highlights and lowlights is a popular method for those not willing to wait months until their silver locks grow out naturally.
The professional hairstylist and salon owner Emily Chen specializes in gray transitions, showing her followers how to seamlessly blend silvery roots with a customized salt-and-pepper hair color formula. In this incredible 13-hour transition to gray, the stylist unveils all the subtleties behind matching natural hair pattern for her client’s silver hair era.
Mapping out salt and pepper strands is a meticulous process that requires time and precision. The idea is to separate lighter shades from darker ones and recreate the original root pattern through the mids and ends. This client’s hair is mainly “salt,” peeking from the outside, while the “pepper” is in the middle.
The hairstylist weaves out the pepper pieces first to apply a lightener on the salt areas. These silver highlights revive the hair, adding some radiance to it. Then, the darker strands are brought back down to apply lowlight foils. With too much salt to be highlighted, the struggle becomes real. The first sections have already finished processing before the stylist could even start the sides. So, she has to pause the foiling and go back to check the processed strands before proceeding with the rest of the hair.
While applying lowlight and highlight foils to the locks takes some time, fixing color correction banding takes some more. This process alone might take 3 to 6 hours, with all those cleansing, bleaching, and toning stages. So, at some point, Emily Chen’s client has 3 different “time zones” on her head – each hair section going through a different stage of processing.
The hairstylist reapplies the lightener to break the line of demarcation and get rid of the old color. In one of her Instagram posts, she also mentions the common challenges when working on gray transitions with processed hair. “Speaking of processed hair, no matter what I do to match the processed hair to natural gray, processed hair will NEVER look exactly like virgin gray hair,” the hair pro explains. She insists that there will always be a subtle line of demarcation as the hair grows, so this type of gray transitioning still requires maintenance.
Once everything is done processing, the colorist drops all the foils and proceeds with shampooing, toning, and adding some more lowlights where needed. With a nice and healthy cut, the hair looks soft and tamed. No more frizz and split ends! By following easy gray hair tips, it’s also possible to give your hair more shine and protect it from further damage.
Emily Chen’s followers praise her mastery in the comment section. “Dear lord – my anxiety spiked just watching and wondering how you timed all that sheesh,” one user mentions. “You’re amazingly patient at your craft and sooooo talented,” another person adds.
Embracing gray locks is a whole new chapter in your hair journey. But like any story, it unfolds page by page. No need to rush the process. Just trust it, and you’ll be rewarded.
Enter your email to get this picture to your inbox 💌