Grey Blending: The Ultimate Guide for Women Over 40

Looking for a color technique that is low-maintenance, effortlessly gorgeous, and allows you to transition into embracing your grey hair? Look no further than grey blending.

If you are one of the millions of women who have begun experiencing greying hair as you age, grey blending might be for you. This salon technique that has taken those of us with silver strands by storm is a wonderful way to age better, not younger! 

Grey blending adds dimension and depth to your hair, which can also help with making thinner hair look thicker. After all, going grey isn’t the only change our hair goes through when we go through aging. When we age, our hair begins to thin. 

This is due to hormonal changes, which shrink our hair follicles. Fortunately, the grey blending beauty trend can give thinning hair a volumizing boost by way of an illusion of movement. With grey blending highlights or lowlights, our hair can appear fuller!

The technique of grey blending really is a win-win. Curious where to start or if your hair is a good candidate for grey blending? We have the answers. 

Let’s dive into everything you need to know about grey blending.

Grey Blending To Transition to Grey Hair

The art of grey blending is a great way to embrace the natural change and transition to mostly or fully grey hair. Grey blending lets you keep your natural hair color while enhancing it and welcoming any incoming silver strands. Once we reach the age of 40 and above, grey blending might be something to consider.

Where typical color services at the salon often work to cover up natural hair color, including covering up grey hairs, grey blending works to actually incorporate the grey tones into your look. The transitional look between your incoming grey hair color with your original hair color can provide an entirely new, natural look. 

Grey blending doesn’t require too much salon upkeep, making it an effortlessly authentic possibility instead of covering up your grey hair entirely. 

Will Grey Blending Work for Me?

The decision to go grey can be truly an empowered one. There can be a lot of stigma surrounding the aging process. But aging better, not younger, is entirely possible — including making changes, such as with grey blending.

Going grey can be made easier and more stylish with blending. Some find that the stark contrast between natural hair color and any white or grey hairs appearing can seem disorganized and random — especially up against dark hair. 

Blending may be a viable option if you’re not interested in frequent trips to the salon to cover up the greys as they come in. This technique is also helpful if you don’t want to get stuck in a loop of continuously covering up your grey hair. Grey blending provides a natural, stylish look instead of the patchy greys that some experience.

Grey blending is ideal for those of us who have about 25 percent grey hair coverage. There needs to be enough of the natural grey coming in to blend into the original hair color. The style can be kept up as it reaches up to 75 percent of natural grey hair. 

The benefits of grey blending don’t just stop at transitioning to a fully silver mane! Grey blending is also a wonderful choice for those looking to add fullness to their hair. Thinning hair can sometimes come with age. 

One-dimensional hair colors can often make hair look flat or dull. When highlights, lowlights, or balayage are employed, these can give our hair the illusion of fullness. Depth and dimension can be achieved with the grey blending technique.

What To Ask for at the Salon

When you’re ready to transition your locks to grey, you’ll want to find a stylist who specializes in coloring or is familiar with grey blending. Most salons will have a stylist who is well-versed in coloring and will be a great person to consult for what you want to do. 

Grey blending can be achieved through different techniques, including highlights and lowlights. Your stylist will be your best resource for figuring out what techniques are needed to achieve your desired look. Your hair is unique, so it makes sense to have an honest conversation with your stylist about your goals and what is achievable. 

Let your stylist know your plans for greying, such as wanting to have a style that will help you transition and how often you see yourself in the salon chair. Having a visual reference helps; you can show your stylist what you have in mind with pictures you find online. Using photos as a guide ensures everyone is on the same page.

Color-Safe Products for Salon-Treated Hair

If you’ve decided that grey blending is right for you, you’ll want to ensure your hair care routine can keep up! Using color-safe products for your new salon-treated hair will ensure you get as much time out of it as possible. Color-safe means that a product can do what it’s intended to without pulling out the color of your treated hair. 

Not all products are color-safe, so you should always check the labels, just in case. Grey hair has a particular characteristic: it can become yellow and brassy....so purple shampoos and conditioners are a great way to offset that and give more shine to hair (purple is the opposite color of yellow in the color-wheel).

If you’ve noticed that your gray or white hair is changing color by becoming yellow or brassy, we have a fix for that. Our Silver Lining Purple Brightening Shampoo can calm the yellow and brassy tones, giving you sleek and cool silver tones. 

For an everyday conditioner, try our Second Chance Conditioner to bring moisture and softness back to fragile and brittle aging hair. No matter how much you’ve colored it, you can give it an opportunity to shine. Our conditioner will give even the most damaged hair a new chance for moisture-rich, shiny healthy-looking hair.

If you are using tint, detoxifying your scalp every other week can be beneficial to enhance color and promote thicker and healthier-looking hair. Our New Dawn Activated Charcoal Scalp Cleanser won’t damage your grey blended locks or strip the color. New Dawn exfoliates, detoxifies, and rebalances the scalp for clean and healthier-looking hair. It’s an easy-to-use product with a built-in brush applicator that only requires to be squeezed and combed on.

To help boost the effectiveness of the purple shampoo is our Silver Lining Purple Butter Masque. Combined, the purple tone of these products will banish yellow hues and moisturize gray hair that has become dried and fragile.

Conclusion

Grey blending might be for you if you notice grey hair strands popping up and want to do something different. With grey blending, you can take control of how you choose to age. It’s a wonderful middle ground between covering up grey and white hair entirely and letting your greys grow out cold turkey.

If you’re still unsure if grey blending will work for you, making an appointment for a consultation can help. Your hair stylist will be able to walk you through the process your specific hair type will need and if your wishlist is achievable. Chances are though, grey blending is the answer: this hair color technique aimed at women over 40 looks stunning on all of us.

Did you make your appointment for a grey blending salon service? Maybe you’ve just taken the plunge and had your grey hair blended! 

What’s next? Better Not Younger has an array of color-safe products that can elevate your new hair color, making you feel as if you just left the salon every time you wash and style your hair at home!

Sources:

The Science of Gray Hair | Center for Healthy Aging

Aging Changes in Hair and Nails | MedlinePlus Medical Encyclopedia.

Mapping of Human Hair Greying | eLife

More Than Half of Women Over Age 50 Have Thinning Hair | Everyday Health