Grey roots can be unwanted and difficult to cover. If you are looking to colour resistant grey hair, we can help you improve your colour coverage to give you consistent, complete and beautiful grey coverage.

Grey hair isn’t actually grey – it’s white. Pigment loss occurs naturally in hair as we age. Along with the changes in pigmentation, grey hairs can also undergo structural changes Grey hair is often also coarser. The outer cuticle layer of greys can be more tightly packed and layered, making them resistant to colour absorption. As a result, it can be more difficult to colour resistant grey hair and to cover visible regrowth.

Here’s our top tips for colouring colour resistant greys:

1. Strategic Product Placement for Perfect Colour

If you are colouring frequently, have porous lengths, or are just focussed on preserving the condition of your hair, then our Colour Perfection approach will give you permanent colour coverage over greys, while avoiding adding or layering permanent colour in your lengths.

Our Colour Perfection technique involves applying permanent colour to each section of hair once only. After an initial full length colour application with a permanent colour, you then apply permanent colour only to the roots.

Boost and refresh colour and tone in your lengths with a toner or a semi-permanent colour. A toner is best to reduce warmth and balance your tone. You can achieve a semi-permanent colour effect by blending the same colour that you use on your roots with a 5 vol no lift, deposit only developer. The 5 vol developer is very gentle, and will deposit colour and tone only, without lifting. It is the perfect light-touch approach to keep your hair healthy and to keep your colour refreshed in your lengths, while avoiding applying a stronger developer to your lengths.

2. 27 Vol Developer to Cover Stubborn Greys

Our 27 vol developer is specifically formulated to cover colour-resistant greys. It has a bit more lifting power than our standard 20 vol developer, and it can lift the tighter outer cuticle layer of stubborn greys. Use a colour blended with a 27 vol developer on your roots only.

3. Less colour, more often

The darned thing about unwanted greys is that they keep on growing. One big shot of colour glory every 8 weeks is not going to keep the silver halo at bay.

So, if you’re colouring at least partly to cover stubborn greys, your new rule of thumb needs to be – less colour, more often. Colour over resistant greys can fade faster than greys which readily absorb colour, so adding less colour more frequently can help you achieve ongoing grey coverage.

Add colour to your frontline and regrowth of your hair only but increase the frequency of colouring. If your colouring frequency increases, then it is best to avoid adding permanent colour to your lengths every time you touch-up your roots. Be careful to avoid overlapping the new colour on already coloured hair. Overlapping the colour can result in darker and duller colour and colour build-up. 

Frequency and colour placement are key – If your greys are coming through thick and fast, then you may need to colour every 2 weeks (you won’t be alone in this, believe me).

The good news is you can use half a tube of colour with half a sachet of developer, for two roots-only colour applications. Fold the top of the developer sachet over, seal with sticky tape and pop it in a plastic bag until you are ready to recolour.

Apply twice the colour to your visible regrowth, and extend colouring time to 45 minutes over stubborn greys. Colouring every 8 weeks isn’t going to hide those greys. Increase your colouring frequency to stay on top of grey regrowth.

4. Add heat

Adding some heat to your roots area while the colour is processing will lift the outer cuticle layer and boost colour absorption.

Use your hairdrier to add heat for 1-2 minutes at the roots and then pop a shower cap over your colour while your colour is processing. Your humble shower cap will help you retain heat at your scalp which will speed up your colour processing at the roots.

5. Extra time for extra colour

Leave your colour on your resistant greys for the full processing time plus extra ten minutes.

6. Review your colour selection with a colourist

Bear in mind that warm tones can look lighter and brighter over greys than over hair with natural colour pigments. A colour blend with a warm and a neutral colour can be the best approach to give you a balanced, consistent colour result over greys – talk to our colourists who can recommend a colour blend that will meet your colour goal.

You CAN master home colouring and colour resistant grey hair at home, and achieve gorgeous, natural looking colour results at home.

Make sure you are blending your colour with our 27 vol developer which will help you banish the greys while giving you complete, beautiful colour coverage. Keep your lengths refreshed and gorgeous with a semi-permanent colour or toner. This approach will give you complete grey coverage, while keeping your colour and overall hair health in its best possible condition!

Yay! Fun, no awful fumes, neat, professional kit. I can see how this will help me when I am just doing root touch-ups so I don’t overlap colour. Gorgeous look and feel to my hair. So happy with this!

Kathy L

My hair grows so quick that before i know it I have new silver ‘highlights’. Grrr. I use half a tube/dev on my roots only but colour twice as often, so I am staying on top of it, colour blends perfectly, and I dont have to suffer the smell of regular colour at all. So this is really working for me! Lovely colour, softness and pro tools to help me get my salon results at home.

Penelope H.