At some point in time in everyone's life the hair begins to gray. As you age, the melanocyte in your hair follicles starts to slow down, which reduces the pigment of your hair. A reduction in pigment will turn your hair gray. Many people---especially those with darker hair---will experience the salt and pepper effect, when single strands turn gray rather than the entire head. At this point, many people have to make the choice: go all gray or color all of the hair. If you're looking to go all gray, coloring the hair will still be necessary but slightly different than choosing a pigmented color.
Put on protective gloves and clothing. Hair bleach and hair dye will come with plastic gloves, or you can use latex gloves. The bleach and hair dye can stain, burn and bleach your clothing and skin if you do not take the proper precautions.
Pour the powder hair bleach into a bowl; most bleach kits will come with the bowl and spoon. Gradually, mix the peroxide into the bleach. Stir the bleach to remove any lumps. Pour in enough peroxide to get the mixture to a thick consistency.
Hair bleach and hair dye kits can be purchased at any beauty supply or drug store.
Apply the bleach to your hair. If your kit came equipped with a brush, you can use that. If not, you can use the spoon to distribute the bleach. Make sure your entire head is saturated to ensure the bleach is even. Leave the bleach in your hair for the specified time in the instructions.
Bleaching your hair is important because gray hair can be more difficult to take on color. Bleach, however, makes the hair more porous, which helps the color to "stick" and last.
Rinse the bleach out of your hair, and allow your hair to air dry.
Pour your gray hair color into the color activator bottle. Shake the bottle very well to mix the two ingredients. Squirt the color directly onto your hair. Make sure to massage the color into your hair to ensure an even color.
Leave the color on your hair for the amount of time specified in the instructions. Most hair colors need roughly 20 minutes to activate.
Rinse the hair color out, but do not shampoo it out. For best results, rinse your hair under cool water to seal in the color. Style your hair as your normally would.
Tip
If you do not have gray hair but you want to dye your hair gray, this method will work for you, too.
For blondes, bleaching may not be necessary. However, for redheads or brunettes, bleaching will need to be done to get the correct color tone.
References
Writer Bio
Andrea Griffith has been writing professionally since 2005. Her work has been published by the "Western Herald," Detroit WDIV, USAToday and other print, broadcast and online publications. Although she writes about a wide range of topics, her areas of expertise include fashion, beauty, technology and education. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in journalism and English from Western Michigan University.