How to Find the Right Hair Color to Cover Gray Hair

Nothing is more disappointing than rinsing off your new hair color only to find it didn't do a good job of covering your gray hair. Avoid this hair color faux pas by taking the time to learn which types of hair color really can tackle stubborn gray hair. Once you know the right way to buy hair color to cover gray hair, you can say goodbye to your gray hair for good.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Choose Your Color

1. Learn which hair colors will work with your skin tone. Knowing if you have a cool or warm skin tone is a major deciding factor in which hair color you should choose. Pick colors that are blue-black, ash or violet-red toned if you have cool skin tones. Choose hair color that has tones of copper/red, gold or strawberry blond if you have warm skin tones.

2. Look on the box of your hair color for the words "permanent hair color." Anything other than permanent color, such as a semi-permanent or a gloss, will not offer 100% gray coverage.

3. Choose a hair color line with a pre-treatment step if you have very coarse or resistant gray hair. This step opens up the harder outer cuticle of your gray hair, allowing the color you apply afterward to penetrate quicker and easier. The result is stubborn gray hair that is colored the same color as the rest of your hair.

4. Pick the color level you want. There are 12 levels of hair color, with 1 representing black and 12 representing ultra-light blond. As a general rule, the first number on a box of hair color will tell you the color level of that box of hair color.

5. Choose your undertone. Every natural hair color has an underlying tone to it, with the exception of the darkest of black hair color. A well chosen hair color will not be one solid color but will have subtle highlights of an underlying tone in order to look more natural.

Color Your Hair

6. Apply color to gray areas first. If you only have gray hair concentrated in certain areas apply the hair color to these areas first. It will give your gray hair a "head start" so it will turn out the same shade as your non-gray hair.

7. Leave hair color on for the full recommended time. As a general rule always wait until the recommended time has passed before rinsing your hair color.

8. Check before rinsing. Use a towel to rub the color off of a section of hair to check the results. If the gray is not 100% covered you may re-coat that section and leave the hair color on five minutes longer before rinsing. If the gray is still not covered, you will need to pre-treat your hair before your next hair coloring.

Tips & Warnings

• The darker the hair color, the better gray coverage it offers. A light brown has more pigment, so it will cover gray hair better than an ultra-light blond. For further color advice most hair color lines have a toll-free number listed on their boxes to help you.
• When using a new hair color for the first time do a patch test to ensure you have no allergic reaction to the product.

References

• How to determine skin tone and hair color
• Hair color levels
• Dealing with gray hair

Resources

• A guide to choosing your best hair color