Granny Gray

Gray hair isn't just for the old and wise anymore. Metallic blues, violets and silvers are all the rage in the hair industry at the moment. Young girls everywhere are going through the process of turning their tresses into silver strands.

What many clients don't seem to realize is the process it takes to get to these tones and keep their hair looking perfectly silver all the time. It takes time, money, and a lot of patience. 

My client Michelle told me months ago that eventually she wanted silver hair. Being that she is also a hairdresser, she understood it would take a while. Especially since her hair was darker at the time and we wanted to keep it as healthy as possible. 

The first time Michelle came to me was in August. Our first task was to knock out the orange tones in her hair and match the banding that she had up against her natural color. She wanted to start growing out her base so that in the future we didn't have to battle previous color while lightening.

Our first session 

She then came to me again in October. I gave her a full head of Balayage and worked on getting her as light as I could, with the help of Olaplex of-course. Olaplex is a must, especially with big processes like these. We happily got her to a creamy blonde at her ends, keeping her a little rooty towards her base. 

Second session

In December, we were ready to get some more blonde into her hair and try out some silver pieces. When Michelle came in, she had oxidized to an orange tone towards her root and some yellow towards her ends. Since her ends were still very light, I went in with a Clear gloss and 40 volume because I thought lightener would be to harsh. Clear and 40 volume is a great way to shift someones color a half a shade to a few shades lighter without the use of bleach. I also gave her a partial highlight with foils to give her some finer, lighter pieces up at the roots. 

Before and after third session. 

After third session

After everything was rinsed, I toned her hair with L'Oreal Dialight 10.21 =15

volume and Olaplex. Afterwards, I low-lighted her with Guy Tangs' Demi-Permanant Kenra Metallics line. I used 8VM towards her mid shaft and 9VM towards her ends. 

After blowdrying her hair, her lowlights were nowhere to be found. I then realized I had purchased the wrong developer for the Demi Permanent metallics. Even though we were disappointed that her color wasn't what we were going for, the blonde still looked beautiful and she kept it for a while. 

This past week, she was finally ready to take the plunge and go for the full silver look. This time I made sure I purchased the right developer. 

I went back in with clear and 40 on her ends to lift out any yellow or brassy tones. Her ends came up to a white blonde while she still had a lot of yellow-orange in the mid-lengths. At her root, I went in with 7SM = 9 volume for a Deeper, Silvery tone, hoping it would knock out all of those brassy tones. At her ends, I went in with equal parts of 8SM and 9VM equal parts and Olaplex. She processed for 25 minutes and we then glossed with 10.12 Dialight 6 Volume and Olaplex. 

The result was gorgeous, even though it still wasn't exactly what we were looking for. Her mid shafts were not light enough to pick up the silver tones we were hoping, even though her ends took to a beautiful silver. 

These kind of colors take a lot of patience! For best results, the hair should always be taken up to a pale yellow - white blonde. Michelle's' hair wasn't exactly what we were expecting, but color isn't always 100% predictable. I do think that adds to the fun of it. We still are LOVING the way her hair is looking!